How do middle voice markers and valency reducing constructions interact? Typological tendencies and diachronic considerations

Abstract: Middle voice markers are highly polyfunctional items that, among other things, also perform a range of valency-changing operations such as anticausativization and reflexivization. Typological research has shown that individual markers display a great deal of variation with respect to their inventory of functions. Explaining this variation remains a key question that a comprehensive typology of middle markers needs to address. We now know that only a sub-set of the possible polyfunctionality patterns is actually attested and that existing patterns often represent the result of specific grammaticalization processes. In this paper, I explore yet another possible factor, that is, the interaction between middle markers and other valency-changing constructions within the same language. Based on a study of 129 middle-marking languages, I single out two recurrent patterns, that is, complementarity and competition, and argue that their study offers crucial insights in explaining the synchronic polyfunctionality of middle markers.

Object Details

• Location: Deutsche Nationalbibliothek Frankfurt am Main
• Extent: Online-Ressource
• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: How do middle voice markers and valency reducing constructions interact? Typological tendencies and diachronic considerations ; volume:56 ; number:2 ; year:2022 ; pages:239-271 ; extent:033 ; Folia linguistica ; 56, Heft 2 (2022), 239-271 (gesamt 033)

Contributors, Places and Time

• Creator: Inglese, Guglielmo

Further information

• DOI: 10.1515/flin-2022-2019
• URN: urn:nbn:de:101:1-2022100714243420781592
• Rights: Open Access; Der Zugriff auf das Objekt ist unbeschränkt möglich.
• Last update: 15.08.2025, 7:37 AM CEST