Re: Stative passive
| From: | Paul Bennett <paul-bennett@...> |
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| Date: | Sunday, December 28, 2003, 21:53 |
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On Sun, 28 Dec 2003 21:42:01 +0100, Carsten Becker <post@...>
wrote:
> A second question: In German, we've got a "Vorgangspassiv"
> (actional/active?! passive) and a "Zustandspassiv" (stative passive).
> That's
> the difference between "The door is closed" (done by somebody) and "The
> door
> is closed" (state of being). Is it really necessary to think about this
> in
> conlanging or is one passive enough to express both.
The usual "helpful" answer is 'maybe'. Or to put it more clearly: 'If you
like'. Whatever strikes you as closest to the mindset of the speakers of
your language. Although, the Zustandspassiv looks mightily like an
adjective to me.
ObTangent: learning German in a fieldwork-like environment, for the longest
time, I kept hearing my informant say "vielleicht" (spelling?) and
mishearing it as "if ya like", which continued until I actually saw the
word in print.
> And what about "The soup cooks"? It does not cook itself, and it is not
> cooked by anyone, it just cooks.
My gut tells me the stove (or campfire, etc) is the agent (or instrument,
with a human agent), and that English is just being funny-headed about the
situation.
Paul