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In:Diachronic and Typological Perspectives on Anticausativization
Edited by Guglielmo Inglese, Giulia Mazzola and Eugenio Goria
[Typological Studies in Language 138] 2026
► pp. 25–46

Chapter 2
Causal-noncausal triads

 | UC Berkeley
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Abstract
Causal-noncausal alternations are usually described as pairs, e.g. fear/afraid: frighten. In fact, at least for verb sets with a state component in the semantics there are three forms, with two noncausals, typically one unbounded and one bounded, usually ingressive: fear, be afraid/scared vs. get scared, take fright. This chapter proposes that we recognize causal triads as the basic set for causal-noncausal alternations. It offers terminology and a preliminary account of the semantics, derivation, and cross-linguistic distribution of the distinction, as well as criteria for deciding which of the noncausals is base for the other. It also raises some research questions and calls for inclusion of causal triad information in dictionaries.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Causal triads
  • 3.The base of the paradigm
  • 4.Some questions and problems
    • 4.1Adjectives
    • 4.2Extensions
    • 4.3Some preliminary typological findings
  • 5.Conclusions
  • Author queries
  • Notes
  • References
  • Appendix
References (28)
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