Passive without morphology

Abstract

This paper examines the syntax of a novel construction I call Passive without Morphology (PwM) constructions in Bùlì and the question of whether they have projected external arguments. The main proposal that I argue for is that PwM constructions in all their occurrences possess projected implicit external arguments. The discussions presented in the paper provide empirical as well as theoretical support for the classification of passives (Keenan and Dryer 2007) and a theory of passives and implicit arguments (Collins 2021). This paper argues that the internal argument moves to Spec,TP in two steps: first, the VP moves into Spec, VoiceP and from there the internal argument raises to Spec,TP (Collins 2005, 2021).