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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. 333–373

Chapter 11
Anticausativization and lability in Latin before 200 CE

The role of transitivity parameters in the syntax of anticausativization

 | Ghent University
This content is being prepared for publication; it may be subject to changes.
Abstract
This chapter discusses how a corpus-based approach can contribute to a better understanding of the encoding variation in anticausativization and lability in Latin. Latin originally had three strategies to derive a noncausal alternant from a causal predicate (two marked and one unmarked), namely the mediopassive, the reflexive, and the labile strategies. First, I discuss how actionality played a role in the selection of lability over the marked anticausative strategies. Secondly, I discuss the role of control in the selection of the three strategies, especially in the distinction between the mediopassive and reflexive strategies.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Corpus and methodology
    • 2.1Data extraction
    • 2.2Transitivity parameters, coding decisions and hypotheses
    • 2.3Random forest
      • 2.3.1Three response variables
      • 2.3.2Marked vs. unmarked strategies
      • 2.3.3Reflexive vs. mediopassive
    • 2.4Multinomial logistic regression
  • 3.Anticausativization in Latin
    • 3.1The mediopassive morphology and voice syncretism
    • 3.2Reflexivization
    • 3.3Lability
  • 4.Aspectual constraints
    • 4.1Stativity and dynamicity
    • 4.2Telicity
    • 4.3Interim summary: The aspectual factors in Latin anticausativization
  • 5.Agentivity
    • 5.1Marked decausatives
    • 5.2Marked autocausatives
    • 5.3Lability and agentivity
    • 5.4Interim summary: Control and anticausativization
  • 6.Conclusion
  • Author queries
  • Acknowledgments
  • Notes
  • References
  • Appendix
References (61)
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