Abstract Passivization has been characterized as a strictly morphological phenomenon. Some definitions of passivization even require the passive construction to exhibit special verbal morphology. Increasingly, however, there have been descriptions of languages that have “morphology-free” passive constructions. This paper presents data from Ulwa, a Papuan language of the Sepik region of Papua New Guinea, which forms its passive constructions through a syntactic operation. Specifically, passives are formed through the inversion of subject and predicate. Whereas the canonical transitive active sentence in Ulwa has the basic constituent order SOV, the corresponding passive sentence has the order VS, where the S of the passive corresponds to the O of the active. Agent arguments are optional; when they do appear in passive constructions, they are marked as obliques. The Ulwa data support claims that it is possible for passivization to be a syntactic phenomenon that operates on the level of the clause.

中文翻译：

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通过倒置词序来降级座席

摘要 钝化已被描述为一种严格的形态现象。一些钝化定义甚至要求被动结构表现出特殊的言语形态。然而，越来越多的语言描述了具有“无形态学”被动结构的语言。本文介绍了来自巴布亚新几内亚 Sepik 地区的巴布亚语言 Ulwa 的数据，该语言通过句法操作形成其被动结构。具体来说，被动句是通过主谓倒置形成的。Ulwa 中的规范及物主动句的基本构成顺序为 SOV，而相应的被动句的顺序为 VS，其中被动句的 S 对应主动句的 O。代理参数是可选的；当它们确实出现在被动结构中时，它们被标记为斜线。Ulwa 数据支持声称，钝化可能是一种在子句层面上运作的句法现象。