Semantic Factors of Passiveness of Morphological Causative Verbs

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Department of Linguistics, Faculty of Humanities, Jahrom University, Jahrom, Iran

2 Linguistic Department, Humanities Faculty, Semnan University, Semnan, Iran

Abstract

The present study aims to investigate the semantic factors affecting the passivizability of 66 morphological causative verbs in Persian (based on the list provided by Dabir-Moghaddam.The research adopts a descriptive-analytical method, and the data were collected and analyzed using the "past participle + shod" passive construction test, the passive infinitive test, the linguistic intuition of the two authors, and a search in the Hamshahri Corpus (version 2). The results indicate that although all these verbs are expected to be passivizable from a grammatical standpoint, in actual usage, approximately 65% of them occur in passive constructions within specific semantic contexts. The novelty of this research lies in the integration of Hopper and Thompson's (1980) transitivity theory and Halliday and Matthiessen's (2014) process types, as well as emphasizing the role of semantic networks and context in explaining this phenomenon. The findings reveal that verbs with an agentive, animate, and volitional subject are passivizable; however, verbs with a non-animate and non-volitional agent subject, as well as verbs with an experienced subject (mental/ cognitive), are not passivizable. It was also found that many causative verbs, particularly material process verbs, can be passivized in specific contexts with the presence of a volitional human agent.

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References

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Journal of Linguistics & Iranian Languages
Volume 11, Issue 1
February 2026
Pages 25-43

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History

  • Receive Date: 10 June 2026
  • Revise Date: 08 August 2026
  • Accept Date: 17 August 2026

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