Split causativity : remarks on correlations between transitivity, aspect, and tense

This paper deals with some typologically remarkable features of the early Vedic verbal system. Forms belonging to the present tense system are mostly employed in transitive-causative constructions, whereas forms of the perfect tense system are typically intransitive. Similar correlations between tense/aspect and transitivity can also be found in some other, genetically unrelated languages, such as Yukaghir and Aleut. The aim of the paper is threefold. First, attention is drawn to correlations between the two groups of apparently unrelated grammatical categories, i.e. tense, aspect, and aktionsarten, on the one hand, and transitivity and causativity, on the other (sections 1–3). In section 4 correlations are discussed between the transitivity/causativity and present/perfect oppositions in the Vedic verbal system, and in section 5 the parallel phenomena in Ancient Greek, within a broader Indo-European perspective. This correlation (labelled ‘split causativity’ in the present paper) provides us with further evidence for an approach to transitivity as a set of independent features and, additionally, can clarify the status and function of some “hybrid” formations, such as forms derived from perfect stems with present tense endings (section 6)