Editing Causative (section)

==Syntax==
[[R. M. W. Dixon|R.M.W. Dixon]] also outlines the syntactic possibilities of causatives in the world's languages.

===Intransitives===
Since [[intransitive verb]]s have low [[Valency (linguistics)|valency]], virtually any type of causative construction can apply to them [[productivity (linguistics)|productively]] within a language. Some constructions are ''only'' allowed with intransitive verbs and some languages (such as [[Arabic language|Arabic]], [[Blackfoot language|Blackfoot]], and [[Gothic language|Gothic]]) only allow causatives of intransitive verbs, with some exceptions.<ref name=Shibatani/>{{rp|5}} In all cases, the original subject of the underlying intransitive verb corresponds with the object of the derived transitive verb. All languages have this construction, though some allow a semantic difference if the original subject is marked differently (such as [[Causative#Japanese|Japanese]] and [[Hungarian language|Hungarian]]).<ref name=Dixon/>{{rp|45}}

For [[Active-stative language|split systems]], causatives of intransitives may be treated differently.<ref name=Dixon/>{{rp|45}}

The syntax of a causative construction is almost always the same as some other type of sentence, such as a sentence with a transitive verb. [[Tariana language|Tariana]], however, is an exception to this rule.<ref name=Dixon/>{{rp|45}}

===Transitives===
In the causative of a [[transitive verb]], the new causer always becomes the new A of the sentence. What happens to the causee and the original object depend on the language. Dixon shows that there are five main types of situations:

:{| class="wikitable"
|+ Causative of a transitive<ref name=Dixon/>{{rp|48–56}}
! type !! causer !! original A (causee) !! original O !! languages
|-
| (i) || A || special marking || O || [[Nivkh language|Nivkh]], [[Telugu language|Telugu]]
|-
| (ii) || A || retains A-marking || O || [[Kabardian language|Kabardian]], [[Trumai language|Trumai]], [[Qiang language|Qiang]]
|-
| (iii) || A || has O-marking || has O-marking || [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]], [[Tariana language|Tariana]], [[Amharic language|Amharic]], [[Sanskrit language|Sanskrit]]<ref name=Payne />{{rp|180}}
|-
| (iv) || A || O || non-core || [[Javanese language|Javanese]], [[Swahili language|Swahili]], [[Kammu language|Kammu]], [[Babungo language|Babungo]]
|-
| (v) || A || non-core || O || many languages 
|}

Within type (v) there are two main subtypes. Either the original A goes into the first empty slot in a hierarchy or it always takes a certain function.<ref name=Dixon/>{{rp|54}}

For the first subtype, there is a hierarchy involved in the language:

:subject > direct object > indirect object > oblique > genitive > object of comparison.<ref name=Comrie1975>Comrie, B. (1975). "Causatives and universal grammar," ''Transactions of the Philological Society for 1974.'' p. 1–32.</ref>

[[French language|French]] is a language that follows this hierarchy. When a causative is employed, the original A does not get marked the same for intransitives, transitives, and ditransitives.<ref name=Dixon/>{{rp|54}} In this first example, the verb in intransitive, and with the subject slot taken, the original A becomes a direct object:

{{interlinear|indent=3
| je ferai courir '''Jean'''
| 1SG+NOM make+FUT+1SG run+INF Jean 
| "I will make Jean run."
}}

The following example has a transitive verb. The subject and direct object slots are filled (with ''je'' and ''les gâteaux'', respectively) so the original A becomes an indirect object:

{{interlinear|indent=3
| je ferai manger les gâteaux '''à''' '''Jean'''
| 1SG+NOM make+FUT+1SG eat+INF the cakes PREP Jean
| "I will make Jean eat the cakes."
}}

This final French example has a ditransitive verb. The subject is ''je'', the direct object is ''une lettre'', and the indirect object is ''directeur'', so the original A is marked as an oblique:

{{interlinear|indent=3
| je ferai écrire une lettre au directeur '''par''' '''Jean'''
| 1SG+NOM make+FUT+1SG write+INF a letter PREP+ART headmaster PREP Jean
| "I will make Jean write a letter to the headmaster"
}}

While some writers have called this hierarchical causative construction the norm,<ref name=Comrie1975/>{{rp|8}} outside of [[Romance language]]s it is in fact rather rare.<ref name=Dixon/>{{rp|54}}

Most other languages are of the second subtype of type (v), and the original A takes on a set case or marking, regardless whether the underlying verb is intransitive or transitive:

:{| class="wikitable"
|+ Further divisions of type (v)<ref name=Dixon/>{{rp|55}}
! causer !! original A (causee) !! original O !! languages
|-
| A || [[dative case|dative]] || O || [[Sanuma language|Sanuma]], [[Apalai language|Apalai]], [[Kamaiurá language|Kamaiurá]], [[Turkish language|Turkish]], [[Japanese language|Japanese]]
|-
| A || [[instrumental case|instrumental]] || O || [[Hungarian language|Hungarian]], [[Kannada language|Kannada]], [[Marathi language|Marathi]]
|-
| A || [[locative case|locative]] || O || Some languages of [[Daghestan]]
|-
| A || [[allative case|allative]] || O || [[Greenlandic language|West Greenlandic Eskimo]]
|-
| A || [[adessive case|adessive]] || O || The morphological causative in [[Finnish language|Finnish]].
|-
| A || [[possessive case|possessive]] || O || [[Tsez language|Tsez]]
|}

===Ditransitives===

The syntactic and morphological constraints of individual language generally restrict causatives of [[ditransitive verb]]s. The underlying phrase already contains an A, O, and [[object (linguistics)|indirect object]], and so in order to accommodate a fourth [[argument (linguistics)|argument]], languages employ a variety of constructions. They tend to be idiosyncratic and are difficult to group together into types. Additionally, data is patchy for many languages since descriptions of languages seldom include information of causatives of ditransitives.<ref name=Dixon/>{{rp|56–9}}

===Double causatives===

Some types of causative constructions essentially do not permit double causatives, ''e.g.'' it would be difficult to find a lexical double causative. Periphrastic causatives however, have the potential to always be applied iteratively (''Mom made Dad make my brother make his friends leave the house.'').

Many Indo-Aryan languages (such as [[Hindustani language|Hindustani]]) have lexical double causatives.

For morphological causatives, some languages do not allow single morpheme to be applied twice on a single verb ([[Jarawara language|Jarawara]]) while others do ([[Capanawa language|Capanawa]], [[Hungarian language|Hungarian]], [[Turkish language|Turkish]], [[Kabardian language|Kabardian]], [[Karbi language|Karbi]]), though sometimes with an idiomatic meaning ([[Swahili language|Swahili's]] means ''force to do'' and [[Oromo language|Oromo's]] carries an intensive meaning). Other languages, such as [[Nivkh language|Nivkh]], have two different morphological mechanisms that can apply to a single verb. Still others have one morpheme that applies to intransitives and another to transitives ([[Apalai language|Apalai]], [[Guarani language|Guarani]]). All of these examples apply to underlying intransitive verbs, yielding a ditransitive verb. So far, there are no reliable data for a morphological double causative of a transitive verb, resulting in a verb with four arguments.<ref name=Dixon/>{{rp|59–61}}