Vol. 2:2 (2011) ► pp.198–231
The bei passive and its discourse motivations
This study examines the variation between the active and the bei passive in Mandarin Chinese from a probabilistic perspective. The variables considered include discourse continuity factors and adversity. Two different models were built for the active-agentless passive variation and the active-agentive passive variation. Four factors were found to have significant effect: agent thematicity, patient thematicity, adversity, and referential distance. In contrast, the effect of topic persistence and local environment is not significant. The accuracy of prediction for the active-agentless passive variation is significantly higher than the accuracy for the active-agentive passive variation. Overall, the bei passive, either agentless or agentive, is more likely to be chosen over its active counterpart, if it is adversative, has a non-thematic agent, a thematic patient, and a shorter referential distance for the patient.
https://doi.org/10.1075/cld.2.2.03liu
Cited by
Cited by 6 other publications
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 27 march 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.