Iteration of valence changing processes

[Kulikov, L.I.]

Hi Pattie,

I've published two article on double/iterated causatives, and you may find some relevant data in:

Kulikov, L. The "second causative": A typological sketch. In: Bernard Comrie & Maria Polinsky (eds), Causatives and transitivity. (Studies in Language Companion Series; 23). Amsterdam: Benjamins, 1993. Pp. 121-154.
(downloadable from: https://openaccess.leidenuniv.nl/handle/1887/15602)

Kulikov, L. Remarks on double causatives in Tuvan and other Turkic languages. Journal de la Société Finno-Ougrienne / Suomalais-Ugrilaisen Seuran Aikakauskirja 88 (1999): 49-58. 

(downloadable from: https://openaccess.leidenuniv.nl/handle/1887/16506)

Best,
Leonid 

-----Original Message-----
From: Discussion List for ALT [mailto:LINGTYP at LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG] On Behalf Of Pattie Epps
Sent: dinsdag 27 maart 2012 15:15
To: LINGTYP at LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG
Subject: Iteration of valence changing processes

On behalf of Stefan Müller and Stephen Wechsler.

Hi,

We are working on argument structure and for being able to decide between alternative analyses we are looking for languages that allow for iteration of valence changing processes like passive, causativization, middle, ...

We know of Turkish which allows for iterative causativization:

Öl-dür-t-tür-t-
`to cause somebody to cause somebody to kill somebody'

Lewis, Geoffrey L. (1967), Turkish Grammar, Oxford: Clarendon Press.

Another is passivization in Lithuanian. Timberlake claims that a passivized clause can be passivized again.

Timberlake, Alan (1982), "The Impersonal Passive in Lithuanian", in:
Proceedings of the Eighth Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society. Berkeley: University of California, 508-524.

Then there is data from Yucatec Maya. There they have "cause to learn" = teach, learn could be passivized and then embedded under the causativization "He causes that the theory is being learned". And this can be passivized again: 'The theory is being taught.' ('Somebody causes that the theory is being learned.')

WUNDERLICH, DIETER. 1999. Prelexical syntax and the voice hypothesis.
Audiatur Vox Sapi- entiae: Festschrift for Arnim von Stechow, ed. by Caroline Fery and Wolfgang Sternefeld, 497-523. Berlin: Akademie Verlag.

However, the latter interaction between causativization and passive turned out not to be productive. So, if you could help us with languages that allow for such flip-flop processes this would be really great.

Thank you very much!