抄録
Passive sentences with non-animate agents exhibit characteristics different from those with animate agents. For instance, they are constrained by the text in which they are used, and many of them are unified word expressions that are accompanied by metaphorical nuances (such as “shakai ni momareru” or “koukoku ni tsurareru”). In this article, it has been found that passive sentences with an animate subject and a non-animate agent evince the following inclinations. First, these passive sentences typically describe a physical, physiological or psychological changes which affects the subject. Second, passives of physical change differ from those of psychological change in that the agent affects the subject. Passives of physical change, by taking the person or subject as merely one of its objects, correspond to active sentences, and thus function as voice. In contrast, in passives of psychological change the agent espresses the inducement of change. In such sentences, there are some verbs which do not at all express psychological meaning when in an active sentence.
