From: "John Cowan" <jcowan@...>
> Muke Tever wrote:
> > Intransitivity is not necessarily 'inviolable'. For example "volunteer (for
a
> > job)" is intransitive, but it still transitivizes then passivizes:
> >
> > John volunteered for the job.
> > John was volunteered for the job [by his wife].
>
> I can't accept this as a mere rule-governed extension of the ordinary
"volunteer",
> any more than I can swallow *"John was died by his wife".
> "Mary volunteered John for the job" (your transitivized but not
> yet passivized form) is a piece of irony: transitive "volunteer"
> in fact means "commandeer".
I don't think it has to be ironic. There are other transitive uses of
'volunteer' than that--generally, one can volunteer one's services or equipment.
She volunteered.
(to)
- She volunteered her services.
(?to)
- She volunteered John's services.
(John's services were volunteered.)
You might possibly say "Her services were volunteered" as passive for "She
volunteered her services" in English (although it probably wouldn't be likely,
as I don't think it's quite normal to passivize something as reflexive as that
in English, because deemphasizing the subject is not very meaningful in such a
case (but cf. stuff like "Mistakes were made.").
But you probably couldn't do it for 'to die' in English because 'to die' doesn't
have (as far as I know) 'reflexive'-transitive uses the same way 'volunteer'
has.
[Intransitive ~ (Reflexive) <-> Transitive
-> Active
Passive]
The bomb blew up. ~ (It blew itself up.) <-> It blew up a building.
-> The building blew up.
The building was blown up [by the bomb].
He developed. ~ (He developed himself.) <-> He developed a tail.
-> The tail developed.
The tail was developed [by him].
but not:
She died. ~ (*She died herself.) <-> *She died someone else.
She fell. ~ (*She fell herself.) <-> *She fell someone else.
This is apparently done lexically:
She died. ~ (She killed herself.) <-> She killed someone else.
-> Someone else died.
Someone else was killed [by her].
She fell. ~ (She [e.g.] tripped herself.) <-> She tripped someone else.
-> Someone else fell.
Someone else was tripped [by her].
Right? ... Actually it's all probably horribly wrong, but that's how I see it.
*Muke!