Causative - Susceptibility To Causativization

Susceptibility To Causativization

Shibatani (2001) classifies verbs into four categories, according to how susceptible they are to morphological causativization:

1. Inactive intransitives, e.g., 'faint'
2. Middle/ingestive verbs, e.g., 'eat'
3. Active intransitives, e.g., 'work'
4. Transitive verbs, e.g., 'carry'

In what can be seen as a re-characterization of Dixon’s (2000) criteria (2; transitive/intransitive/ditrasitive), (6; ‘directness of causer action’) and (8; ‘causer effort’), Shibatani argues that this hierarchy of susceptibility to causativization can be characterized in terms of the semantic role of the causer, which he characterizes, in turn, in terms of the difficulty the causer experiences in bringing about the caused event. He argues that a patientive causee poses less resistance than an agentive causee; in the former case, the only counterforce to overcome is the causee’s inertia, either in continuing to be at rest or in continuing to undergo a change. In the latter case (some kind of caused agency), however, causation requires the participation of another entity: in force-dynamic terms, the potential resistance is greater is lower], hence the hierarchy:

• inactive intransitives > active intransitives > transitives.