Semantic and pragmatic constraints on the Englishget-passive

Abstract

This article focuses on the so-called get -passive, frequently regarded as a problematic construction in the linguistic literature. It is my contention that a lexically-based approach is insufficient to account for the appropriateness of the get -passive, since pragmatic and contextual factors are also crucial to ascertain its acceptability. Basing my discussion on corpus data, I will analyze how the semantics of the get -passive interacts with the semantic properties of verbs from five semantic types that can be integrated within the construction: affect , giving , motion ( take -subtype), corporeal and annoying . Along the lines of Goldberg a Jackendoff (2004: 563), I suggest that the get -passive should be treated as a family of constructions in order to account for its semantic and pragmatic properties. Two main subconstructions will be posited: the causative get -passive and the spontaneous get -passive.