AL-USTATH Number extension 218– volume one - 2016 AD, 1437 AH

Middle Voice in English and Arabic

Instructor: Widad Sabir Shakir (MA)
University-Erbil - College of Languages
Salahaddin - Department of English
[email protected]

Abstract:
This paper is about middle voice in English and Arabic. Middle voice does not exist in
all languages of the world, but there are languages that express middle voice; a voice that
can be described as active and as passive at the same time as it has the characteristics of
both of them. The paper compares middle voice in English and Arabic focusing on the
verbs that are used in this voice in both languages to show areas of similarity and
difference in the kind of the verb used to express this voice in the two languages under
study.
Keywords: Ergative verbs, Middle voice, Non- agents, Transitivity

Voice in Language:
In grammar, voice is used to refer to sentences in which the verb (V)
has a different relation to the subject (S) and the object (O) though the
meaning is the same in both sentences (Crystal 375). Similarly, Quirk et al.
state that "Voice is a grammatical category which makes it possible to view
the action of a sentence in either of two ways without change in the facts
reported" (159). Generally, sentences that have objects, usually (though not
always) have their matching passives (57), e.g.
a. The doctor(S) saved (V) the patient (O). (Active)
b. The patient (S) was saved (V) by the doctor (by-phrase).
(Passive)
But in Arabic, sentences containing intransitive verbs can also be passivized
(Ghayati 195, 196), but this is not the concern of the paper under study.
Active/ passive voice can be observed in many languages of the world
(Saeed 175). The difference between the two is that the subject of the active
sentence is also the agent (A) while the subject of the passive is the noun (N)
or the noun phrase (NP) that undergoes the action (Crystal, 375). Celce-
Murica and Larsen-Freeman state that languages use various means in order
to place certain NPs in subject position. For example, in Banto languages,
the passive is preferred when the agent is “in-animate” (343). Thus in Banto,
the sentence which is similar in meaning to
a. The students were bothered by the test,
is preferred to
b. The test bothered the students.
The meaning that the passive manifests is thought to be explained
grammatically rather than lexically. Generally, in passive construction the
NP that receives the action is fronted to the position of the subject (347) and
used as the grammatical subject (gr.S) (Halliday 64) and the agent or the

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doer of the action as Shibitani states is defocused (qtd. in Celce-Murica and

Larsen-Freeman 347).
Crystal states that in addition to the foregoing construction i.e. the
passive, in other languages such as Greek, Eskimo and Basque there exists
another voice which is expressed via ergative verbs (EVs) which are also
called “unaccusative” verbs, or via “passive agents” (124,125) in which
the NP of an active sentence is non-agentive (376). Celce-Murica and
Larsen-Freeman call this construction which manifests no change of voice
"middle-voice” or “the middle” (350).. Saeed states that this other voice, i.e.
the middle, which is displayed in some languages of the world is expressed
in classical Greek and Somali by inflecting the verb (175). The voice is
called middle because morphologically the verb is active while semantically
it is passive or in other words there is equivalence between the object of
transitive (tr.) verb and the subject of intransitive (intr.) use of the same
verb (Celce-Murica and Larsen-Freeman 350). So the middle as Chan states
is the voice that intermediates between the active and the passive. In this
voice, the object of the active transitive verb acts as the subject of the same
verb used intransitivelyb or as Crystal puts it there a “formal parallel”
between them (124); they have the same function and belong to the same
case. Chan mentions that agents in middle sentences are not stated and if
they are stated, they do not do the action “deliberately or intentionally” and
“the doers of the action act upon themselves”. What has been mentioned can
be illustrated through the following examples (Celce-Murica and Larsen-
Freeman 350; Chan):
a. John(S) closed (V tr.) the window (O). (Active)
b. The window (S) was closed (V). (Passive)
c. The window (gr. S) closed. (Middle, closed is EV)
“Water evaporates” (Middle; the S is acting upon itself)
The three voices in language are distinguished either by inflecting the verb
as in Latin or by change in the syntactic order of the elements of the
sentence as in English (The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britanica).
The middle in many languages of the world does not exist alone but
together with transitive verb sentence and the middle itself has some
restrictions for example specific verbs, specific aspect of a verb and specific
NPs are used to express the middle (Halliday 64). Halliday presents
Mathew’s view who states that in almost all cases of middle voice the
existence of three parts is necessary: “1) a transitive verb, 2) an expressed
object figuring as the grammatical subject, and 3) the logical subject denoted
differently from the way it is when paired with an intransitive verb” (64) i.e.
when the verb is used eargatively. Payne states that the subject in middle
voice and the object of the transitive verb have the same “grammatical
properties” that is different from those of the agent.

