СТАТЬЯ "Verb.Voice"
статья по английскому языку на тему

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“Verb. Voice”

1. The verbal category of voice shows the direction of the process as regards the participants of the situation reflected in the syntactic construction.

The voice of the English verb is expressed by the opposition of the passive form of the verb to the active form of the verb. The sign marking, the passive form is the combination of the auxiliary be with the past participle of the conjugated verb. The passive form as the strong member of the opposition expresses reception of the action by the subject of the syntactic construction (i.e. the “passive” subject, denoting the object of the action); the active form as the weak member of the opposition leaves this meaning unspecified, i.e. it expresses “non-passivity”.

In colloquial speech the role of the passive auxiliary can occasionally be performed by the verb get and probably, become. Cf.:

Sam got licked for a good reason, though not by me. The young violinist became admired by all.

The category of voice has a much broader representation in the system of the English verb than in the system of the Russian verb, since in English not only transitive, but also intransitive objective verbs including prepositional ones can be used in the passive (the preposition being retained in the absolutive location). Besides, verbs taking not one, but two objects, as a rule, can feature both of them in the position of the passive subject. E.g.:

        I’ve just been rung up by the police. The diplomat was refused transit facilities through London. She was undisturbed by the frown on his face. Have you ever been told that you’re very good looking? He was said to have been very wild

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in his youth. The dress has never been tried on. The child will be looked after all right. I won’t be talked to like this. Etc.

Still not all the verbs capable of taking an object are actually used in the passive. In particular, the passive is alien to many verbs of the statal subclass (displaying a weak dynamic force), such as have (direct possessive meaning), belong, cost, resemble, fail, misgive, etc. Thus, in accord with their relation to the passive voice, all the verbs can be divided into two large sets: the set of passivized verbs and the set of non-passivized verbs.

A question then should be posed whether the category of voice is a full-representative verbal category, i.e. represented in the system of the verb as a whole, or a partial-representative category, confined only to the passivized verbal set. Considerations of both form and function tend to interpret voice rather as a full-representative category, the same as person, number, tense and aspect. Three reasons can be given to back this appraisal.

First, the integral categorical presentation of non-passivized verbs fully coincides with that of passivized verbs used in the active voice (cf. takes – goes, is taking – is going, has taken – has gone, etc.). Second, the active voice as the weak member of the categorical opposition is characterized in general not by the “active” meaning as such (i.e. necessarily featuring the subject as the doer of the action), but by the extensive non-passive meaning of a very wide range of actual signification, some of them approaching by their process-direction characteristics those of non-passivized verbs (cf. The door opens inside the room; The magaine doesn’t sell well). Third, the demarcation line between the passivized and non-passivized sets is by no means rigid, and the verbs of the non-passivized order may

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migrate into the passivized order in various contextual conditions (cf. The bed has not been slept in; The house seems not to have been lived in for a long time).

Thus, the category of voice should be interpreted as being reflected in the whole system of verbs, the non-passivized verbs presenting the active voice form if not directly, then indirectly.

As a regular categorical form of the verb, the passive voice is combined in the same lexeme with other oppositionally strong forms of the verbal categories of the tense-aspect system, i.e. the past, the future, the continuous, the perfect. But it has a neutralizing effect on the category of development in the forms where the auxiliary be must be doubly employed as a verbid (the infinitive, the present perticiple, the past participle), so that the future continuous passive, as well as the perfect continuous passive are practically not used in speech. As a result, the future continuous active has as its regular counterpart by the voice opposition the future indefinite passive; the perfect continuous active in all the tense-forms has as its regular counterpart the perfect indefinite passive. Cf.:

The police will be keeping an army of reporters at bay. – An army of reporters will be kept at bay by the police. We have been expecting the decision for a long time. – The decision has been expected for a long time.

2. The category of voice differs radically from all the other hitherto considered categories from the point of view of its referential qualities. Indeed, all the previously described categories reflect various characteristics of process, both direct and oblique, as certain facts of reality existing irrespective of the speaker’s reception. For instance, the verbal category of person expresses the personal relation of the process. The verbal number, together with person, expresses its person-numerical relation. The verbal primary time denotes the absolutive timing

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of the process, i.e. its timing in reference to the moment of speech. The category of prospect expresses the timing of the process from the point of view of its relation to the plane of posteriority. Finally, the analysed aspects characterize the respective inner qualiies of the process. So, each of these categories does disclose some actual property of the process denoted by the verb, adding more and more particulars to

the depicted processual situation. But we cannot say the same about the category of voice.

