Morphological Causatives and Split Intransitivity in Mapudungun

Abstract

This article examines morphological causatives of intransitive verbs in Mapudungun (also Mapuche, Araucanian; Chile, Argentina). The patterning of intransitives in causativization reveals a split system, where the choice of causative suffix is governed by factors of animacy and control. One class, “inactive” intransitive verbs, is characterized as having members that are specialized, nonproductive, and “uncontrolled.” The second and larger class, “active” intransitives, consists of animate verbs that take arguments with differing degrees of control and agentivity. Thus, in Mapudungun, the contrast between “inactive” and “active” intransitive verbs is overtly marked by the causative suffixes rather than by pronominal inflection.