On the Event-Structural Properties of the English Get-Passive

Alison Biggs ^[1] ; David Embick ^[2]
1. [1] Georgetown University
  
  Georgetown University
  
  Estados Unidos
2. [2] University of Pennsylvania
  
  University of Pennsylvania
  
  City of Philadelphia, Estados Unidos
Localización: Linguistic inquiry, ISSN 0024-3892, Vol. 53, Nº 2, 2022, págs. 211-254
Idioma: inglés
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Resumen
- An important discussion in theories of argument structure concerns the explanatory division of labor between thematic properties and event structure. English get-passives, analyzed in much previous work as differing thematically from be-passives, provide an interesting test case. We present an analysis of get-passives centered on the proposal that they contain additional event structure (realized as get) relative to their be counterparts. We employ by-adjuncts to identify the different event structures in passive types, and use other diagnostics to support our analysis. Further discussion considers the prominent proposal from previous studies that get-passives differ thematically from be-passives in (sometimes) assigning an Agent role to their surface subjects. We show that contrasts between get and be on this dimension are a consequence of event-structural differences between the two. The result is a unified analysis of the get-passive that has implications for the role of event structure in understanding the syntax and interpretation of arguments.