7.1005, Sum: Transitive/Intransitive verb pairs

Wed Jul 10 22:53:18 UTC 1996

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LINGUIST List:  Vol-7-1005. Wed Jul 10 1996. ISSN: 1068-4875. Lines:  169

Subject: 7.1005, Sum: Transitive/Intransitive verb pairs

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            Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan U. <hdry at emunix.emich.edu> (On Leave)
            T. Daniel Seely: Eastern Michigan U. <dseely at emunix.emich.edu>

Associate Editor:  Ljuba Veselinova <lveselin at emunix.emich.edu>
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                   Ann Dizdar <dizdar at tam2000.tamu.edu>
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Editor for this issue: lveselin at emunix.emich.edu (Ljuba Veselinova)

---------------------------------Directory-----------------------------------
1)
Date:  Wed, 10 Jul 1996 03:17:28 EDT
From:  fujii at mackay.cs.umass.edu (Hideo Fujii)
Subject:  Summary: trans/intr verb pairs

---------------------------------Messages------------------------------------
1)
Date:  Wed, 10 Jul 1996 03:17:28 EDT
From:  fujii at mackay.cs.umass.edu (Hideo Fujii)
Subject:  Summary: trans/intr verb pairs

Dear LINGUIST Colleagues,

On 29th of May, I posted the following question (Vol-7-792) :

>> I would like to know which languages have "paired transitive verbs".
>> I mean that the morphology of some language shows the derivational
>> variations of transitive and intransitive verbs paird with a shared
>> "stem" with more or less regularity.  For example, in Japanese many
>> such verb pairs are observed, e.g., "OR-u"(Vt:break) vs. "OR-eru"(Vi:break).
>> In this case, "OR-" is a common stem, and "-u" and "-eru" are transitive
>> and intransitive endings repectively. There are several endings for this
>> kind of functionality in Japanese *derivational* morphology.  I want to
>> exclude languages which show the transitive/ intransitive pairs with
>> inflectional changes, zero morphology (like English for "break" etc.),
>> nor syntactical constructions (passive/causative- like form).
>> I appreciate if you tell me the name of languages of this kind.
>> I will summarise after I receive your information.  Thank you very much.

Many people gave me valuable information.  I want to express my
gratitude to these contributors.  Following is a summary of their
messages.  Variety of languages in various regions demonstrate the use
of affixes to produce transitive and intransitive verb pairs - except
Indo-European, especially Germanic languages of using
non-concatenating method.  (According to David Weiss, languages like
Czech "use different verbs to reflect aspectual differences.")
Related to Japanese, I didn't hear the situation and examples in
Korean language.  I'll appreciate if someone can answer to the
question on Korean verbs.

Thank you very much.

Sincerely,

- Hideo Fujii  (fujii at cs.umass.edu)
  Computer Science Department
  University of Massachusetts
    at Amherst

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      <<< Languages with Transitive/Intransitive Verb Pairs >>>

