Mediopassive voice
Encyclopedia
The mediopassive voice is a grammatical voice which subsumes the meanings of both the middle voice and the passive voice
.
Languages of the Indo-European
family (and many others) typically have two or three voices of the three: active, middle, and passive. "Mediopassive" may be used to describe a category that covers both the middle (or "medium") and the passive voice. In synchronic grammars, the mediopassive voice is often simply termed either "middle" (typical for grammars of e.g. Ancient Greek
) or "passive" (typical for grammars of e. g. modern Danish
).
In the oldest Indo-European languages, the distinction active/middle was the most important, while the development in later languages has generally been to replace the old distinction with (or reinterpret it as) an active/passive distinction (e.g. modern English: to tease / to be teased). The Proto-Indo-European language
itself is typically reconstructed as having two voices, active and mediopassive, where the middle-voice element in the mediopassive voice was dominant. Ancient Greek also had a mediopassive in the present, imperfect, perfect, and pluperfect tenses
, but in the aorist
and future tenses the mediopassive voice was replaced by two voices, one middle and one passive. Modern Greek
and Albanian
have only mediopassive in all tenses.
Nevertheless, in some languages the middle or mediopassive still shows some presence, as in the examples below from two separate branches of the Indo-European languages (in Spanish, which is a Romance language
, with periphrastic
forms, and in Scandinavian with fully inflected forms). Significantly, the forms in both Spanish and Scandinavian are historically derived from periphrastic constructions involving the verb and the reflexive pronoun
, so that the development seems to be similar to the ancient shift from an original (predominantly) medial voice to a later (predominantly) passive one.
The book reads well.
The trousers wash easily.
Ripe oranges peel well.
This form is hardly ever used in English with the active voice
or passive.
is an example of a modern language with a mediopassive voice, normally indicated by the use of a reflexive pronoun. This can variously have a middle-voice meaning (subject acting onto itself, or for its own benefit) or a passive-voice meaning (something acts onto the subject). An example sentence is El padre se enojó cuando su hijo rompió la lámpara. The English translation is "The father got angry when his son broke the lamp." The verb se enojó is said to be mediopassive because it comprises the reflexive pronoun se and the simple verb enojó, which together literally mean "angered himself." This would be literally translated "The father angered himself when his son broke the lamp."
Pragmatics
quickly rejects the middle-voice meaning for the intended mediopassive-voice meaning, translated above as "got angry," because the mediopassive voice is rarely used. Some other Spanish verbs that exhibit this property are molestarse (to be bothered) and entristecerse (to get sad).
and other Slavic languages
are very similar in this respect to Spanish, employing the same constructs with the passive/reflexive particle se: Otac se razljutio kad je njegov sin razbio svjetiljku. This would be again literally translated "The father angered himself when his son broke the lamp." Similar constructs are Svjetiljka se razbila "The lamp broke" and Vrata su se zatvorila "The door closed." However, not all verbs permit such use.
The (medio)passive is used when one is unable or does not want to express the actor: Čaša se razbila "The glass broke", implying it "just happened", almost "on its own".
The examples below are from Danish
, but the situation is the same in Swedish
and Norwegian
. The passive use of the Danish mediopassive is probably predominant, but the medial use is quite frequent as well. Here are examples of sub-categories of the middle voice.
. Modern Armenian has retained some of these active/mediopassive pairs, but the distinction between the two voices is no longer productive.
Passive voice
Passive voice is a grammatical voice common in many of the world's languages. Passive is used in a clause whose subject expresses the theme or patient of the main verb. That is, the subject undergoes an action or has its state changed. A sentence whose theme is marked as grammatical subject is...
.
Languages of the Indo-European
Indo-European languages
The Indo-European languages are a family of several hundred related languages and dialects, including most major current languages of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and South Asia and also historically predominant in Anatolia...
family (and many others) typically have two or three voices of the three: active, middle, and passive. "Mediopassive" may be used to describe a category that covers both the middle (or "medium") and the passive voice. In synchronic grammars, the mediopassive voice is often simply termed either "middle" (typical for grammars of e.g. Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek is the stage of the Greek language in the periods spanning the times c. 9th–6th centuries BC, , c. 5th–4th centuries BC , and the c. 3rd century BC – 6th century AD of ancient Greece and the ancient world; being predated in the 2nd millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek...
) or "passive" (typical for grammars of e. g. modern Danish
Danish language
Danish is a North Germanic language spoken by around six million people, principally in the country of Denmark. It is also spoken by 50,000 Germans of Danish ethnicity in the northern parts of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, where it holds the status of minority language...
).
