[B-Greek] Voice: Distinguishing a Middle from a Passive
Carl Conrad
cwconrad2 at mac.com
Sat Nov 10 17:02:26 EST 2007
On Nov 10, 2007, at 4:07 PM, Mitch Larramore wrote:
> Kimmo said:
>
>> I doubt that transitivity will solve the issue of
> distinguishing
>> between
>> middles and passives. Ultimately the question is not
> a Greek
>> question but a
>> linguistics terminology question.
>
> Dr. Conrad said:
>
> Yes, I think this is true -- more of
> EKPLHSSW/EKPLHSSOMAI than of MHKUNOMAI. In the case
> of MHKUNOMAI the middle seems to be the fundamental
> form while the active is causative (BDAG says "make
> grow long" -- even the English gloss seems to
> indicate that the active form is secondary!). There
> are a number of verbs involving spontaneous process
> like MHKUNOMAI, e.g. SHPOMAI, "rot"; it would be hard
> to see these as passive, XHRAINOMAI "wither", where
> there's an active XHRAINW "cause to wither."
>
> May I ask what is the relationship between
> 'transitivity' and 'voice?' Because, it seems to me
> that only sometimes does a Middle verb have an object
> different than itself.
I don't have a count, but my guess would be that more middle verbs are
intransitive than those that are transitive; intransitive verbs don't
have objects. On the other hand, quite a few middle verbs are
transitive and indirect reflexives. Again, I'd refer you back to my
October 16 post cited in my earlier message today.
Egbert J. Bakker has a very nice, well-nuanced study of the
relationship between transitivity and voice (and Aktionsart):
Egbert J. Bakker, “Voice, Aspect and Aktionsart: Middle and Passive in
Ancient Greek” in Barbara A. Fox, Paul J. Hopper, edd., Voice: Form
and function (Typological Studies in Language 27) (Amsterdam/
Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company, 1994), pp. 23-47.
Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Retired)
1989 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(828) 675-4243
cwconrad at ioa.com or cwconrad2 at mac.com
WWW: http://www.ioa.com/~cwconrad/
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