A Comparative Study on the Causative Alternation in Chinese and Japanese

Abstract

This paper introduces the causative and anti-causative alternation in Mandarin Chinese and Japanese respectively. Firstly, the verbs which are allowed to appear in the causative alternation in Mandarin Chinese and Japanese are stable, although they are realized in different manners. In Japanese, the causative alternation is realized through the morpheme markings either from transitivization or intransitivization; in Mandarin Chinese, the resultative verb compounding is usually applicable in the causative alternation, as well as the very rare mono-morphemic verbs, as widely discussed in existing literature. Secondly, the derivational and non-derivational controversy of the causative alternation is introduced, and this paper adopts a non-direct-derivation-relation between the causative and anti-causative alternants in both languages, both of which are derived from a common base: Cause[√Root+Theme]. The [√Root+Theme] base expresses a resultant state, and the Cause predicate introduces a causal relation between a causing event and a resultant state. They only differ in the presence or absence of a Voice projection, which is added in the causative alternant, but lacks in the anti-causative alternant. The function of the eventive head Voice is to introduce an external argument into the causative alternant. The typology of the causative alternation applies in both Mandarin Chinese and Japanese, although the morphemic inflectional properties vary across languages.