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.

Autorentext

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.

Inhalt
Acknowledgements List of Figures List of Tables List of Abbreviations Introduction Be -passive: Overview and Aspectual Change Components of Be -passive and their Historical Change Functions of Be -passive Be -passive: Functional Changes and Voice Continuum Get -passive Passive Diathesis Quasi-passive Conclusion Bibliography Appendices Index