Glossary of Linguistic Terms

Antipassive Voice

Definition: 

Antipassive voice is a voice in an ergative-absolutive language in which:

  • a noun phrase that normally has ergative case instead has absolutive case
  • a noun phrase that normally has absolutive case is marked as an oblique or an indirect object, and
  • the salience of the normally absolutive noun phrase is, according to some analysts, decreased.
Discussion: 

Antipassive is a kind of valency decreasing operation that results in a very intransitive-like verb. The verb takes on the formal characteristics of intransitive verbs in that language.

Source: 
108, 161, 417