The Double Passive in Swedish - Institutionen för lingvistik ...

2. Background
In a governmental writing guide (Myndigheternas skrivregler, 2009:24) it is suggested to avoid the
Double Passive in “correct” Swedish writing. Instead, the use of active voice is recommended. And in
the literature there are “complaints” regarding the grammaticality of the Double Passive. E.g.
Wellander (1939:293) considers the double passive not being grammatically acceptable, and he argues
for the use of its active counterpart. Consider Wellander’s examples in (4) 3 :
(4) a) (?)Saken har forsökt-s tysta-s ned.
Issue:the have:AUX try:SUP-PASS quiet:INF-PASS down.
‘As for the issue, it has been tried to be avoided’ (by someone).
b) (?)Ersättning som vägrat-s (att) utbetala-s.
Payment which refuse:SUP-PASS (to) pay:INF-PASS
‘As for payment, which has been refused to be payed out’ (by someone).
Sundman (1987:467) agrees with Wellander, and argues for the unacceptability of the Double Passive
in Swedish. Consider Sundmans example in (5):
(5) (*)Patienten beslöt-s operera-s.
Patient:the decide:PST-PASS operate:INF-PASS
‘As for the patient, she/he was decided to be operated’ (by the doctor).
In the thesis there is no evaluation of the grammaticality or un-grammaticality of the Double Passive
being done. The Double Passive is used in both spoken and written Swedish, despite the
recommendations to avoid it.
Before describing the constituents of a Double Passive construction, short presentations of Swedish,
passive voice and Lexical functional grammar are given below.
2.1 Swedish in brief
Swedish basically has the word order; subject - finite verb - object (SVO). It is partly an analytic
language – lexemes, word order and prepositions are often used to indicate semantic and syntactic
relations, which in other languages might be indicated morphologically (SAG 1, 1999:23). In (6), an
example of an auxiliary verb (a lexeme) indicating a semantic and syntactic relation to a head verb in
Swedish is shown:
3 The translation ”As for the (…)” is indicating the topicality of a referential subject in the Double Passive
(cf. Ørsnes (2006).
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