[Lingtyp] A generalization about morphological and syntactic causatives

[Eitan Grossman]

Hi Juergen,

Coptic (Afroasiatic) is also an exception. It has a productive causative
prefix *tr(e)- *which can apply equally to intransitive and transitive
predicates, but also has a range of periphrastic constructions using
lexical verbs like *kô* ('put') which seems to have evolved permissive and
ultimately causative functions.

Actually, this is just a snapshot of the latest stage of development, as
the domain of causativity shows cyclical behavior of lexicalization and
grammaticalization over the course of some 4000 years of Egyptian
diachrony: verbs with an old prefix *s*- become lexicalized (roughly 'make
live' > 'nurture'), while periphrastic constructions with a verb meaning
'give' arise ('give' + subjunctive) and ultimately univerbate and
lexicalize ('make X become pure' > 'purify'); new periphrastic
constructions with the same verb 'give' arise and later become affixes,
etc. The Coptic prefix *tr(e)-* goes back to this old 'give' verb.

So it seems that the existence of a productive causative affix doesn't
block the grammaticalization of new periphrastic constructions, but the
latter may be facilitated by a possible tendency (?) of causatives to
lexicalize more specific meanings. Incidentally, is this what happened in
the history of English, with remnants like *fall~fell?*

Eitan


Eitan Grossman
Associate Professor, Department of Linguistics
Department of Linguistics
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Tel: +972 2 588 3809




On Wed, Jun 7, 2023 at 11:26 PM Guillaume Jacques <rgyalrongskad at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Dear Juergen,
>
> Japhug (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> 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
> > 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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