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The actions expressed by the verbs in the above sentences are also confined to the subject, the same as in
the first series of examples, but, as different from them, these actions are performed by the subject constituents
reciprocally: the friends will be meeting one another; Nellie divorced Christopher, and Christopher, in his turn,
divorced Nellie; Phil is quarrelling with Glen, and Glen, in his turn, is quarrelling with Phil. This verbal
meaning of the action performed by the subjects in the subject group on one another is called "reciprocal". As
is the case with the reflexive meaning, the reciprocal meaning can be rendered explicit by combining the verbs
with special pronouns, namely, the reciprocal pronouns: the friends will be meeting one another; Nellie and
Christopher divorced each other; the children are quarrelling with each other.
The cited reflexive and reciprocal uses of verbs are open to consideration as special grammatical voices,
called, respectively, "reflexive" and "reciprocal". The reflexive and reciprocal pronouns within the framework
of the hypothetical voice identification of the uses in question should be looked upon as the voice auxiliaries.
That the verb-forms in the given collocations do render the idea of the direction of situational action is
indisputable, and in this sense the considered verbal meanings are those of voice. On the other hand, the uses in
question evidently lack a generalizing force necessary for any lingual unit type or combination type to be
classed as grammatical. The reflexive and reciprocal pronouns, for their part, are still positional members of the
sentence, though phrasemically bound with their notional kernel elements. The inference is that the forms are
not grammatical-categorial; they are phrasal-derivative, though grammatically relevant.
The verbs in reflexive and reciprocal uses in combination with the reflexive and reciprocal pronouns may be
called, respectively, "reflexivized" and "reciprocalized". Used absolutively, they are just reflexive and
reciprocal variants of their lexemes.
Subject to reflexivization and reciprocalization may be not only natively reflexive and reciprocal lexemic
variants, but other verbs as well Cf.:
The professor was arguing with himself, as usual. The parties have been accusing one another vehemently.
To distinguish between the two cases of the considered phrasal-derivative process, the former can be classed
as "organic", the latter as "inorganic" reflexivization and reciprocalization.
The derivative, i.e. lexemic expression of voice meanings may be likened, with due alteration of details, to
the lexemic expression of aspective meanings. In the domain of aspectuality we also find derivative aspects,
having a set of lexical markers (verbal post-positions) and generalized as limitive and non-limitive.
Alongside the considered two, there is still a third use of the verb in English directly connected with the
grammatical voice distinctions. This use can be shown by the following examples:
The new paper-backs are selling excellently. The suggested procedure will hardly apply to all the instances.
Large native cigarettes smoked easily and coolly. Perhaps the loin chop will eat better than it looks.
The actions expressed by the otherwise transitive verbs in the cited examples are confined to the subject,
though not in a way of active self-transitive subject performance, but as if going on of their own accord. The
presentation of the verbal action of this type comes under the heading of the "middle" voice.
However, lacking both regularity and an outer form of expression, it is natural to understand the "middle"
voice uses of verbs as cases of neutralizing reduction of the voice opposition. The peculiarity of the voice
neutralization of this kind is, that the weak member of opposition used in the position of neutralization does not
fully coincide in function with the strong member, but rather is located somewhere in between the two
functional borders. Hence,
its
"middle" quality is truly reflected in its name. Compare the shown middle type
neutralization of voice in the infinitive:
She was delightful to look at, witty to talk to - altogether the most charming of companions. You have
explained so fully everything there is to explain that there is no need for me to ask questions.
§ 4. Another problem posed by the category of voice and connected with neutralizations concerns the
relation between the morphological form of the passive voice and syntactical form of the corresponding
complex nominal predicate with the pure link be. As a matter of fact, the outer structure of the two
combinations is much the same. Cf:.
You may consider me a coward, but there you are mistaken. They were all seized in their homes.
The first of the two examples presents a case of a nominal predicate, the second, a case of a passive voice
form. Though the constructions are outwardly alike, there is no doubt as to their different grammatical status.
The question is, why?
As is known, the demarcation between the construction types in qupstion is commonly sought on the lines
of the semantic character of the constructions. Namely, if the construction expresses an action, it is taken to
refer to the passive voice form; if it expresses a state, it is interpreted as a nominal predicate. Cf. another pair