Lexical Causatives Research Articles

Adults Adapt to Child Speech in Causative Semantics.

Causation is a core feature of human cognition and language. How children learn about intricate causal meanings is yet unresolved. Here, we focus on how children learn verbs that express causation. Such verbs, known as lexical causatives (e.g., break and raise), lack explicit morphosyntactic markers indicating causation, thus requiring that the child generalizes the causal meaning from the context. The language addressed to children presumably plays a crucial role in this learning process. Hence, we tested whether adults adapt their use of lexical causatives to children when talking to them in day-to-day interactions. We analyzed naturalistic longitudinal data from 12 children in the Manchester corpus (spanning from 20 to 36 months of age). To detect semantic generalization, we employed a network approach with semantics learned from cross-situational contexts. Our results show an increasing trend in the expansion of causative semantics, observable in both child speech and child-directed speech. Adults consistently maintain somewhat more intricate causative semantic networks compared to children. However, both groups display evolving patterns. Around 28-30 months of age, children undergo a reduction in the degree of causative generalization, followed by a slightly time-lagged adjustment by adults in their speech directed to children. These findings substantiate adults' adaptation in child-directed speech, extending to semantics. They highlight child-directed speech as a highly adaptive and subconscious teaching tool that facilitates the dynamic processes of languageacquisition.

The categorization of causatives in modern Chinese

The article presents a model for applying methods of corpus linguistics to the categorization of causatives that convey semantics of causality in contemporary Chinese. The author employs the core functions of the corpus manager Sketch Engine, including thesaurus, concordance and word list in order to select contextual synonyms, search to find illustrative material and generate lexical units with preset parameters accordingly. Specifically, online corpus of Chinese Web 2017 (zhTenTen17) Simplified, which contains approximately 16.6 billion tokens, was used to conduct the study.Notably, in modern Chinese, the category of causality is primarily realized through causative constructions, which/whose type is determined by the causative predicate. The present paper studies both lexical and grammatical causatives. The results illustrate that lexical causatives include mono- andmulti-component types, while grammatical causatives are divided into those formed by two full verbs; those formed by a full verb and a resultative component; and those formed by a combination of light and non-causative verbs. Besides, grammatical causative constructions are divided into two main subtypes: morphological and analytical. The morphological one conveys semantics of causality either through causative affixes or phonological changes, while the analytical one being the most prevalent in modern Chinese are further classified into three models, namely: those formed with causative markers; those formed with the causative preposition 把; and those formed with the word 得. Future research may focus on the pragmatics of the choice in different types of causative constructions, with a regard to the conceptual and linguistic worldview of the Chinese people.

Differences in Korean learners’ acquisition of causative expressions: focus on learners’ proficiency level

This study examines the learning patterns of intermediate and advanced Korean learners in the acquisition of causative expressions according to their proficiency and the causative sentence type. We measured their grammatical knowledge using three types of grammaticality judgment tasks (GJTs) and self-paced reading tasks (SPRTs) differing in time limit and modality. We included the GJT A' score and reading time (RT) for SPRTs’ target and spillover regions. The results showed that intermediate learners’ accuracy for morphological and lexical causatives was lower than that for syntactic causatives, while advanced learners’ accuracy for lexical causatives was lower than that for syntactic and morphological causatives. Learners showed a lower accuracy for timed written and aural GJTs than untimed GJT. In SPRT, learners took twice as long to process the target regions as native speakers and even longer to process spillover regions. Advanced learners had a longer RT. Learners had a low correct rate for causative suffix substitution and adjectival root questions, substitution questions on causative markers, and substitution questions on causee case postpositions in morphological, syntactic, and lexical causatives. Learners showed confusion with active sentences in lexical causatives. This study has implications for understanding causative expression acquisition for learners’ proficiency levels.

Do typological differences in the expression of causality influence preschool children’s causal event construal?

