In linguistic morphology, causative mood serves to express a causal relation, e.g., a logical inference relation, between the current clause and the clause or sentence it refers to. It occurs, for example, in Eskimo-Aleut languages.
Causative mood is not to be confused with the unrelated notion of causative voice, a valency-shifting operation in many languages.
In Inuktitut, the causative is used to link propositions that follow logically. It is much more broadly used in Inuktitut than similar structures are in English. The causative is one of the most important ways of connecting two clauses in Inuktitut:
ᖃᓐᓂᖅ
qanniq-
to snow
ᒪᑦ
-mat
4NSPCAUS
ᙯ
qai-
to come
ᙱᑦ
-nngit-
not
ᑐᖓ
-tunga
1SGNSP
Because it is snowing, I am not coming. (Inuktitut, North Baffin dialect)
taku-
to see
-mmat
4SGNSP
because he sees; when he/she saw. (Arctic Quebec Inuktitut; Dorais 1990, [1] p.225)
In West Greenlandic, the causative (sometimes called the conjunctive) is used to construct subordinate clauses that express cause or time (when in the past) (Fortescue 1990, p.314). [2] It is used to mean "because", "since" or "when", sometimes also "that". The causative is used also in main clauses to imply an underlying cause. [3]
qasu-gami
be tired-CAU/3SG
innar-poq
go to bed-3SG
"He went to bed because he was tired" (Greenlandic)
matta-ttor-ama
blubber-eat-CAU/1SG
"I've eaten blubber (that's why I'm not hungry)" (Greenlandic)
ani-guit
go out-COND/2SG
eqqaama-ssa-vat
remember-FUT-IMP
teriannia-qar-mat
fox-are-CAUS
"If you go out, remember that there are foxes" (Greenlandic)
In Central Alaskan Yup'ik, the causal suffix -nga is used to form subordinate clauses that are translated as "because", or "when".
The Inuit languages are a closely related group of indigenous American languages traditionally spoken across the North American Arctic and the adjacent subarctic regions as far south as Labrador. The Inuit languages are one of the two branches of the Eskimoan language family, the other being the Yupik languages, which are spoken in Alaska and the Russian Far East. Most Inuit people live in one of three countries: Greenland, a self-governing territory within the Kingdom of Denmark; Canada, specifically in Nunavut, the Inuvialuit Settlement Region of the Northwest Territories, the Nunavik region of Quebec, and the Nunatsiavut and NunatuKavut regions of Labrador; and the United States, specifically in northern and western Alaska.
In linguistics, a causative is a valency-increasing operation that indicates that a subject either causes someone or something else to do or be something or causes a change in state of a non-volitional event. Normally, it brings in a new argument, A, into a transitive clause, with the original subject S becoming the object O.
Greenlandic is an Eskimo–Aleut language with about 57,000 speakers, mostly Greenlandic Inuit in Greenland. It is closely related to the Inuit languages in Canada such as Inuktitut. It is the most widely spoken Eskimo–Aleut language. In June 2009, the government of Greenland, the Naalakkersuisut, made Greenlandic the sole official language of the autonomous territory, to strengthen it in the face of competition from the colonial language, Danish. The main variety is Kalaallisut, or West Greenlandic. The second variety is Tunumiit oraasiat, or East Greenlandic. The language of the Inughuit of Greenland, Inuktun or Polar Eskimo, is a recent arrival and a dialect of Inuktitut.
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