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3.2.1.2.The impersonal passive

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This section discusses the impersonal passive in more detail, subsection I starts by discussing the verb types that may enter the impersonal passive construction. Section 3.2.1.1, sub I, has already shown that unaccusative verbs are normally excluded in passive constructions, but there seem to be a number of exceptional cases, which will be discussed in Subsection II.

I. Verbs entering the impersonal passive construction
II. Exceptional behavior of unaccusative verbs

[+] I. Verbs entering the impersonal passive construction

The impersonal passive is found with verbs that do not take a nominal direct object in the active voice. This set includes (pseudo-)intransitive verbs like lachen'to laugh', lezen'to read' and voetballen in (50a), intransitive PO-verbs like spreken (over)'to talk about' in (50b), and verbs with a clausal direct object like vertellen'to tell' in (50c).

a.		Marie lacht/leest/voetbalt.
		Marie laughs/reads/plays.soccer
		'Marie is laughing/reading/playing soccer.'

a'.		Er	wordt	(door Marie)	gelachen/gelezen/gevoetbald.
		there	is	by Marie	laughed/read/played.soccer

b.	Wij	spraken	lang	over dat voorstel.
	we	talked	long	about that proposal
	'We talked about that proposal for a long time.'

b'.		Er	werd	(door ons)	lang	over dat voorstel	gesproken.
		there	was	by us	long	about that proposal	talked

c.	Jan vertelde	(mij)	[dat	het boek	gestolen	was].
	Jan told	me	that	the book	stolen	was
	'Jan told (me) that the book was stolen.'

c'.		Er	werd	(mij)	(door Jan)	verteld	[dat	het boek	gestolen	was].
		there	was	me	by Jan	told	that	the book	stolen	was

The primed examples in (50) show that, since impersonal passives lack a subject (nominative DP), expletiveer'there' can be inserted. In main clauses, this is normally obligatory unless some topicalized constituent occupies the sentence-initial position. If the topicalized phrase is an adjunct, as in (51), er is optional.

a.		Op het grasveld	wordt	(er)	veel	gevoetbald.
		on the field	is	there	a.lot	played.soccer

b.		Tijdens die vergadering	werd	(er)	lang	over dat voorstel	gesproken.
		during the meeting	was	there	long	about that proposal	talked

c.		Door Peter	werd	(er)	verteld	[dat	het boek	gestolen	was].
		by Peter	was	there	told	that	the book	stolen	was

If the topicalized phrase is an internal argument, as in (52), er is often obligatorily omitted; this holds especially if the internal argument has the form of a clause.

a.		Over dat voorstel	werd	(??er)	tijdens die vergadering	lang	gesproken.
		about that proposal	was	there	during that meeting	long	talked

b.		[Dat	het boek	gestolen	was]	werd	(*er)	door Peter	verteld.
		that	the book	stolen	was	was	there	by Peter	told

The difference between constructions with and without expletive er in the middle field of the clause seems to be related to the presence of a presupposition ("old" information): the presence of er indicates that the sentence does not contain a presupposition, whereas the absence of er indicates that there is a presupposition; cf. Bennis (1986). In (51) and (52), the presuppositions are the topicalized phrases, but topicalization is not a prerequisite for dropping er, as is clear from the fact that er can also be omitted in the embedded clauses in (53), in which topicalization is excluded; er is only required if the phrases in question express new information.

a.		dat	(er)	op het grasveld	veel	gevoetbald	wordt.
		that	there	on the field	a.lot	played.soccer	is

b.		dat	(er)	tijdens die vergadering	lang	over dat voorstel	gesproken	werd.
		that	there	during the meeting	long	about proposal	talked	was

c.		dat	(er)	door Peter	verteld	werd	[dat	het boek	gestolen	was].
		that	there	by Peter	told	was	that	the book	stolen	was

That the presence of er in the middle field depends on the presence of a presupposition is especially clear from the examples in (54). These examples show that the pronominal indirect object mij'me' blocks expletive er if it does not occur in sentence-initial position. This effect is due to the fact that the referents of referential personal pronouns are normally part of the presupposition of the clause. The numbers in square brackets support the judgments given in (54) by providing the results of a Google search (7/24/2011) on the strings [er werd/is mij verteld], [dat er mij verteld werd/is], [dat er mij werd/is verteld], and [dat mij verteld werd/is]/[dat mij werd/is verteld].

a.		Er	werd	mij	verteld	dat	het boek	gestolen	was.	375,000
		there	was	me	told	that	the book	stolen	was

b.	*	dat	er	mij	verteld	werd	dat	het boek	gestolen	was.	14
		that	there	me	told	was	that	the book	stolen	was

b'.		dat	mij	verteld	werd	dat	het boek	gestolen	was.	38,250
		that	me	told	was	that	the book	stolen	was

