--- In conlang@yahoogroups.com, JS Bangs <jaspax@G...> wrote:
>
> > English actually allows unergative syntax, though there's no
morphology for it:
> >
> > Active: "We slaughter sheep easily."
> > Unergative: "Sheep slaughter easily."
"Sheep slaughter easily" is Middle Diathesis.
Considered as an intransitive sentence, on the unergative-vs-
unaccusative scale: Since what it lacks is an agent (it has a
patient), it is unaccusative, not unergative.
> Erm, I seem to have gotten confused. This example is actually
> unaccusative, I think (?). In any case, it's not actually parallel
to
> the syntax that I called "unergative" previously in my message, so
you
> should probably disregard this part.
>
>
> --
> JS Bangs
> jaspax@g...
>
http://jaspax.com