A Summary of Role and Reference Grammar

plishment], and të-ba-º ‘cause to become big’ [causative accomplishment]. Consider the following
examples from Huallaga Quechua (Weber 1989).
(9) State Accomplishment Causative Accomplishment
a. qarwash- qarwash-ta:- qarwash-ta:-chiyellow
yellow-become yellow-become-cause
‘be yellow’ ‘become yellow’ ‘make something yellow’
b. hanqfla- hanqfla-ya:- hanqfla-ya:-chiabove.on.slope
above.on.slope-become above.on.slope-become-cause
‘above’ ‘become higher’ ‘make something higher’
c. hatun- hatun-ya:- hatun-ya:-chibig
big-become big-become-cause
‘be big’ ‘become bigger’ ‘make something bigger’
d. umasapa- umasapa-ya:- umasapa-ya:-chibig.headed
big.headed-become big.headed-become-cause
‘be big-headed’ ‘become big-headed’ ‘make someone big-headed’
e. ---- wanÌu- wanÌu-chidie
die-cause
‘die’ ‘kill’
f. --- yacha- yacha-chilearn
learn-cause
‘learn’ ‘teach’
In (9a-d) accomplishment verbs are formed from state predicates by the addition of the suffix –
ya:- ‘become’, and causative accomplishments are formed from them by the addition of the
causative suffix -chi-. As (9e-f) show, -chi- can be added to underived accomplishment verbs as
well.
The second group of languages exhibits a rather different pattern expressing the same relationships;
it includes Yagua (Peru; Payne & Payne 1989), Russian and French.
(10) Causative Accomplishment Accomplishment State
a. Yagua -muta- ‘open’ -muta-y- ‘open’ -muta-y-maa ‘ be open’
b. French briser ‘break’ se briser ‘break’ brisé ‘broken’
c. Russian razbit’ ‘break’ razbit’sja ‘break’ razbitij ‘broken’
In these three languages, the base form of the verb is a transitive causative accomplishment, and
the intransitive accomplishment and state forms are derived morphologically from it. The derivational
relationships illustrated in (9) and (10) can be readily accounted for in terms of this system
of lexical decomposition. The state → accomplishment → causative accomplishment pattern
found in Qiang and Huallaga Quechua follows directly from the lexical representations, e.g.
in (9c), hatun- (big´ (x)) –> hatun-ya:- (BECOME big´ (x)) –> hatun-ya:-chi- (...CAUSE [BE-
COME big´ (x)]). The pattern in Yagua, French and Russian also indicates a systematic relationship
among these classes, but the function of the morphological markers is to cancel part of the
LS rather than to add components to it, e.g. in (10a), -muta- (...CAUSE [BECOME open´ (x)]),
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