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Corpus Methods for Semantics: Quantitative studies in polysemy and synonymy
Edited by Dylan Glynn and Justyna A. Robinson
[Human Cognitive Processing 43] 2014
► pp. 205–221

Dutch causative constructions

Quantification of meaning and meaning of quantification

| F.R.S. - FNRS, Université catholique de Louvain
ORCID logo | University of Leuven
| University of Leuven
This chapter is a multivariate corpus-based study of two near-synonymous periphrastic causatives with doen and laten in Dutch. Using multiple logistic regression and classification trees, the study explores the conceptual differences between the constructions. The results support the existing definition of doen as the direct causation auxiliary, and interpretation of laten as the indirect causative (e.g. Verhagen and Kemmer 1997). However, the analyses also reveal more specific patterns: the most distinctive semantic pattern of doen is affective causation, whereas the contexts with the highest probability of laten refer to inducive causation. These differences remain valid when we control for geographic and thematic variation, as well as for the individual Effected Predicates treated as random effects in a mixed model.
Keywords: classification trees, logistic regression, mixed model, periphrastic causatives
Published online: 6 November 2014
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https://doi.org/10.1075/hcp.43.08lev
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