Modern Greek (Indo-European, Greek)

Mismatch: morphosyntax: mediopassive

Greek has a large class of verbs, typically termed deponent, which have the form of mediopassives but the function of actives. (Active and mediopassive paradigms are illustrated below.)

Functions
Among verbs which have both active and mediopassive forms, Holton, Mackridge and Philippaki-Warburton (1997) and Mackridge (1987) identify three major functions; in all cases the active forms are transitive and the mediopassive forms are intransitive:

(1) the 'true' passive:

active
O efialtês prodôse tous Spartiates
the.NOM.SG Ephialtes.NOM.SG betray.PFV.PST.3SG the.ACC.PL Spartans.NOM/ACC.PL
'Ephialtes betrayed the Spartans.'
(Holton, Mackridge and Philippaki-Warburton 1997: 212)

mediopassive
Oi Spartiates prodôthêkan apo ton efialtê
the.NOM.PL Spartans.NOM/ACC.PL betray.MPASS.PFV.PST.3PL by the.ACC.SG Spartans.ACC.SG
'The Spartans were betrayed by Ephialtes.'
(Holton, Mackridge and Philippaki-Warburton 1997:212)

(2) reflexive:

Koitakhtike ston kathreftê
look.MPASS.PFV.PST.3SG into.ACC.SG mirror.ACC.SG
'S/he looked at herself/himself in the mirror.'
(Holton, Mackridge and Philippaki-Warburton 1997: 216)

which is the equivalent of an active verb + reflexive pronoun:

Koitakse ton eavto ston kathreftê
look.PFV.PST.3SG the.ACC.SG self.ACC into.ACC.SG mirror.ACC.SG
'S/he looked at herself/himself in the mirror.'

This reflexive use of the mediopassive is restricted to a limited set of verbs (mostly involving grooming), and only where the context is unambiguous (Mackridge 1887: 88).

(3) reciprocal:

O Takês kai ê Olga agapiountai poli
the.NOM.SG T. and the.NOM.SG O. love.MPASS.IPFV.NPST much
'Takis and Olga love each other very much.'
(Holton, Mackridge and Philippaki-Warburton 1997: 216)

which is the equivalent of a sentence with an active verb + o enas ton allo 'one another':

O Takês kai ê Olga agapioun poli o enas ton allo
the.NOM.SG T. and the.NOM.SG O. love.IPFV.NPST much the.NOM.SG one.NOM.SG the.ACC.SG other.ACC.SG
'Takis and Olga love each other very much.'
(Holton, Mackridge and Philippaki-Warburton 1997: 216)


If we take these various detransitivizing operations as the primary function of the medopassive, then deponent verbs do represent a mismatch, in as much as they are not recognizably passive, reflexive or reciprocal, and may well be transitive:

Dekhtêke tin protasê mas amesôs
accept.MPASS.PFV.PST.3SG the.ACC.SG proposal.ACC.SG us immediately
'S/he accepted our proposal immediately.'
(Holton, Mackridge and Philippaki-Warburton 1997: 217)

In some instanses, transtitive deponents can form a periphrastic passive, e.g. using a past participle:

dekhomai 'I receive
pardekhomai 'I accept' 		ginomai dektos 'I am received'
eimai paradektos 'I am accepted'
(Mackridge 1987: 97)

Sometimes a transitive deponent may function as its own passive (Mackridge 1987: 97).

However, there is some reason to be cautious about identifying deponents as a morphological mismatch. Manney (2000) points out that active~mediopassive alternation is associated with some other functions that are primarily semantic, e.g. indicating the degree of involvement that the subject has with the action described by the verb (the mediopassive indicates a lesser degree of involvement or decreased intensity). In some instances this is associated with the same transitivity alternation as above, but not necessarily:

active
mazi tu iperaspizun ton kristyan ali pende δikiγori
with him defend.IPFV.NPST.3SG the.ACC.SG C.ACC.SG other.NOM.PL five lawyers.NOM.PL
'Along with him, five other lawyers are defending Christian.'
(Manney 2000: 47)1

mediopassive
mazi tu iperaspizonde ton kristyan ali pende δikiγori
with him defend.MPASS.IPFV.NPST.3SG the.ACC.SG C.ACC.SG other.NOM.PL five lawyers.NOM.PL
'Along with him, five other lawyers are defending Christian.'
(Manney 2000: 47)

In the second sentence, the lawyers have a limited degree of responsibility.
Morphology
The paradigm of a normal verb vs. a deponent verb are given below, illustrated with 1st conjugation forms. Note that the

normal verb
deponent verb
active mediopassive
imperfective non-past 1SG
2SG
3SG
1PL
2PL
3PL
[IS]-ô
[IS]-eis
[IS]-ei
[IS]-oume
[IS]-ete
[IS]-oun
 [IS]-omai
[IS]-esai
[IS]-etai
[IS]-omaste
[IS]-este
[IS]-ontai
 [IS]-omai
[IS]-esai
[IS]-etai
[IS]-omaste
[IS]-este
[IS]-ontai
imperfective past 1SG
2SG
3SG
1PL
2PL
3PL 		[IS]-a
[IS]-es
[IS]-e
[IS]-ame
[IS]-ate
[IS]-an		 [IS]-omoun
[IS]-osoun
[IS]-otan
[IS]-omastan
[IS]-osastan
[IS]-ontan		 [IS]-omoun
[IS]-osoun
[IS]-otan
[IS]-omastan
[IS]-osastan
[IS]-ontan
perfective non-past 1SG
2SG
3SG
1PL
2PL
3PL 		[APS]-ô
[APS]-eis
[APS]-ei
[APS]-oume
[APS]-ete
[APS]-oun		 [PPS]-ô
[PPS]-eis
[PPS]-ei
[PPS]-oume
[PPS]-ete
[PPS]-oun		 [PPS]-ô
[PPS]-eis
[PPS]-ei
[PPS]-oume
[PPS]-ete
[PPS]-oun
perfective past 1SG
2SG
3SG
1PL
2PL
3PL 		[APS]-a
[APS]-es
[APS]-e
[APS]-ame
[APS]-ate
[APS]-an		 [PPS]-êka
[PPS]-êkes
[PPS]-êke
[PPS]-êkame
[PPS]-êkate
[PPS]-êkan		 [PPS]-êka
[PPS]-êkes
[PPS]-êke
[PPS]-êkame
[PPS]-êkate
[PPS]-êkan
imperfective imperative SG
PL		 [IS]-e
[IS]-ete
------- -------
perfective imperative SG
PL		 [APS]-e
[APS]-(e)te		 [APS]-ou
[PPS]-eite		 [APS]-ou
[PPS]-eite
gerund [IS]-ontas ------- -------
(Holton, Mackridge and Philippaki-Warburton 1997: 120-126)
Key: IS = imperfective stem
APS = active perfective stem
PPS = (medio)passive perfective stem

There are two noteworthy aspects to the paradigm of deponents:

Notes

1 The two examples from Manney (2000) are in phonemic transcription, following the source; all other examples are simply transliterated.

References

Holton, David, Peter Mackridge, and Irene Philippaki-Warburton. 1997. Greek: a comprehensive grammar of the modern language. London: Routledge.

Mackridge, Peter. 1987. The Modern Greek language. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Manney, Linda Joyce. 2000. Middle voice in Modern Greek. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins.