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In:Dutch and Contact Linguistics: The Dutch language outside the Low Countries
Edited by Christopher Joby and Nicoline van der Sijs
[IMPACT: Studies in Language, Culture and Society 55] 2025
► pp. 249–277

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Chapter 8
(Anti-)causativity in Dutch and Afrikaans

Uncovering subtle language shifts from contact influence

ORCiD logo with link | North-West University
ORCiD logo with link | Lancaster University
Published online: 4 July 2025
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/impact.55.08bre
Abstract
A Sprachbund refers to a region where languages, despite lacking common ancestry, exhibit similarities due to contact influence, as seen with Standard Average European (SAE). Colonialism spread European languages globally, resulting in creole languages and intercontinental varieties. Languages like Afrikaans, although geographically outside the SAE Sprachbund, may share features with SAE languages due to contact. This study examines how Afrikaans and Dutch express anticausative meanings, such as “the ice melts” versus “the sun is melting the ice.” While both share SAE’s anticausative feature, Afrikaans simplifies morphologically related pairs and favours analytical structures, likely due to language contact. Unlike Dutch, Afrikaans lacks reflexive anticausatives, instead using constructions like “the disease spreads,” suggesting further contact influences. This study highlights language divergence within the Sprachbund and the impact of contact on language evolution.
Article outline
  • 1.The Standard Average European Sprachbund
  • 2.Causative and anticausative verb pair alternations
    • 2.1Formal variations of caus/antic verb pairs
      • 2.1.1Causative alternations (CA)
      • 2.1.2Anticausative alternation (AA)
      • 2.1.3Equipollent alternations (EA)
      • 2.1.4Suppletive alternations (SA)
      • 2.1.5Labile alternations (LA)
    • 2.2caus/antic verb pairs in SAE, in Dutch and in Afrikaans
  • 3.Research method
  • 4.Discussion of the results
    • 4.1Cognateness of the Afrikaans and Dutch caus/antic verb pairs
    • 4.2Specific caus/antic alternations for each language
      • 4.2.1Causative alternations in Afrikaans and Dutch
      • 4.2.2Anticausative alternations in Afrikaans and Dutch
      • 4.2.3Equipollent alternations in Afrikaans and Dutch
      • 4.2.4Suppletive alternations in Afrikaans and Dutch
      • 4.2.5Labile alternations in Afrikaans and Dutch
    • 4.3Anticausative alternation prominence in Afrikaans and Dutch
  • 4.5Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
References (37)
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