Indirect causatives in Basque: The syntax of implicit causees

In Basque there is a morphological causative construction where the causative suffix is added to the verbal root and an additional argument—the causer—is added to the already existing ones. In this paper we analyze indirect causatives (ICs), that is, morphological causative constructions where the c...

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Veröffentlicht in:Natural language and linguistic theory Jg. 43; H. 3; S. 1285 - 1325
Hauptverfasser: Berro, Ane, Odria, Ane, Fernández, Beatriz
Format: Journal Article
Sprache:Englisch
Veröffentlicht: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01.08.2025
Springer Nature B.V
Schlagworte:
Basque language
Basque people
Causative constructions
Debates
Grammatical subject
Linguistics
Morphological analysis
Morphology
Natural Language Processing (NLP)
Phi features
Philosophy of Language
Social Sciences
Suffixes
Syntactic structures
Syntax
Implicit causee
PCC
Impersonals
Indirect causatives
Causatives
ISSN:0167-806X, 1573-0859
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Zusammenfassung:In Basque there is a morphological causative construction where the causative suffix is added to the verbal root and an additional argument—the causer—is added to the already existing ones. In this paper we analyze indirect causatives (ICs), that is, morphological causative constructions where the causee—the caused-to-act subject—is left implicit, with no morphological reflex. Our analysis argues that both causative constructions, the direct and the indirect ones, involve a Voice-over-Voice projection and discusses its consequences for Case and Agreement. Additionally, we explore the nature of the implicit causee, and claim that it is syntactically projected as a strong implicit argument but with deficient φ -features. In these respects, it is similar to the impersonal subject found in Basque. Nevertheless, it differs in one key aspect: the causee is projected in a phrase with its own probe, resulting in distinct behavior concerning the PCC. This paper contributes to the discussion on the different versions of Voice, the syntactic nature of implicit arguments and how they interact in different constructions like causatives and impersonals.
Bibliographie:ObjectType-Article-1
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ISSN:0167-806X
1573-0859
DOI:10.1007/s11049-024-09637-1