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Re: Medio-passive (was: A Survey)

From:John Cowan <cowan@...>
Date:Saturday, October 4, 2003, 0:17
Christophe Grandsire scripsit:

> >Whether or not "je lave les mains" would have the same response in French > >I leave to Christophe to comment. > > It would. Such a sentence would trigger the question "les mains de qui ?" > ("whose hands?").
In German, however, it would default to the person's hands, and "I wash my hands" would seem over-specific. Still worse, "I put my hands in my pockets", which is only felicitous if you are in the habit of putting your hands in someone else's pockets or someone else's hands in your pockets. -- If you understand, John Cowan things are just as they are; http://www.ccil.org/~cowan if you do not understand, http://www.reutershealth.com things are just as they are. jcowan@reutershealth.com

Replies

Isidora Zamora <isidora@...>
Ray Brown <ray.brown@...>