摘要：This paper aims to provide arguments in favour of the widely discussed idea that English causative alternating constructions of the type "John broke his arm/His arm broke" are, at least partly, reflexive. As we shall see, several constraints condition this proposal, namely the actor/non-actor category of the first argument of the activity predicate and the concept of control. In addition, I will argue that the recurrent association of this particular causative formal composition to the above mentioned reflexive meaning leads us to consider this alternation as a new construction within the wider scope of causatives. This construction has been labelled as the Possessed-Raising construction.
其他摘要：This paper aims to provide arguments in favour of the widely discussed idea that English causative alternating constructions of the type "John broke his arm/His arm broke" are, at least partly, reflexive. As we shall see, several constraints condition this proposal, namely the actor/non-actor category of the first argument of the activity predicate and the concept of control. In addition, I will argue that the recurrent association of this particular causative formal composition to the above mentioned reflexive meaning leads us to consider this alternation as a new construction within the wider scope of causatives. This construction has been labelled as the Possessed-Raising construction
