On the causative and passive morphology in Japanese and Korean

Abstract

Drawing on the layered verb phrase hypothesis, the unexpected adversity imposed on the subject of causative–passives in Japanese will be explained by the loci of -sase and -rare, both of which may instantiate more than one functional heads. This hypothesis also gives an account of the marginal status of passive–causatives whose passivized subject (=causee) is animate. Turning to Korean, /Hi/ is univocally causative, and its apparent use as passive is the result of Voice–Cause bundling. Furthermore, the possible and impossible uses of /Hi/ and /Hu/ as passive morphology result from their selectional properties.

Keywords

• causative
• passive
• layered verb phrase
• bundling
• japanese
• korean