Alternation ‘Accidental Reflexive’ (Coded)

A transitive physical activity verb with an agentive subject appears with a reflexive pronoun instead of a regular direct object, e.g. I cut myself, implying an accidental outcome. The locus of the effect can be, and commonly is, indicated by an optional on-phrase with a body-part word, e,g, I cut myself on the finger.

Verb Meaning Verb form Basic coding frame Derived coding frame Occurs Comment # Ex.