Causative Affixes

There is a growing body of literature that recognises the relationship between verbal argument alternations such as passives and anticausatives. However, alternation types in Bantu languages have been treated in a rather fragmented way. In addition, the relationship between passive and anticausative constructions with regard to the realisation of an implicit external argument poses a challenge to the study of argument alternations within and across languages. The present article examines the morphosyntactic and lexical-semantic properties of passive and anticausative constructions in Kiwoso (Bantu), invoking different combinations of Voice, vCAUS and Root, as assumed in the syntactic decomposition approach. The properties of change of state verbs in licensing the anticausative and passive alternations form an integral part of this article. This article argues that the passive and anticausative in Kiwoso are distinguished on the basis of a Voice functional head, which determines the nature of events expressed by passive and anticausative verb constructions. The distinction between the (non-) occurrence of na-and ko-phrases in Kiwoso provides diagnostic evidence for this property.

This study aims to describe the causative constructions in modern standard Arabic (MSA) and discuss their analyses. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to discuss the causative constructions in MSA. This study shows that there are three different types of causatives in MSA: the lexical causative, the periphrastic causative, and the morphological causative. We discuss the three types of causatives in MSA and the associated thematic roles of arguments, especially the morphological causatives, where the number of arguments and their thematic roles are changed after the derivation. The role of the causee is always patient, and the role of the causer is always an agent of the event even if the basic verb requires a subject with a different role. The last section of this study presents a syntactic analysis of the three structures of causatives in MSA within the lexical functional grammar framework.

examines transitivity as a grammatical aspect of the Kalanga language. The investigation is done using two theoretical frameworks: Relational Grammar (RG) and Hopper and Thompson’s (1980) Transitivity Theory. RG theory is used to explain the difference between transitive and intransitive sentences on the basis of syntactic primitives called grammatical relations (GRs). Sentences that contain verbs that take the GR direct object are classified as transitive, while those that have verbs that cannot take this GR are intransitive. This study shows that making a clear – cut dichotomy between transitive verbs on one hand and intransitive verbs on the other hand using RG theory does not fully explain the complex phenomenon of transitivity. It is on this basis that this study also uses Hopper and Thompson’s (1980) Transitivity

This contribution investigates the unaccusative hypothesis driving data from Embosí language regarding unergative predicates. It comes out from discussion that if Split intransitive is a cross linguistically based phenomenon, its diagnostic tests are rather linguistic parameters of variation. Perlmutter (1978) puts forward three different forms of unaccusative hypothesis, then I assert that it is his second form which suits and meets its explanatory adequacy cross linguistically. Moreover, Embosí resorts to two tests namely nominalization and cognate objects to diagnose unergative predicates. Finally, unergativity is related to agentivity and volition.

examines transitivity as a grammatical aspect of the Kalanga language. The investigation is done using two theoretical frameworks: Relational Grammar (RG) and Hopper and Thompson’s (1980) Transitivity Theory. RG theory is used to explain the difference between transitive and intransitive sentences on the basis of syntactic primitives called grammatical relations (GRs). Sentences that contain verbs that take the GR direct object are classified as transitive, while those that have verbs that cannot take this GR are intransitive. This study shows that making a clear – cut dichotomy between transitive verbs on one hand and intransitive verbs on the other hand using RG theory does not fully explain the complex phenomenon of transitivity. It is on this basis that this study also uses Hopper and Thompson’s (1980) Transitivity

Syntactic Biases in Intentionality Judgments Brent Strickland ([email protected]) Department of Psychology, Yale University Matt C. Fischer ([email protected]) Biola University Elodie Peyroux ([email protected]) Universite Lumiere Lyon 2 Frank Keil ([email protected]) Department of Psychology, Yale University Abstract: The notion of a “thematic role” has been an important one in linguistic theories concerning the syntax/semantics interface (Fillmore, 1968), but their effects on high-level cognition remain relatively unexplored. Thematic roles,like AGENT and PATIENT, are said to be linked with specific grammatical positions like that of “subject” and “direct object”. Here we ask if the link between grammatical subjects and the thematic role AGENT might create an intentionality bias for subjects. We tested this in a series of studies examining both response times and accuracy. These studies reveal a quick and reflexive bias to treat grammatical subjects (but...