Concatenative Morphology :
- ----------------------
Japanese (Isolate/Altaic?)
  -- has Vt and Vi suffixes
  Vt: UTU-su [move] // Vi: UTU-ru [move]
  Vt: OT-osu [cause something to fall] // Vi: OT-iru [fall]
  Vt: TAT-eru [build] // Vi: TAT-u [be built]
  Vt: YABUR-u [break] // Vi: YABUR-eru [break]
  : by Hideo Fujii <fujii at cs.umass.edu>
Korean (Isolate/Altaic?)
  -- ?????? (has Vt and Vi suffixes??)
Bislama (Solomon Is., English-based Melanesian Pidgin)
  -- Vi root plus Vt sufix
  Vt: mifala i SINGAOT    [we pred.marker call = we yelled]
  Vi: mifala i SINGAOT-em "papa" long man ya
     [we pred.marker call "father" to man specific = we call that man "father"]
  : by Miriam Meyerhoff <mhoff at babel.ling.upenn.edu>
  Vt: Mi raet. [I'm writing]
  Vi: Mi raetem leta  [I'm writing a letter]
  : by  Jeff Siegel <jsiegel at metz.une.edu.au>
Tok-Pisin (Papua New Guinea, English-based Melanesian Pidgin)
  -- Vi root plus Vt sufix (-im)
  : by Rogier Nieuweboer <NIEWBOER at let.rug.nl>
Kope and other Kiwaian languages (Papua New Guinea)
  -- Vi root plus Vt prefix
  Vt: om-ODAU [to bring]  // Vi: ODAU [to go]
  : by John M Clifton <JMClifton at aol.com>
Malagasy (Madagasar, Austronesian)
  : by Charles Randriamasimanana <C.H.Rand at massey.ac.nz>
Yidiny & other Australian languages
  -- use suffixes
  : by Larry Trask <larryt at cogs.susx.ac.uk>
Cree & other Algonquian languages
  : by Michael Jonathan Mathew Barrie <umbarri0 at CC.UManitoba.CA>
Choctaw (Muskogian, Macro-Algonquian)
  -- has Vt suffix (-li) and Vi suffix (-a)
  Vt: BASH-li [cut something] // Vi: BASH-a [be cut]
  : by Marcia Haag <haag at monk.nhn.uoknor.edu>
Yaqui (Mexico, Aztec-Tanoan)
  -- has Vt and Vi suffixes
  : by Eloise Jelinek <jelineke at ccit.arizona.edu>
Finnish (Finno-Ugric, Uralic)
  -- Vi root plus Vt sufix
  Vt: MUUTTUA-a  [to change] // Vi: MUUTTUA [to change]
  : by Kazuto Matsumura <kmatsum at tooyoo.l.u-tokyo.ac.jp>
Russian (Balto-Slavic, Indo-European)
  -- Vt root plus Vi sufix
  Vt: KONCHAL(a) [end] // KONCHAL-os [end]
  : by Melisa Ruiz Gutierrez
Greek (Indo-European)
  -- Few pairs with Vt/Vi endings, but many have different verb forms.
  Vt: KOIM-izo [I put someone to sleep] //  Vi: KOIM-amai [I sleep]
  Vt: KATH-izo [I seat someone] // Vi: KATH-omai [I am sitting]
  : by Nikos Sarantakos <sarant at innet.lu>
Basque (Isolate)
  : by Eloise Jelinek <jelineke at ccit.arizona.edu>

Non-Concatenative Morphology :
- --------------------------
Dutch (Germanic, Indo-European)
  -- by umlaut/ablaut, but few and archaic
  Vt: vellen [to cause something/-one to fall]
  Vi: vallen [to fall]
  : by Homme A. Piest <piest at pobox.leidenuniv.nl>
English (Germanic, Indo-European)
  -- by umlaut/ablaut, but only a few
  Vt: seat //  Vi: sit
  : by Allan Wechsler <awechsle at bbn.com>
  Vt: raise // Vi: rise
  Vt: lay   // Vi: lie
  : by Markus Hiller <markus.hiller at zdv.uni-tuebingen.de>
German  (Germanic, Indo-European)
  -- by umlaut/ablaut
  Vt: f"allen [cut (e.g. a tree)] // Vi: fallen [fall]
  : by Markus Hiller <markus.hiller at zdv.uni-tuebingen.de>
Swabian (a German dialect)
  -- by umlaut/ablaut
  Vt: st[e]cken [stick] // Vi: st[E]cken [stick]
  : by Markus Hiller <markus.hiller at zdv.uni-tuebingen.de>
Swedish, Norwegian, Danish (Germanic, Indo-European)
  : by David Weiss <david_weiss at gbinc.com>
Latin (Italic, Indo-European)
  -- by umlaut/ablaut
  Vt: caedere [cut (e.g. a tree); kill] // Vi: cadere [fall]
  : by Markus Hiller <markus.hiller at zdv.uni-tuebingen.de>
Hindi (Indo-Iranian)
  -- by vowel ablaut for causative derivation
  : by Allan Wechsler <awechsle at bbn.com>
Hebrew (Afro-Asiatic)
  --  Vi from Vt  by "middle-voice"
  : by Allan Wechsler <awechsle at bbn.com>

In addition, Richard Ingham <llsingam at reading.ac.uk> send his comment about
the applicability of derivational processes for this kind.

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