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Originally Posted by Casiopea Very nice explanation. However, that is exactly how mediopassive verbs (not middle verbs) are described. |
Oh...thank you...
Is 'that' referring to 'with syntactical link' or to 'without syntactical link'?
I think you are missing my point a little, as my issue is with the verb 'reads' specifically.
As far as I am aware, a middle verb describes a quality of the preceding noun, and a mediopassive has a stative(or stative like) verb and an unexpressed actor.
Transwicki:'a grammatical voice in which the actor of a stative verb is not expressed'
Reads is a dynamic verb. It fails the Dowty tests, and since it describes a mental action I can't sensibly see even a 'stative-like' quality - in short, it is a
purely dynamic verb.
This appears important to me. If we are referencing a stative verb, or even a stative-like quality in a nominally dynamic verb, because we are talking about a state there is no need to mention an actor. This makes sense.
On the other hand, if there is
no stative-like reference, then we are definitely talking about an act and we must have a stated (or at least implied) actor, which excludes it from being used in a mediopassive.
I believe this to be the situation with 'reads'.
