Query on analytic causative verbs
Suzanne Kemmer
kemmer at RICE.EDU
Wed Mar 28 15:09:53 UTC 2012
Hi all,
I have been queried about something I wrote a long time ago, and I did not
document the facts well enough to easily find more examples of a particular kind.
Does anyone know of any languages in which the causative verb in an analytic causative construction
is a verb literally meaning 'give'? The example I came across in fieldwork and mentioned in my
paper with Arie Verhagen is: Luo MIYO 'give' which is used as an analytic causative verb.
The easiest way to sum up the analytic causative construction I am talking about
is: [ Causer V(of causation) Causee V (Patient) ] .
Examples include English 'I made her laugh' and the French FAIRE causative.
Case marking/grammatical relations of the participants can vary across languages; word order can vary. The second verb - the
one with the variable lexical content, which expresses a predicate of result in this construction -- may or may not be finite, and if non-finite may or may not have an infinitive marker.
The range of meanings of the construction should include 'X made Y do something'/ 'X caused Y to do something'.
The reason:
I am aware that some languages do not sharply distinguish 'strict causation' from
other force dynamic configurations like allowing or ordering; such meanings are often found with such constructions as well as 'strict causation'.
'Strict causation', which I have often been told is the only interpretation of such constructions that is typologically relevant, means causation
as logicians define it: The caused predicate follows the causing predicate (or its associated specific action) in time; and, supposedly, it would not have taken place had not X done something unspecified that is expressed schematically by the causing predicate.
Since many linguists are most interested in this 'logical' causation, I wanted to make sure examples of the construction include the meaning 'make Y do'. Not just 'let Y do', 'order Y to do' , etc.
Thanks for any help!
Suzanne Kemmer
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