Basic English Syntax with Exercises

active voice

1.3.6 Functionally underspecified categories

Note that in the passive structures the nominal following by is interpreted the same as the nominal preceding the verb in the active. It is, of course, the verb which determines how to interpret this nominal, agent in (197a) and recipient in (197b), and hence, presumably, the verb which determines it in the passive examples. If this is so, then by plays no role in the thematic interpretation as this is entirely determined by the verb.

3.2.2.1 D-structure and Theta Theory

It is a long standing assumption that there is a uniformity in Θ-role assignment which links certain Θ-roles to certain positions. The reason why the object is assumed to move in a passive sentence is precisely because of this assumption. In an active sentence the object occupies the object position, following the verb, and so it is assumed that in the passive sentence the argument that is interpreted identically to the object in the active originates from the same position that we see it in in the active:

5.2.4.1 Evidence from passives

Even under a less strict view of the UTAH than we are attempting to keep to here, one would like to assume that the object is generated in the same place in active sentences and their passive counterparts. This has been the assumption since the beginning of generative grammar in the 1950s. Thus, the object is generated in object position in the passive, but moves to the subject position. Presumably the only reason it would do this is to get Case. Thus while in the active structure the object gets Case in object position, this ceases to be a Case position in the passive and hence not only does a passive verb lose its subject, it also loses the accusative Case assigned to its object. Again, these are fairly standard assumptions about the analysis of the passive which have been proposed since the 1980s.

5.2.4.1 Evidence from passives

In all these examples however, the passive verb has the passive morpheme. We can incorporate this into our analysis of the passive making use of an idea presented above, that certain bound morphemes can be analysed as light verbs. Suppose we assume that the passive morpheme is a light verb which replaces the agentive light verb of the active. As the passive light verb does not assign a Θ-role to its subject, it will not be able to assign a Case to the theme in the specifier of the VP and hence this argument will have to move to subject position. Moreover, the bound morpheme status of the passive light verb will force the main verb to move in order to support it:

5.2.4.1 Evidence from passives

A crucial point to make at this point is that this analysis of the passive would simply be unavailable if we supposed that the structure of the active were to be (76) and not (74). Inasmuch as this analysis helps us to understand the passivisation process any better, then, it can be used as evidence in favour of the assumption of (74).

5.2.4.2 Extended projections

Yet if this is so, we still face the problem that the subject of an active transitive verb is interpreted as the subject of that verb and not of some independent abstract light verb. To understand this, it is essential to understand the relationship between light verbs and thematic verbs in general. Recall that the semantic contribution of a light verb to a construction is somewhat reduced from its full thematic usage: