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Re: Ergative and other questions

From:Mark J. Reed <markjreed@...>
Date:Monday, November 17, 2003, 20:21
On Mon, Nov 17, 2003 at 02:25:03PM -0500, John Cowan wrote:
> > So the -ee suffix in English is ergative. > > Exceptions: divorcee, fiancee, negligee (all straight French borrowings, > and all still +female), bargee (bizarre), refugee (no underlying verb, > but if there were one it would be accusative), goatee (probably -y rather > than -ee).
And then there's "attendee", which is odd because "attend" is transitive. -Mark

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Roger Mills <romilly@...>