322 Chapter 10 Modifications to argument structure
c. Ebu' ma-ngerra' rote Marlena.
mother AV.CS-AV.slice bread Marlena
‘Mother made Marlena slice the bread.’
The b- and c-sentences in (147-149) illustrate the fact that the verb stem is in
the actor voice form, noles, nyapo, and ngerra', respectively. Additionally, ei-
ther order of causee and theme is usually possible. In (147b) the causee red-
mored ‘students’ precedes the theme sorat ‘letter’ and in (147c) the order is
reversed. An additional wrinkle is the fact that in many instances the sentence
implies not so much coercion on the part of the causer but facilitation or a re-
quest. Thus, it is natural to interpret (147b,c) as the teacher instructing or aiding
the students. But this can depend on the semantics of the verb and pragmatics of
the clause. The causative sentences in (148b,c) imply more coercion than assis-
tance (or at least the issuance of an order) inasmuch as a father is more likely to
coerce or order someone to sweep than instruct or assist that person. With some
transitive predicates, such as pokol ‘hit’, the theme (object) of the base verb is
marked with the preposition dha' or ka ‘to’.
(150) a. Kadir mokol Karim.
Kadir AV.hit Karim
‘Kadir hit Karim.’
b. Se ma-mokol Kadir dha' Karim jareya taretan-na dibi'.
REL AV.CS-AV.hit Kadir to Karim this sibling-DEF self
‘The one who caused Kadir to hit Karim was his own brother.’
For many speakers, periphrastic causatives are preferred with syntactical-
ly transitive verbs.
(151) Guru-na nyoro red-mored noles sorat.
teacher-DEF AV.order RED-student AV.write letter
‘The teacher made the students write letters.’
(152) Bapa' nyoro Bambang a-sapo kamar-ra.
father AV.order Bambang AV-sweep room-DEF
‘Father made Bambang sweep his room.’
(153) Ebu' nyoro Marlena ngerra' rote.
mother AV.order Marlena AV.slice bread
‘Mother made Marlena slice the bread.’
While many speakers reject the synthetic causatives in (147-149), all accept the
sentences in (151-153). (However, the facilitation interpretation possible with