Passivliken

Passivliken is a linguistic term used to describe a class of constructions that function like passive voice but arise through different formal means or carry distinct semantic effects. The term combines "passive" with a suffix meaning "like" and is used in typological and functional discussions to cover both morphological passives and periphrastic, passive-like forms.

It can be realized as a morphological marking on the predicate, a periphrastic structure with an auxiliary and participle, or a combination that results in a sentence with a patient-focused interpretation and often an optional or oblique agent.

Passivliken constructions foreground the patient or theme, reduce agent salience, and may convey impersonal, formal, or polite nuance. They can occur in narrative, technical, or bureaucratic registers and may encode evidentiality or epistemic stance.

Unlike canonical passive systems, passivliken does not always involve a conventional passive morphology or a clause-internal agent demotion; it is a broader category that can include languages with different typologies, including those with middle voice, antipassive, or impersonal constructions that achieve similar discourse effects.

Diagnostics include agent optionality, thematic focus on patient, and compatibility with ongoing action vs. resultant state; researchers distinguish passivliken from true passive, antipassive, and middle voice by the combination of form and discourse function.

Coined in recent typological literature, the term reflects ongoing efforts to categorize "passive-like" constructions across languages and to clarify how form relates to information structure.