Universal #462

Legacy number: 462

 Number  461
 Original  For verbs with the general meaning to “destroy” or to “create” (see <a class="innerLink" href="browse.php?entry_id=461"><img src="../img/entry.gif" border="0">):
If there is no voice opposition, the NP which has the semantic role of agent (the one who creates or destroys) will be identified as the subject and the NP which has the semantic role of patient (what is created or destroyed) will be identified as the direct object
 Standardized  With verbs with the general meaning 'destroy' or 'create', agents will be subject and patients direct object in basic (active) constructions.
 Keywords  verb, transitivity, subject, direct object, agent, patient
 Domain  inflection, syntax, semantics
 Type  unconditional
 Status  achronic
 Quality  absolute
 Basis  ?
 Source  Kozinsky 1995: 152

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Discussion
Notes
See also Comrie 1978, mentioned in Kozinsky 1995: 152. The same observation has been made a thousand times before and after. The implication is that in ergative constructions these verbs also have agent as subject and patient as object, rather than the other way around, as has sometimes been argued.
Comment
Frans Plank · 3 Aug 2006
The same observation has been made a thousand times before and after. The implication is that in ergative constructions these verbs also have agent as subject and patient as object, rather than the other way around, as has sometimes been argued.
Comment
EF · 20 Jul 2007
See also Comrie 1978, mentioned in Kozinsky 1995: 152.