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Garner states that in the fifties of the twentieth century ergativity attracted
grammarians. Under ergativity a number of verbs are grouped (qtd. in
Nordquist). Garner (qtd. in Nordquist) and Lock (qtd. in Chan) state that
ergative verbs such as close, evaporate, bend, increase, sink, shrink, drown,
break, change, drop, burn, etc. can be used in three voices; the active with
its subject and object, the passive with the object fronted to the subject
position and a by-phrase at the end of the sentence and a third voice or “the
third way” which is the middle voice; a voice which has a passive meaning
but active structure, e.g.
a. My sister burnt the food. (Active)
b. The food was burnt (by my sister). (Passive)
c. The food burnt. (Middle)
Trask states that nowadays linguists have some information on ergative
languages such as Basque and Pashto and that these languages can no longer
be regarded as unusual (Historical Linguistics 151, 152). Ergativity exists
nearly in 25% of languages. Linguists have arrived at some interesting
conclusions. They have found a split in the grammar of those ergative
languages. One aspect of this split is that ergativity seems to be apparent in
the past tense or perfect aspect (Trask, Historical Linguistics 151, 152;
Payne).
Trask (Language and Linguistics) mentions that in Basque or Georgian
which are ergative languages the subject of the transitive verb is identified
by a "grammatical case" (36, 37). He also states that in ergative languages
the agent is focused, while in nominative languages including English the
subject of the sentence is focused (36, 37).
To Halliday, ergativity is explained in terms of “causation” (128). In
dealing with ergatives, the roles are distributed to affected and causer or the
agent (64). In the middle there is only one participant which is the affected;
but the cause is not explicit (61), e.g.
The window broke. (The window is the affected),
or when the verb affects the subject, that verb is said to be ergative (Using
English.com).
Trask considers the passive as one of the means to express ergativity
(Historical Linguistics 153), but the researcher does not agree to be
similarity, at least for English and Arabic, between passives that start with
fronted non-agents and between non-agents of intransitive use of the verb in
the active through the use of ergative verbs.
Concerning Arabic, Al-Khawalda (163-185) states that despite
tackling ergative verbs in many languages, this attention is not given to
ergative verbs in Arabic believing in the lack of such verbs in this language.
He,Al- Khawalda, proves that ergative verbs do exist in Arabic and he then
analyses them in the light of nominal sentences of the pattern Noun-Verb-
(Object) NV(O) in some cases and Verb-Subject-(Object)VS(O) in others

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besides using sentences that contain present participles as alternative to

replace the verb (163-185).
In tackling the middle in English, the focus is on active sentences
containing transitive verbs that are used intransitively with non-agent NPs
conveying passive like meaning. Any other kinds of sentence may be
referred to when necessary. The focus extends to sentences containing verbs
that are inherently intransitive but behave likewise i.e. they have non-agent
NPs. Concerning the middle in Arabic, the same procedure is followed for
data but concentrating, unlike Al-Khawalda (163-185), only on verbal
sentences of the structure VS (O) for active sentences from which the
passive derives, obviously when the verb is transitive, and referred to i.e.
the passive when needed. The verbal pattern is focused for data because
Aljiwari (81) states that fronting the subject causes confusion as the sentence
becomes nominal (c.f. Khawalda 163-185). (Arabic letters that cannot be
represented by English ones such as ʕ, ʔ, ț, etc. are taken from Journal of
Arabic Linguistics Tradition).

