Pseudo-passive
Encyclopedia
Pseudo-passive is a grammatical category
that describes the relationship between the action and the participants identified by its argument to their thematic relations. It is common in spoken English
. Thus, when the subject is the patient, target or undergoer of the action, it is said to be in the passive voice.
However, as a voice of the passivization only occurs when the PATIENT (or other objects of a grammatical encoding in general) is mapped to SUBJECT in lexical mapping from OBJECT of a grammatical encoding, the pseudo-passives are called false passives.
and object
relations of arguments in passivized thematic relations, the descriptiveness of pseudo-passive in TG
is out of context as to its theta role
.
It is shown that the direct object
position in this construction is restricted to NPs that lack Deep structure
level projections. As a result, the direct object can only receive a non-specific interpretation, resists certain types of modification, extraction, and scope interactions
For the majority of linguists the determining factor in TG is transitivity; claiming that if a clause is transitive it can be passivized. Accordingly, if passive voice is chosen, the person or thing becomes an affected participant of the action (theme). And that the passive constructions have the following characteristics:
For some linguists stative passives qualify as passive only if the passive is defined either in terms of the semantic role of the subject. However, the ambiguity is manifested in copula "be" as being the polysemy
of corresponding of adjectives (past participle).
Grammatical category
A grammatical category is a semantic distinction which is reflected in a morphological paradigm. Grammatical categories can have one or more exponents. For instance, the feature [number] has the exponents [singular] and [plural] in English and many other languages...
that describes the relationship between the action and the participants identified by its argument to their thematic relations. It is common in spoken English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
. Thus, when the subject is the patient, target or undergoer of the action, it is said to be in the passive voice.
However, as a voice of the passivization only occurs when the PATIENT (or other objects of a grammatical encoding in general) is mapped to SUBJECT in lexical mapping from OBJECT of a grammatical encoding, the pseudo-passives are called false passives.
Form
The pseudo-passive is formed with have or get + an object + the participle of the verbExamples
- Ancient Egyptians had their cats respected.
- Do Asians have their cows respected today?
Generatives
As it is assumed (incorrectly) as the transformation of subjectSubject (grammar)
The subject is one of the two main constituents of a clause, according to a tradition that can be tracked back to Aristotle and that is associated with phrase structure grammars; the other constituent is the predicate. According to another tradition, i.e...
and object
Object (grammar)
An object in grammar is part of a sentence, and often part of the predicate. It denotes somebody or something involved in the subject's "performance" of the verb. Basically, it is what or whom the verb is acting upon...
relations of arguments in passivized thematic relations, the descriptiveness of pseudo-passive in TG
Transformational grammar
In linguistics, a transformational grammar or transformational-generative grammar is a generative grammar, especially of a natural language, that has been developed in the Chomskyan tradition of phrase structure grammars...
is out of context as to its theta role
Theta role
In generative grammar , a theta role or θ-role is the formal device for representing syntactic argument structure required syntactically by a particular verb. For example, the verb put requires three arguments...
.
It is shown that the direct object
Object (grammar)
An object in grammar is part of a sentence, and often part of the predicate. It denotes somebody or something involved in the subject's "performance" of the verb. Basically, it is what or whom the verb is acting upon...
position in this construction is restricted to NPs that lack Deep structure
Deep structure
In linguistics, specifically in the study of syntax in the tradition of generative grammar , the deep structure of a linguistic expression is a theoretical construct that seeks to unify several related structures. For example, the sentences "Pat loves Chris" and "Chris is loved by Pat" mean...
level projections. As a result, the direct object can only receive a non-specific interpretation, resists certain types of modification, extraction, and scope interactions
For the majority of linguists the determining factor in TG is transitivity; claiming that if a clause is transitive it can be passivized. Accordingly, if passive voice is chosen, the person or thing becomes an affected participant of the action (theme). And that the passive constructions have the following characteristics:
- a) the subject of the passive clause is a direct object in the corresponding active clause
- b) the subject of the active clause is expressed in the form of an agentive or agentive adjunct
For some linguists stative passives qualify as passive only if the passive is defined either in terms of the semantic role of the subject. However, the ambiguity is manifested in copula "be" as being the polysemy
Polysemy
Polysemy is the capacity for a sign or signs to have multiple meanings , i.e., a large semantic field.Charles Fillmore and Beryl Atkins’ definition stipulates three elements: the various senses of a polysemous word have a central origin, the links between these senses form a network, and ...
of corresponding of adjectives (past participle).