[Lingtyp] Double-marked passive

Christian Lehmann christian.lehmann at uni-erfurt.de
Mon Mar 22 11:35:21 UTC 2021


Dear Danqing,

allow me an elementary question, being ignorant about Chinese: Why don't 
you analyze thus your two examples:
   (1)  Jiang4  bei4   sha1.
        general suffer [kill] 'The general suffered killing = The 
general was killed'

   (2) Jiang4  bei4   wang2 sha1.
       general suffer [king kill]  'The general suffered the King's 
killing = The general was killed by the King'

This bracketing is meant to represent an analysis by which bei4 is an 
auxiliary, preceding a phrase headed by the full verb, in both cases. 
Although grammaticalized, as you say, it is then neither a marker on the 
verb nor a preposition marking a passive agent, but just a passive 
auxiliary.

Christian
> Dear Colleagues:
>
>   The function word /bei4/ is viewed as a particle (for the verb) in 
> some cases and as a preposition in others in Chinese linguistics. It 
> is a unique element even as a member of the preposition inventory. 
> That is due to its unique grammaticalization pathway. Let me say a few 
> words to explain it.
>
>     As Chao Li says, /bei4/ originally was a verb denoting 'to 
> suffer'. It can take either a noun (such as pain, insult) or a verb as 
> its object, and the verbal object underwent no change in its verbal 
> form. When /bei4/ takes a verbal argument in Classic Chinese, the 
> argument can be optionally  modified by an agent noun, thus, we have 
> two forms of such 'suffering construction':
>
>   (1)  Jiang4  bei4   sha1.
>        general suffer kill 'The general suffered killing = The general 
> was killed'
>
>   (2) Jiang4  bei4   wang2 sha1.
>       general suffer king kill  'The general suffered the King's 
> killing = The general was killed by the King'
>
> Later, according to some criteria, the above constructions underwent 
> grammaticalization. '/Bei4/' in (1) was reanalyzed as a passive 
> particle (marker) on the verb, while '/bei4/' in (2) was reanalyzed as 
> a preposition, with the possessive agent noun reanalyzed as an oblique 
> agent. This is a unique pathway among Chinese prepositions because 
> most prepositions in Chinese came from verbs occurring in serial verb 
> constructions.
>
>
>   (1) is the source of the so-called short passive sentence in 
> Mandarin while  (2) is the source of the so-called long passive sentence.
>     For the details regarding the grammaticalization of /bei4/, see 
> Zhang, Hongming  1994, The grammaticalization of /bei/ in Chinese,  in 
> /Chinese Languages and Linguistics 2/, ed. by Jen-Kuei Li, Academia 
> Sinica, Taipei.
>
>   Danqing
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On Monday, March 22, 2021, 1:32:25 AM GMT+8, Chao Li 
> <chao.li at aya.yale.edu> wrote:
>
>
> Dear Martin,
>
> It perhaps depends on what you mean by “verb-coded”. For example, in 
> what sense is the English passive construction verb-coded? In a 
> Mandarin sentence like (1), the meaning is passive and crucially it is 
> coded with the passive morpheme /bèi/, which historically could be 
> used as a verb that means “to suffer”. The single argument in (1) can 
> also correspond to the Patient argument of an active sentence like (2) 
> or (3). Moreover, it can be said that the Agent argument gets 
> suppressed in (1). Therefore, it appears reasonable to analyze (1) as 
> a passive construction both Chinese-internally and 
> crosslinguistically. As for whether a /bèi/-construction like (4) can 
> be analyzed as a passive construction that fits the definition, such 
> an analysis is possible if one accepts the (controversial and 
> debatable) assumption that /bèi/ in (4) assumes not only its primary 
> role of being a passive marker but also an additional role of being a 
> preposition.
>
> image.png
>
>
> Best regards,
>
> Chao
>
>
> On Sun, Mar 21, 2021 at 10:07 AM Martin Haspelmath 
> <martin_haspelmath at eva.mpg.de <mailto:martin_haspelmath at eva.mpg.de>> 
> wrote:
>
>     According to my favourite definition of "passive construction",
>     these Mandarin examples are (apparently) not passive constructions:
>
>     "A passive voice construction is a verb-coded valency construction