Middle Voice in English

Middle voice does exist in English. It is formed via the use of
ergative verbs. When ergative verbs are used, the relation of the object to the
verb in the sentence pattern SVO is similar to the relation of the subject to
the same verb when used intransitively in the sentence i.e. SV pattern.
Examples of ergative verbs that constitute the middle are break, change,
increase, move, open and there are also two pairs of phonologically and
graphically related verbs which are raise, rise and lay, lie; the first verb in
each pair being transitive and the second in each being intransitive (Biber et
al. 147; Difference Between.com), e.g.
a. I laid the book on the shelf. (laid is tr.)
b. The book is lying on the shelf. (lying is intr.)
Lock states, as it was mentioned earlier, that ergative verbs in English
such as close, evaporate, bend, increase, sink, shrink, drown, break, change,
drop, etc. appear in three voices: the active, the passive and the middle (qtd.
in Chan), e.g.
a. The girl broke the glass. (Active)
b. The glass was broken (by the girl). (Passive)
c. The glass broke. (Middle; the glass is gr. S)
Most of the verbs in English can be used transitively and intransitively
but the use of the verb ergatively is different from using it intransitively
because the case in using the verb intransitively is object deletion while with
ergatives the case is retaining the object in subject position and what was
mentioned is illustrated in the following pairs of sentences (Biber, et al.
147):
a. I am writing a letter. (write is tr.)

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b. I am writing. (write is intr., O is deleted )

a. I opened the door. (open is tr.)
b. The door opened. (open is int. but E)
It can be said that in middle voice moving the object of an ergative verb
into subject position of the intransitive verb indicates that the action takes
place without agent (Yule 267) or the agent exists but it is not explicit.
Sometimes the middle replaces passive construction as the middle is usually
preferred when speakers talk about “natural processes and changes…. or to
describe actions, but not mention a cause” (64), e.g.
The ice melted. (Natural process and change)
The glass broke. (Description)
Natural processes usually demand the middle and ergative verbs are
intentionally used in order not to mention the agent. Some other examples of
the middle are the following (Yule 64):
Prices (gr. S) increased.
The ice (gr. S) cracked.
The trees (gr. S) grew.
Lock states that in English, sentences indicating "happenings”, i.e. middle
voice such as 13, 14 and 15 are allowed besides sentences indicating
“actions” which include the active and the passive such as sentences in 8 a
and b (qtd. in Celce-Murica and Larsen-Freeman 350). Shibatani states that
happenings are expressed by using reflexives in Spanish, French and
Russian (qtd. in Celce-Murica and Larsen-Freeman 350), such as the
sentence that reads like
The door opened itself,
but Kemmer disagrees stating that there is difference between reflexives and
the middle.
Middle voice in English is expressed through different types of verbs
which act ergatively without change of voice and these verbs are classified
into four types: 1) verbs indicating “change-of-state” such as begin, bend,
break, burst, finish, develop, cool, close, increase, crack, shake, start, grow,
transform, change; 2.) verbs of cooking such as bake, fry, cook, thicken,
defrost, 3) verbs that refer to “physical movement” such as move, rock,
shake, turn, shift and finally 4) verbs related to vehicles such as fly, drive,
park, run, sail, reverse (Celce-Murica
and Larsen- Freeman 350, 351; Xamuel.com; Yule 64), e.g.
The city developed. (Type 1)
The soup thickened. (Type 2)
The ball moved. (Type 3)
The boat sailed. (Type 4)
There are other types of ergative verbs that form middle voice though
some verbs that belong to these categories may not be ergative such as cut as
a verb of harm. These types include verbs related to file arrangement in

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computer such as download, upload, run, load; verbs expressing harm such
as starve, drown, strangle, wilt and finally verbs of healing such as heal,
resuscitate, strengthen besides a group of verbs used in this sense that are
formed from adjectives with the suffix-en such as quicken, whiten, blacken,
brighten and others (Xamuel.com) e.g.
The game loaded.
The ship drowned.
The wound healed.
His face blackened.
One can notice that the examples 17-24 above are all in the middle in
which the subjects are not doing the action and those sentences are different
from the passive in that the middle voice, unlike the passive, does not allow
-by phrase that is used in the passive (Celce-Murica and Larsen-Freeman
The ball was moved (by the player).
*The ball moved (by the player).
Even more than that the middle is more preferable in certain situations
besides the ones mentioned earlier about 11 and 12 (351), e.g.
The fair opens at 3:00 p.m. (A is not relevant)
As we were watching television, the windows shaked. (Suspense)
If one is not sure whether a verb is ergative, they can apply the
following test (Xamuel.com):
The (actor) (verb) ed the (object), therefore; the (object) (verbed)
If the previous test is applied and the resultant sentence is logical, then the
verb is ergative or else it is not (Xamuel.com), c.f. 29.b and 30 b:
a. The earthquake shattered the windows.
b. The windows shattered. (shattered is EV)
a. I swallowed the pill.
b. *The pill swallowed. (swallowed is not EV)
Celce-Murica and Larsen-Freeman state that besides constructing the
middle through the use of transitive verbs intransitively, some intransitive
verbs can also use non-agent NP in subject position with some other types of
verbs such as verbs that indicate happening e.g. happen, occur, take place;
verbs used to show direction such as arrive, fall, rise, emerge, go and verbs
that describe something such as, appear, disappear, vanish (352), e.g.
. The accident took place on the main road. (Happening)
A new problem emerged. (Direction)
My hope vanished. (Description)
Middle Voice in Arabic
Khawalda emphasizes the existence of ergative verbs in Arabic. He, Al-
Khawalda, discusses ergative verbs in Arabic, as mentioned earlier, in the
light of verbal sentences of the pattern VS (O) in some cases and nominal
sentences of the pattern NV (O) in others besides using sentences that

