Keywords - L322.5 F00

Intermediate Syntax

Week 5: Active and Passive Voice and Raising to SP

The passive

• In the passive the internal argument is targeted for prominence--it raises to the subject position: Prom.
• in the active the external argument is raised to subject position: Prom.
• internal argument (usually, the theme) is raised to the subject position.

(19)     Liberace played the piano.

(20)     The piano was played by Liberace.

• Tense is the first operator, relevance the 2nd, and aspect the 3rd we have seen
• Voice is the fourth operator.
• Next tentative step:
•  
• [TENSE [+Past] <[REL [-Perf] <[ASP [-Prog] < [VOICE [+Passive] < PLAY <theme: PIANO> <agent: LIBERACE> ] > ] > ] > ] > ].

The passive--Case lifting

• Following Chomsky's theory, the passive fails to assign Case to the internal argument
• A barrier is inserted which blocks government.
• The idea behind this is that the internal argument is marked as prominent.
• NPs marked as prominent ([+Prom]) are to be raised to the subject position.
• NPs in the subject position are assigned the nominative Case ([+Nom]).
• A general principle will state that NPs cannot be assigned two different Cases.
• The internal argument would be marked for both [-Nom] (form the verb) and [+Nom].
• The barrier blocks Case assignment in the passive, so that only Case will be assigned to the internal argument.

PromP

• Prominence
  • Traditionally called the subject, it marks one of certain NPs as prominent, but it is not related to focus (new information) in English) or preposing (old information).
  • It targets either the internal argument (active voice) or the external argument (passive voice).
    • VP --> V1 + PP
    • V1 --> V + NP.
  • [+Prom]
  • PT (Phrase-Target) is the feature of the target: [±PT]
  • The targeted NP is prominent.
  • The features of the targeted prominent NP are copied to the subject position ([+Prom]).

Course outline.322

Keywords

Keywords 6