Amharic Causatives - Revisited Tamara Sorenson Duncan & Daniel Aberra Background to Amharic: • Amharic is a Semitic language spoken in Ethiopia (Gordon, 2005) • Verb roots typically contain 3 consonants (e.g. /sbr/ ‗break‘) • Aspect is marked by inserting vowels into the consonant string: • sǝbr = break.imperfective • sǝbbǝr = break.perfective •Sample Verb Paradigms: Singular Plural 1 ku n 2.MASC k t hu 2.FEM 3.MASC u 3.FEM t Table 1: Verbal Agreement Markers – Subjects Table 2: Verbal Agreement Markers – Objects Singular Plural 1 n n 2.MASC h t hu 2.FEM 3.MASC u t o 3.FEM t 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Background to Amharic Causatives: Semantic Transitivity Previous Research: • Some researchers (e.g., Appleyard, 1974; Palmer, 1994) argue that the morphological causatives follow an unpredictable distribution. • Amberber (2000) argues that the use of these two prefixes is determined by the semantics of the verb: •a- is used with unaccusative verbs (i.e. intransitive verbs that take a patient as the subject) •as- is used with all verbs Causatives: • Constructions used to show who or what causes an event to happen (Matthews, 1997). • Amharic has two morphological causatives a- and as- : Intransitive Verbs: Transitive Verbs: Ditransitive Verbs: Conclusion: 8 References: Amberber, M. (2000). Valency-changing and valency-encoding devices in Amharic. In R.M.W. Dixon & Y. Aikhenvald (Eds.), Changing valency case studies in transitivity, p. 312-332. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Appleyard, D.L. (1972). /a-/ and /as-/ verb forms in Amharic. Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, 35, p. 18-26. Gordon, Raymond G., Jr. (ed.), 2005. Ethnologue: Languages of the World, Fifteenth edition. Dallas, Tex.: SIL International. Online version: http://www.ethnologue.com/. Hopper, P.J., & Thompson, S.A. (1980). Transitivity in Grammar and Discourse. Language, 56, p.251-299. Matthews, P.H. (1997). Concise Dictionary of Linguistics. New York: Oxford. Palmer, F.R., (1994). Grammatical Roles and Relations. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Department of Linguistics 40 th Reunion May 2009 University of Alberta (1) Aster kwas a n as meta t Aster ball DEF ACC CAUS hit 3.FEM.SUBJ 1SG.O BJ ‗Aster made me kick the ball‘ (2) John ɨndi t ‘aw t adərrəgə John INF play make:PFV 3SG.MASC.S UBJ ‗John made him play‘ • Amharic also has a periphrastic causative construction: • Hopper and Thompson‘s (1980) notion of semantic transitivity is a useful tool for describing the distribution of a- and as- in Amharic. • 10 parameters of transitivity: • Number of participants • Kinesis: amount of action transferred ( I hugged Sally vs. I like Sally) • Aspect: telic > atelic • Punctuality: punctual > non-punctual • Volitionality: volition > non-volitinon • Affirmation: affirmation > negation • Mode: realis > irrealis • Agency: high agency > low agency (George startled me vs. the picture startled me) • Affectedness of O (drank up the milk vs. I drank some of the milk) • Individuation of O: distinctness of O from A and the distinctness of O from its own background (He drank the beer vs. he drank some beer) • The more parameters that a construction satisfies, the closer that sentence is to ―cardinal transitivity‖. • We suggest that: •a- is used to derive constructions that more closely resemble a ―cardinal transitive‖. •as- is used to derive constructions that deviate from the ―cardinal transitive‖ (3) dəbdabe–w nəgə jɨ–mat‘–al letter–DEF tomorrow 3SG.MASC–come:IMP– 3SG.SUB ‗the letter will come tomorrow‘ (4) John dəbdabe–w–n nəgə jɨ–as–mat‘–al John letter–DEF–ACC tomorrow 3SG.MASC–CAUS–come:IMP–3SG.SUB ‗John will cause the letter to come tomorrow‘ e.g. ‗John will order someone else to bring the letter but will not bring it himself‘ • Causativization with an inanimate (patient) subject in the underived form: (5) John dəbdabe–w–n nəgə jɨ–a–mat‘–al John letter–DEF–ACC tomorrow 3SG.MASC–CAUS–come:IMP–3SG.SUB ‗John will bring the letter tomorrow‘ • Causative constructions can also be derived with both a- and as- when the underived form contains an animate (agentive) subject: (6) səwjəw lɨd –u-n as–rot‘–ə man boy—DEF- ACC CAUS–run:PFV–3SG.MASC.SUBJ ‗the man made the boy run‘ (7) səwjəw lɨd –u-n a–rot‘–ə man boy—DEF- ACC CAUS–run:PFV–3SG.MASC.SUBJ ‗the man encouraged the boy to run by running with him‘ • a- is not permitted to be used with verbs which are transitive in their underived form: (8) Paul sɨga-w-ɨn k‘orrət‘–ə Paul meat—def-ACC cut:PFV -3SG.MASC.SUB ‗Paul cut the meat‘ (9) Jane Paul-ɨn sɨga-w-ɨn as–k‘orrət‘–ə Jane Paul-ACC meat—def-ACC CAUS–cut:PFV -3SG.MASC.SUB ‗Jane made Paul cut the meat‘ (10) *Jane Paul-ɨn sɨga-w-ɨn a–k‘orrət‘–ə Jane Paul-ACC meat-def- ACC CAUS–cut:PFV -3SG.MASC.SUB • Causative constructions with intransitive verbs (see example 5) can lead to constructions with high semantic transitivity, similar to other transitive constructions (see example 8). • When the base construction is already transitive, the resulting causative has lower semantic transitivity than other 3 participant constructions (compare examples 9 and 11). (11) Thomas lə-lɨd ɨtu wa sɨt‘ota sət‘t‘-ə-at Thomas FOR child FEM DEF. FEM gift give:PFV 3SG.FEM.OBJ ‗Thomas gave the girl a present‘ • Causative constructions built from ditransitive sentences appear to follow the same pattern as those built from transitive sentences: (12) Peter lə-lɨd ɨtu wa sɨt‘ota as-sət‘t‘-ə-at Peter FOR child FEM DEF.F EM gift CAUS- give:PFV 3SG.FEM.OBJ ‗Peter made (someone) give the girl a present‘ • Example 12, however, appears to be an exception; most ditransitive verbs can only be causativized using the periphrastic construction (example 2). • The inability to create morphological constructions with other ditransitive base verbs, might be the result of grammaticalization. • Appleyard (1972) explains that some Amharic verbs were once derived verbs which resulted from the causative prefix attaching to a stem. • e.g. at‘t‘ən ‗study‘ was once a-t‘t‘ən ‗cause to acquire‘ and at‘t‘ən can only be causativized using the periphrastic construction • Many ditransitive verbs also begin /a/, suggesting that they may have arisen through similar derivational processes. (13) *Peter lə-lɨd ɨtu wa sɨt‘ota a-sət‘t‘-ə-at Peter FOR child FEM DEF.F EM gift CAUS give:PFV 3SG.FEM.O BJ • The distrubution of a- and as- is predictable - contra Appleyard (1972) and Palmer (1994). • a- is permitted with both unaccuative and unergative verbs – contra Amberber (2000) . • Hopper and Thompson‘s (1980) semantic transitivity hypothesis is a useful tool for describing the distribution of a- and as- : • a- is used to derive constructions that more closely resemble a ―cardinal transitive‖. •as- is used to derive constructions that deviate from the ―cardinal transitive‖.