Author:
Jurica Polančec
Email:
jurica.polancec@gmail.com
Summary
The study examines the use of imperfective verbs in the passive participle form in the Croatian
language. For the purposes of the study, ninety seven of the most frequent imperfective verbs
which form the passive participle were collected from the hrWac 2.0 corpus (stative transitive
verbs cannot normally form the passive participle). They were analyzed with respect to the
criteria of frequency and acceptability. It was shown that most of the analyzed verbs are used
freely in the dynamic passive function and that they express all of the typical meanings of
imperfective verbs. The imperfective passive participle has some special uses when not used
dynamically, in which case the contrast between telic and atelic verbs proves to be crucial. Atelic
verbs, often used in the premodifying position, express permanent or characteristic features. In
this function they can be replaced by the reflexive passive form, which conveys the same meaning.
Telic verbs, on the other hand, have a twofold use. Numerous verbs can express the characteristic
of an object that is the result of a previous action. This resultative use is quite idiosyncratic and
such participles are often limited to premodifying position. The other use is the General Factual
function, in which an imperfective verb is used to express a single, completed action. In neither
use can telic verbs be replaced by the reflexive passive form. It was also noted that a dozen verbs
are rarely used in the passive participle form, and their passive participle seems less acceptable
than the rest of the sample. We have found no plausible explanation for this finding. Finally, the
passive form of imperfective verbs may generally be substituted by the reflexive passive when
expressing the future or past, which in turn shows that the verbal aspect is not a particularly
important parameter when deciding between these two constructions in Croatian.
Key words
the passive; imperfective verbs; Croatian; the participial passive; the reflexive passive
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