8.1 Causative 447In (454), stems are given for causatives of representative -vPQvC- and
-vCvC- verbs.
(454) Causative Stems for -vPQvC- and -vCvC- Stems
-s-vlmvd- -s-vjvn-
'inform' 'make kneel'a. perfective system
PerfP -ass-almaed- -£es-jaen-
Reslt -ass-ilmaed- -as-ljaen-
PerfN -ass-almaed- -ss-jasn-
[A-grm PerfP -ass-agaen-, etc.]b. short imperfective system
Shlmpf -s-almad- -s-ajan-
Imprt s-almed s-ajanc. long imperfective system
LoImpfP -s-almad- -s-ajan-
LoImpfN -s-almid- -s-ajin-
Prohib -s-selmad- -s-sejan-d. nominalizations
VblN α-s-almad, a-s-almad a-s-ajan, a-s-ajanThe input stems are -vlmvd- 'understand' and -vjvn- 'kneel'. Note
particularly the bisyllabic form of the PerfP -aes-jaen- of 'make kneel'. I did
record trisyllabic perfective stems like PerfP -ass-agaen- 'make kneel' in
A-grm; for this dialect the perfectives of 'make kneel' and 'inform' are similar.
Note the <H> stem melody in short imperfectives, and also in the VblN (with
the option of replacing the last a by a). The LoImpfP forms have an <L>
melody. The remaining forms are consistent with general rules for the MAN
categories and the special features of causatives mentioned above.
Other examples (among many) are (PerfP) -ass-alyasm- 'make melt' for
the first type and -ees-fael- 'make leave' for the second.
In the case of -vjrvh- 'understand', the expected simple causative -s-vjrvh-
exists but has a special sense 'look at'. The true causative 'make (or help to)
understand, explain to' is expressed by the double causative -s-vs-vjrvh-. Thus
PerfP -ass-ajraeh- 'look at', versus -aes-s-aejraeh- 'help to understand'.
We now turn to causatives of -vPPvC- stems. As in the underived VblN
(liCaC), derivatives of this verb type, including the causative, are based on a
pre-ablaut reconfiguration from -vPPvC- to -uPaC-. (For a possible parallel
see causative -s-uku- 'send' from -vkku- 'go to', in (464), below.) As a result,
the causative of -vPPvC-, namely -s-uPvC-, falls together in the perfectives