316 Chapter 10 Modifications to argument structure
(123) a. Sinap peggel.
Sinap angry
‘Sinap is angry.’
b. Karim ma-peggel Sinap.
Karim AV.CS-angry Sinap
‘Karim made Sinap angry.’
(124) a. Todhi'-na tajem.
knife-DEF sharp
‘The knife is sharp.’
b. Koki-na ma-tajem todhi'.
cook-DEF AV.CS-sharp knife
‘The cook sharpened the knife.’
The stative intransitive predicates of the a-sentences form the root of the causa-
tive counterparts (the b-sentences) simply through affixation of pa-. Causative-
type structures are also formed through embedding the basic clause as comple-
ment of verbs such as soro ‘command’, gabay ‘make’, paksa ‘force’, and oth-
ers. These periphrastic causatives are illustrated in (125b) and (126b).
(125) a. Ali a-caca dha' ebu'-na.
Ali AV-talk to mother-DEF
‘Ali talked with his mother.’
b. Hasan nyoro Ali a-caca dha' ebu'-na.
Hasan AV.order Ali AV-talk to mother-DEF
‘Hasan made Ali talk with his mother.’
(126) a. Marlena ngerra' rote.
Marlena AV.slice bread
‘Marlena sliced the bread.’
b. Ebu’ nyoro Marlena ngerra' rote.
mother AV.order Marlena AV.slice bread
‘Mother made Marlena slice the bread.’
As is clear by comparing the causative and non-causative counterparts in (125)
and (126), in the periphrastic causative the non-causative clause simply follows
the matrix predicate.
There is considerable speaker variation in the acceptability of various
synthetic causative structures–variation that is detailed in what follows.