Differences
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user:ptacek:middle-voice [2006/04/04 10:19] (current)
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| | ==The middle voice== |
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| | Some languages (e. g. [[wp>Sanskrit]] and Classical [[wp>Greek language|Greek]]) have a '''middle voice'''. An intransitive verb that appears active but expresses a passive action characterizes the English middle voice. For example, in ''The casserole cooked in the oven'', ''cooked'' is [[wp>syntax|syntactically]] active but [[wp>semantics|semantically]] passive, putting it in the middle voice. In Classical [[wp>Greek language|Greek]], the middle voice is often reflexive, denoting that the subject acts on or for itself, such as "The boy washes himself." or "The boy washes." It can be transitive or intransitive. It can occasionally be used in a causative sense, such as "The father causes his son to be set free." or "The father ransoms his son." |
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| | Many [[wp>deponent verb]]s in [[wp>Latin]] are also survivals of the [[wp>Indo-European]] middle voice; many of these in turn survive as obligatory pseudo-[[reflexive verb]]s in the [[wp>Romance language]]s such as [[wp>French language|French]] and [[wp>Spanish language|Spanish]]. |
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| | ==Other grammatical voices== |
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| | Some languages have even more grammatical voices. For example, in Classic Mongolian language there are five voices: active, passive, causative, reciprocal and cooperative. |
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| | [[wp>Ergative language]]s usually do not have a passive voice, since their syntactic structure does not agree with it; instead some have an [[wp>antipassive voice]] that deletes the object of transitive verbs. |
