Re: Passive/Causative [was: English]

I don't see the point in using ergative as an explanation. Isn't this
just an example of a passive construction made after the model of the
causative?


"He got himself arrested" --> "He got arrested"

And similarly non-refexive:

"I got him arrested"


Håvard

--- In cybalist@..., markodegard@... wrote:

> The other confusion is the fact that 'get/got' can also mean
> 'become/became', which can lead to some very strange sentences like
> 'he got arrested' (where/who is the agent?). One shivers at such
> sentences, and reaches to the term 'ergative' for an explanation.
The
> agent is external to the sense of the sentence, and is left
> unmentioned. It's the condition or state expressed by the verb,
acting
> upon the grammatical subject, which is the topic of the sentence.
>