Constraints on the causative derivation in early Vedic: Evidence for a diachronic typology of transitivity

Author(s):
Kulikov, L.I.
Published
2013
Publication type
Article / Letter to editor

Abstract

The present paper demonstrates the relevance of the semantic approach to transitivity(going back to Hopper and Thompson 1980) for the analysis of Vedic causative verbs. It argues that in terms of this approach it is possible to explain a number of constraints on causative derivation (which cannot be explained in terms of the traditional, syntactic, definition) and to offer a unified account of the semantics of these verbs. The paper also briefly discusses some theoretical implications of this analysis of causative verbs in Vedic for a diachronic typology of transitivity.

Date issued
2013-05-01
Language
English
Is part of
Poznań Studies in Contemporary Linguistics (2013), Vol. 49, no. 1, p. 79-101
hdl
1887/23086