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The agentive passive in Slovenian from a corpus pragmatics perspective

ORCiD logo with link | University of Ljubljana
ORCiD logo with link | University of Ljubljana
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Abstract
The agentive passive involves agent demotion; consequently, its use is closely linked to information structure in fixed word-order languages, but its function in flexible word-order languages is less clear. The present corpus-based study examines the use of the agentive passive with the -n/-t participle in Slovenian, a flexible word-order language, focusing on how the register and the semantic and pragmatic factors influence its use. Two reference corpora of contemporary Slovenian were used in the analysis: GOS, comprising spoken discourse, and KRES, comprising mainly written discourse. The results show that the passive with s strani is used more frequently than the traditional passive with od. A cross-register comparison reveals considerable differences in the use of the agentive passive with s strani and od. The findings also reveal that the agentive passive is often used to reduce the responsibility of the agent to avoid assigning blame or to create the impression of objectivity.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Passive and register variation
  • 3.Agentive passive and context
  • 4.The agentive passive in Slovenian
  • 5.The study
    • 5.1Corpus
    • 5.2Method
  • 6.Results
    • 6.1The agentive passive with s strani and od across registers
    • 6.2Semantic and pragmatic factors
      • 6.2.1Speakers’ attitude
      • 6.2.2The type of agent
  • 7.Discussion
  • 8.Conclusions
  • Notes
  • Author queries
  • Bibliography
References (47)
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