| . | a. | the twig broke |
| b. | Linda broke the twig |
Processive concepts typically subject to this valency conversion
melt, freeze, wake up, plunge/sink, dry (up), go out [fire]; break, split, boil, open, close, change, turn, roll, gather, fill
Latin lacks labile verbs.
Many of these roots are basically transitive.
Consequently, Latin uses the passive and reflexive in “middle” function.
| strategy | meaning | transitive | intransitive |
|---|---|---|---|
| passivization | break | frango | frangor |
| dry | sicco | siccor | |
| turn | verto | vertor | |
| roll | volvo | volvor | |
| plunge | mergo | mergor | |
| fill | compleo | compleor | |
| reflexivization | change | muto | me muto |
| turn | verto | me verto |
Haspelmath, Martin 2017, "Universals of causative and anticausative verb formation and the spontaneity scale." Lingua Posnaniensis.