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This page pertains to UD version 2.

Voice: voice

Values: Cau CauCau CauCau CauPass CauPassRcp CauRcp Pass PassPass PassRfl PassRcp Rcp Rfl

Voice is a feature of verbs that helps map the traditional syntactic functions, such as subject and object, to semantic roles, such as agent and patient.

(This feature, as defined currently, cannot correctly handle voice features on Turkish verbs.) The above combinations (of camel-case voice values) are a temporary solution to indicate “multiple voice” features, but they are certainly not the best way to indicate these features. See #197 and #125 for the discussion.

Pass: passive voice

The subject of the verb is affected by the action (patient). The doer (agent) is either unexpressed or it appears as a noun phrase marked with postposition tarafından “by” or suffix -IncA.

In Turkish, a (transitive) verb may get two passive affixes (see below), and intransitive verb may also be passivized. These result in a voice that is called impersonal passive. Similarly a single passive affix on an intransitive verb also indicates impersonal passive. The verb’s valency is reduced to zero with impersonal passives constructions, the verb cannot have a subject.

Examples

PassPass: double passive voice

When two passive suffixes are attached to a transitive verb, typically it indicates an impersonal passive (see the discussion above). However, in some speakers may also use multiple passives for stylistic reasons (even for intransitive verbs), e.g.,

Examples

PassRfl: combination of passive and reflexive voices

This language-specific value indicates that a verb with a reflexive suffix is passivized.

Examples

PassRcp: combination of passive and reciprocal voices

This language-specific value indicates that a verb with a reciprocal suffix is passivized.

Examples

Rcp: reciprocal voice

A reciprocal verb describes an event in which two agents (or groups of agents) perform the same action upon each other.

The reciprocal is expressed by the suffix -Iş however, the verb roots that can become reciprocal is limited.

Examples

Cau: causative voice

In causative constructions the subject is the entity “causing” the action. It generally translate to English as ‘cause/make/have/let/allow’ someone to perform action described by the main verb. Many (lexicalized) verbs that have unrelated roots in other languages are formed are related by the causative suffix in Turkish, e.g., öl- “die” and öl-dür “kill” (to cause someone to die).

Examples

CauCau: double causative voice

Causative suffix is quite productive. Multiple causative suffixes can be attached to a verb, and the number of causative suffixes are theoretically unbounded. In practice, however, the cases where more than two causative suffixes attached to a verb is rather rare. Often, two or more causative suffixes are used for emphasis and do not express multiple levels of causation.

Examples

CauPass: passive causative voice

This language-specific value indicates that a verb has been first causativized, then passivized. The meaning is “the subject was caused (by somebody) to do the action.”

Examples

CauCauPass: passive causative causative voice

This language-specific value indicates that a verb has been first causativized twice, then passivized. The meaning is “the subject was caused (by somebody) to cause (by likely somebody else) do the action.”

Examples

CauRcp: causative reciprocal voice

This language-specific value indicates that a verb with a reciprocal suffix is causativized. The meaning is “the subject was caused (by somebody) to do the action.”

It describes an event in which two agents (or groups of agents) perform the same action upon each other and another entity causes the action.

Examples

CauPassRcp: causative reciprocal passive voice

This language-specific value indicates that a verb with a reciprocal suffix is passivized and causativized. The meaning is “the subject was caused (by somebody) to do the action.”

It describes an event in which two agents (or groups of agents) perform the same action upon each other and another entity causes the action.

Examples

Rfl: reflexive voice

(Currently not in UD)

A verb in reflexive voice expresses an action that the agent of the action performs on himself/herself. This should not be confused with reflexive verbs in some languages where the verb requires a reflexive pronoun (often without a clear role) in the sentence.

The reciprocal is expressed by the suffix -In. Like reciprocal, reflexive is rather unproductive, and a very limited set of verbs can take the reflexive suffix.

Example


Voice in other languages: [abq] [am] [arr] [bej] [bg] [bor] [ceb] [cs] [el] [eme] [en] [fi] [fr] [gn] [gub] [ha] [hu] [hy] [jaa] [ka] [ky] [myu] [qpm] [qtd] [quc] [ru] [sv] [tl] [tpn] [tr] [tt] [u] [uk] [urb] [urj] [xcl]