Re: Medio-passive (was: A Survey)

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

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