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Robert Forkel edited this page Jun 30, 2021 · 20 revisions

Is there a causative construction involving an element that is unmistakably grammaticalized from a verb for ‘to say’?

Summary

A causative is a valency increasing operation that introduces a causer subject that makes a non-subject argument do or become something (e.g. ‘x eats’ -> ‘y feeds x’ = ‘y causes x to to eat’). Both causatives adding an argument to a transitive clause (I drink milk -> x causes me to drink milk) and those adding an argument to an intransitive clause (I sit -> x causes me to sit) are included in this feature. This question targets causative constructions with an element that clearly originated as a verb for ‘to say’ (e.g. I said for the stone to fall to mean ‘I made the stone fall’). Various verbs of saying count for this feature, including ‘to say’, ‘to speak’ and ‘to call’. If another verb is involved that cannot be easily translated as ‘to say’, e.g. ‘ask’, code 0 but mention the verb in the comments.

Procedure

  1. Code 1 if a source mentions a causative construction that features an element that originates as a verb for ‘to say’.
  2. Code 1 if you spot an unambiguous causative construction that features an element that otherwise means ‘to say’ (e.g. where the causee is an inanimate entity).
  3. Code 0 if there is a causative construction with an element that otherwise occurs as a verb that cannot be translated as ‘to say’. Mention the verb in the comments.
  4. Code 0 if causative constructions are comprehensively discussed, but nothing is said about a causative construction featuring a ‘say’ element.
  5. Code 0 if there are no causative constructions.
  6. Code ? if you spot potential causative constructions featuring a ‘say’ element, but the analysis is inconclusive.
  7. Code ? if there are no sources treating causatives or other valency changing operations in the language or if treatment of them is very limited.

Examples

Amkoe (ISO 639-3: huc, Glottolog: hoaa1235)

Amkoe has a bound causative prefix kí-, that is very similar to the verb for kíí ‘say’ (Collins & Gruber 2014: 165). Amkoe is coded 1 in Grambank.

ǎ"ri   yà   xà  'a     kí-|'í    yȁ
what   Q    QF  PROG   CAUS-cry  3SG
‘What is making him/her cry?’ (Collins & Gruber 2014: 165)

Nukna (ISO 639-3: klt, Glottolog: nukn1238)

Nukna usually expresses causative meaning through clause chaining. The verb me ‘say’ is one of the main verbs that is used in such clause chains. In the following examples, the meaning of me is clearly causative. Nukna is coded 1 for this feature.

a. ko     me-tá            umi=yá     tárikngi-ine-k
   2SG.A  speak-2SG.DS.SEQ water=A    become.dry-FUT-3SG
   ‘You say (something that causes) the water (to) become dry.’

b. ámna    yáin-lá=yá         me-t                 ámnanáráwa=yá  yáup   tá-u-ráng
   man     head-3SG.POSS=A    speak-2/3PL.DS.SEQ   people=A       work   do-PST-2/3PL
   ‘The head men said (something that caused) the people (to) do the work.’

(Taylor 2015: 130)

Mandarin Chinese (ISO 639-3: cmn, Glottolog: mand1415)

Mandarin Chinese has a causative construction with the verb jiào ‘to call’. This construction triggers a 1 for this feature in Grambank.

a. Zhè  jiào  wǒ  dānxīn.
   this call  1SG worried
   ‘This makes me worried.’ (Jingting Ye, p.c. 26-11-2020)

b. Tā    jiào   xiǎomíng  míngtiān  lái  dǎpái.
   3SG   call   Xiaoming  tomorrow  come play.
   ‘He made Xiaoming to come tomorrow and play cards.’ 
   (Context: the 3SG agent is Xiaoming’s noisy roommate,
   who is so loud that he ‘made’ Xiaoming escape 
   to a friend’s house where he will play cards.) (Jingting Ye, p.c. 26-11-2020)

c. Tā  jiào  wǒ  chī zhè  gè dàngāo.
   3SG call  1SG eat this CL cake
   ‘He/she makes me eat this cake.’ (Jingting Ye, p.c. 26-11-2020)

Further reading

Escamilla, Ramón M. 2012. An updated typology of causative constructions: Form-function mappings in Hupa (California Athabaskan), Chungli Ao (Tibeto-Burman) and beyond Berkeley: University of California. (Doctoral dissertation.)

Haspelmath, Martin & Thomas Müller-Bardey. 2004. Valency change. In Geert E. Booij, Christian Lehmann, Joachim Mugdan & Stavros Skopeteas (eds), Morphology: An international handbook on inflection and word-formation (Vol. 2), 1130–1145. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter.

References

Collins, Chris & Jeff Gruber. 2014. A grammar of ǂHȍã with vocabulary, recorded utterances and oral texts. Cologne: Rüdiger Köppe.

Taylor, Matthew A. 2015. Nukna grammar sketch. (Data Papers on Papua New Guinea Languages, 61.) Ukarumpa: Summer Institute of Linguistics.

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