The investigation of causative constructions has been a topic of enduring interest among linguists, generative and non-generative alike. For one thing, the variability and sheer complexity of the relevant empirical domain, even within a group of closely related languages such as Romance, poses considerable and often daunting descriptive challenges. On the other hand, comparative work by linguists of various theoretical persuasions (Aissen 1974, Aissen 1979, Baker 1985, Comrie 1976, Marantz 1984, Zubizarreta 1982, Zubizarreta 1985, among many others) has shown that certain properties of causatives recur with striking regularity among unrelated and typologically otherwise diverse languages, in the absence of areal contact. This holds out the hope that the bewildering variety of data that we are faced with when we consider causative constructions can be understood with reference to a relatively small number of causative types. At first glance, the most salient distinction is that betwe...

The universal grammatical concept of causativity has received little attention from Igbo grammar scholars. On the contrary, the equally universal concept of transitivity is well studied but with attendant controversial issues. Nevertheless, the notions of causativity and transitivity are represented by the morpho-semantic properties of the Igbo verb. This study investigates these morphosyntactic properties in order to identify the contrasts between causativity and transitivity. The investigation involves an anlysis of the predicate and event structures of the Igbo verb. This leads to the conclusion that the contrast between transitivity and causativity in Igbo lies in the event structure of the verb. Verbs with transitivity features represent single events in their conceptualisation while causative verbs represent two sequential events in their conceptualisation.

In this paper we present an approach to lexical typology which will be referred to as the “frame method”. It was developed and tested in the Moscow Lexico-Typological Group and is currently used in all its projects, such as Majsak, Rakhilina (eds.) 2007, Britsyn et al. (eds.) 2009,
Kruglyakova 2010, Reznikova et al. 2012.
Our main principle, taken from the Moscow semantic school (Apresjan 1974/1992, cf. also Firth 1957: 11), is that lexical meanings can be studied and reconstructed by observing the word’s “surroundings”, primarily their collocation. Then, they can be compared by procedures
similar to those used in grammatical typology.
Section One will clarify the goals of lexical typology (LT), as we see them in relation to our method, and the method itself will be presented in more detail in Section Two.
Keywords: lexical typology, semantics, frame-based approach

My research explores one of the intransitive predicates called unaccusatives driving data from Embosi, a Bantu language. It comes out further to discussion that unaccusative predicates are semantically driven since syntax utilizes semantic information of these predicates. This study confirms that passivization, causative alternation, and resultative constructions are among the key tests regarding unaccusativity. Most unaccusative predicates are cross linguistically based, what distinguishes them from one language to one another is the language morphological productivity. In fact, Embosi shows that unaccusative properties are inherent to the verb itself, but not to the verb phrase.

In this article I shall show that the causative morpheme-issiin Shakkinoonoo and-ičči-in Kafinoonoo are borrowed from Oromo. Further I shall show that the morpheme-ičči-is the same as the morpheme-issi-. The paper is divided into four sections. The first section introduces geographical area, language contacts, language affiliations, and attitudes of the speakers of the two languages. The second section discuses the basic and the borrowed causative markings of Shakkinoonoo and Kafinoonoo. The third section argues that the morpheme-ičči-is the same as-issi-. The fourth section compares the causative markings of neighboring languages and gives conclusion.

The three concepts of case, valency and transitivity belong to the most discussed topics of modern linguistics. On the one hand, they are crucially connected with morphological aspects of the clause, including case marking, person agreement and voice. On the other hand, they are related to several semantic issues such as the meaning of case, semantico-syntactic verbal classes, and the semantic correlates of transitivity. The volume unifies papers written within different theoretical frameworks and representing variegated approaches (Optimality Theory, Government and Binding, various versions of the Functional approach, Cross-linguistic and Typological analyses), containing both numerous new findings in individual languages and valuable observations and generalizations related to case, valency and transitivity.

In contemporary aspectology the distinction between "phase" and "quantitive" aspect is generally accepted (cf., for example, Plungian 1997). As regards quantitive aspectual meanings, the distinction between "iterative" (in the broad sense, i. e. including "multiplicative" type) and "distributive" types of predicate (or "verbal") plurality (cf. Dressler 1968: 62-74; Khrakovskij 1989: 22-50; Dolinina 1996: 232-245) is also generally accepted. In the first case a situation with the same set of participants is repeated several times (as in Russian: U etoj ?en?'iny izbivali syna'This woman's son was beaten'). In the second case a different participant (or participants) takes part in the situation each time (as in Russian: U mnogix ?en?'in po-izbivali synovej'Many women's sons were beaten', where the prefix po-is the marker of distributivity). In other words, "iterative" meanings ...

In this paper, we investigate Chinese L2 learners' knowledge of two grammatical constraints in Vietnamese: the first, a constraint on the aspectual interpretation of accomplishment predicates, the second pertaining to alternations in the position of embedded subjects in mono-clausal làm causatives. Whereas the former constraint is shared by Vietnamese and Chinese, the two languages differ with respect to the latter. The results of three judgment tasks provide statistically reliable support for the idea that L2 interlanguage grammars are not ultimately limited by L1 patterns; given the absence of explicit teaching and only limited exposure to relevant structures, it is suggested that learners' performance may be guided by UG information.

