Typology of case marking in the embedded clause of causatives
Kazuhiro Imanishi
University of Tokyo, JSPS Research Fellow
The present paper discusses the case marking in the embedded clause of causative
constructions in some languages.
The case marking of causative construction is discussed in Comrie (1976), which
deals mainly with languages that conform to the hierarchy ‘subject – direct object –indirect object – oblique’. Dixon (2000) criticizes his argument on the ground that thehierarchy is workable only in a small portion of world’s languages.
There are five types of case marking in the ordinary main clause: neutral, ergative,split-intransitive, accusative, and tripartite types (Comrie 1978). The present paper
applies this typology to the embedded clauses of causative constructions and tries toreveal the difference between the case-marking patterns of ordinary main clause andthose of embedded clause of causatives. In English, all of the embedded intransitive
subject (“embedded S”), embedded transitive subject (“embedded A”), and embedded
transitive object (“embedded P”) are marked with accusative case, as in the followingexamples (the square bracket in the examples indicates embedded clauses):(1) John made [him run]. (‘him’ = embedded S)(2) John made [him hit her]. (‘him’ = embedded A, ‘her’ = embedded P)
English belongs to the neutral type, in which all of the embedded S, A, and P aremarked in the same way.
In Japanese, the embedded A is marked with dative and the embedded P withaccusative. The embedded S is marked with dative if it is volitional and with accusative
if it is non-volitional:(3) Hanako=wa[Taroo=nisara=oHanako=TOP Taroo=DAT dish=ACC‘Hanako made Taroo wash the dishes.’araw-ase-ta].
wash-CAUS-PST(Taroo = embedded A, sara = embedded P)(4) a.

Hanako=wa
Hanako=TOP[Taroo=niTaroo=DATkorob-ase-ta].
fall.down-CAUS-PST‘Hanako let Taroo fall down (by asking him to do so).’b.

Hanako=wa[Taroo=okorob-ase-ta].

Hanako=TOP

Taroo=ACC

fall.down-CAUS-PST‘Hanako made Taroo fall down (by pushing him, hitting him, etc.).’(Taroo = embedded S)
Japanese belongs to the split-intransitive type based on semantics of S in the embedded
clause of causatives. This pattern is analogous to the ‘fluid-S’ type in Dixon (1994).
In the way outlined above, I investigate and classify languages: (a) neutral: English,
Manchurian, German, and Amis (Austronesian); (b) ergative: Sanskrit, French, Turkish,and Mongolian; (c) split-intransitive: Japanese, Korean, Chinese, and Nivkh(Paleosiberian); (d) accusative: Burmese; (e) Tripartite: none.
From the typology, it turns out that:[1] split-intransitive type is not rare, compared to that in the ordinary main clause.
This is because many languages are sensitive to the semantic role of embedded S; manylanguages overtly mark whether the causee (embedded S) is an actor in addition to thecauser. “Volitionality” is an important criterion for deciding whether the embedded S ismarked as an actor or not.
[2] Most languages are not sensitive to the semantic role of embedded A and P, incontrast to the normal transitive clause, in which arguments of verbs that are low intransitivity tend to be marked differently from those that are high in transitivity.
[3] Accusative type is rare. This is because many languages treat embedded S andembedded A as ‘causee’ as against embedded P, which is not treated as an argument of
the main clause.
[4] Tripartite type is even rarer and has not been found.
References
Comrie, Bernard. 1976. The syntax of causative constructions: cross-language
similarities and divergences. In The grammar of causative constructions(Syntax and semantics 6), ed. by Masayoshi Shibatani, 261-312. New York:
Academic Press.
Comrie, Bernard. 1978. Ergativity. In Syntactic typology, ed. by Winfred P. Lehmann,329-394. London: Harvester Press.
Dixon, R. M. W. 1994. Ergativity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Dixon, R. M. W. 2000. A typology of causatives: form, syntax and meaning. In
Changing valency: Case studies in transitivity, ed. by R. M. W. Dixon andAlexandra Aikhenvald, 30-83. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.