Editing Causative (section)

{{Short description|Aspect of verb grammar}}
{{About|the causative voice|the unrelated concept of the causative mood|Causative mood}}
{{Transitivity and Valency}}
In [[linguistics]], a '''causative''' ([[list of glossing abbreviations|abbreviated]] {{sc|'''caus'''}}) is a [[valency (linguistics)|valency]]-increasing operation<ref name=Payne>Payne, Thomas E. (1997). ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=LC3DfjWfCiwC Describing morphosyntax: A guide for field linguists].'' Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 173–186.</ref> that indicates that a subject either causes someone or something else to do or be something or causes a change in state of a non-[[volition (linguistics)|volitional]] event. Normally, it brings in a new argument (the causer), A, into a transitive clause, with the original subject S becoming the object O.

All languages have ways to express causation but differ in the means. Most, if not all, languages have specific or ''lexical'' causative forms (such as English ''rise'' → ''raise'', ''lie'' → ''lay'', ''sit'' → ''set''). Some languages also have [[morphology (linguistics)|morphological]] devices (such as [[inflection]]) that change verbs into their causative forms or change adjectives into verbs of ''becoming''. Other languages employ [[periphrasis]], with [[control (linguistics)|control verbs]], idiomatic expressions or [[auxiliary verb]]s. There tends to be a link between how "compact" a causative device is and its semantic meaning.<ref name=Dixon/>

The normal [[English language|English]] causative verb<ref>{{cite book|author1=Celce-Murcia, Marianne|author2=Larsen-Freeman, Diane|title=The Grammar Book: An ESL/EFL teacher's course, 2nd ed.|publisher=Heinle & Heinle|page=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780838447253/page/646 646]|year=1999|isbn=0-8384-4725-2|quote=...verbs like ''let'', ''make'', and ''have'' together with their complements are often called ''causative'' verbs or constructions since one agent is (to one degree or another) 'causing' another to act.|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780838447253/page/646}}</ref> or control verb used in periphrasis is ''make'' rather than ''cause''. Linguistic terms are traditionally given names with a [[Romance languages|Romance]] root, which has led some{{according to whom|date=March 2025}} to believe that ''cause'' is more prototypical. While ''cause'' is a causative, it carries some additional meaning (it implies direct causation) and is less common than ''make''. Also, while most other English causative verbs require a ''to'' [[complement clause]] (as in "My mom caused me to eat broccoli"), in Modern English ''make'' does not require one ("My mom made me eat broccoli"), at least when it is not being used in the [[passive voice]].  The [[bare infinitive]]'s near-uniformity of use in this context is, however, a development in Modern English; contrast, ''e.g.'', [[Early Modern English]] ''He maketh me to lie down in green pastures'' (Ps. 23:2 [KJV]).{{refn|name=Dixon2|[[R. M. W. Dixon|Dixon, R.M.W.]] 2000. "A typology of causatives: form, syntax and meaning". In Dixon & Aikhenvald (2000)<ref name=Valency /> p. 30–83.}}{{rp|36–7}}

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