Abstract
It is presumed that inanimate-subject passives have (with the exception of the statives used in the description of circumstances) developed largely under the influence of the styles of translated Western languages during modern times. However, it seems that specific verifications of the aspects of this development have yet to be made. By chronologically checking the examples of passive sentences used in literary works in the modern age, this paper, with the goal of examining aspects of the development of inanimate-subject passive in each era, chronologically shows the expansion of inanimate-subject passives which indicate "state", into inanimate-subject passives which indicate "event", and the aspects of the development of passive sentences which use abstract nouns as subjects. In addition, in order to confirm the influence of the "translation style", this paper examines examples of the usage of passive sentences used in translations in early modern times and confirms the influence of the "translation style" on Japanese passive sentences. Finally, this paper examines the roles of the passive sentence in place of intransitive verbs, as an internal factor of Japanese, in which inanimate-subject passive has developed since modern times.
