Re: Ergativity

Muke Tever scripsit:

> Actually, I think that for most animate subjects that "X cooks" cannot be
> interpreted in more than _one_ way.  It's only when animacy is low enough that
> "X cooks" can be read in middle voice.
I don't agree at all.  "Robert was cooking on the stove last
winter" vs.  "Robert was cooking under the UV lamp last winter", e.g.

I think it's Ambrose Bierce who tells the anecdote about a man whose
mule was in a fire, is told that the mule "is still smoking", and swears
he'll break him of the habit -- tobacco is too expensive.

--
"But the next day there came no dawn,           John Cowan
and the Grey Company passed on into the         jcowan@reutershealth.com
darkness of the Storm of Mordor and were        http://www.ccil.org/~cowan
lost to mortal sight; but the Dead              http://reutershealth.com
followed them.          --"The Passing of the Grey Company"