Re: Re; Ergativity

J?rg Rhiemeier scripsit:

> At least one element in English shows ergative behaviour:
> the suffix -ee.  An escapee is one who escapes, but an employee
> is one who is employed.
"Escapee" is anomalous: the great majority of words in -ee are
passive, like employee, and come in pairs.  This is derived from
legal English (which originally was borrowing the participial
suffix from French, of course).

The only other such -ee words I can find are absentee (one who absents
himself) and bargee (one who poles a barge).

--
Winter:  MIT,                                   John Cowan
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Might simplicity return?                        (A "tanka", or extended haiku)

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