The Historical Development of the Causative Category in Tibeto-Burmese Languages
藏缅语族语言使动范畴的历史演变
Qingxia Dai 戴庆厦
Abstract 摘要
The paper is a preliminary exploration of the historical development of the causative category on the basis of a comparison of more than 20 Tibeto-Burman languages. The methodology adopted is one of the comprehensive comparison between phonetic forms and semantic content and of the analysis of the language system (structural system and kinship language system). We conclude that the causative category is one of the oldest and most general grammatical categories of Tibeto- Burman languages and its historical development is constrained by prosodic, semantic and functional factors.
Journal of Chinese Linguistics volume 29 (ISSN 0091-3723)
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