Category of voice in modern english

1.1 Voice in English and Armenian

In both languages voice is the grammatical category of the verb that shows the direction of the process in regard to the subject: in the active-voice construction, the process issues from the Subject; in the passive-voice construction, the process issues from the Agentive Adjunct.

In languages, voice is used to indicate whether the subject is the doer or the receiver of the action.
a) active voice: Մարդը ավտոմեքենան վաճառեց: The man sold the car.
In sentence (a), the grammatical subject մարդը is the doer of the action վաճառել while
Ավտոմեքենան the grammatical (direct) object is the receiver of the action վաճառել.
b) passive voice: Ավտոմեքենան վաճառվեց մարդու կողմից: The car was sold by the man.
In sentence (b), the word order is reversed: the original direct object ավտոմեքենան is brought into focus and placed in subject position, while the original subject մարդը is removed from focus and shifted to the position of indirect object. In sentence (b), the reallife role of the grammatical subject ավտոմեքենան is not an active but a passive one. To express this passivity the active verb վաճառել must be transformed into the passive verb վաճառվել.
Issuing from the Subject, the process affects the Objective Complement, and issuing from the Agentive Adjunct, it affects the Subject. To put it otherwise, in the active-voice construction, the Agent is turned into the Subject of the sentence and the Affected into the Objective Compliment while in the passive-voice construction the Affected is turned into the Subject2 and the Agent into the Agentive Adjunct. Cf.
1. The servant (Agent) beats the carpet (Affected) once a week.
2. The carpet (Affected) is beaten by the servant (Agent) once a week.
Example (1) is called active because the Subject is aligned with an active role, the role of the Agent: the servant carries out the process. Example (2) is called passive because the Subject, the carpet, is associated with a passive role, the role of the Affected: the carpet is the entity on which the action is performed.
The question that may arise is: what motivates the process of passivization?
The motives are informational-pragmatic:
1) the speaker’s wish to use the Agent as the Theme (the active construction) or the Affected as the Theme (the passive construction). Consider:
Who made this chair? My father did./This chair was made by my father.
2) the speaker’s reluctance or inability to use the Agent.
The speaker may not want to mention the Agent for the sake of tact, or he/ she may want to avoid making explicit reference to the Agent and thus give the writing a more objective flavour, or he/she simply may not know who carried out the process. Consider:
A man was killed yesterday.
The room has not been cleaned.
3) the speaker’s wish to avoid semantic redundancy, i.e. to avoid non-informative constituents. Consider:
English is spoken in many countries (instead of People speak English in many countries).
As already known, the category of voice is based on transitive verbs, i.e. verbs associated with at least two nouns whose semantic roles are characteristically those of an Agent and an Affected (Patient). The passive voice is an analytic form: it is built up by means of the corresponding tense of the auxiliary verb be and the past participle of the given verb.
Do all active-voice transitive-verb sentences have passive counterparts? In reference grammars we are advised not to passivize the future progressive and perfect progressive forms. Instead of the said forms the learner is advised to use the corresponding non-progressive forms. Cf.
John will be writing the letter. – The letter will be written by John.
John has been writing the letter for an hour. – The letter has been written by John for an hour.
Such constructions as The letter will be being written by John and The letter has been being written by John for an hour, clumsy as they may look, are to be found in spoken and written English.
In Armenian Passive verbs are formed by combining the infinitive or the perfect stem with the suffix –վ- + the infinitive ending –ել:
Վաճառել to sell – վաճառվել to be sold
Կարդալ to read – կարդացի – կարդացվել to be read
Passive verbs are conjugated like regular verbs ending in –ել + auxiliary verb
Present: կոչվում եմ, կոչվում ես, կոչվում է etc
Imperfect: կոչվում էի, կոչվում էիր, կոչվում էր, etc
Future I: կոչվելու եմ, կոչվելու ես, կորվելու է, etc
Future II: կոչված եմ լինելու, կոչված ես լինելու, կոչված է լինելու, etc.
Perfect: կոչվել եմ, կոչվել ես, կորվել է, etc.
Only the past (aorist) tence is formed by the stem without an auxiliary verb:
Aorist: կոչվեցի, կոչվեցիր, կոչվեց, etc.