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Menu 1. History and Form 2. Usage The middle voice is a bit of a mix of the active and passive of verbs - typically, in Edievian, it is a case where the subject is acting on itself but not of its own volition. Instead of working only with the reflexive pronouns re and ri, the verb goes into the middle voice.

[edit] [top]History and Form

Diachronically speaking, the middle voice is a relatively new verb form that only developed after Edievian split from its closest relative,

Laendish. It is believed to be a quasi-calque of a feature found in Slavic languages, where the verb is paired with a pronoun (usually se) to form a false reflexive construct.

The form of the middle voice is rather simple - the verb is put into the passive form (of course, matching in person, number, tense, and aspect required), and then the object is the corresponding reflexive pronoun, re for singular subjects or ri for plural ones. For the full passive paradigms, click here for a-dropping verbs, and here for regular verbs.

[edit] [top]Usage

The middle voice is used in Edievian for changes of state, usually in which the subject is acting on itself or is the recipient of an action from an unspecified origin. It is commonly found when speaking of cooking:

Baogresans sié bescúit ri. PASSPassive voice (valency)
be verb-ed-bake-3Third person (person)
neither speaker nor addressee.PLPlural (number)
more than one/few.PRESPresent tense (tense)
current.PROGProgressive (aspect)
be verb-ing DEFDefinite
"the".PLPlural (number)
more than one/few cookie.PLPlural (number)
more than one/few REFLReflexive (valency)
argument acts on itself.PLPlural (number)
more than one/few The cookies are baking. Odgión baofraiandiás siáe belmaenggro re ales funagen du'g. yesterday PASSPassive voice (valency)
be verb-ed-fry-3Third person (person)
neither speaker nor addressee.PLPlural (number)
more than one/few.PSTPast (tense)
action occurred before moment of speech.PROGProgressive (aspect)
be verb-ing DEFDefinite
"the".SGSingular (number)
one countable entity chicken.meat REFLReflexive (valency)
argument acts on itself.SGSingular (number)
one countable entity when.RELRelative call-2Second person (person)
addressee (you).SGSingular (number)
one countable entity.PSTPast (tense)
action occurred before moment of speech.PERFPerfect (aspect/tense)
have verb-ed 2Second person (person)
addressee (you).SGSingular (number)
one countable entity-1First person (person)
speaker, signer, etc; I.SGSingular (number)
one countable entity The chicken was frying yesterday when you called me.

Other common uses include changes of state where the speaker does not want to indicate the specific causer of the change, such as:

Baocrunamaen siáe claes re. PASSPassive voice (valency)
be verb-ed-break-3Third person (person)
neither speaker nor addressee.SGSingular (number)
one countable entity.PSTPast (tense)
action occurred before moment of speech.PERFPerfect (aspect/tense)
have verb-ed DEFDefinite
"the".SGSingular (number)
one countable entity glass REFLReflexive (valency)
argument acts on itself.SGSingular (number)
one countable entity The glass broke. (I didn't do it, it just broke) Aobgaóirt siâid tamad re lo nop. PASSPassive voice (valency)
be verb-ed-burn.3Third person (person)
neither speaker nor addressee.SGSingular (number)
one countable entity.GNOGnomic (aspect/mood)
common, timeless truths that plant REFLReflexive (valency)
argument acts on itself.SGSingular (number)
one countable entity without shadow That plant always burns when it's not in the shade. (Not my fault, maybe we should add an awning)

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