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In:Voice and Argument Structure in Baltic
Edited by Axel Holvoet and Nicole Nau
[Valency, Argument Realization and Grammatical Relations in Baltic 2] 2015
► pp. 147–178

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Extended uses of morphological causatives in Latvian

Published online: 5 August 2015
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https://doi.org/10.1075/vargreb.2.03hol
The literature on morphological causatives has tended to concentrate on prototypical causativity, that is, on situations where the argument structure of a predicate is expanded by the addition of a causer. Extended uses of causative morphology, affecting argument structure in various non-prototypical ways or showing different types of metaphorical extension of the causative relationship, have been mentioned in the literature but hardly any detailed studies are available. The present article focuses on non-prototypical causatives in Latvian. Three factors leading to extended use of causative morphology are discussed: metaphorical extension, different types of argument-backgrounding, and the use of frame elements in addition to arguments of the base verb in order to satisfy the valency requirements of the causative construction.
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