AbstractThis study investigated whether cross-linguistic differences in causal expressions influence the mapping of causal language on causal events in three- to four-year-old Swiss-German learners and Turkish learners. In Swiss-German, causality is mainly expressed syntactically with lexical causatives (e.g.,ässe‘to eat’ vs.füettere‘to feed’). In Turkish, causality is expressed both syntactically and morphologically – with a verbal suffix (e.g.,yemek‘to eat’ vs.yeDIRmek‘to feed’). Moreover, unlike Swiss-German, Turkish allows argument ellipsis (e.g., ‘The mother feeds [∅]’). Here, we used pseudo-verbs to test whether and how well Swiss-German-learning children inferred a causal meaning from lexical causatives compared to Turkish-learning children tested in three conditions: lexical causatives, morphological causatives, and morphological causatives with object ellipsis. Swiss-German-learning children and Turkish-learning children in all three conditions reliably inferred causal meanings, and did so to a similar extent. The findings suggest that, as young as age 3, children learning two different languages similarly make use of language-specific causality cues (syntactic and morphological alike) to infer causal meanings.

Early parental causal language input predicts children's later causal verb understanding.

How does parental causal input relate to children's later comprehension of causal verbs? Causal constructions in verbs differ across languages. Turkish has both lexical and morphological causatives. We asked whether (1) parental causal language input varied for different types of play (guided vs. free play), (2) early parental causal language input predicted children's causal verb understanding. Twenty-nine infants participated at three timepoints. Parents used lexical causatives more than morphological ones for guided-play for both timepoints, but for free-play, the same difference was only found at Time 2. For Time 3, children were tested on a verb comprehension and a vocabulary task. Morphological causative input, but not lexical causative input, during free-play predicted children's causal verb comprehension. For guided-play, the same relation did not hold. Findings suggest a role of specific types of causal input on children's understanding of causal verbs that are received in certain play contexts.

Causation in Classical Chinese During the Warring States Period and in the Han Dynasty

In this paper, I explore causation in Classical Chinese during the Warring States period and in the Han Dynasty. Whether causation is realised via causative use of words with covert causative verbs, or via overt causative verbs, causation structures can always be divided into Agentive and Causative constructions, which can be further categorised into lexical causatives and productive causatives. I also account for causation in Classical Chinese by means of Feng’s (1998, 2000, 2009) prosodic approach and show that both strategies to form causation structures are compatible with a prosodic theory. I discuss both VO and VV causation and state that Agentive and Causative constructions involving covert causative (light) verbs are prosodic words, whereas those involving overt causative verbs exhibit properties of phrases.

Особенности прототипических и непрототипических каузативных конструкций в бурятском языке

The article is devoted to studying linguistic representation of the CAUSALITY concept in the Buryat language. The paper describes the basic types of prototypical and non-prototypical causative constructions, reveals their structural peculiarities, specificity of linguistic representation. Scientific originality of the study lies in the fact that for the first time in the Buryat linguistics, the authors examine the syntactic category of CAUSALITY from the viewpoint of the prototypical approach. The research objective includes identifying the prototypical and non-prototypical constructions representing the concept CAUSALITY in the Buryat language. As a result, it is shown that in the Buryat language, the prototypical nucleus of the CAUSALITY concept includes constructions with the meaning of inducement or direct physical influence. These constructions include morphological and lexical causatives and polypredicative constructions. It is noted that in the Buryat language, polypredicative constructions serve exclusively to express prototypical causation.

