The Morphosyntax of (anti) causatives in Wolof

Abstract

The causative/anticausative alternation in Wolof follows four distinct patterns. I show that a derivation approach to Wolof verbs cannot work as a unified approach because of the presence of directed, labile and equipollent alternations. I argue that the (anti) causative alternation can be accounted for within the framework of Distributed Morphology. Within this framework verbs are created in the syntax when a root selected in the lexicon merges with a "verbifiying" head. In Wolof that head can be either silent or overt with both the causative and anticausative verbs. I also show that the suffix -u found in certain types of anticausatives have different properties depending on the type of verb it is attached to. Indeed with some verbs it has a pure anticausative property (no implicit agent) whereas in other contexts it does have an implicit agent.