Nem-cselekvő Igenemek Indoeurópai Nyelvekben

My thesis revolves around structures that fall beyond the category of the active voice, i.e. the passive voice and, using Suzanne Kemmer’s terminology, the middle voice, which bears the characteristics of both the active and the passive voice. I will first put under the metaphorical microscope the active and the passive voice, analyzing which grammatical roles are associated with which semantic roles in each. I intend to demonstrate the alternation between the two voices in several Indo-European languages. After that I will present impersonal passives, a subcategory of the passive voice in certain languages which concerns intransitive verbs with an agentive argument. Passives having been scrutinized, I will go on to introduce the third voice which Suzanne Kemmer calls the middle voice. Using her data and observations, I will attempt to summarize her proposal with abundant examples from Indo-European languages, e.g.: French, Italian, German, Russian, Swedish and Spanish. I will also examine in what this third voice differs from the active and the passive constructions, as well as the reason why it is justified to call these structures middle systems, rather than active or passive structures. Besides, I will reflect on the event types that Kemmer associates the middle voice with.BSc/BAAnglisztikaB