Knowledge base · Part XI — Valency, Voice, and Noun Incorporation · this topic as a network
74. The Morphological Causative -re / -e / -te
What suffix or suffixes does Hokkaido Ainu use to derive a causative verb, and what conditions determine their form?
When a causative verb is used in an imperative addressed to multiple people, the sentence-final particle yan can cooccur with a singular verb stem whose semantic causee is singular (Nakagawa 2022: 17.3). Causative forms combining two personal prefixes, such as *en-e-raykere (intended 'he makes me kill you'), are unacceptable and unattested in Ainu (Satō 2023).
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Place in the causative inventory
How does Hokkaido Ainu mark causation on verbs, and what is the role of the productive causative suffix?
In traditional analyses of Ainu grammar, only the productive suffix -re/-e/-te and the indefinite causative -yar/-ar are recognized as causative markers. (reported in Bugaeva 2012: 484–485, Bugaeva 2014) As a direct causative marker, -re/-e/-te is basically in complementary distribution with the causative suffixes -V, -ka, and -ke, and cannot attach to verbs or roots that take them. (Bugaeva 2014) Causative verbs can be formed from intransitive and transitive verb stems by suffixing -re (-te, -e) or sometimes -ka. (Nakagawa 2022: 17.4) Chiri analyzes the causative suffixes -re and -te as transitivizing in some cases and causativizing in others. (reported in Refsing 1986: 32) Adjunct-increasing suffixes either turn intransitive verbs into transitive verbs or express the causative. (Refsing 1986: 79)
Allomorphy
What are the different forms of the causative suffix in Hokkaido Ainu, and what phonological conditions determine which form appears?
In Shizunai, verbs ending in -y or a vowel take the causative allomorph -re, verbs ending in -r take -e, and verbs ending in other consonants take -te. (Refsing 1986: 189) The causative allomorph -re attaches after vowels, y, and w; -te attaches after other consonants (p, t, k, s, m, n); and -e attaches after r. (Nakagawa 2024: 200, Satō 2008: 235, 236, 237) The productive causative suffix is phonologically conditioned as -re after vowels and /y/, -e after /r/, and -te after other consonants. (Bugaeva 2014, Bugaeva 2022: 20.6, Shibatani 1990: 48) The causative suffix surfaces as -re after vowel-final stems, -e after r-final stems, and -te after stems ending in consonants other than r. (Kindaichi & Chiri 1936) The stative verb kiyanne 'be older' forms the causative kiyanne-re 'treat someone as an elder / host someone respectfully'. (Nakagawa 2024: 120) In Ainu, causative verbs meaning 'make someone do ...' are formed by attaching suffixes such as -re, -te, -ka, or -e to verbs, with suffix selection largely determined by the stem-final sound. (Satō 2008: 235) The causative suffix -re/-te attaches before vowel addition to final r, appearing as -te after nukar and kor and triggering the change of syllable-final r to n. (Tangiku 2022: 9.2) The Ainu verb ikure 'to make someone drink sake' is morphologically derived from the object prefix i-, the verb ku 'drink', and the causative suffix -re. (Vovin 2022: 6.5)
Arity and the argument-frame shift
How does the causative suffix change the argument structure of a verb, and how are the arguments reassigned?
The morphological causative suffixes (-re / -e / -te) increase the verb's arity by one, turning the base subject into an object while introducing the causer as the new subject. (Bugaeva 2014, Nakagawa 2024: 200, 431, Shibatani 1990: 48) When a three-place verb is causativized by a causative suffix, a four-place verb construction results. (Refsing 1986: 141, 142) In causative verbs derived from intransitive verbs with a number distinction, verbal number plurality agrees with the original intransitive agent (the causee object) rather than with the grammatical subject. (Nakagawa 2022: 17.3, 17.4) In direct causativization of transitive verbs with -re/-e/-te, the original object is retained and the original subject (the causee argument) also becomes an object, resulting in a double-object construction. (Bugaeva 2014) In causative clauses based on transitive verbs, omission of the causee object occurs frequently when it is clear from context, but if the original base object is obvious, it is omitted instead. (Bugaeva 2014) Transitive verbs undergoing indirect causativization become trivalent verbs with a double-object structure. (Bugaeva 2014) In Ainu, direct causative verbs formed with unproductive -V, -ke or productive -re/-e/-te can further take -re/-e/-te to express indirect causation, yielding double causative verbs. (Bugaeva 2014) Double causatives in Ainu are expressed in a double-object construction with two unmarked objects. (Bugaeva 2014) In Ainu, double causativization of transitive verbs is possible, yielding four-place verbs, although such verbs are extremely rare. (Bugaeva 2014) Causative derivatives of 2-argument locative object verbs, such as omare, osmare, and kuste, are commonly used as 3-argument locative object verbs. (Nakagawa 2024: 212) Causative suffix -re has an arity of +1, whereas causative suffix -yar has an arity of 0. (Nakagawa 2024: 367) When a causative suffix is added to an intransitive verb whose subject is first person, the original subject marker ku= changes to the object marker en=. (Nakagawa 2024: 431) The causative verbs kore (sg) and korpare (pl) express the number of the indirect object (causee), reflecting the number of the subject of kor / korpa before causativization. (Satō 2008: 104) The verb omare 'put into' is a causative formation ('make enter') in which the theme is the direct object (causee). (Satō 2023)
Productive vs. non-productive causatives
Which causative suffixes in Hokkaido Ainu are productive, and which are limited to a fixed set of verbs?
