In linguistics, a causative (abbreviated CAUS) is a valency-increasing operation[1] that indicates that a subject either causes someone or something else to do or be something or causes a change in state of a non-volitional event. Normally, it brings in a new argument (the causer), A, into a transitive clause, with the original subject S becoming the object O.
All languages have ways to express causation but differ in the means. Most, if not all, languages have specific or lexical causative forms (such as English rise → raise, lie → lay, sit → set). Some languages also have morphological devices (such as inflection) that change verbs into their causative forms or change adjectives into verbs of becoming. Other languages employ periphrasis, with control verbs, idiomatic expressions or auxiliary verbs. There tends to be a link between how "compact" a causative device is and its semantic meaning.[2]
The normal English causative verb[3] or control verb used in periphrasis is make rather than cause. Linguistic terms are traditionally given names with a Romance root, which has led some to believe that cause is more prototypical. While cause is a causative, it carries some additional meaning (it implies direct causation) and is less common than make. Also, while most other English causative verbs require a to complement clause (as in "My mom caused me to eat broccoli"), make does not require one ("My mom made me eat broccoli"), at least when it is not being used in the passive voice.[5]: 36–7
- ^ Payne, Thomas E. (1997). Describing morphosyntax: A guide for field linguists. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 173–186.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
Dixonwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Celce-Murcia, Marianne; Larsen-Freeman, Diane (1999). The Grammar Book: An ESL/EFL teacher's course, 2nd ed. Heinle & Heinle. p. 646. ISBN 0-8384-4725-2.
...verbs like let, make, and have together with their complements are often called causitive verbs or constructions since one agent is (to one degree or another) 'causing' another to act.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
Valencywas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Dixon, R.M.W. 2000. "A typology of causatives: form, syntax and meaning". In Dixon & Aikhenvald (2000)[4] p. 30–83.