Covert generic causatives in Korean: A dispositional ascription analysis

Abstract

This paper introduces a rarely discussed type of causatives in Korean, i.e. covert generic causatives. The construction conststs of a sole causer subject which is strictly non-agentive and a verb which is strictly non-causative. These causatives describe a dispositional causative property of the subject that brings about a result state describe by the verb. I propose that the verb undergoes covert causativization (i.e. zero causativization), taking a non-agentive causer subject. This causativizing strategy is unexpected in two ways: (i) Typologically unexpected in that covert causativization shows a restriction on one semantic domain, namely non-agentive causers; (ii) Locally unexpected in that Korean already has an overt causativizing strategy. I argue that this construction fills in a paradigmatic gap for non-agentive causers, since overt causatives require agentive causers. I further propose dispositional ascription analysis to account for covert generic causatives, and further claim they are a type of dispositional middles,extending the typology of middles.