Influence of causal language on causal understanding: A comparison between Swiss German and Turkish

Young children have difficulties in understanding untypical causal relations. Although we know that hearing a causal description facilitates this understanding, less is known about what particular features of causal language are responsible for this facilitation. Here, we asked two questions. First, do syntactic and morphological cues in the grammatical structure of sentences facilitate the extraction of causal meaning? Second, do these different cues influence this facilitation to different degrees? We studied children learning either Swiss German or Turkish, two languages that differ in their expression of causality. Swiss German predominantly uses lexical causatives (e.g., schniidä [cut]), which lack a formal marker to denote causality. Turkish, alongside lexical causatives, uses morphological causatives, which formally mark causation (e.g., ye [eat] vs. yeDIr [feed]). We tested 2.5- to 3.5-year-old children’s understanding of untypical cause–effect relations described with either noncausal language (e.g., Here is a cube and a car) or causal language using a pseudo-verb (e.g., lexical: The cube gorps the car). We tested 135 Turkish-learning children (noncausal, lexical, and morphological conditions) and 90 Swiss-German-learning children (noncausal and lexical conditions). Children in both language groups performed better in the causal language condition(s) than in the noncausal language condition. Furthermore, Turkish-learning children’s performance in both the lexical and morphological conditions was similar to that of Swiss-German-learning children in the lexical condition and did not differ from each other. These findings suggest that the structural cues of causal language support children’s understanding of untypical causal relations regardless of the type of construction.

Event Types and (In)Directness of Causation in Akan

Abstract This paper presents a proposal on the form-function correlation between direct causation and non-periphrastic causatives on one hand, and indirect causation and periphrastic causatives on the other hand. The study argues that notions of direct and indirect causation are actually features of event types of causation and vary across different event types. We present five event types of causation found in Akan causatives and isolate their properties with regard to the causer, causee, control of resultant state/event and (in)direct physical contact between causer and causee. We show that in Akan, all types of causatives, lexical, cause-effect SVC and analytic causatives can encode any of the major event types of causation. Consequently, rather than mapping causative expressions with notions of direct or indirect causation, we analyze (in)directness of causation as a feature of event types of causation, not of causative expressions themselves. Thus, although the form-function correlation in causatives may hold in some languages we argue that (in)direct causation is not encoded separately in causative forms and constructions.

Causer and causee as two higher-ranked thematic roles

AbstractOn the basis of the argument realization of Mandarin resultative verb compounds, this paper argues that the Proto-Agent properties as well as the Proto-Patient properties proposed byDowty (1991)are not equal in status. Specifically, the Proto-Agent property corresponding to the Causer and the Proto-Patient property corresponding to the Causee are two higher-ranked properties. In a non-prototype approach to thematic roles, this means that the Causer and the Causee are two higher-ranked thematic roles that are immediately relevant to the argument realization of monotransitive causative predicates. The paper shows that, compared with Dowty’s equal-weight approach, the alternative approach recognizing the Causer and the Causee as two higher-ranked properties or roles can give a simpler, more effective, and more straightforward account of the argument realization associated with monotransitive causative predicates, including lexical causatives, morphological causatives, and resultatives. This study has implications for research in the argument realization of causatives involving three (or more) arguments as well. Meanwhile, it has implications for any theory utilizing thematic hierarchy because (i) none of the thematic hierarchies proposed in the literature includes both the Causer and the Causee and (ii) a complete theory of thematic roles needs to take these two higher-ranked roles into consideration.

Causatives and causativation in Tangut language

Abstract This paper focuses on the causative verb 𘃡 wji1 and 𗟻 phji1 in the Tangut language. Causatives can be subcategorized as adversity causatives, transitive verbs (lexical causatives of intransitive verbs), analytic causatives of intransitive verbs, and causatives of transitive verbs. I argue that adversity causatives are expressed by 𘃡 wji1, while 𗟻 phji1 serves as the verb marking causatives of transitive verbs. Causatives of intransitive verbs can be divided according the directness of the action: direct actions, which often apply on inanimate objects, are causativized by 𘃡 wji1 (or use other transitive verbs), and indirect actions, which usually apply on animate objects, are causativized by 𗟻 phji1.

