In
grammar, a circumstantial voice, or circumstantial passive voice, is a
voice that promotes an
oblique argument
In linguistics, an argument is an expression that helps complete the meaning of a predicate, the latter referring in this context to a main verb and its auxiliaries. In this regard, the ''complement'' is a closely related concept. Most predicates ...
of a
verb to the role of
subject
Subject ( la, subiectus "lying beneath") may refer to:
Philosophy
*''Hypokeimenon'', or ''subiectum'', in metaphysics, the "internal", non-objective being of a thing
**Subject (philosophy), a being that has subjective experiences, subjective cons ...
; the underlying subject may then be expressed as an oblique argument. A given language may have several circumstantial voices, each promoting a different oblique argument. One very common circumstantial voice is the ordinary
passive voice, which promotes a
patient to the subject position.
Circumstantials are conceptually similar to
applicatives, which promote obliques to
direct objects. However, applicatives may increase the
valency
Valence or valency may refer to:
Science
* Valence (chemistry), a measure of an element's combining power with other atoms
* Degree (graph theory), also called the valency of a vertex in graph theory
* Valency (linguistics), aspect of verbs re ...
of an
intransitive verb by adding a direct object, while circumstantials cannot.
Circumstantials are found in the
Malagasy language.
References
*
External links
Doug's Circumstantial Passive
Grammatical voices
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