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Absence of syntactic passive in creoles: Evidence from French-based Mauritian Creole

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 June 2024

Anand Syea
Anand Syea*
Affiliation:
University of Westminster syeaa@westminster.ac.uk
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Abstract

This article examines passive-type constructions in Mauritian Creole, arguing that they are topic, not passive constructions. I claim that their initial argument (the displaced object) occupies the specifier position of a Topic Phrase, not the structural subject position. This proposal is motivated by the fact that nothing at the surface identifies the displaced object as a grammatical subject, except its position relative to an auxiliary or verb. The topic analysis is supported by both semantic restrictions relating to specificity and animacy and syntactic restrictions relating to distribution (word order) and coordination. It is also supported by the fact that these same restrictions do not apply in unaccusatives, a structurally similar type of construction. The important contribution of this article is that passive-type constructions in Mauritian Creole are ‘apparent’ rather ‘real’ passives, with the wider implication being that creoles, like many languages, do not use canonical passives to express passive meaning.

Résumé

Résumé

Cet article examine les constructions de type passif en créole mauricien, en soutenant qu'il s'agit de constructions topicales et non passives. Je soutiens que leur argument initial (l'objet déplacé) occupe la position de spécifieur d'un syntagme du topique (TopP), et non la position de sujet structurel. Cette proposition est motivée par le fait que rien à la surface n'identifie l'objet déplacé comme étant un sujet grammatical, à l'exception de sa position relative à un auxiliaire ou à un verbe. L'analyse du sujet est soutenue par des restrictions sémantiques relatives à la spécificité et à la catégorie animé/inanimé ainsi que par des restrictions syntaxiques relatives à la distribution (ordre des mots) et à la coordination. Elle est également étayée par le fait que ces mêmes restrictions ne s'appliquent pas aux verbes inaccusatifs, un type de construction structurellement similaire. La contribution importante de cet article est que les constructions de type passif en créole mauricien sont des passives « apparentes » plutôt que des passives « réelles », impliquant que les créoles, comme beaucoup de langues, n'utilisent pas les passives canoniques pour exprimer le sens passif.

Keywords

PassiveTransitive OV constructionstheme topictopicalizationunaccusativePassifsconstructions OV transitivesthèmetopicalisationinaccusatifs
Type
Article
Information
Canadian Journal of Linguistics/Revue canadienne de linguistique , First View , pp. 1 - 29
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Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Linguistic Association/Association canadienne de linguistique 2024

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