Passive Constructions (Feature 90)
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Feature Annotation
A construction is classified as a prototypicalpassive construction if it displays the following five properties:
(i) it contrasts with another construction, the active;
(ii) the subject of the active corresponds to a non-obligatory oblique phrase of the passive or is not overtly expressed;
(iii) the direct object of the active (if it has one) corresponds to the subject of the passive;
(iv) the construction is pragmatically restricted in some way relative to the active;
(v) the construction displays some special verbal (morphological or auxiliary-verb) marking.
So a construction that puts the patient in subject position but has no special auxiliary or other marking does not count as a prototypical passive (cf. value 3).
A construction is classified as a non-prototypical passive if it has most of the above properties, but lacks one or two of them.
Note that many languages have ambitransitive verbs, i.e. verbs like English open that can be used both transitively (I opened it) and intransitively (The door opened). Such cases are not (nonprototypical) passives lacking special verbal marking, because they are lexically restricted. Most transitive verbs cannot be used intransitively. If you are unsure whether an alternation in your language is of the ambitransitive sort or a nonprototypical passive, consider agent-oriented verbs like 'wash', 'cut' or 'dig', which cannot possibly be used as simple intransitives (something like "The hole dug", "The shirt washed" must be a kind of passive).
Also, some languages have constructions in which the agent/subject is simply omitted. Such constructions do not count as (nonprototypical) passives either.
If your language has several different passive constructions, you may select several values.
Additional remarks
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Values
| Value | Value Annotation | |
| 1 | There is a prototypical passive construction | Vincentian Creole hi getsting ‘he was stung’; Seychelles Creole Lisyen ti ganny bate ek Tommy [dog PST get beat by Tommy] ‘The dog was beaten by Tommy’. |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | There is no passive construction at all | Chinuk Wawa, Ternateño, Sango (If you select this value, you may not select any other values in addition.) |
| 3 | There is a non-prototypical passive construction lacking verbal marking | Belizean Creole Da moni wan split ina triy. [that money FUT split in three] ‘That money will be divided into three parts’. Haitian Creole Machin lan kraze. ‘The machine was broken’ |
| 4 | There is a passive construction that is non-prototypical in other ways | (Please give details in the “General comments” field.) |
| 5 | Other | (Please give details in the “General comments” field.) |
WALS No.
(107) (Partial)
