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Re: [Latejami] Questions About Verbs

In a message dated 10/25/2006 5:04:00 PM Central Standard Time, garthrose@hidden.email writes:


1.  All verbs have a patient, and all action verbs also have an agent,
I agree.  But lately I'm wondering if ALL verbs, even state verbs,
have an agent:  Whether P/F, for example, is really the same as P/F [-A].

Take "The sky is_blue."  Isn't that just a middle voice version of
A/P-s sentences like:

Scattered sunlight makes the sky blue.  (Or "blues the sky", if you
prefer.)
The will of God makes the sky blue.
The nature of things makes the sky blue.
Collective hallucination makes the sky blue.

Or am I wrong, and there is a real semantic difference?  If so, what
is it?


My thoughts on your question: It should be obvious from your examples of possible agents that the agent is *not* obvious or unimportant, thus it's not a case of "middling out" the agent.  The sky is the experiencer of the state of being blue.  Nothing makes the sky blue, although it's blue for a reason, it just is blue.  Besides, if you use a middle voice on A/P-x, the meaning is different.  

stevo