[Lingtyp] A generalization about morphological and syntactic causatives

Thu Jun 8 04:05:57 UTC 2023

Thanks, Kofi! Van Valin (2005: 186-191) discusses a similar contrast in French, illustrated by _laisser manger_ ‘let eat’ vs. _faire manger_ ‘feed’. In that case, both complements are nonfinite, but _faire manger_ behaves as a complex predicate (a ‘nuclear-layer juncture’ in RRG terms), with a single shared object following both verbs. So as in your example, the construction used for the more indirect scenario is more complex than the one used for the more direct (or rather less indirect, as there is semantically still a causee involved) scenario.

Best – Juergen

Van Valin, R. Jr. (2005). Exploring the syntax-semantics interface. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Juergen Bohnemeyer (He/Him)
Professor, Department of Linguistics
University at Buffalo

Office: 642 Baldy Hall, UB North Campus
Mailing address: 609 Baldy Hall, Buffalo, NY 14260
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From: Lingtyp <lingtyp-bounces at listserv.linguistlist.org> on behalf of Kofi Yakpo <kofi at hku.hk>
Date: Wednesday, June 7, 2023 at 11:36 PM
To: LINGTYP at listserv.linguistlist.org <lingtyp at listserv.linguistlist.org>
Subject: Re: [Lingtyp] A generalization about morphological and syntactic causatives
Dear Juergen,

A further complicating factor is probably the gradient nature of morphological vs. periphrastic causatives and associated meanings. Pichi (African Caribbean English Lexifier Creole, Equatorial Guinea) has two periphrastic causatives.

In (1) The causative event is expressed in two finite clauses rather than in a main clause. The subordinate clause of effect is introduced by a subjunctive complementizer and the causee may only be expressed as the subject of the subjunctive (effect) clause; (2) involves argument sharing and deranking - the causee NP is the syntactic object of the main predicate and simultaneously the notional subject of the non-finite subordinate (effect) clause predicate (https://langsci-press.org/catalog/book/85; p. 365-370):

(1) à mék mék é chɔ́p
    1sg.sbj make sbjv 3sg.sbj eat
    'I made her/him eat' [direct or indirect causation]

(2) à mék=àm chɔ́p
    1sg.sbj make=3sg.obj eat
    'I made her/him eat.' [direct causation]

@Sebastian Dom: maybe the syntactic causative in Kagulu developed to signal (a degree of) indirect causation and then largely displaced morphological causation?

Cheers,
Kofi
————
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On Thu, Jun 8, 2023 at 8:30 AM Mark Donohue <mhdonohue at gmail.com<mailto:mhdonohue at gmail.com>> wrote:
Add Austronesian languages, at least those in Taiwan and Sulawesi, to the list of languages with both 'fully productive morphological causatives' + syntactic causatives.

Examples:

Tukang Besi (Southeast Sulawesi):

No-pa-manga-‘e na ana te osimpu
3R-CAUS-eat-3P NOM child CORE young.coconut
‘She made the child eat the young coconut.’

No-karajaa-‘e kua no-manga te osimpu na ana
3R-make-3P COMP 3R-eat CORE young.coconut NOM child
‘She made the child eat the young coconut.’

Rukai (Taiwan)

o-poa-lra-iline apaa-dhe’enge
Dyn.Fin-make-1S.Nom-3S.Obl Rec:Caus-Dyn.NFin:meet
dhipolo la taotao.
Dhipolo and Taotao
‘I introduced Dhipolo to Taotao.’ (Lit: ‘I made Dhipolo and Taotao meet.’)

apaa-dhe’enge-lra-iline taotao la dhipolo.
Recip:Caus-Dyn.NFin-meet-1S.Nom-3P.Obl Taotao and Dhipolo
‘I introduced Taotao to Dhipolo.’

-Mark

(Zeitoun, Elizabeth (2007). A Grammar of Mantauran (Rukai). Language and Linguistics Monograph Series A4-2. Taipei: Institute of Linguistics, Academia Sinica)

On Thu, 8 Jun 2023 at 06:25, Guillaume Jacques <rgyalrongskad at gmail.com<mailto:rgyalrongskad at gmail.com>> wrote:
Dear Juergen,

Japhug (langsci-press.org/catalog/book/295<http://langsci-press.org/catalog/book/295>) is a counterexample, it
has a very productive causative prefix sɯ-/z- (phonologically
conditioned allomorphs) which can be applied to loanwords from Tibetan
and even from Chinese, and occurs on transitive verbs
(https://paperhive.org/documents/items/Q7EaSdGqQ2jb?a=p:863), but at
the same time there are periphrastic causative constructions, for
instance with the verb βzu "make"
(https://paperhive.org/documents/items/Q7EaSdGqQ2jb?a=p:1378).

Guillaume

Le mer. 7 juin 2023 à 20:57, Juergen Bohnemeyer <jb77 at buffalo.edu<mailto:jb77 at buffalo.edu>> a écrit :
>
> Dear all – It seems that languages with fully productive morphological causatives tend to lack syntactic (a.k.a. periphrastic/analytical) causatives. By ‘fully productive’, I mean crucially that the causative marker can be applied to already transitive (and thus semantically causative) bases, and therefore can be used to express indirect causation. Examples of languages that have fully productive morphological causatives in this sense and lack periphrastic causative constructions include Chuvash, Japanese, Hindi/Urdu, and Shawi (Cahuapanan, Peru).
>
>
>
> Two questions about the above generalization:
>
>
>
> (i)                  Are there counterexamples?
>
> (ii)                Are there statements of this generalization in the literature?
>
>
>
> Thanks! – Juergen
>
>
>
> Juergen Bohnemeyer (He/Him)
> Professor, Department of Linguistics
> University at Buffalo
>
> Office: 642 Baldy Hall, UB North Campus
> Mailing address: 609 Baldy Hall, Buffalo, NY 14260
> Phone: (716) 645 0127
> Fax: (716) 645 3825
> Email: jb77 at buffalo.edu<mailto:jb77 at buffalo.edu>
> Web: http://www.acsu.buffalo.edu/~jb77/
>
> Office hours Tu/Th 3:30-4:30pm in 642 Baldy or via Zoom (Meeting ID 585 520 2411; Passcode Hoorheh)
>
> There’s A Crack In Everything - That’s How The Light Gets In
> (Leonard Cohen)
>
> --
>
>
>
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--
Guillaume Jacques

Directeur de recherches
CNRS (CRLAO) - EPHE- INALCO
https://scholar.google.fr/citations?user=1XCp2-oAAAAJ&hl=fr
https://langsci-press.org/catalog/book/295
http://panchr.hypotheses.org/
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