86 ROBERT D. VAN VALIN, JR.
as (69b). In both the causative and inversion constructions there.is an effec
tor argument which should be the actor of its clause but has in fact been
denied actor status and received morphosyntactic coding appropriate to a
non-actor; it nevertheless is still a potential controller of the reflexive pos
sessor.
The Georgian passive construction presents an interesting contrast
with respect to potential reflexive controllers. In it the actor appears as a
peripheral constituent marked by the postposition mier. It can no longer
control a reflexive, as (74b) shows.
(74) a. Nino-m tav-is-tvis iqida es c'ign-i.
Nino-ERG self-GEN-for 3sG.bought.3sG this book-NOM
"Nino bought this book for herself."
b. * Es c'ign-i naqidia Nino-s mier tav-is-tvis.
this book-NOM 3sG-was.bought Nino-GEN by self-GEN-for
"This book was bought by Nino for herself."
Why is it the case that (72) and (73b) are grammatical but (74b) is ungram-
matical? The answer lies in the difference between lexical and syntactic
non-canonical coding of an argument. Causativization and inversion are
lexical processes; they affect the assignment of thematic relations-bearing
arguments to macroroles, but remain core arguments. Hence the non-actor
effector is still a core argument and a potential actor in terms of (25); in
terms of (71), both w and χ are potential actors and therefore are potential
reflexive controllers. In (74b), on the other hand, the effector Nino is
assigned actorhood, but, because it is in a passive, it is realized as a
peripheral element rather than as a core argument. Hence it is no longer
the highest ranking direct core argument and can no longer control
reflexivization.
Japanese causative, adversative and non-adversative passive construc
tions provide a similar contrast with respect to the potential controller of
the reflexive zibun "self". As with respect to Georgian, the standard
analysis of Japanese reflexivization is that only "subjects" can be reflexive
controllers. Causative constructions are illustrated in (75). (All examples
are from Kuno 1973.)
(75) John ga Mary ni zibun no uti de hon
ND DAT self GEN house in book
yom-(s)ase-ta.
read-cAusE-PAST
"John^ made MarVj read books in selfjj's house."