On the Argument Structure of Causatives
نویسندگان
چکیده
Morphologically derived causatives are composed of a causative morpheme and a base verb. It is generally accepted that the causative morpheme is a two-place predicate expressing a relation between a causer and a caused event. This has suggested to some researchers that morphological causatives have essentially the same syntactic representation at D-Structure as English periphrastic causatives involving verbs like make or cause, which are also semantically two-place predicates. This line of research is most clearly represented by theories that derive causatives through syntactic incorporation, particularly those of Baker (1988) and Li (1990). In this study I will show that in certain languages the causative morpheme is a threeplace predicate, involving a patient in addition to a causer and a caused event. This assumption will not only provide a simple account of the basic generalizations about causatives, but also explain a whole set of facts that are completely mysterious for the Incorporation theories. I will argue that the three-place causative predicate yields an argument that bears a semantic relation to both the causative predicate and the base predicate. This semantically composite argument cannot be derived through movement in the syntax, since it would violate the 0-Criterion (Chomsky (1981; 1982)). It must be formed elsewhere (i.e., in the argument structure) and assigned fully formed to one syntactic position. A consequence of this is that morphological causatives cannot be formed by a syntactic derivation, contrary to the claim made by the Incorporation theories.
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تاریخ انتشار 2008