A Tale of Three Passives in Marathi—A Glimpse into the Subtle Interplay between Agent Defocusing and Intentionality

In typological studies it has been proposed that one of the main functions of the passive is agent defocusing (Givón 1981, Shibatani 1985, Croft 2001, among others). In Marathi (Indo- Aryan) the passive comes in three varieties—the BECOME passive, the GO passive and the COME passive. The functional differences among them have hitherto remained a mystery. The goal of this paper is to unravel the functional division of labor among them. It is argued that the degree of agent defocusing holds the key not only to understanding the functional division of labor among them but also to predicting their use.