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contain present participles (163-185), but the researcher’s focus is only on

verbal sentences i.e. VS(O) pattern.
In Arabic, as in English, the subject is either the N or the NP that really
carries out the action i.e. it is the agent as shown below (double consonant is
used for germination; al-(at the beginning of N or NP)= the; -t(at the end of
past tense verb) is a feminine marker; -u, –a(n)and -i at the end of the NPs
are case markers for the subject, the object and the governed noun or object
of preposition respectively):
akala (V tr.) al-walad-u (A) al-xubz-a (O)
The boy ate the bread.
sa:fara (V intr.) al-walad-u (A).
The boy travelled.
or in other cases the action is attributed to the subject without its being the
agent, e.g.
ihtazza-t (V intr.) al-shajara-t-u (gr. S).
The tree shaked.
in which the subject is not doing the action, but undergoing it (Ghayati 186,
187) .
Concerning voice, Alsamarrai Ibrahim states that one meaning can be
expressed through different constructions (104). He has previously proved
what he claims by saying that the passive sentence
kusira (V) al-qadaḥ-u (Acting or gr. S),
The glass was broken,
is similar to the active constructions
inkasara al-qadaḥ-u,
The glass broke,
and saqața al-jida:r-u.
The wall fell.
in that both constructions (the passive and the active) convey the same
passive meaning through different voices and in both constructions the
subjects undergo the action not perform it i.e. the NPs are non-agents but
grammatical subjects that are described by the verb in each of the sentences
above (94). He also points out that Mustafa Jawad regarded verbs of the
pattern infaʕala as in inkasara as spontaneous verbs (101, 103). Other verbs
similar to saqața in belonging to the same pattern faʕala such as nama:
(grew), jaffa (dried) and dha:ba (melted) can behave similarly in being
intransitive verbs having grammatical subjects and forming the middle
(Alshamsan 719),e.g.
nama-t al-shajara-t-u.
The tree grew.
It could be said that the sentences in 38, 39 and 40 are in middle voice.
The verb inkasara in 38 is inflected from the verb kasara (broke) which is a
transitive verb and its passive is kusira(t) (was broken) as shown below:

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a. kasara (V) al-walad-u (A) al-qalam-a (O). (Active)

