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Universal 1579:

Posted in Universals Archive

Universal 1579:

Original
If there are causative affixes in a language which serve to form causative verbs from transitives, then this language also has causative affixes which serve to form causative verbs from intransitives.
Standardized
IF there are causative affixes which serve to form causative verbs from transitives, THEN there will be causative affixes which serve to form causative verbs from intransitives.
Keywords
causative, transitivity
Domain
morphology, syntax
Type
implication
Status
achronic
Quality
absolute
Basis
languages mentioned in Nedjalkov & Sil’nickij 1969, Nedjalkov & Sil’nickij 1973
Source
Nedjalkov & Sil’nickij 1969: 26, Nedjalkov & Sil’nickij 1973: 8
Counterexamples

One Comment

  1. FP
    FP

    The reverse assertion does not hold. There are languages in which, with certain exceptions, causative affixes only apply to intransitive verbs: Arabic (Semitic, Afro-Asiatic), Blackfoot (Algonquian), Gothic (Germanic), Indonesian (Malay-Polynesian), Estonian (Finnic, Uralic), Klamath (Klamath-Modoc (=Lutuanian)), Coos (Coosan), Takelma (isolate), and others. It seems that there is no language in which causative affixes are attached only to transitives (Nedjalkov & Sil’nickij 1969: 25-26, 1973: 7).

    1. May 2020

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