Antipassives in Crosslinguistic Perspective

Abstract

Recent descriptive and typological research on antipassives has allowed many existing claims about antipassives to be reevaluated. Although there is still debate about which characteristics are necessary and sufficient for a construction to be considered an antipassive, it is clear that antipassives indicated by verbal marking are more widespread than previously thought. Parameters such as whether the patient can be expressed as an oblique argument, whether the antipassive is lexically restricted, and whether the antipassive is obligatory are important factors in the distribution and classification of antipassive constructions. Additionally, antipassive functions are more varied than often described, and do not necessarily correlate with morphological or syntactic ergativity.