In the oldest Indo-European languages, the distinction active/middle was the most important, while the development in later languages has generally been to replace the old distinction with (or reinterpret it as) an active/passive distinction (e.g. modern English: to tease / to be teased). The Proto-Indo-European language
Proto-Indo-European language
The Proto-Indo-European language is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European languages, spoken by the Proto-Indo-Europeans...
itself is typically reconstructed as having two voices, active and mediopassive, where the middle-voice element in the mediopassive voice was dominant. Ancient Greek also had a mediopassive in the present, imperfect, perfect, and pluperfect tenses
Grammatical tense
A tense is a grammatical category that locates a situation in time, to indicate when the situation takes place.Bernard Comrie, Aspect, 1976:6:...
, but in the aorist
Aorist
Aorist is a philological term originally from Indo-European studies, referring to verb forms of various languages that are not necessarily related or similar in meaning...
and future tenses the mediopassive voice was replaced by two voices, one middle and one passive. Modern Greek
Modern Greek
Modern Greek refers to the varieties of the Greek language spoken in the modern era. The beginning of the "modern" period of the language is often symbolically assigned to the fall of the Byzantine Empire in 1453, even though that date marks no clear linguistic boundary and many characteristic...
and Albanian
Albanian language
Albanian is an Indo-European language spoken by approximately 7.6 million people, primarily in Albania and Kosovo but also in other areas of the Balkans in which there is an Albanian population, including western Macedonia, southern Montenegro, southern Serbia and northwestern Greece...
have only mediopassive in all tenses.
Nevertheless, in some languages the middle or mediopassive still shows some presence, as in the examples below from two separate branches of the Indo-European languages (in Spanish, which is a Romance language
Romance languages
The Romance languages are a branch of the Indo-European language family, more precisely of the Italic languages subfamily, comprising all the languages that descend from Vulgar Latin, the language of ancient Rome...
, with periphrastic
Periphrasis
In linguistics, periphrasis is a device by which a grammatical category or grammatical relationship is expressed by a free morpheme , instead of being shown by inflection or derivation...
forms, and in Scandinavian with fully inflected forms). Significantly, the forms in both Spanish and Scandinavian are historically derived from periphrastic constructions involving the verb and the reflexive pronoun
Reflexive pronoun
A reflexive pronoun is a pronoun that is preceded by the noun, adjective, adverb or pronoun to which it refers within the same clause. In generative grammar, a reflexive pronoun is an anaphor that must be bound by its antecedent...
, so that the development seems to be similar to the ancient shift from an original (predominantly) medial voice to a later (predominantly) passive one.
Usage of the mediopassive
The mediopassive can have many meanings depending on the context of the sentence.- Reflexive mediopassive. In Proto-Indo-European and the languages that descend from it, verbs which also had an active form could use the mediopassive in a reflexive sense, e.g. "I wash (myself)". This reflexive sense could also carry a sense of benefaction for the subject, as in the sentence "I sacrificed a goat (for my own benefit)." These constructions would have used the active form of "sacrificed" when the action was performed for some reason other than the subject's benefit.
- Reciprocal mediopassive. The mediopassive can also be used in a reciprocal sense, e.g. "to fight" (with active) vs. "to fight each other" (with mediopassive).
- Autocausative mediopassive describes situations where the subject causes itself to change state.
- In stative verbStative verbA stative verb is one that asserts that one of its arguments has a particular property . Statives differ from other aspectual classes of verbs in that they are static; that is, they have undefined duration...
s. Some languages always used the mediopassive with verbs relating to standing, sitting, reclining, being afraid, being ashamed, and being pleased which did not have an active form. - Intensive mediopassive. Classical Greek also used the mediopassive in an intensive sense, e.g. "to be a citizen" (with active) vs. "to do the duties of being a citizen" (with middle).
- In deponent verbDeponent verbIn linguistics, a deponent verb is a verb that is active in meaning but takes its form from a different voice, most commonly the middle or passive. A deponent verb doesn't have active forms; it can be said to have deposited them .-Greek:...
s. Greek and Sanskrit both had the verb "to follow" in the mediopassive only. Latin had the form sequitur ("He follows". -Tur is the mediopassive present 3rd person singular from PIE *-tor) with the same usage. In all three languages the word "to follow" came from the same Proto-Indo-European root. - The mediopassive was combined with the subjunctive to form the future tense of the verb "to be" in Classical Greek.
- The mediopassive can also be used as a passive form, especially when the mediopassive endings are combined with a specialized passive verb. This was very common in Sanskrit.
Examples of the mediopassive
These are a few examples of mediopassive constructions in English:The book reads well.
The trousers wash easily.
Ripe oranges peel well.
