Passive Analysis in Construction Grammar. A Response to Werner Abraham

Werner Abraham claims that Construction Grammar (CxG) eliminates linguistic analysis. He chooses the example of the "passive family" and refers to lectures by Holger Diessel in Munich and me in Vienna in May/June 2014. In this article I compare the view expressed in my presentation (see also Welke 2002, 2012) with Abraham's analysis of the passive. I argue, along with Holger Diessel, from the standpoint of the Lakoff-Goldberg version of CxG (Cognitive Construction Grammar, CCxG). I start (1) with critical remarks on Abraham's generalisations about CxG and compare them with generalisations from the standpoint of CCxG. There follows (2) a critical summary of his view of the passive, and (3) a comparison with my view of the passive. As in my lecture, I will restrict myself to the passive construction with werden (3.1) and the medial structure (3.2).