Re: preferred voices?

> From: nicole perrin
>
> Yesterday we were reviewing the passive voice in my French class, and
> one of the points the teacher made quite emphatically is that the active
> voice is preferred.  I know that this is also the case with English,
> although I could never understand it.  The only explanation I've ever
> gotten is that it's not as powerful as active but I don't really buy
> that.  Are any of your conlangs prejudiced against the passive voice?
> Or any other voice for that matter?  (Mine aren't)

I've always had problems with this bias in English.  The MS Word grammar
checker flags all passive constructions by default and recommends an active
alternative.  I always turn that default off as I tend to use passive
construction quite frequently.

AFMCL, although amman iar has a passive form it is rarely used.  However,
since amman iar is an ergative language, the antipassive is a better analog
to the English passive and it is heavily used.  In fact, because of
syntactic constraints on clause combination, the antipassive is often
required.

David

David E. Bell
The Gray Wizard
www.graywizard.net

"'Yes, I think I shall express the accusative case by a prefix!'

A memorable remark! Just consider the splendour of the words!  'I shall
express the accusative case.'  Magnificent!  Not 'it is expressed' nor even
the more shambling 'it is sometimes expressed', nor the grim 'you must learn
how it is expressed'.  What a pondering of alternatives within one's choice
before the final decision in favour of the daring and unusual prefix, so
personal, so attractive; the final solution of some element in a design that
had hitherto proved refractory.  Here were no base considerations of the
'practical', the easiest for the 'modern mind', or for the million – only a
question of taste, a satisfaction of a personal pleasure, a private sense of
fitness."

(from The Monsters and the Critics and Other Essays - A Secret Vice,
by J.R.R. Tolkien [Houghton Mifflin Company 1984])