The boy broke the pen.
kusira (V) al-qalam-u (gr. S) (Passive)
The pen was broken.
inkasara (V) al-alqalam-u (gr. S) (Middle)
The pen broke.
while the sentence for the middle *kasara al-qalam-u is not possible. The
verb should be inflected as it is the case in classical Greek and Somali in
order to be intransitive (Al-ghalaeeni 45) and have a passive meaning 41. c
(Alsamarrai Ibrahim 104; Alsamarrai Fadhil 73; Saeed 175).
Alsamarrai Fadhil mentions that some of the semitic languages used the
inflected verb pattern infaʕala to express the passive but in Arabic the form
fuʕila is used for the passive and Arabic does not use two forms for the same
meaning (73).
The researcher assumes that using the pattern infaʕa la in the middle is
different from using this pattern to express the passive for different reasons:
first, the middle, unlike the passive, is in active structure (Crystal 376);
second, if the pattern infaʕa la were used to form the passive, then only a
limited number of verbs could have been used in the passive as not all verb
have the inflected form infaʕa la (Alsayyid 45) and third, this pattern is used
to invert transitive verbs into intransitive ones (Alshamsan 719) and verbs
belonging to this pattern can form middle voice in Arabic as it was
mentioned earlier by Alsamarrai Ibrahim (101, 103).
Ghayati presents some verbs in the past tense which act like passive verbs
in having the same pronunciation such as having the vowel /u/ which is one
of passive markers. Among this kind of verbs are junna (to go mad), sulla
(to be infected with TB) and imtuqiʕa (paled) which have NPs as their
grammatical subjects (196, 197), e.g.
junna (V past) al-rajul-u (gr. S) .
The man went mad.
imtuqiʕa (V past) lawn-u (S) almari:ḍ-i. (Governed noun).
The patient paled.
The sentences 42 and 43 are similar to the passive in different aspects; in
meaning, in passive like pronunciation and in having NPs as their
grammatical subjects ( Ghayati 196, 197, 186, 187).
It could be said that the sentences in 42 and 43 are in middle voice
despite having verbs which are inherently intransitive.
Alsamarrai Ibrahim (104) and Alsayyid (78) state that besides the
inflected verb pattern infaʕala, some other intransitive verbs that are
inflected from their transitive ones behave like the passive in having
grammatical subjects and thus they are used in middle voice. These verb
patterns include iftaʕala, tafaʕʕala, tafa:ʕala, ifʕalalla, and istafʕala. They
all have the pattern V- gr. S and are exemplified below respectively, e.g.

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irtafaʕa-t (VE) al-asʕa:r-u (gr. S) .

Prices increased.
taɣayyara (VE) lawn-u (gr. S) al-thawb-i(governed noun) .
The colour of the dress changed.
taḍa:ʕafa (VE) al-ʕadad-u (gr. S) .
The number doubled.
ițmaʔanna (VE) al-rajul-u (gr. S) .
The man felt safe.
istaʕṣa: (VE) al- ʕila:j-u (gr. S) .
The treatment was difficult.
The verb saqața (fell), that was mentioned earlier, still has another
intransitive inflected form. The inflected verb is tasa:qața of the pattern
tafa:ʕala (Ibrahim Alsamarrai 104; Alshamsan 719). This form can be used
ergatively to form another middle, e.g.
tasa:qața-t (EV) al-awra:q-u (gr. S).
The leaves fell.
There are also two other pairs that have two middles; one of each pair is
the basic form and the other is the inflected form. The verbs are badaʔa,
ibtadaʔa and za:da , izda:da of the patterns faʕala and iftaʕala. The first
verb in each pair can be used transitively (in the active and passive) and also
intransitively in the middle (Alshamsan 719), as in,
a. za:da (V) al-mațar-u (A) al-ma:ʔa (O). (Active)
The rain increased the water.
b. zi:da (V) al- ma:ʔ-u (gr. S). (Passive)
The water was increased.
c. za:da (VE) al-ma:ʔ-u (gr. S).
The water increased.
d. izda:da (VE) al-ma:ʔ-u (gr. S). (izda:da is inflected )
The water increased.
Two other transitive verbs ɣala (boiled) and sha:ʕa (spread) are used in
the three voices without inflection (Al-Khawalda 163- 185), e.g.
a. sha:ʕa (V) al-rajul-u (A) al-xabar-a (O). (Active)
The man spread the news.
b. shi:ʕa (V) al-xabar-u (gr. S). (Passive)
The news was spread.
c. sha:ʕa (EV) al-xabar-u (gr. S). (Middle)
The news spread.
What was mentioned by Ghayati (186, 187) about the subject of the
intransitive verb ihtazza-t in 36 as being grammatical subject, can be applied
to what Alsayyid (45) mentioned about the verbs that denote color of the
pattern ifʕalla such as iswadda (blackened), iḥmarra (reddened), iṣfarra
(yellowed),.. etc. and analogously these verbs can be used to construct the

