Passive Structure in Saravi Dialect A Minimalist Approach

The grammatical verb bayyen ‘to become’ is found in two apparently different structures in Saravi dialect, i.e. unaccusative structures and passive sentences. Adopting a minimalist perspective, in the former structures, traditionally called copula sentences, the light verb bayyen is preceded by a non-verbal element which could be nominal, adjectival, or prepositional, and in the latter structures the auxiliary verb bayyen, appearing in the head of functional PassP, follows the past participle form of a transitive verb. Based on the empirical and theoretical evidences, the present study shows that these two structures are identical and there is no passive structure and passive projection in Saravi. This conclusion means that the light verb bayyen ‘to become’ cannot be considered as an auxiliary verb in Saravi. In sum, this grammatical verb is only used as a light verb in an unaccusative complex predicate, headed by a non-verbal element.