Re: Re; Ergativity

Quoting John Cowan <cowan@...>:

> 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 true, but it is sufficient to prove the point that no
language is "purely" of one type or the other.  "All languages",
as Sapir said, "leak".

 =========================================================================
Thomas Wier            "I find it useful to meet my subjects personally,
Dept. of Linguistics    because our secret police don't get it right
University of Chicago   half the time." -- octogenarian Sheikh Zayed of
1010 E. 59th Street     Abu Dhabi, to a French reporter.
Chicago, IL 60637