Non-culmination and Serial Verb Construction in Korean

In English the inherent result of a lexical causative (e.g. open and burn) must occur for a sentence headed by the verb to be true; it is simply contradictory to say, for example, that John opened a door, but it was not opened or that John burned a book, but it was not burned. By contrast, the corresponding sentences in some other languages are acceptable (e.g. Thai, Tamil, Hindi, Chinese, Japanese, and Salish languages), and the sentences are said to be interpreted as non-culmination (more specifically, zero result). Korean is one of those languages (Park 1993; Y-S. Lee 2004; J. Lee 2015; Martin 2016; Beavers and Lee In press). Although non-culmination research has recently attracted much attention, most studies on it in the literature have focused on lexical causatives. This paper aims to extend the coverage of non-culmination research to serial verbs, which are considered typical complex predicates in Korean. Particularly, it is shown, following J. Lee (2015), that V1 (the first verb) of a serial verb construction does not allow zero result, but V2 (the second verb) does. To account for this difference, I propose in this paper the Final Event Hypothesis that only the final subevent in the event structure of a causative predicate is cancelable whether the predicate encodes a direct or indirect causation. Some predictions of this hypothesis and an alternative hypothesis in J. Lee (2015) are tested with other similar data and resultative constructions in Korean, which I argue further supports the Final Event Hypothesis. (Jeonju University)

Learning the Causative Alternation in English and Japanese Speakers: Statistical and Non-statistical Effects

ABSTRACTChildren acquire argument structure through distributional evidence, but how does this interacts with event semantics and existing verb knowledge? The current study compares verb learning in adult speakers of Japanese (where lexical causatives span wider semantic categories) and English (where alternation is more restricted). In the Fully alternating familiarization, internally caused events (similar to descend) and externally caused events (similar to rock) occurred with novel verbs in transitive and intransitive frames. In the Semi-alternating familiarization, internally caused events occurred with intransitives only while externally caused events occurred with both frames. During the test, participants rated the naturalness of transitive and intransitive descriptions for all events. For internally caused events, transitives were rated equivalently low across speakers after the Semi-alternating familiarization (which featured only intransitives), while intransitives were more felicitous for English compared to Japanese speakers. For externally caused events, all participants rated transitives higher than intransitives, despite equal occurrence across familiarizations. This may be related to the presence of salient animate agents in scenes. Together, this suggests that syntactic and semantic biases concurrently influence the interpretation of distributional evidence. Input statistics are interpreted through existing syntactic representations, and salient semantic distinctions may exert a bias for syntactic instantiations.

The probability of external causation: An empirical account of crosslinguistic variation in lexical causatives

AbstractThis corpus-driven computational study addresses the question of why some verbs in some languages participate in the causative alternation while their counterparts in other languages do not. The results of this study suggest that the lexical property that underlies this variation is the probability of external causation. Alternating verbs are distributed on a scale of increasing probability for an external causer to occur. The probability of external causation can be empirically assessed in two ways, among others: first, by observing the typological distribution of causative and anticausative morphological markings across a wide range of languages; second, through the frequency distribution of causative and anticausative uses of the alternating verbs in a corpus of a single language. Our study reveals that these two measures are correlated. Moreover, we demonstrate that the corpus-based measure is applicable to a wide range of verbs. Extending the corpus-based investigation comparatively across two languages, English and German, we find that the frequencies of crosslinguistic realizations of lexical causatives are modulated by the probability of external causation, an underlying parameter assigned to verb types. Finally, we propose a probabilistic graphical model that clusters verbs based on the relation between the crosslinguistic distribution of their causative and anticausative realizations and the probability of external causation.

Why we need a token-based typology: A case study of analytic and lexical causatives in fifteen European languages

Why we need a token-based typology: A case study of analytic and lexical causatives in fifteen European languages

CAUSATIVE CONSTRUCTIONS IN JAVANESE

This paper aims at analyzing causative constructions found in Javanese. The data were takenfrom low register of Javanese spoken in Malang, a city in eastern part of Java Island throughobservation and note taking techniques. Furtehrmore they were analyzed descriptivelyagainst theory of causative construction by Kroeger (2004). The result showed that threetypes of causative construction: lexical, analytical and morphological causatives exist inEastern Javanese.

