Causation at the syntax–semantics interface

This chapter is an overview of the themes that arise in the study of causation at the syntax–semantics interface. The chapter presents and discusses recent proposals about the argument structure and the event decomposition of (anti-)causative verbs, and illustrate the deep interconnection between these two layers through several generalizations that have been put forth in the recent literature. Most of the phenomena addressed through this section illustrate the crucial role played by the thematic properties of external arguments in the syntax–semantics of causative verbs, as well as the importance of a more fine-grained typology of agents. The last section addresses some of the differences between mono-clausal and bi-clausal causatives. Again, the thematic properties of external arguments are shown to play a crucial role in the direct/indirect distinction.