SOAS Research Online

Abstract

Over the last few decades, linguists have devoted considerable attention to both homogeneity and variation in the expression of causal events across languages. However, most studies, whether typological or language-specific, have focussed on morphologically overt ('lie/lay X down') causatives, to the relative neglect of complex periphrastic ('get X to lie down') formations. The present paper addresses this imbalance by elucidating a wide spectrum of causative expressions in Hausa (Chadic/Afroasiatic), systematically exploring, for the first time in an African language¬, the key design-features that distinguish the two mechanisms. Hausa periphrastic causatives can also differ from each other, e.g., in implicational strength, depending on the modal (TAM) properties of the lower clause. Following contemporary approaches located within a general typology of the domain, we invoke the widely-accepted dichotomy between DIRECT and INDIRECT causative constructions, and provide a rare demonstration of how the two types are used to describe pragmatically different causal events and participant roles.