This study examines the morpho-syntax of labile anticausative structures in Jordanian Arabic (JA). Although the transitive counterpart of anticausatives is marked via morphological affixes that reflect structural and lexical components in Classical Arabic and Modern Standard Arabic, a number of verbs involving causative alternation exhibit identical forms in JA (e.g., ġala [+T] ‘to CAUSE boil something’ vs ġala [–T] ‘to BECOME boil’). Such variation poses challenges for mapping between verb morphology and its lexical semantics. To handle such variation, which is also observed cross-linguistically, we argue in favour of Schäfer (2008; 2012), Schäfer & Vivanco (2015), and Ramchand’s (2008) “causer-less” analysis over Koontz-Garboden’s (2009) “reflexive” analysis. This work further assumes the existence of a Voice phrase lacking a specifier (external argument) and assumes that Voice projection is headed by an implied Voice head (vcauser) that syntactically assigns the accusative case t...

Bassil Mashaqba, anas huneety, Wael zuraiq, Moh'D al-omari & Sabri al-Shboul, Labile anticausatives in Jordanian Arabic. the poznań Society for the advancement of arts and Sciences, pL ISSn 0079-4740, pp. 19-45 this study examines the morpho-syntax of labile anticausative structures in Jordanian arabic (Ja). although the transitive counterpart of anticausatives is marked via morphological affixes that reflect structural and lexical components in Classical arabic and Modern Standard arabic, a number of verbs involving causative alternation exhibit identical forms in Ja (e.g., ġala [+T] 'to CaUSe boil something' vs ġala [-t] 'to BeCoMe boil'). Such variation poses challenges for mapping between verb morphology and its lexical semantics. to handle such variation, which is also observed cross-linguistically, we argue in favour of Schäfer (2008; 2012), Schäfer & Vivanco (2015), and Ramchand's (2008) "causer-less" analysis over Koontz-Garboden's (2009) "reflexive" analysis. this work further assumes the existence of a Voice phrase lacking a specifier (external argument) and assumes that Voice projection is headed by an implied Voice head (v causer) that syntactically assigns the accusative case to its new subject and semantically encodes the internal argument and describes the resultant subevent of the verb. the work also provides an alternative solution for voice projection that lacks an explicit specifier bearing [+agent] or [+causer] feature specification. the work assumes the presence of an inchoative Voice head [ v inch] introducing the Spec Voice phrase, which encodes an inchoative resultant state of an event achieved over its theme. Contrary to al-Qadi (2015), the present model assumes that such verbs constitute a middle position between transitive and intransitive verbs in Ja but do not constitute a separate class of their own. evidently, the correct characterization of the anticausative subclass distribution is that it surfaces wherever v is transitive as well as in intransitive volitional contexts (a non-natural class). More intriguingly, the presented material suggests that there is an ongoing process of diachronic change in spoken arabic varieties (including Ja) that amounts to the development and expansion of an inchoative class where no external or internal inchoative detransitivizing morphemes are involved. this topic, which incorporates an intriguing diachronic dimension in addition to the syntactic details, is missing from the generative literature on arabic morpho-syntax and is potentially of sufficient interest to merit investigation.

