The Grammar of Causation and Interpersonal Manipulation: (48 Typological Studies in Language)

The grammar of causation has long been an intensely scrutinized area of language studies. For one thing, no grammatical description can be complete without a discussion of causative constructions, because every human language seems to possess a means of expressing the notion of causation, and this ubiquity, in turn, indicates the fundamental nature of this cognitive category. Such a basic category in human conceptualization is an ideal field of investigation for cross-linguistic comparison leading to the study of language universals and cross-linguistic variation. Grammarians have an intuitive understanding of what causation means, as causative expressions, encountered in one language after another, translate rather easily unlike such phenomena as "topic/focus" constructions in the manner of Philippine languages, the adversative passive in Japanese, and ethical datives in German or French. Despite these advantages and despite the intensive effort during the last three decades, a great deal about the grammar of causation remains a mystery. This volume aims to unravel some of the mysteries.

Table of Contents:
1. Preface; 2. Appreciation (by Davis, Philip W.); 3. Abbreviations; 4. Introduction: Some basic issues in the grammar of causation (by Shibatani, Masayoshi); 5. Cooperation and interpersonal manipulation in the society of intimates (by Givon, T.); 6. Verbs of interpersonal causality and the folk theory of mind and behavior (by Malle, Bertram F.); 7. The causative continuum (by Shibatani, Masayoshi); 8. Causation, constructions, and language ecology: An example from French (by Achard, Michel); 9. Tarascan causatives and event complexity (by Maldonado, Ricardo); 10. Some constraints on Cora causative constructions (by Vazquez Soto, Veronica); 11. Olutec causatives and applicatives (by Zavala, Roberto); 12. On some causative doublets in Classical Nahuatl (by Launey, Michel); 13. The notion of transfer in Sikuani causatives (by Queixalos, Francesc); 14. Causative constructions in Akawaio (by Stefanowitsch, Anatol); 15. Causation in Matses (Panoan, Amazonian Peru) (by Fleck, David W.); 16. Causativization and transitivity in Shipibo-Konibo (by Valenzuela, Pilar M.); 17. Causatives in Asheninka: The case for a sociative source (by Payne, David); 18. Guarani causative constructions (by Velazquez-Castillo, Maura); 19. General index

Review :
The volume sheds light on the contrast between direct and indirect causation, between an agentive and a patientive causee, which until now has rarely received a precise definition.