Causatives 323
the causatives in (147-149) is unavailable with the causatives in (151-153).) In
fact, some speakers who accept synthetic causatives of controlled dynamic in-
transitive verbs do not consider the synthetic causatives of syntactically transi-
tive verbs well-formed and only accept the periphrastic causatives in (151-153).
Of those who accept both varieties, synthetic causatives imply more coercion
that the periphrastic causatives.
3.4 Patterns of acceptability
As pointed out in the preceding discussion, speakers differ in their acceptance
of synthetic causatives. However, the variability is not completely idiosyncratic
or unstructured. There is a clear pattern of acceptability along a continuum of
verbs types organized in terms of argument structure. Speakers assess accepta-
bility roughly at the various points in the continuum as set out in (154).
(154) Patterns of acceptability of synthetic causatives
stative - noncontrolled - controlled - syntactically - ditransitive
intransitive dynamic dynamic transitive verbs
verbs intransitive verbs intransitive verbs verbs
non-agentive | agentive
intransitive | transitive
This pattern of acceptability emerges from the description in the preceding sec-
tions. As described in section 3.1, synthetic causatives of stative intransitive
verbs formed with pa- are acceptable to all speakers, as are synthetic causatives
of non-controlled dynamic intransitive verbs as a whole. Within this group,
however, some speakers more readily accept synthetic causatives with -e or -agi
with statives than noncontrolled dynamic verbs. Thus some distinction between
them in (154) is warranted. As described in section 3.2, while essentially all
speakers can form synthetic causatives with non-agentive verbs, many reject
them with agentive verbs, including both intransitive and transitive roots.
Speakers falling into this category would thus accept sentences such as (123b)
and (135b) but not (141b) or (147b), all reproduced below.
(123) b. Karim ma-peggel Sinap.
Karim AV.CS-angry Sinap
‘Karim made his father angry.’