The get -passive at the intersection of get and the passive
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Anja Wanner
Abstract
On the surface, the English get-passive looks just like a be-passive, with a form of get replacing the auxiliary be, resulting in a more informal passive construction. However, the meaning of the get-passive has been described as different from the meaning of the be-passive in a manner that goes beyond just stylistics. This paper examines claims that have been made about the differences between the English get-passive and the canonical be-passive on the basis of corpus-based data, specifically the secondary agent or responsibility reading of the subject, the adversity reading ascribed to the construction, and the presence or absence of an implicit argument. Corpus-based data show that the get-passive is not as uniformly different from the be-passive as is often claimed, which either means that flexibility must be built into the construction or that there are two structurally different get-passives.
Abstract
On the surface, the English get-passive looks just like a be-passive, with a form of get replacing the auxiliary be, resulting in a more informal passive construction. However, the meaning of the get-passive has been described as different from the meaning of the be-passive in a manner that goes beyond just stylistics. This paper examines claims that have been made about the differences between the English get-passive and the canonical be-passive on the basis of corpus-based data, specifically the secondary agent or responsibility reading of the subject, the adversity reading ascribed to the construction, and the presence or absence of an implicit argument. Corpus-based data show that the get-passive is not as uniformly different from the be-passive as is often claimed, which either means that flexibility must be built into the construction or that there are two structurally different get-passives.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Non-canonical passives 1
- Adjectival passives and adjectival participles in English 21
- The get -passive at the intersection of get and the passive 43
- Three “competing” auxiliaries of a non-canonical passive 63
- Variations in non-canonical passives 95
- How much bekommen is there in the German bekommen passive? 115
- Haben -statives in German 141
- Another passive that isn’t one 163
- Passives and near-passives in Balto-Slavic 185
- How do things get done 213
- Anticausativizing a causative verb 235
- On the syntax-semantics of passives in Persian 261
- Two indirect passive constructions in Japanese 281
- Få and its passive complement 297
- The Danish reportive passive as a non-canonical passive 315
- (Non-)canonical passives and reflexives 337
- Index 359
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Non-canonical passives 1
- Adjectival passives and adjectival participles in English 21
- The get -passive at the intersection of get and the passive 43
- Three “competing” auxiliaries of a non-canonical passive 63
- Variations in non-canonical passives 95
- How much bekommen is there in the German bekommen passive? 115
- Haben -statives in German 141
- Another passive that isn’t one 163
- Passives and near-passives in Balto-Slavic 185
- How do things get done 213
- Anticausativizing a causative verb 235
- On the syntax-semantics of passives in Persian 261
- Two indirect passive constructions in Japanese 281
- Få and its passive complement 297
- The Danish reportive passive as a non-canonical passive 315
- (Non-)canonical passives and reflexives 337
- Index 359
