Improvised Causativization

Abstract

In this paper, I argue a special kind of causative alternation that arises from a speaker's immediate need to express the ‘forced control’ semantics of an imposed causer. This type of causativization, termed improvised causativization, is not limited by the argument structure of an intransitive base verb, whether it is unergative or unaccusative. Based on this observation, I propose that causativization be syntactically represented through a cause phrase that is added after a vP is completed; specifically, at the step of derivation when an intransitive profile is completed (cf. Levin & Rappaport Hovav 1995). Along with a claim in lexical semantics (Pylkkänen 2002, cf. Neeleman & van de Koot 2010) that cause relates a caused to a causing event, I argue that the mediating role of the cause is based on a set of felicity conditions. Under this analysis, variations at different levels, i.e., individual, dialectal, diachronic, or language acquisitional, can be accounted for without further stipulation.