Mandarin causatives
北方方言中的使役格
Shuan-fan Huang 黄宣范

Abstract 摘要

Two types of causatives, event causatives and factive causatives, are distinguished. It is argued that the ba-sentences are event causatives par excellence and that the ba and bei constructions, by deriving from the same underlying representation, can be shown to receive a unified account, if these two constructions are given a causative analysis. Finally, Vendler’s proposal (1967) that only fact can function as cause in a causal relation is shown to be untenable. It is hoped that further inquiry into Mandarin causatives will lead to a deeper understanding of the philosophico-linguistic notion of causation.