2.The category of voice. The lexico-grammatical field of

devices expressing different voice notions

The problem of Voice in English is one of the most controversial ones, as the discrepancy in treating voice led to the recognition of a number of voices in English.

The first difficulty is connected with the definition of voice.

The category of Voice is defined as

1. the category which reflects the relation connection between the action and the subject, i.e. to more exact characterizes the real meaning of the subject in relation to the verbal features of the predicate.

2. The category of voice expresses the relations between the subject and the object of the action.

3. The verbal category of voice shows the direction of the process as regards the participants of the situation reflected in the syntactic construction.

The majority of linguists consider there are 2 Voices in English others argue there are 5.

– active

– passive

(or 5) – reflexive

– reciprocal

– middle

There are many lexico-grammatical devices to render voice notions or semantic voices in English

L L/M M L/S

To sell -ed trained voice to hurt oneself

To meet - able eatable V to contradict

To wash - self V_be+V_en one another

To open -self care

3. Categorial voice opposition: active vs passive

The Active Voice expresses the action with the referent of the action coinciding with the subject of the sentence, it’s important to emphasize the character of the action in connection with the subject can be different. The subject placed in the subject position, can perform an action directed at the direct object.

e.g. He read a book.

They saluted them.

The action performed by the subject can be connected merely with him / herself.

e.g. Nothing happened

She was laughing.

The action expressed by the verb is not performed by the subject itself / her / himself, thus, the subject in fact serves as a pseudo subject, but the form of the verb remains intact.

e.g. The door opened.

The new record sold well.

One the basis of the last remarks some grammarians believe there is another type of voice, i.e.middle (see 10)

The Passive Voice in opposition to the Active Voice is a marked member of the opposition.

A.Kholodovich remarks that in case of the Passive Voice the subject doesn’t coincide with the semantic subject. The subject in case of the Passive Voice is the subject or object, at which the action is directed.

As a rule, in modern Indo-European languages Passive meaning is characteristic of transitive verbs, i.e. the verbs that express the meaning of the action directed at the object. Grammatically this object coincides with the direct object of sentence.

e.g. He wrote a letter

It’s difficult to differentiate between transitive and intransitive meanings of some English verbs.

Cf. She takes after her mother.

The windows give on the street.

They lie him down now.

Some linguists believe the Passive Voice to be derived from the Active Voice. This point of view is hardly reasonable especially after analyzing the results of transformations and the correlation between the passive and active forms used with the same grammatical subject.

e.g. 1) They made preparation for the sup.

Preparations form the trip were made.

3) He gruted me warmly.

He was greeted warmly.

Some of the problems connected with the interpretation of the Passive Voice forms are caused by the grammatical homonymity and polysemy of verbs, resulting in the same syntactic function.

e.g.

He was moved to a new room (in the hospital)

He was moved by a feeling form the dying man.