>     (i) whose sister valency construction is transitive and not
>     verb-coded, and (ii) which has an S-argument corresponding to the
>     transitive P, and (iii) which has a suppressed or oblique-flagged
>     argument corresponding to the transitive A".
>
>     According to this definition, a passive construction "marks both
>     the agent and the verb" (unless the agent is suppressed or
>     otherwise absent). But Ian Joo's question was probably about
>     languages where the SAME marker can occur on the verb and on the
>     oblique agent. This would be very unusual, because passive voice
>     markers are not expected to be similar to an oblique agent flag.
>
>     Now my question is: Are these Mandarin (and Shanghainese)
>     BEI/GEI-constructions passives? They have traditionally been
>     called passives, but since the BEI element is obligatory, while
>     the agent can be omitted (/Zhangsan bei (Lisi) da le/ 'Zhangsan
>     was hit (by Lisi)'), it cannot be a preposition or case prefix. At
>     least that would seem to follow from the definition of
>     "affix/adposition". So I think this construction doesn't fall
>     under a rigorous definition of "passive construction". (Rather, it
>     is a sui generis construction.)
>
>     Some authors might say that it is a "noncanonical passive" (cf.
>     Legate, Julie Anne. 2021. Noncanonical passives: A typology of
>     voices in an impoverished Universal Grammar. /Annual Review of
>     Linguistics/ 7(1). doi:10.1146/annurev-linguistics-031920-114459
>     <https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-linguistics-031920-114459>), but
>     there does not seem to be a clear limit to this vague notion (is
>     every topicalization construction a noncanonical passive?). I do
>     not know of a fully explicit definition of "passive construction"
>     that clearly includes the Mandarin BEI constructions.
>
>     Best wishes,
>     Martin
>
>     Am 28.02.21 um 19:46 schrieb bingfu Lu:
>>     A better example in Mandarin may be:
>>     Zhangsan bei-Lisi     gei-da-le.
>>     Zhangsan PASS-Lisi  PASS-hit-PRF
>>     `Zhangsan was hit by Lisi.'
>>
>>     'bei' is etymologically related to 'suffer' while‘给’ to 'give'.
>>
>>     In fact,
>>     Zhangsan bei-(Lisi)      da-le.
>>     can also change to
>>     Zhangsan gei-(Lisi)      da-le.
>>
>>     Furthermore, in Shanghainese, the PASS is a morpheme homophonic
>>     to the morpheme for 'give'.
>>
>>     regards,
>>     Bingfu Lu
>>     Beijing Language University
>>
>>
>>     On Sunday, February 28, 2021, 10:26:36 PM GMT+8, JOO, Ian
>>     [Student] <ian.joo at connect.polyu.hk>
>>     <mailto:ian.joo at connect.polyu.hk> wrote:
>>
>>
>>     Dear typologists,
>>
>>     I wonder if you are aware of any language whose passive
>>     construction marks both the agent and the verb.
>>     For example, in Mandarin, the agent receives the passive marker
>>     /bei./
>>
>>     (1) Zhangsan bei-Lisi da-le.
>>     Zhangsan PASS-Lisi hit-PRF
>>     `Zhangsan was hit by Lisi.'
>>
>>     When the agent is omitted, the verb receives /bei/.
>>
>>     (2) Zhangsan bei-da-le.
>>     Zhangsan PASS-hit-PRF
>>     `Zhangsan was hit.'
>>
>>     But, in some occasions, both the agent and the verb receive /bei/:
>>
>>     (3) Zhangsan bei-Lisi bei-da-le.
>>     Zhangsan PASS-Lisi PASS-hit-PRF
>>     `Zhangsan was hit by Lisi.'
>>
>>     Are you aware of any other language where a construction like (3)
>>     is possible?
>>     The only one I am aware of at the moment is Vietnamese.
>>     I would greatly appreciate any help.
>>
>>     Regards,
>>     Ian
>>
>>
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>
>     -- 
>     Martin Haspelmath
>     Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
>     Deutscher Platz 6
>     D-04103 Leipzig
>     https://www.shh.mpg.de/employees/42385/25522  <https://www.shh.mpg.de/employees/42385/25522>
>
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Prof. em. Dr. Christian Lehmann
Rudolfstr. 4
99092 Erfurt
Deutschland

Tel.: 	+49/361/2113417
E-Post: 	christianw_lehmann at arcor.de
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