As a matter of fact, the situation reflected by the passive construction does not differ in the least from the situation reflected by the active construction – the nature of the process is preserved intact, the situational participants remain in their places in their unchanged quality. What is changed, then, with the transition from the active voice to the passive voice, is the subjective appraisal of the situation by the speaker, the plane of his presentation of it. It is clearly seen when comparing any pair of constructions one of which is the passive counterpart of the other. Cf.:

The guards dispersed the crowd in front of the Presidential Palace. – The crowd in front of the Presidential Palace was dispersed by the guards.  

In the two constructions, the guards as the doer of the action, the crowd as the recepient of the action are the same; the same also is the place of action, i.e. the space in front of the Palace. The presentation planes, though, are quite different with the respective constructions, they are in fact mutually reverse. Namely, the first sentence, by its functional destination, features the act of the guards, whereas the second sentence, in accord with its meaningful purpose, features the experience of the crowd.

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This property of the category of voice shows its immediate connection with syntax, which finds expression in direct transformational relations between the active and passive constructions.

The said fundamental meaningful difference between the two forms of the verb and the corresponding constructions that are built around them goes with all the concrete connotations specifically expressed by the active and passive presentation of the same event in various situational contexts. In particular, we find the object-experience-featuring achieved by the passive in its typical uses in cases when the subject is unknown or is not to be mentioned for certain reasons, or when the attention of the speaker is centered on the action as such. Cf., respectively:

Another act of terrorism has been committed in Argentina. Dinner was announced, and our conversation stopped. The defeat of the champion was very much regretted.

All the functional distinctions of the passive, both categorical and contextual-connotative, are sustained in its use with verbids.

For instance, in the following passive infinitive phrase the categorical object-experience-featuring is accompanied by the logical accent of the process characterizing the quality of its situational object (expressed by the subject of the passive construction):

This is an event never to be forgotten.

Cf. the corresponding sentence-transform: This event will never be forgotten.

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The gerundial phrase that is given below, conveying the principal categorical meaning of the passive, suppresses the exposition of the indefinite subject of the process:

After being wrongly delivered, the letter found its addressee at last.

Cf. the time-clause transformational equivalent of the gerundial phrase: After the letter had been wrongly delivered, it found its addressee at last.

The following passive participial construction in an absolutive position accentuates the resultative process:

The enemy batteries having been put out of action, our troops continued to push on the offensive.

Cf. the clausal equivalent of the construction: When the enemy batteries had been put out of action, our troops continued to push on the offensive.

The past participle of the objective verb is passive in meaning, and phrases built up by it display all the cited characteristics. E.g.:

Seen from the valley, the castle on the cliff presented a phantastic sight.

Cf. the clausal equivalent of the past participial phrase: When it was seen from the valley, the castle on the cliff presented a phantastic sight.

3. The big problem in connection with the voice identification in English is the problem of "medial" voices, i.e. the functioning of the voice forms in other than the passive or active meanings. All the medial voice uses are effected within the

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functional range of the unmarked member of the voice opposition. Let us consider the following examples:

I will shave and wash, and be ready for breakfast in half an hour. I'm afraid Mary hasn't dressed up yet. Now I see your son is thoroughly preparing for the entrance examinations.

The indicated verbs in the given sentences are objective, transitive, used absolutively, in the form of the active voice. But the real voice meaning rendered by the verb entries is not active, since the actions expressed are not passed from the subject to any outer object; on the contrary, these actions are confined to no other participant of the situation than the subject, the latter constituting its own object of

the action performance. This kind of verbal meaning of the action performed by the subject upon itself is classed as "reflexive". The same meaning can be rendered explicit by combining the verb with the reflexive "self"-pronoun:

I will shave myself, wash myself; Mary hasn't dressed herself up yet; your son is thoroughly preparing himself.

