Event Types and (In)Directness of Causation in Akan

Abstract

This paper presents a proposal on the form-function correlation between direct causation and non-periphrastic causatives on one hand, and indirect causation and periphrastic causatives on the other hand. The study argues that notions of direct and indirect causation are actually features of event types of causation and vary across different event types. We present five event types of causation found in Akan causatives and isolate their properties with regard to the causer, causee, control of resultant state/event and (in)direct physical contact between causer and causee. We show that in Akan, all types of causatives, lexical, cause-effect SVC and analytic causatives can encode any of the major event types of causation. Consequently, rather than mapping causative expressions with notions of direct or indirect causation, we analyze (in)directness of causation as a feature of event types of causation, not of causative expressions themselves. Thus, although the form-function correlation in causatives may hold in some languages we argue that (in)direct causation is not encoded separately in causative forms and constructions.