ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the syntax and semantics of overt and covert causatives. The former are verbs that may be made causative morphologically and/or prepositionally; the latter are verbs that may not be made causative, either morphologically or prespositionally. Overt or periphrastic causative constructions are clausally complex constructions in which a clause is embedded on the surface as the complement of a hypercausative verb which is the matrix verb in such overt causative constructions (O.C.C.). The chapter examines the differences between O.C.C. and covert causative constructions (C.C.C), the properties of hypercausatives, and the syntactic behavior and semantic range of O.C.C. Hypercausatives are causative verbs that occur as matrix verbs in O.C.C. and that require a sentential complement on the surface. The direct causation indicated by C.C.C. requires that the verb refer to one, and only one, causer involved in the bringing about of a state or a process.
