40 лет Санкт-Петербургской типологической школе

(29a) Supata bešesvarena na fix ogăn

soup.theWas boil.PF.PPP on low fire

«The soup is being cooked over slow heat».

(29b) Supata se svari *(ot decata)

soup.the REFL boil.PF.AOR.3SG (by children)

«The soup is cooked»

In Serbo-Croatian, the aspectual difference is not very strong. Yet, (30a), unlike (30b), does not express a resultative state, but refers to an interrupted process bounded by the adverbial time limit «two months»:

(30a) Kuća se gradila dva mjeseca (*ljudimi)

house REFL built.PAST.3SG two months (people.INSTR)

«The house was built in two months».

(30b) Kuća jegradena dva mjeseca (*ljudimi)

house is built.IMPF.PPP two months (people.INSTR)

«The construction of the house lasted two months».

In the following example, the aspectual constraints are context sensitive; the context does not allow the use of the periphrastic passive, only the reflexive passive:

Bulgarian

(31) V kăsti nastana panika. Točexa se

happen.PF.AOR spread dougb.[MPF.IMP REFL

banici, varjaxa se pileta, dve-tri kokoški s otsečeni

pastry boil.IMPF.IMP REFL chicken

glavi se vărgaljaxa sred dvora

REFL lie.IMPF.IMP

«Panic spread in the house. Pastry was being made, chickens were being boiled, two or three hens lay, with their heads cut, right in the middle of the yard».

In (31) the perfective aorist denotes an event. The three reflexive imperfects occur within the boundaries of this event: the first two točexa se and varjaxa se both express iteration (an open class of events), the third se vărgaljaxa refers to a stative situation (a descriptive state). The iterative interpretation is selected by various factors: the presence of a perfective aorist, some nominal groups without any determination marker, the semantic properties of the verbs in the imperfect form.

I leave aside the impersonal reflexive passive constructions which imply various modal shades of meaning (32a) and the impersonal constructions with — no/-to (neuter) participle associated with an intransitive verb (32b):

Bulgarian

(32a) Po trevata ne se xodi

on grass.the NEG REFL walk.PRES

«One doesn't walk on the grass».

(32b) Po trevata estxodeno

on grass.the is walk.IMPF.PPP

«One walked on the grass».

4. Conclusion

I have tried to show that the differences between the periphrastic passives and the reflexive passives is mostly aspectual; the use of the periphrastic passive is more constrained than that of the reflexive passive, since its value is based on the notion of resultative state. The interpretation of the periphrastic passive, as either a resultative state or a dynamic event, depends on various factors: 1. the aspectual properties of the participle (since it is derived from a verbal lexeme, the — n/-t participle inherits the aspectual characteristics of the lexical type of the verb); 2. the temporal paramétré borne by the auxiliary; 3. the construction of the predicate; 4. the adverbial phrases licensed in the construction; 5. the discourse context of the utterance, by which the speaker may chose to highlight one of the possible representations of a referential situation.

Abbreviations

References

Barakova P. Semantika i distribucija na pasivnite konstrukcii v săvremennija bălgarski knižoven ezik // Izvestija na Instituta za bălgarski ezik. 1980. № 24.

Comrie B. Aspect, an introduction to the study of verbal aspect and related problems. London; N. Y., 1976.

Comrie B. Aspect and voice: some reflections on perfect and passive// Ph. J. Tadeschi, A. Zaenen (eds). Tense and Aspect N. Y. etc., 1981. (Syntax & Semantics, 14).

Desclés J.-P. & Guentchéva Z. Le passif dans le système des voix du français // Gross G. (éd.). Sur le passif. Langages 109. Paris, 1993.

Khrakovskij VS. — Храковский В. С. Пассивные конструкции // Теория функциональной грамматики: Персональность. Залоговость. СПб., 1991.