What is antipassive voice?

Definition
	Antipassive voice is a voice in an ergative-absolutive language in which
	a noun phrase that normally has ergative case instead has absolutive case a noun phrase that normally has absolutive case is marked as an oblique or an indirect object, and the salience of the normally absolutive noun phrase is, according to some analysts, decreased.

Discussion
	Antipassive is a kind of valency decreasing operation that results in a very intransitive-like verb. The verb takes on the formal characteristics of intransitive verbs in that language.

Generic
	Antipassive voice is a kind of
	What is voice?

Sources
	Givón 1984 108, 161, 417
	Payne, T. 1997a 219

Context for this page:

Concept module: antipassive voice
In overview module: Glossary (Linguistics): A
In modular book: Glossary of linguistic terms, by Eugene E. Loos (general editor), Susan Anderson (editor), Dwight H., Day, Jr. (editor), Paul C. Jordan (editor), and J. Douglas Wingate (editor)
In bookshelf: Linguistics

This page is an extract from the LinguaLinks Library, Version 5.0 published on CD-ROM by SIL International, 2003. [Ordering information.]

Page content last modified: 5 January 2004

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