Cross-linguistic sources of anticausative markers

Abstract

The (anti)causative alternation, that is, the alternation whereby languages contrast intransitive verbs expressing spontaneous events with transitive ones expressing externally caused events, has been the object of extensive language-specific and cross-linguistic studies. Within this type of alternation, marking on the intransitive member goes under the name of anticausative marking, while marking on the transitive member is causative marking. Historical research has mostly focused on causatives, while the diachrony of anticausative markers has largely been neglected. In the literature, only two possible cross-linguistic sources of anticausatives are mentioned: reflexives and passives. By looking at a sample of 97 languages, in this paper I show that sources of anticausativization are much more varied than what currently reported in the literature. Taking this richer diachronic evidence into account also sheds light on some yet controversial aspects concerning the relationship between anticausativization and reflexivity.

Keywords

• diachronic typology
• anticausative marking
• reflexive
• grammaticalization