Causatives in Maring

Abstract

Causatives are valence increasing operation where another core argument, a causal agent (causer), is added for expressing a semantic or logical effect of causation on the non-causative verb. Causative construction comprises of the causer –the agent of the predicate of cause, and the causee – the agent of the caused event (Payne 1997: 176). This paper described the formation of causatives in Maring, a lesser-known Tibeto-Burman language spoken in southeaster part of Manipur, India. Maring has three causatives, təu-, -kjər and pi-. While təu- is used for direct causation and for deriving causatives from adjectives, kjər- is used for indirect causation. On the other hand, pi- is a benefactive marker that also gives causative interpretation. This paper will discuss and analyse the three causatives found in Maring – their origin, characteristics and productivity etc