This form is hardly ever used in English with the active voice
Active voice
Active voice is a grammatical voice common in many of the world's languages. It is the unmarked voice for clauses featuring a transitive verb in nominative–accusative languages, including English and most other Indo-European languages....
or passive.
Spanish
SpanishSpanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
is an example of a modern language with a mediopassive voice, normally indicated by the use of a reflexive pronoun. This can variously have a middle-voice meaning (subject acting onto itself, or for its own benefit) or a passive-voice meaning (something acts onto the subject). An example sentence is El padre se enojó cuando su hijo rompió la lámpara. The English translation is "The father got angry when his son broke the lamp." The verb se enojó is said to be mediopassive because it comprises the reflexive pronoun se and the simple verb enojó, which together literally mean "angered himself." This would be literally translated "The father angered himself when his son broke the lamp."
Pragmatics
Pragmatics
Pragmatics is a subfield of linguistics which studies the ways in which context contributes to meaning. Pragmatics encompasses speech act theory, conversational implicature, talk in interaction and other approaches to language behavior in philosophy, sociology, and linguistics. It studies how the...
quickly rejects the middle-voice meaning for the intended mediopassive-voice meaning, translated above as "got angry," because the mediopassive voice is rarely used. Some other Spanish verbs that exhibit this property are molestarse (to be bothered) and entristecerse (to get sad).
Croatian
CroatianCroatian language
Croatian is the collective name for the standard language and dialects spoken by Croats, principally in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Serbian province of Vojvodina and other neighbouring countries...
and other Slavic languages
Slavic languages
The Slavic languages , a group of closely related languages of the Slavic peoples and a subgroup of Indo-European languages, have speakers in most of Eastern Europe, in much of the Balkans, in parts of Central Europe, and in the northern part of Asia.-Branches:Scholars traditionally divide Slavic...
are very similar in this respect to Spanish, employing the same constructs with the passive/reflexive particle se: Otac se razljutio kad je njegov sin razbio svjetiljku. This would be again literally translated "The father angered himself when his son broke the lamp." Similar constructs are Svjetiljka se razbila "The lamp broke" and Vrata su se zatvorila "The door closed." However, not all verbs permit such use.
The (medio)passive is used when one is unable or does not want to express the actor: Čaša se razbila "The glass broke", implying it "just happened", almost "on its own".
North Germanic (Scandinavian)
The mediopassive is found in some contemporary Scandinavian languages like Danish, Swedish, and Norwegian (while for example Icelandic keeps up a formal distinction between the middle and the passive).The examples below are from Danish
Danish language
Danish is a North Germanic language spoken by around six million people, principally in the country of Denmark. It is also spoken by 50,000 Germans of Danish ethnicity in the northern parts of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, where it holds the status of minority language...
, but the situation is the same in Swedish
Swedish language
Swedish is a North Germanic language, spoken by approximately 10 million people, predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, especially along its coast and on the Åland islands. It is largely mutually intelligible with Norwegian and Danish...
and Norwegian
Norwegian language
Norwegian is a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Norway, where it is the official language. Together with Swedish and Danish, Norwegian forms a continuum of more or less mutually intelligible local and regional variants .These Scandinavian languages together with the Faroese language...
. The passive use of the Danish mediopassive is probably predominant, but the medial use is quite frequent as well. Here are examples of sub-categories of the middle voice.
- Reflexive: "Jeg mindes min ungdom" ("I remember my youth"/"I'm reminded of my youth"). The form mindes is usually called passive, but the meaning is medial. The present active minder means "remind(s)". Historically, mindes is a contraction of the active forms and the reflexive pronoun: hun minder sig ("she reminds herself") → hun mindes ("she remembers"). "She" is both the agent and the patient, so the expression works in much the same way as reflexive middle forms of ancient indo-European languages like Greek and Sanskrit.
- Reciprocal: "Vi ses" is the everyday expression equivalent in Danish to the English "See you." The present active is "vi ser" (we see); the mediopassive (commonly called passive) form is historically derived thus: de ser sig ("they see themselves") → de ses ("they are seen" or "they see themselves/see each other"). The third person forms have since been generalized by analogy to the first and second person, and as the future progressive is often expressed with simple present in Danish, the meaning is, "We'll be seeing each other."
- Autocausative: "Han glædes over sin gave" ("He gets/is happy with his gift"), from "Han glæder sig over sin gave".
Armenian
Classical Armenian had a mediopassive form which was marked by changing the verb's thematic vowel instead of with a unique conjugation like in other Indo-European languagesIndo-European languages
The Indo-European languages are a family of several hundred related languages and dialects, including most major current languages of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and South Asia and also historically predominant in Anatolia...
. Modern Armenian has retained some of these active/mediopassive pairs, but the distinction between the two voices is no longer productive.