Let us take examples of another kind:

The friends will be meeting tomorrow. Unfortunately, Nellie and Christopher divorced two years after their magnificent marriage. Are Phil and Glen quarrelling again over their toy cruiser?

The actions expressed by the verbs in the above sentences are also confined to the subject, the same as in the first series of examples, but, as different from

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them, these actions are performed by the subject constituents reciprocally: the friends will be meeting one another; Nellie divorced Christopher, and Christopher, in his turn, divorced Nellie; Phil is quarrelling with Glen, and Glen, in his turn, is quarrelling with Phil. This verbal meaning of the action performed by the subjects in the subject group on one another is called “reciprocal”. As is the case with the reflexive meaning, the reciprocal meaning can be rendered explicit by combining the verbs with special pronouns, namely, the reciprocal pronouns: the friends will be meeting one another; Nellie and Christopher divorced each other; the children are quarrelling with each other.

The cited reflexive and reciprocal uses of verbs are open to consideration as special grammatical voices, called, respectively, “reflexive” and “reciprocal”. The reflexive and reciprocal pronouns within the framework of the hypothetical voice identification of the uses in question should be looked upon as the voice auxiliaries.

That the verb forms in the given collocations do render the idea of the direction of situational action is indisputable, and in this sense the considered verbal meanings are those of voice. On the other hand, the uses in question evidently lack a generalizing force necessary for any lingual unit type or combination type to be classed as grammatical. The reflexive and reciprocal pronouns, for their part, are still positional members of the sentence, though phrasemically bound with their notional kernel elements. The inference is that the forms are not grammatical-categorial; they are phrasal-derivative, though grammatically relevant.

The verbs in reflexive and reciprocal uses in combination with the reflexive and reciprocal pronouns may be called, respectively, “reflexivized” and “reciprocalized”. Used absolutively, they are just reflexive and reciprocal variants of their lexemes.

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Subject of reflexivization and recipcalization may be not only natively reflexive and reciprocal lexemic variants, but other verbs as well. Cf:

The professor was arguing with himself, as usual. The parties have been accusing one another vehemently.

To distinguish between the two cases of the considered phrasal-derivative process, the former can be classed as “organic”, the latter as “inorganic” reflexivization and reciprocalization.

The derivative, i.e. lexemic expression of voice meanings may be likened, with due alteration of details, to the lexemic expression of aspective meanings. In the domain of aspectuality we also find derivative aspects, having a set of lexical markers (verbal post-positions) and generalized as limitive and non-limitive.

Alongside the considered two, there is still a third use of the verb in English directly connected with the grammatical voice distinctions. This use can be shown by the following examples:

The new paper-backs are selling excellently. The suggested procedure will hardly apply to all the instances. Large native cigarettes smoked easily and coolly. Perhaps the loin chop will eat better than it looks.

The action expressed by the otherwise transitive verbs in the cited examples are confined to the subject, though not in way of active self-transitive performance, but as if going on of their own accord. The presentation of the verbal action of this type comes under the heading of the “middle” voice.

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However, lacking both regularity and an outer form of expression, it is natural to understand the “middle” voice uses of verbs as cases of neutralizing reduction of the voice opposition. The peculiarity of the voice neutralization of this kind is, that the weak member of opposition used in the position of neutralization does not fully coincide in function with the strong member, but rather is located somewhere in between the two functional borders. Hence, its “middle” quality is truly reflected in its name. Compare the shown middle type neutralization of voice in the infinitive:

She was delightful to look at, witty to talk to – altogether the most charming of companions. You have explained so fully everything there is to explain that there is no need for me to ask questions.

4. Another problem posed by the category of voice and connected with neutralizations concerns the relation between the morphological form of the passive voice and syntactical form of the corresponding complex nominal

 predicate with the pure link be. As a matter of fact, the outer structure of the two combinations is much the same. Cf.:

You may consider me a coward, but there you are mistaken. They were all seized in their homes.

The first of the two examples presents a case of a nominal predicate, the second, a case of a passive voice form. Though the constructions are outwardly alike, there is no doubt as to their different grammatical status. The question is, why?

As is known, the demarcation between the construction types in question is commonly sought on the lines of the semantic character of the constructions.

