Abstract This study investigates affectedness in P-oblique constructions, understood as transitivity alternations with or without overt voice marking, in which the P-argument is demoted from a core to an oblique. The central question is to what extent such alternations are functionally motivated by reduced affectedness of the P-argument. While affectedness and individuation are widely recognized as key P-parameters of transitivity, their interaction has not been systematically examined cross-linguistically, leaving open the question of whether the well-attested correlation between higher individuation and greater affectedness extends to transitivity alternations. Beyond this issue, the study explores how verbal properties shape the affectedness in P-obliques, along with structural factors such as voice marking conditions. This perspective is relevant in view of claims that verb-uncoded P-obliques systematically correlate with lower affectedness, a view connected to the characterization of such constructions as conatives. Drawing on a genealogically balanced sample of 55 languages, 34 of which display P-oblique patterns, the study provides a broad comparative basis for clarifying the dynamics of affectedness and its relation to both P-related and V-related parameters of transitivity. The findings aim to refine typological accounts of parameter co-variation and to contribute to a better understanding of the functional motivations underlying transitivity alternations.
Janic et al. (2026) studied this question.