Causatives 325
However, the basic outline sketched above is relatively robust and noteworthy
for that reason.
It is also striking that the basic patterns described fall within generaliza-
tion noted on the basis of a wide variety of human languages. It has been re-
ported that languages such as Arabic and Blackfoot (Shibatani 2002) can form
synthetic causatives with intransitive stems only, but not with transitive predi-
cates. For other languages, such as Seri, a Hokan language of northeastern Mex-
ico, synthetic causatives of intransitive predicates are fully productive, but are
possible with only a small number of transitive predicates.^11 A language such
as Choctaw, a Muskogean language of Oklahoma and Mississippi, can form
synthetic causatives on intransitive and transitive verbs but not ditransitive
verbs (Davies 1986). Finally, Tarascan, a Meso-American language, permits
synthetic causatives with intransitive, transitive, and ditransitive roots (Maldo-
nado & Nava 2002). Thus, while Madurese speakers differ from one another
regarding the categories of verbs that can serve as stems for synthetic causa-
tives, the categories that are relevant are much the same as those observed for
languages in general.
3.5 Structural variations
While the causative morpheme is normally prefixed directly to the verb stem, as
described in Chapter 4 section 4.2, when the construction contains certain clit-
ics, the ordering of the causative morpheme and the clitics can be variable. This
is particularly true in negative structures. In particular, the negative element,
which cliticizes to the verb complex, can occur in multiple positions with re-
spect to the other morphemes. For example, in (158), in which the causative
predicate is in the object voice, the negative clitic lo' can occur in any of three
positions (as can the negative ta', as lo' is simply a variant in the western di-
alect).
(158) a. Samidin e-pa-lo'-a-lako bi' jaragan-na.
Samidin OV-CS-not-AV-work by boss-DEF
‘His boss didn’t let Samidin work.’
b. Samidin e-lo'-pa-lako bi’ jaragan-na.^12
Samidin OV-not-CS.AV-work by boss-DEF
‘His boss didn’t let Samidin work.’
(^11) I am indebted to Steve Marlett for discussing the Seri facts with me.
(^12) The actor voice morpheme a in (158b,c) coalesces with the causative morpheme by a
regular morphophonological process, accounting for the morphemic gloss CS.AV-work.