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middle since the sentences have non-agent NPs that undergo the action of
the verb, e.g.
iḥmarra (EV) al-jild-u (gr. S).
The skin reddened.
Alsayyid (78) and Nahir (273) add another inflected intransitive verb
pattern which is tafaʕlala which is taken from its transitive form faʕlala
(78). It is noticed that verbs of this pattern can be used ergatively in middle
voice, for example the verb tadaḥraja (rolled) which is taken from daḥraja
as in:
a. daḥraja (V) al-walad-u (A) al-kura-t-a (O).
The boy rolled the ball.
b. tadaḥraja-t (VE) al-kura-t-u (gr. S).
The ball rolled.
There exists a transitive verb which changes into a semantically similar
verb in the intransitive which constructs middle voice and that is changing
the verb țabaxa into istawa:, e.g.,
a. țabaxat (V) al-umm-u (A) al-akl-a (O).
The mother cooked the food.
b. istawa: (VE) al-akl-u (gr. S).
The food cooked.

Middle Voice in English and Arabic Compared

Recalling what was mentioned, it is noticed that middle voice is
manifested in both English and Arabic. Certain groups of verbs are used to
form this voice in the two languages exhibiting similarities and differences
(Halliday 64; Saeed 175). Examining the following examples in English and
a similar group of sentences in Arabic
a. The girl (S) broke (V) the window (O). (Active)
b. The window (gr. S) was broken (V) (by the girl). (Passive)
c. The window (gr. S) broke (V). (Middle; broke is EV)
a. kasara (V tr.) al-walad-u (A) al-zuja:j-a (O) (Active)
The boy broke the glass.
b. kusira (V) al-zuja:j-u (Acting S or gr. S) (Passive)
The window was broken.
c. * kasara al-zuja:j-u. (The supposed middle)
we find that in English the verb broke as Lock mentions is used in three
voices and it can be used ergatively without any change. In middle voice,
the NP of the sentence is grammatical subject and it is the same NP that was
the object of the transitive verb (qtd. in Chan). In Arabic, we see that kasara
(broke) cannot be used in the three voices as it is the case in English. For
middle voice, the verb has to be changed morphologically i.e. to be inflected
to convey the idea of passive in active structure (Saeed 175; The

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Encyclopaedia Britanica). The inflected verb of the pattern infaʕala is to be

used in the middle and the sentence should read as follows:
d. inkasara(VE) al-zuja:j-u(gr. S) . (Middle)
The window broke.
The NP in middle voice in Arabic is treated in the same way as of
English middle in being grammatical subject (Halliday 64; Alsamarrai
Ibrahim 94; Payne).
There are some transitive verbs such as badaʔa (began), za:da
(increased), ɣala (boiled) and sha:ʕa (spread) which are similar to English
ergative verbs in being used in three voices without inflection (Al-Khawalda
163-185), e.g.
a. za:da (V tr.) al-mudi:r-u (A) al- ʕadad-a. (O). (Active)
The headmaster increased the number.
b. zi:da (V) al- ʕadad-u (gr. S). (Passive)
The number was increased.
c. za:da al- ʕadad-u. (Middle)
The number increased.
But the first two i.e. badaʔa and za:da among the four can also be made
intransitive by inflecting them into ibtadaʔa and izda:da in accordance with
the verb pattern iftaʕala (Alsayyid 45). What is interesting is that each of
these inflected forms can form another middle besides the existing one, e.g.
ibtadaʔa (EV) al-dars-u (gr. S).
The lesson started.
izda:da (VE) al-ma:ʔ-u (gr. S).
The water increased.
If we consider the verbs that form middle voice in the two languages, we
find that in English they are classified into several syntactically and
semantically based groups such as verbs indicating change-of-state, e.g.
begin, bend, break, start; verbs used in cooking such as bake, fry, cook,
thicken; verbs that refer to physical movement such as move, rock, shake,
and verbs of other types (Celce-Murica and Larsen-Freeman 350, 351;
Xamuel.com; Yule 64). Syntactic basis entails the use of the verbs in three
voices: transitively in the active and passive and intransitively in the
middle while semantic basis limits the types of the verbs that can be used
ergatively .
Arabic verbs that are used in the middle are morphosyntactically grouped
i.e. the verbs have to undergo inflection in order to be used in this syntactic
construction which is middle voice. The verbs are inflected according to the
verb patterns tafaʕlala, ifʕalla, iftaʕala, tafaʕʕala, tafa:ʕala and infaʕala
(Alsamarrai Ibrahim 104; Alsayyid 178),e.g.
a. kasara (V) al-walad-u (A) al-qalam-a (O). (Active)
The boy broke the pen.
b. inkasara (VE) al-alqalam-u (gr. S) (Middle)

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The pen broke.

