Diachronic Change in the English Passive

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xviii

   PDF

2. Introduction

   • Junichi Toyota

   Pages 1-7

3. Be-passive: Overview and Aspectual Change

   • Junichi Toyota

   Pages 8-50

4. Components of be-passive and their Historical Change

   • Junichi Toyota

   Pages 51-93

5. Functions of be-passive

   • Junichi Toyota

   Pages 94-114

6. Functional Change and Voice Continuum

   • Junichi Toyota

   Pages 115-147

7. Get-passive

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   Pages 148-184

8. Passive Diathesis

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   Pages 185-218

9. Quasi-passive

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   Pages 219-237

10. Conclusion

    • Junichi Toyota

    Pages 238-245

11. Back Matter

    Pages 246-286

    PDF

In this coherent historical development of the passive voice in English, the main argument deals not only with the passive per se, but also with its related constructions, which can play vital parts in identifying both functional and structural motivations for creating the passive.

• diachronic
• Index
• passive
• passive voice

• Lund University, Sweden

  Junichi Toyota

JUNICHI TOYOTA  is a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Lund, Sweden. His research interests cover a wide range of disciplines, including linguistics, anthropology and cognitive science. His publications are mainly focused on historical linguistics and cognitive linguistics, but also deal with evolution of human linguistic ability.

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