A comparative typological analysis of passivisation and functional alternatives: Keenan’s passive universals in Eshkevari Gilaki (EG), Hungarian, and lingua franca languages

Abstract Passives in some languages are less frequent than in English, and this infrequency is compensated for by alternatives. This typological analysis focuses on passivisation and semi-passive constructions in two lesser-studied languages: Eshkevari Gilaki (EG) and Hungarian. For comparative context, three widely-studied lingua franca languages, English, Mandarin Chinese and Arabic, are also referenced. It evaluates these languages’ conformity to Edward L. Keenan’s universals of passive productivity. The synthesised data are derived from native speakers and existing literature. Hungarian and EG, being topic-prominent, adopt passive-like functional alternatives such as agentless clauses, impersonals and middles. Moreover, the observations challenge the assumed direct correlation between syntactic flexibility and passive productivity. Despite its less-configurational nature, Hungarian prioritises pragmatic role assignment over syntactic promotion. This analysis proposes an extension of Keenan’s framework, arguing that typological restrictions on passivisation emanate not from structural incapacity but from morphosyntactic conditions and discourse-pragmatic priorities. It is also suggested that, given the unique features observed in EG (inchoatives and middles) and Hungarian (telicity), functional alternatives and semi-passives should be integrated into cross-linguistic typology, particularly for languages with low EGIDS rankings.