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Deconstructing the English passive [[electronic resource] /] / by Anja Wanner



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Autore: Wanner Anja Visualizza persona
Titolo: Deconstructing the English passive [[electronic resource] /] / by Anja Wanner Visualizza cluster
Pubblicazione: Berlin ; ; New York, : Mouton de Gruyter, c2009
Descrizione fisica: 1 online resource (240 p.)
Disciplina: 425
Soggetto topico: English language - Passive voice
Grammar, Comparative and general - Voice
Grammar, Comparative and general - Verb phrase
English language - Discourse analysis
Soggetto non controllato: English /language
passive
Classificazione: HF 318
Note generali: Description based upon print version of record.
Nota di bibliografia: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Nota di contenuto: Frontmatter -- Contents -- Chapter 1. Introduction -- Chapter 2. The English passive and linguistic theory -- Chapter 3. Ingredients of the English passive -- Chapter 4. The implicit agent in English passives -- Chapter 5. The use of the passive in academic discourse: A case study -- Chapter 6. Conclusion -- Backmatter
Sommario/riassunto: This book analyzes the form and function of the English passive from a verb-based point of view. It takes the position that the various surface forms of the passive (with or without thematic subject, with or without object, with or without by-phrase, with or without auxiliary) have a common source and are determined by the interplay of the syntactic properties of the verb and general syntactic principles. Each structural element of the passive construction is examined separately, and the participle is considered the only defining component of the passive. Special emphasis is put on the existence of an implicit argument (ususally an agent) and its representation in the passive. A review of data from syntax, language acquisition, and psycholinguistics shows that the implicit agent is not just a conceptually understood argument. It is argued that it is represented at the level of argument structure and that this is what sets the passive apart from other patient-subject constructions. A corpus-based case study on the use of the passive in academic writing analyzes the use of the passive in this particular register. One of the findings is that about 20-25% of passives occur in constructions that do not require an auxiliary, a result that challenges corpus studies on the use of the passive that only consider full be-passives. It is also shown that new active-voice constructions have emerged that compete with the passive without having a more visible agent. The emergence of these constructions (such as "This paper argues...") is discussed in the context of changes in the rhetoric of scientific discourse. The book is mainly of interest to linguists and graduate students in the areas of English syntax, semantics, and pragmatics.
Titolo autorizzato: Deconstructing the English passive  Visualizza cluster
ISBN: 1-282-29649-3
9786612296499
3-11-019921-1
Formato: Materiale a stampa
Livello bibliografico Monografia
Lingua di pubblicazione: Inglese
Record Nr.: 9910778204703321
Lo trovi qui: Univ. Federico II
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Serie: Topics in English linguistics ; ; 41.