Master de Sciences du Langage Spécialité Langage, Langues, Textes, Sociétés mémoire de recherche de master 1 présenté par Neige Rochant Soutenu le 2 septembre 2017 Discipline : linguistique Morphologie, syntaxe et sémantique des verbes causatifs synthétiques dans un dialecte andi Mémoire dirigé par : M. Anton Antonov Maître de conférence, Inalco M. Gilles Authier Directeur d'études, EPHE Membres du jury : M. Guillaume Jacques Directeur de recherche, CNRS La réalisation de ce mémoire a été possible grâce au concours de plusieurs personnes à qui je voudrais témoigner ma reconnaissance. En premier lieu, je remercie M. Gilles Authier, qui m'a fait découvrir les langues du Daghestan et m'a conseillée de m'intéresser à l'andi, puis, en tant que directeur de ce mémoire, m'a guidée dans mon travail et mes recherches de terrain. Je voudrais aussi exprimer ma reconnaissance à Mme Hélène Gérardin et à M. Timur Maisak de m'avoir initiée au terrain et à la linguistique dans le Caucase, pour leur soutien et leurs conseils. Je remercie également M. Antonov d'avoir accepté de co-diriger mon mémoire. Je dois aussi beaucoup à M. Guillaume Jacques, qui a accepté d'être dans mon jury et a si aimablement fait le nécessaire pour que ma soutenance puisse avoir lieu. Je le remercie d'ailleurs pour les commentaires et les conseils qu'il m'a fournis à cette occasion. Je souhaite témoigner ma plus grande gratitude à tous mes informateurs andis, en particulier à la famille de M. Aligadji Magomedov, pour leur précieuse collaboration. Sans eux, ce travail n'aurait pas vu le jour faute de données sur le dialecte de Zilo. i J'adresse encore des remerciements à Mme Hélène Gérardin, ainsi qu'à M. Arthur Laisis, pour avoir relu et corrigé des extraits de mon mémoire. Je souhaite remercier également Mmes Nina Dobrushina et Natalia Zevakhina, ainsi que la Haute École d'Économie de Moscou, de m'avoir aidée à obtenir mon visa pour la Russie afin que je puisse y effectuer mes missions de terrain. Enfin, je remercie mes parents de m'avoir soutenue dans ce projet, ainsi que mes co-expéditionnaires George Moroz, Alexandra Martynova, Samira Verhees et Aigul Zakirova d'avoir été à mes côtés et pour tous les conseils qu'ils m'ont donnés.

In the past 20 years, a new class of verbs has seen the light of existence: 'unaccusative' or 'ergative' verbs. These verbs are intransitive, but different from the traditional notion of intransitive to the extent that their subject valency behaves like a direct object distributionally. Ever since the introduction of this new grammatical notion in (typologically non-ergative, i. e., accusative) languages like English a vast bulk of literature on this topic has come forth. The present article takes issue with this mainly Anglophil notion of unaccusativity/ergativity. The claim is that this notion does not make sense in languages which provide aspectual or aktionsart distinctions of perfectivity. 'Unaccusatives' are intransitive perfectives. This argument is carried through primarily on the empirical basis of German.

This collection presents typological work on tense, aspect, and epistemic modality in a variety of languages and against the background of different schools of thinking, among which the St. Petersburg Typological School developed and so masterfully implemented by the Petersburg linguist, Vladimir Petrovich Nedjalkov. The volume honors this reputed scholar for his life work. It is in mainly this spirit that the following scholars have contributed to the volume: T. Tsunoda on Warrungu (Australian indigeneous language), L. Kulikov on Vedic, K. Kiryu on Japanese, Korean and Newari, N. Sumbatova on Svan (from the Kartvelian group), T.Bulygina & A. Shmelev, V. Plungian, Y. Poupynin, E. Rakhilina and G. Silnitsky on Russian, W. Boeder on Georgian, R. Thieroff on aorist and imperfect in European languages, on Russian, L. Johanson on Kipchak Turkic, I. Dolinina on Russian, N. Kozintseva on Old and Modern Eastern Armenian, Ch. Lee on Korean, W. Abraham on split ergative languages and German on Russian, on Russian, and K. Ebert on Kalmyk.

This paper investigates the acquisition of Greek voice morphology in relation to transitivity alternations. 'Non-active' voice morphology is found in reflexive, anti-causative and passive structures. The role of the non-active morpheme is to 'check' a thematic feature of the verb, internal or external.

There are productive (-re/-e/-te, -yar/-ar) and non-productive (-V, -ke, -ka) causatives in Ainu. Non-productive causatives have traditionally been regarded as ‘transitives’, but proposing a revision of Tamura’s model of verbal structure in Ainu, this paper argues that they can be regarded as direct causatives, though causatives in -V do not have the same derivational status and should rather be regarded as lexical causatives. A cross-dialectal comparison shows that the causative function of -ka is gradually being replaced by the productive causative -re/-e/-te which came to be used as a default causative marker of direct/indirect causation. Three of five causative morphemes originated in the verbs ‘make’ and ‘do’; all of them have also been attested with the denominal causative function, which suggests the following general pattern for the development of causatives in Ainu: DO/MAKE > DENOM > DIR CAUS > (INDIR CAUS).

Chinese resultative compounds provide evidence that the thematic hierarchy is not the only factor determining the link between theta roles and syntactic arguments. Rather, it interacts with the causative hierarchy and when in conflict, can be overridden by the latter. This “asymmetrical” interaction between the two factors is shown to be responsible for the complex and, in some cases, totally unexpected patterns of ambiguity that resultative compounds demonstrate in various syntactic contexts. To the extent that the presence/absence of the causative hierarchy can be accurately predicted and its interaction with the thematic hierarchy explicitly specified, this paper lends support to the multi-dimensional nature of human language.