Why we need a token-based typology: A case study of analytic and lexical causatives in fifteen European languages

AbstractThis paper investigates variation of lexical and analytic causatives in 15 European languages from the Germanic, Romance, and Slavic genera based on a multilingual parallel corpus of film subtitles. Using typological parameters of variation of causatives from the literature, this study tests which parameters are relevant for the choice between analytic and lexical causatives in the sample of languages. The main research question is whether the variation is constrained by one semantic dimension, namely, the conceptual integration of the causing and caused events, as suggested by previous research on iconicity in language, or whether several different semantic and syntactic factors are at play. To answer this question, I use an exploratory multivariate technique for categorical data (Multiple Correspondence Analysis with supplementary points) and conditional random forests, a nonparametric regression and classification method. The study demonstrates the importance of corpus data in testing typological hypotheses.

Psych verbs in Uyghur

English psych verbs fall into three types, namely, Subject Experiencer (SE), Object Experiencer (OE) and Dative Experiencer (DE) verbs. Unlike English SE verbs, noncausative Uyghur verbs fall into two categories: accusative and oblique psych verbs according to the case marking of their objects. Apart from typical transitive constructions [NP8 NP0 VERB], Uyghur employs light verb constructions of the type [N/ADJ bol-/qil-]. We argue that light verb constructions of the type [NP8 NP-Ace N/Adj qil-] are analytical causative configurations. Oblique psych verbs occur in light verb constructions of the type [NPs NP-ABL/-DAT ADJ/N-ACC bol-/qil-], in which bol- functions as BECOME, while qil functions as no/GET, and the latter is an analytical causative configuration. Our classification of Uyghur non-causative verbs into accusative and oblique psych verbs has ramifications for causativizations ofUyghur verbs. For example, the causative morpheme cannot be attached to accusative psych verbs, but is perfectly fine with oblique psych verbs. We argue that morphological causatives in Uyghur are lexical causatives in nature, as Uyghur has relatively few zero causatives like the English verbs worry and please. Uyghur analytical causative constructions of the type [NP8 NP-ABLI-DAT ADJIN-ACC] correspond to English make constructions. The fact that the Target/Subject Matter restriction is dissolved in analytical causative constructions in Uyghur in turn supports our analysis of morphological causatives as lexical causatives and light verb constructions as analytical causatives.

Causative constructions in Ainu: A typological perspective with remarks on the diachrony

AbstractThere are productive (-re/-e/-te, -yar/-ar) and non-productive(-V, -ke, -ka) causatives in Ainu. Non-productive causatives have traditionally been regarded as ‘transitives’, but proposing a revision of Tamura’s model of verbal structure in Ainu, this paper argues that they can be regarded as direct causatives, though causatives in-Vdo not have the same derivational status and should rather be regarded as lexical causatives. A cross-dialectal comparison shows that the causative function of-kais gradually being replaced by the productive causative-re/-e/-tewhich came to be used as a default causative marker of direct/indirect causation. Three of five causative morphemes originated in the verbs ‘make’ and ‘do’; all of them have also been attested with the denominal causative function, which suggests the following general pattern for the development of causatives in Ainu:do/make>denom>dir caus>(indir caus).

The development of the causative construction in Persian child language.

The acquisition of systematic patterns and exceptions in different languages can be readily examined using the causative construction. Persian allows four types of causative structures, including one productive multiword structure (i.e. the light verb construction). In this study, we examine the development of all four structures in Persian child speech between the ages of 1;11 and 6;7, in correspondence with their caregivers' speech. We define developmental stages based on dendrograms derived from variability clustering (Gries & Stoll, 2009). These stages are further substantiated by qualitative data, including overgeneralization errors and alternating structures. We find that Persian-speaking children learn to exploit two (i.e. lexical and light verb construction causatives) of the four constructions. They go from relying on lexical causatives to forming progressively constrained templates for the more complex light verb construction. This first study of the development of Persian causatives supports a usage-based account of verb-by-verb learning in child language development.