Causative constructions in Ainu: A typological perspective with remarks on the diachrony

Abstract

Abstract There are productive (-re/-e/-te, -yar/-ar) and non-productive(-V, -ke, -ka) causatives in Ainu. Non-productive causatives have traditionally been regarded as ‘transitives’, but proposing a revision of Tamura’s model of verbal structure in Ainu, this paper argues that they can be regarded as direct causatives, though causatives in-Vdo not have the same derivational status and should rather be regarded as lexical causatives. A cross-dialectal comparison shows that the causative function of-kais gradually being replaced by the productive causative-re/-e/-tewhich came to be used as a default causative marker of direct/indirect causation. Three of five causative morphemes originated in the verbs ‘make’ and ‘do’; all of them have also been attested with the denominal causative function, which suggests the following general pattern for the development of causatives in Ainu:do/make>denom>dir caus>(indir caus).

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