Grammatical Voice

by Fernando Zúñiga, Seppo Kittilä

Overview

The grammatical category of voice covers a wide range of phenomena, including causatives, applicatives, passives, antipassives, middles, and others. Drawing on data from over 200 languages, Fernando Zúñiga and Seppo Kittilä illustrate the semantic, morphological, and syntactic variation of voice across languages from a range of families and regions. They approach the topic from a broad and explicit perspective, and discuss a variety of topics that are not always regarded as voice, in order to make a clear and useful conceptual delimitation. Clearly organized and accessibly written, the book will be welcomed by students and scholars of linguistics, especially those interested in how grammatical categories work.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781107159242
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	03/14/2019
Series:	Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics
Pages:	310
Product dimensions:	7.09(w) x 10.00(h) x 0.79(d)

About the Author

Fernando Zúñiga is Professor of Linguistics at the Universität Bern, Switzerland. His research focusses on the qualitative typology of voice and alignment, as well as on benefaction and wordhood issues. He has co-edited numerous books including Typological Hierarchies in Synchrony and Diachrony (2018) with Sonia Cristofaro.

Seppo Kittilä works as a Senior Lecturer in Linguistics at the University of Helsinki. He has published extensively on transitivity and argument marking, and also causatives. He has (co-)edited numerous books on these topics including Benefactives and Malefactives (2010) with Fernando Zúñiga.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction; 2. Changing semantic valency: causatives, applicatives, and related constructions; 3. Changing syntactic valency: passives, antipassives, and related constructions; 4. In search of balance: agent and patient voices; 5. The affected subject: reflexives, reciprocals, and middles; 6. Covert diatheses: uncoded alternations; 7. The fringes of voice; 8. Diachronic aspects of voice; 9. Revisiting voice theory.