Avalent meteorological verbs that have incorporated their subjects reject productive causativization with -re/-e/-te. (Bugaeva & Kobayashi 2022: 15.4, Bugaeva 2014) Valency-increasing causatives in Ainu are divided into productive causatives (-re/-e/-te) and non-productive causatives (-V, -ke, -ka). (Bugaeva & Kobayashi 2022: 15.4; proposed in Bugaeva 2014) Non-productive causatives in -ke derive only from one-argument verbs, whereas -V, -ka, and -re/-e/-te can derive causatives from both one-argument and two-argument verbs. (Bugaeva 2014, Bugaeva & Kobayashi 2022: 15.4) In verbs that form direct causatives with the unproductive suffixes -V or -ke, the productive causative suffix -re/-e/-te is always interpreted as an indirect causative marker. (Bugaeva 2014) When -ke and -re (-te, -e) both form causative pairs on the same verb stem, -ke is often used for inanimate objects, whereas -re is basically used for animate or volitional entities like humans. (Nakagawa 2024: 202)
Direct and indirect causation; coercive and permissive use
How does Hokkaido Ainu express direct versus indirect causation, and coercive versus permissive causation?
The productive causative suffix -re/-e/-te derives both direct and indirect causatives. (Bugaeva 2014, Bugaeva & Kobayashi 2022: 15.6) Morphological causatives in Ainu can express both coercive causation and permissive causation. (Bugaeva 2014; reported in Bugaeva 2014; proposed in Satō 2008: 237) In indirect causatives, the causee object never undergoes noun incorporation or antipassivization. (Bugaeva 2014) Intransitive verbs from which direct causatives are derived by -re/-e/-te fall into two groups: non-derived intransitive verbs expressing properties or internal states/processes, and derived intransitive verbs (including those diachronically derived). (Bugaeva 2014) Derived intransitive verbs that take -re/-e/-te to form direct causatives comprise antipassive verbs with i-, lexicalized reflexive-possessive verbs, and autocausative (body-movement) verbs derived with the prefixes he- 'head' and ho- 'buttocks'. (Bugaeva 2014) All base transitive verbs that undergo direct causativization with -re/-e/-te have non-agentive subjects. (Bugaeva 2014) Indirect causatives in Ainu can be derived from transitive verbs as well as agentive intransitive verbs using the suffix -re/-e/-te. (Bugaeva 2014) According to Fukuda (Tamura) (2001), the suffix -re/-e/-te implies only coercive causation, where the causer makes the causee do something regardless of the causee's volition. (reported in Bugaeva 2014) All intransitive verb stems that undergo indirect causativization with -re/-e/-te take animate or agentive subjects. (Bugaeva 2014) Indirect causatives with -re/-e/-te can be derived from intransitive verbs formed by object incorporation. (Bugaeva 2014) Depending on whether the undergoer is interpreted as agentive or not, certain verbs causativized with -re/-e/-te can be interpreted as either direct or indirect causatives. (Bugaeva 2014) When the productive causative -re/-e/-te attaches to ingestion verbs, both direct causative and indirect causative interpretations are permitted depending on the semantic properties of the causee. (Bugaeva 2014) In direct causatives with -ka and -re/-e/-te, non-referential direct causees can be backgrounded through noun incorporation or antipassivization. (Bugaeva 2014) For the one-argument verb as 'stand', two causative forms exist: direct causative as-i (with suffix -i) corresponding to a Theme subject, and indirect causative as-te (with productive suffix -te) corresponding to an Agent subject. (Bugaeva & Kobayashi 2022: 15.5)
Motion verbs and restrictions
What special causative forms exist for motion verbs in Hokkaido Ainu, and what determines their choice?
Motion verbs take -ke as their causative suffix in the singular, matching plural causatives in -te. (Nakagawa 2024: 149, 201, Satō 2008: 236) When the causee of an n-final intransitive motion verb is agentive, the verb can be transitivized into an indirect causative with -re/-e/-te. (Bugaeva 2014)
Dialect variation, the -ka → -re/-te shift, and the Horobetsu switch-reference function
How does the use of causative suffixes vary across Hokkaido Ainu dialects, and what historical changes are observed?
The non-productive causative function of -ka is gradually being replaced cross-dialectally by the productive causative suffix -re/-e/-te as the default causative marker. (Bugaeva & Kobayashi 2022: 15.4; proposed in Bugaeva 2014) In Southwestern Hokkaido dialects, a few intransitive verbs are recorded with both -re/-e/-te and -ka causative derivations without semantic difference. (Bugaeva 2014) Sakhalin Ainu attests the reflexive-causative form yay-monax-te meaning 'to keep oneself awake'. (Vovin 2022: 6.4)