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 Namely, if the construction expresses an action, it is taken to refer to the passive voice form; if it expresses a state, it is interpreted as a nominal predicate. Cf. another pair of examples:

The door was closed by the butler as softly as could be. The door on the left was closed.

The predicate of the first sentence displays the “passive of action”, i.e. it is expressed by a verb used in the passive voice; the predicate of the second sentence, in accord with the cited semantic interpretation is understood as displaying the passive of state, i.e. as consisting of a link verb and a nominal part expressed by a past participle.

Of course, the factor of semantics as the criterion of the dynamic force of the construction is quite in its place, since the dynamic force itself is the meaningful factor of language. But the “technically” grammatical quality of the construction is determined not by the meaning in isolation; it is determined by the categorical and functional properties of its constituents, first and foremost, its participial part. Thus, if this part, in principle, expresses processual verbality, however statal it may be in its semantic core, then the whole construction should be understood as the case of the finite passive in the categorical sense. E.g.:

The young practitioner was highly esteemed in his district.

If, on the other hand, the participial part of the construction doesn’t convey the idea of processual verbality, in other words, if it has ceased to be a participle

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and is turned into an adjective, then the whole construction is to be taken for a nominal predicate. But in the latter case it is not categorically passive at all.

Proceeding from this criterion, we see that the predicate in the construction “You are mistaken” (the first example in the present paragraph) is nominal simply

by virtue of its notional part being an adjective, not a participle. The corresponding non-adjectival participle would be used in quite another type of the constructions. Cf.:

I was often mistaken by my friend Otto, though I never could tell why.

On the other hand, this very criterion shows us that the categorical status of the predicate in the sentence “The door was closed” is wholly neutralized in so far as it is categorically latent, and only a living context may de-neutralize it both ways. In particular, the context including the by-phrase of the doer (e.g. by the butler) de-neutralizes it into the passive form of the verb; but the context in the following example de-neutralizes it into the adjectival nominal collocation:

The door on the left was closed, and the door on the right was open.

Thus, with the construction in question the context may have both voice-suppressing, “statalizing” effect, and voice-stimulating, “processualizing” effect. It is very interesting to note that the role of processualizing stimulators of the passive can be performed, alongside action-modifying adverbials, also by some categorical forms of the verb itself, namely, by the future, the continuous, and the perfect – i.e. by the forms of the time-aspect order other than the indefinite imperfect past and present. The said contextual stimulators are especially important for limitive verbs,

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since their past participles combine the semantics of processual passive with that of resultative perfect. Cf.:

The fence is painted. – The fence is painted light green. – The fence is to be painted. – The fence will be painted. – The fence has just been painted. – The fence is just being painted.

The fact that the indefinite imperfect past and present are left indifferent to this gradation of dynamism in passive constructions bears one more evidence that the past and present of the English verb constitute a separate grammatical category distinctly different from the expression of the future.

Conclusion:

1.The passive form as the strong member of the opposition expresses reception of the action by the subject of the syntactic construction.;the active form as the weak member of the opposition leaves this meaning unspecified,i.e. it expresses “non-passivity”.

2. The category of voice differs radically from all the other verb categories. All of them reflect various characteristics of process. But the property of the category of voice shows its immediate connection with syntax, which finds

 expression in direct transformational relations between the active and passive constructions.

3.The English Voice has two grammatical categories active and passive which we used to speak about in practical grammar usage. But in reality there are three more grammatical voices in theoretical study –“reflexive”, “reciprocal”, and “middle” ones.

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4. Besides sometimes the category of voice is latent and only the living context may de-neutralize it.

5.All the functional distinctions of the passive, both categorical and contextual-connotative, are sustained in its use in passive.

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 List of the used literature:  

1. Блох М.Я. Теоретическая грамматика английского языка – М.: Высш.шк., 2000. – 381 c.
2.  Качалова К.Н., Израилевич Е.Е.  Практическая грамматика английского языка – М.: Внешторгиздат, 1960. – 732 с.
3. Словарь иностранных слов/ под ред. Лёхина И.В. и проф. Петрова Ф.Н. – М.: Государственное издательство иностранных и национальных словарей, 1954. – 856 с.