With regard to (50c) it can further be noted that active clauses with a clausal direct object give rise to the impersonal passive only if there is no anticipatory pronoun. In other words, example (55a) only gives rise to the personal passive in (55b), with the anticipatory pronoun het promoted to subject.

a.		Jan heeft	het	verteld	dat	het boek	gestolen	was.
		Jan has	it	told	that	the book	stolen	was

b.		Het	werd	door Jan	verteld	dat	het boek	gestolen	was.
		it	was	by Jan	told	that	the book	stolen	was

[+] II. Exceptional behavior of unaccusative verbs

Section 3.2.1.1, sub I, claimed that the demotion of the external argument of the verb is the core property of passivization on the basis of the fact that unaccusative verbs cannot be passivized. This subsection discusses a number of special cases, in which an unaccusative verb can be found in the impersonal passive.

[+] A. Unaccusative verbs used as intransitives

In certain special contexts, which we will refer to as stage contexts, it is possible to use certain unaccusative verbs as intransitive verbs; cf. Perlmutter (1978) and Van Hout (1996). The verbs vallen'to fall' and sterven'to die' no longer denote uncontrolled processes in such contexts, but controlled activities. For completeness' sake, note that expressing the "actors" of the activity in an agentive door-phrase seems to give rise to a less felicitous result.

a.	In het tweede bedrijf	werd	er	op tijd	gevallen.
	in the second act	was	there	on the.right.moment	fallen
	'In the second act the actor(s) fell at the right moment.'

a'.

In het tweede bedrijf werd (er) door die acteur op tijd gevallen.

b.	In deze uitvoering	wordt	er	op magistrale wijze	gestorven.
	in this performance	is	there	in masterly way	died
	'In this performance, the actor(s) die in a masterly way.'

b'.

In deze uitvoering wordt (er) door de acteur op magistrale wijze gestorven.

[+] B. Non-eventive use of impersonal passives

Impersonal passives derived from unaccusative verbs can at least marginally be used to denote an outstanding defining property of certain spatially or temporally defined situations. As can be seen by comparing the primeless and primed examples of (57), such impersonal passives normally require a degree modifier like ontzettend veel'terribly much'. The primed examples show that these passive constructions degrade if they contain an agentive door-phrase.

a.		In de derde wereld	wordt	*(?ontzettend veel)	gestorven.
		in the third world	is	terribly much	died

a'.	*	In de derde wereld	wordt	door kinderen	ontzettend veel	gestorven.
		in the third world	is	by children	terribly much	died

b.	Tijdens die wedstrijd	werd	*(?ontzettend veel)	gevallen.
	during that match	was	terribly much	fallen
	'During that match there was a lot of falling.'

b'.

Tijdens die wedstrijd werd door Cruijff ontzettend veel gevallen.

[+] C. Questions and exclamatives with impersonal passives

Impersonal passives of unaccusative verbs can sometimes be found in questions and exclamatives that express a strong wish or a command. Example (58) illustrates this for the verb vertrekken'to leave'. Cases like these do not allow an agentive door-phrase.

a.	Wordt	er	vandaag	nog	(*door ons)	vertrokken,	of wat?
	is	there	today	still	by us	left	or what
	'Are we still going to leave today?'

b.	En	nu	wordt	er	(*door ons)	vertrokken!
	and	now	is	there	by us	left
	'And now weʼll leave!'

[+] D. Exceptional verbs

A small number of (apparent) unaccusative PO-verbs can occur in the impersonal passive. Example (59) illustrates this for stoppen (met)'to stop (with)'. That stoppen is unaccusative is clear from the fact that it takes the perfect auxiliary zijn, which is sufficient for assuming unaccusative status. Some other verbs behaving like stoppen are beginnen (met)'to start (with)', doorgaan (met)'to carry (on)', ingaan (op)'to comply (with)', uitgaan (van)'to assume' and vooruitlopen (op)'to be ahead (of)'. These verbs are more extensively discussed in Section 2.3.2, sub IV.

a.		De oliemaatschappij	stopt	met de proefboringen.
		the oil.company	stops	with the exploratory.drillings

b.		Er	wordt	met de proefboringen	gestopt.
		there	is	with the exploratory.drillings	stopped

References:

Bennis, Hans1986Gaps and dummiesDordrechtForis Publications
Hout, Angeliek van1996Event semantics of verb frame alternations: a case study of Dutch and its acquisitionTilburgTilburg UniversityThesis
Perlmutter, D.M1978Impersonal passives and the unaccusative hypothesisBerkeley Linguistics Society4157-189

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About this article

Author(s): Hans Broekhuis, Norbert Corver, Riet Vos

Category: Dutch Syntax

Keywords: AgentiveImpersonal PassivePassive

Version: 1.0, January 2016

Version history:

version	editor(s)	date	remarks
1.0	Hans Broekhuis, Norbert Corver, Riet Vos	January 2016

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