Morphological causatives in contemporary Latvian
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Nicole Nau
Abstract
This paper investigates Latvian verbs with causative morphology and their relations to non-causative verbs. Causative morphology comprises vowel alternation and suffixation. The different techniques are largely synonymous, but differ in frequency and productivity. A major concern of this paper is to determine which kinds of base verbs have corresponding morphological causatives and how the argument structure of a causative verb can be linked to that of the base verb. The great majority of Latvian morphological causatives represent the causative prototype: they are systematically related to patientive intransitive verbs whose single argument corresponds to the direct object of the causative construction. Variations to this pattern are found with causatives based on intransitive verbs whose primary argument is an Agent, Experiencer, or Theme. Morphological causatives related to transitive base verbs are rare and predominantly used in monotransitive constructions. In general, causatives with all kind of bases tend to be used in the basic transitive construction of Latvian with one direct object in the accusative, and possibly peripheral arguments marked with the locative or a preposition.
Abstract
This paper investigates Latvian verbs with causative morphology and their relations to non-causative verbs. Causative morphology comprises vowel alternation and suffixation. The different techniques are largely synonymous, but differ in frequency and productivity. A major concern of this paper is to determine which kinds of base verbs have corresponding morphological causatives and how the argument structure of a causative verb can be linked to that of the base verb. The great majority of Latvian morphological causatives represent the causative prototype: they are systematically related to patientive intransitive verbs whose single argument corresponds to the direct object of the causative construction. Variations to this pattern are found with causatives based on intransitive verbs whose primary argument is an Agent, Experiencer, or Theme. Morphological causatives related to transitive base verbs are rare and predominantly used in monotransitive constructions. In general, causatives with all kind of bases tend to be used in the basic transitive construction of Latvian with one direct object in the accusative, and possibly peripheral arguments marked with the locative or a preposition.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Preface vii
- Voice in Baltic 1
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Part I. Causatives
- Lithuanian morphological causatives 39
- Morphological causatives in contemporary Latvian 99
- Extended uses of morphological causatives in Latvian 147
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Part II. Reflexives and middle voice
- Middle voice reflexives and argument structure in Baltic 181
- Converse relations with the reflexive marker in Lithuanian and Polish 211
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Part III. Passives
- Passivization and argument structure in Lithuanian 289
- Solving the puzzle of the Lithuanian passive 323
- Latvian passives – personal, impersonal and evidential 367
- Language index 395
- Name index 397
- Subject index 399
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Preface vii
- Voice in Baltic 1
-
Part I. Causatives
- Lithuanian morphological causatives 39
- Morphological causatives in contemporary Latvian 99
- Extended uses of morphological causatives in Latvian 147
-
Part II. Reflexives and middle voice
- Middle voice reflexives and argument structure in Baltic 181
- Converse relations with the reflexive marker in Lithuanian and Polish 211
-
Part III. Passives
- Passivization and argument structure in Lithuanian 289
- Solving the puzzle of the Lithuanian passive 323
- Latvian passives – personal, impersonal and evidential 367
- Language index 395
- Name index 397
- Subject index 399
