none 10.1075/vargreb.2.08hol John Benjamins Publishing Company John Benjamins Publishing Company 1757 76805137 1954477 1516631 202507031752000044 10.1075 2025-07-03T11:52:29Z 2015-07-27T12:22:06Z 1 2352-0159 10.1075/vargreb https://benjamins.com/ catalog/vargreb Axel Holvoet University of Warsaw & Vilnius University https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1744-5893 Nicole Nau Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan & Vilnius University https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5527-535X The second volume in the VARGReB series deals with voice in the wider sense, encompassing both alternations that preserve semantic valency, with passives as the most typical instance, and valency-changing devices such as the causative. Regarding the former, special attention is given to event-structural conditions on passivization, non-canonical passives, and the relation between passives and (active) impersonals. Papers dealing with causatives focus on valency patterns and argument marking in canonical as well as extended uses of causative morphology. Other articles consider converse constructions and the argument structure of middles, which seem to hold a position between voice in the narrow sense and valency-changing operations. An introductory article provides background information on the repertoire of voice alternations in Baltic from a cross-linguistic perspective. Representing different approaches and methods, the contributions to this volume offer fine-grained analyses of data from contemporary Latvian and Lithuanian. 2 8 5 2015 7 27 2015 9789027259103 9789027267955 John Benjamins Publishing Company Amsterdam 10.1075/vargreb.2 http://www.jbe-platform.com/content/books/9789027267955 https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1075/vargreb.2/html https://www.jbe-platform.com/deliver/fulltext/9789027267955.pdf Axel Holvoet https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1744-5893 The present article discusses the nature of the Latvian passive and, more specifically, the impersonal passive. It is argued that Latvian has indeed an impersonal passive that shows no signs of turning into an active impersonal, a development that has occurred in the history of Polish and could be an ongoing process in contemporary Lithuanian. Several lexical restrictions on the derivation of the Latvian constructions under discussion shows that they are indeed impersonal passives rather than active impersonals. Conspicuously absent, however, is a ban on the passivization of unaccusatives, as we find it in a number of languages that have a typical impersonal passive. It is suggested that the rise of an evidential passive might have played a certain role in the lifting of the restrictions on the passivization of unaccusatives in Baltic. 8 5 2015 7 27 2015 367 394 10.1075/vargreb.2.08hol https://benjamins.com/catalog/vargreb.2.08hol https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1075/vargreb.2.08hol/html Lithuanian Grammar Ambrazas 1997 10.1017/S0022226703002081 Latviešu valodas kultūras jautājumi Ceplīte 21 134 1985 Neaizmirsīsim lietot ciešamo kārtu [Let’s not forget to use the passive] Chicago Linguistic Society Comrie 11 112 1975 The antiergative: Finland’s answer to Basque Ergativity Dixon 1993 Lettische Grammatik Endzelin 1923 10.1016/0024-3841(82)90036-5 10.1017/s0022226700010434 10.1515/9783110802610.563 10.1075/tsl.46.04has Linguistica Baltica Holvoet 4: 153 1995 Indefinite zero subjects in Latvian 10.1075/slcs.55.04hol 10.1075/cilt.254.13hol Mood and Modality in Baltic Holvoet 2007 10.1075/la.96.07kai Language Typology and Syntactic Description vol. 1, Clause Structure Keenan 2 325 2007 10.1017/CBO9780511619427.006 Passive in the world’s languages In Chicago Linguistic Society Lavine 42 41 2006 Is there a passive evidential strategy in Lithuanian? Baltic Linguistics Lavine 1 115 2010 10.32798/bl.437 Mood and a transitivity restriction in Lithuanian: The case of the inferential evidential Baltistica Litvinow 25 2 146 1989 Der Modus relativus baltischer Sprachen aus typologischer Sicht Berkeley Linguistics Society Perlmutter 4 157 1978 Impersonal passives and the Unaccusative Hypothesis 10.2307/414491 10.1075/tsl.16.03shi World Atlas of Linguistic Structures Siewierska 434 2005 Passive constructions 10.1075/slcs.124.03sie The Linguistic Review Stowell 2 385 1983. Subjects across categories Berkeley Linguistics Society Timberlake 8 508 1982 The impersonal passive in Lithuanian 10.2307/414886 10.1007/978-94-011-1972-6_9