Besides transitive verbs that are used intransitively to construct the
middle in English, a number of inherently intransitive verbs occur in middle
voice and they are classified semantically such as verbs that indicate
happening e.g. happen, occur, take place; verbs that show direction: arrive,
fall, rise, and verbs that describe such as, appear, disappear (Celce-Murica
and Larsen-Freeman 352), e.g.
The ball fell into the pond. (fell is E)
The ergative verb appears in three voices. (appear is E)
Concerning Arabic, there are also a number of inherently intransitive
verbs that are selected morphosyntactically can occur in middle voice. These
verbs belong to the pattern faʕala such as saqața (fell) nama:(grew), dha:ba
(melted) jaffa (dried) and others(Alshamsan 719) , e.g.,:
nama-t (EV) al-aʕsha:b-u (gr. S).
The herbs grew.
jaffa-t (V) al-thiya:b-u (gr. S).
The clothes dried.

Conclusion:
The research that was conducted on middle voice in English and Arabic
proved that middle voice exists in both languages under study. Middle voice in
the two languages share areas of similarity and they also exhibit differences.
What do English and Arabic have in common is that middle voice in both
languages is similar to the passive voice in meaning and in having the object
of their active sentences as their grammatical subjects. Simultaneously, the
middle is similar to the active voice in structure.
Concerning the verbs, in both languages ergative verbs are used in the two
languages to form the middle and they can be used in three voices i.e. the
active, the passive and the middle, but the way they behave to form the middle
is different in each of the languages. In English, the verb is alike whether used
transitively in the active or intransitively in the middle, whereas in Arabic,
ergative transitive verbs undergo inflection when used intransitively in the
middle except few verbs which do not undergo inflection in the middle; yet
two of them are exceptionally used in a second middle in their inflected forms;
whereas in English there is only one middle for each ergative verb.
English ergative verbs that are used in the middle are grouped on syntactic
and semantic grounds, whereas Arabic ergative verbs are grouped on
morphosyntactic basis.
Finally, in both languages, a number of spontaneous verbs which are
inherently intransitive are used in the middle and are selected for semantic
considerations in English but selected on morphosyntactic grounds in Arabic.

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WORKS CITED:
1. Al-Khawalda Mohammad. "Arabic Versus English Ergative Verbs”. Damascus
2. University Journal. Vol.27, No.3+4. 2010.163-185. Web.15 Nov. 2014.
<http://enwikipedia.org/>
3. Biber Doglas et al. Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English.
3rd Impression. Essex: Pearson Educated Limited.1990.Print.
4. Celce-Murcia Marianne, and Larsen-Freeman Diane (with Haward Williams). The
Grammar Book: An ESL/EFL Teacher’s Course. 2nd ed. Boston: Heinle & Heinle
Publishers.1999. Print.
5. Chan, Alice, Y.W. “Ideas for teaching ergative verbs to ESL Students”. The
Internet TESL Journal. n.d. Web.25 March 2015. <http://istelj.org/>
6. Crystal, D. A Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics. 3rd ed. Cambridge:
Blackwell Publishers. 1991. Print.
7. DifferenceBetween.com. “Difference Between Rise and Raise”. 2014. Web.20
April 2014. http://www.differencebetween.com/.
Halliday, M.A.K. On Language and Linguistics. Ed. Jonathan J. Webster. Vol.3.
London: British library cataloguing-in-Publication Data.2003.Print.
Journal of Arabic Linguistics Tradition. 2014. Web. 2 May 2015. <http://www.jalt.net/>
8. Kemmer, Suzanne. The Middle Voice: Typical Studies in Language. John
Benjamins Publishing Company. 1993. Web. 28 March 2015.
<http://www.amazon.co.uk/>.
9. Nordquist, Richard . “ergative”. about education. 2015. Web.8 March 2015.
< http://grammar.about.com/>.
10. Payne, John R. “Ergative Construction”. Encyclopaedia Iranica. 15 Dec. 1998.
Web. 25 March 2015. <http://www.iranicaonline.org/>
11. Quirk, Randolph et al. A Comprehensive of the English Language. London:
Longman.1985. Print.
12. Saeed, John, I. Semantics. 3rd ed. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing Ltd. 2009. Print.
13. The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britanica. “Voice”. ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITANICA.
2015. Web. 25 March 2015. <http://www.britanica.com/>
14. Trask, R. L. Historical Linguistics. London: Arnold. 1996. Print.
15. Trask, R.L. Language and Linguistics: The Key Concepts. 2nd ed. Ed. Peter
Stockwell. New York: Routledge. 2007. Print.
16. UsingEnglish.com. “Ergative Verbs”. 2002. Web. 10 March 2015.
<http://www.usingenglish.com/>
17. Xamuel.com. “Ergative Verbs”. 18 Sept. 2009. Web.7 March 2015.
<http://www.xamuel.com/>
18. Yule, George. Advanced Oxford English Grammar. Oxford: Oxford University
Press.2006. Print.
‫المصادر العربية‬
1974 ،‫ بغداد‬،‫ مطبعة المجمع العممي العراقي‬،‫ نحو الفعل‬،‫ الجواري احمد عبدالستار‬.1
،‫ مؤسسة الرسالة‬،‫ ساعدت جامعة بغداد عمى نشره‬،‫ الطبعة الثالثة‬،‫ الفعل زمانو و ابنيتو‬،‫ السامرائي ابراىيم‬.2
1981 ،‫بيروت‬
،‫ القاىرة‬،‫ شركة العاتك لمطباعة والنشر والتوزيع‬،‫ الطبعة الثانية‬،2‫ ج‬،‫ معاني النحو‬،‫ السامرائي فاضل صالح‬.3
2113
‫ القاىرة‬،‫ مكتبة الشباب‬،‫ تصريف الفعل‬،‫ السيد امين عمي‬.4

