causativeintensive

Causativeintensive is a term used in linguistics to describe a type of verbal construction that encodes both causation and a high degree of force, effort, or degree of change. In such systems, an event is described as caused by an agent and carried out with substantial intensity. The formulation can be realized in several ways: affixal causatives that bear an accompanying intensification marker; periphrastic sequences in which a causative verb is combined with a degree modifier or adverb; or a single verb stem whose morphology or syntax encodes both causation and intensity. The precise realization varies across languages and theoretical frameworks.

Semantically, causativeintensive shifts the reading from simple causation to a heightened event, such as one performed with great force, speed, duration, or completeness. Syntactically, it can influence arguments (valency or voice) or interact with aspect to yield telic or durative readings. In some languages it is expressed by complex verbal complexes; in others by a combination of a causative marker with an intensifier that modifies the verb's event reading. The concept is primarily descriptive, used to capture a cross-cutting pattern rather than a single, uniform grammatical category.

Cross-linguistic evidence for causativeintensive is varied, and some descriptions treat it as a sub-type of causatives, while others view it as a distinct intensification phenomenon that can attach to different semantic roots. Diachronic paths may include grammaticalization from an intensifier to a causative marker or the reverse, depending on language contact and historical change.

Related topics include causatives, intensifiers, and resultatives, with causativeintensive occupying a middle ground where causation and forceful execution converge in a single construction.