A Lexical-constructional Analysis of the English Get-Passive

This article presents a lexical-constructional analysis of the get-passive in English (e.g. Ed got fired). Drawing on standard arguments and evidence, it is argued that the passive is a family of constructions, from idiomatic through two productive types, which are either causative or non-causative. The article proposes an analysis of those three constructions as lexical items. While the idiomatic type is fully listed in the lexicon with a single meaning, the two productive types are templates that are stored in the component with passive get and a constructional meaning. The proposed analysis also has some advantages over previous studies.