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‫‪ .5‬الشمسان ايواوس ابراىيم‪ ،‬الفعل في القرآن الكريم‪ -‬تعديو و لزومو‪ ،‬ذات السالل‪ ،‬الكويت‪1986 ،‬‬
‫‪ .6‬الغالييني الشيخ مصطفى‪ ،‬جامع الدروس العربية‪ ،‬الطبعة (‪ ،)12‬المكتبة العصرية لمطباعة والنشر‪ ،‬لبنان‪،‬‬
‫‪1973‬‬
‫‪ .7‬غياتي سعد محمد‪ ،‬ممخص قواعد المغة العربية‪ ،‬القاىرة‪ ،‬المكتبة التوفيقية‬
‫‪‬‬ ‫‪ .8‬نير ىادي‪ ،‬الصرف الوافي‪ :‬دراسات وصفية تطبيقية‪ ،‬الطبعة األولى‪ ،‬عالم الكتاب الحديث‪ ،‬األردن‪2111 ،‬‬
‫‪‬‬
‫‪‬‬
‫‪‬‬
‫‪‬‬
‫‪‬‬
‫‪‬‬
‫ما بين المعموم والمجهول في المغتين اإلنكميزية والعربية‬
‫‪‬المدرس‪ :‬وداد صابر شاكر‬
‫جامعة صالح الدين‪ -‬أربيل‪ /‬كمية المغات‬
‫قسم المغة اإلنكميزية‬
‫‪‬‬
‫الممخص‪:‬‬
‫يتناول ىذا البحث البناء الوسط في المغتين اإلنكميزية و العربية‪ .‬فانو ال تستطيع جميع المغات التعبير عن البناء‬
‫الوسط و لكن ىناك لغات باستطاعتيا التعبير عن ىذا البناء الذي يتوسط المعموم و المجيول حيث انو يمتمك صفات‬
‫كال البناءين‪ -‬اعني المعموم و المجيول و يقوم البحث عمى دراسة مقارنة لمبناء الوسط في اإلنكميزية و العربية مرك از‬
‫عمى األفعال التي تستعمل في ىذا البناء في كمتا المغتين إلظيار اوجو التشابو و التباين في نوع الفعل الذي يستعمل‬
‫ليذا الغرض‪ .‬‬
‫مفاتيح الكممات‪ :‬افعال ارجتف‪ ،‬البناء الوسط‪ ،‬فاعل غير قائم بالفعل‪ ،‬التعدي‬

‫‪‬‬

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