Open AccessMechanisms of productivity in word formation: Transitivity alternations in Japanese
Author(s) -
Chisato Kitagawa
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
glossa
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2397-1835
DOI - 10.5334/gjgl.1304
Subject(s) - transitive relation , suffix , productivity , linguistics , word formation , computer science , word (group theory) , natural language processing , artificial intelligence , psychology , mathematics , philosophy , economics , combinatorics , macroeconomics
The extensive system of Japanese transitivity alternations (TrAlt) has inspired a great number of noteworthy works. This paper, adopting the theoretical apparatus of the Strong Minimalist thesis and focusing on the “in-between voice” (i.e., between the idiosyncratic lexical and the morpho-syntactic) characteristics of the TrAlt, aims to explicate its productivity phenomena. The paper offers detailed and novel analyses of transitivity suffixes -ar (a lexical passive) and -e (which has sometimes been characterized as a “causative-passive” suffix), and delineates the mechanisms of productivity by closely examining the interactive functions of these two suffixes and the verbal roots (R’s) that host them.