Lexical Causatives Through Conversion AND Productive Morphological Causatives

[Chao Li]

Dear Colleagues,

I was wondering whether anyone was aware of a language that has *not only*
a number of (say, at least 10) lexical causatives formed through conversion
(i.e. the lexical causative has exactly the same form as a non-causative
adjective or intransitive verb) *but also* a productive process of forming
morphological causatives through the addition of an affix to the base (e.g.
Japanese causative suffix -*(s)ase*). With respect to lexical causatives
through conversion, English has a number of examples (see Levin 1993:
244-245; *English Verb Classes and Alternations*):

(1) abate, alter, blast, blunt, blur, burn, burst, capsize, change, chill,
clear, clean, clog, close, collapse, compress, condense, contract, cool,
corrode, crumble, decompose, decrease, deflate, defrost, degrade, dim,
diminish, dissolve, distend, double, drain, dry, dull, empty, even,
explode, freeze, halt, heal, ignite, improve, increase, inflate, kindle,
level, melt, multiply, narrow, open, overturn, pale, pop, quiet, round,
rupture, shrink, shrivel, shut, sink, slow, smooth, soak, splay, stretch,
submerge, subside, tame, tan, taper, thaw, tilt, topple, triple, unfold,
vary, warm, warp

I look forward to your response. Thank you in advance for your time and
information.

Best regards,
Chao
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