LINGUIST List 3.86

Fri 31 Jan 1992

Qs: Software, Causation

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Directory

1. David Perelman-Hall, company called Linguitech
2. Dan Holscher, Query about Causation
3. Eugeniusz Rzewuski, software for Oriental languages

I would appreciate it if anyone knowing of a company called Linguitech would
send me its phone and address.

Thanks,
Dave

 I have run into a small problem in my work on causation. The
problem is how to define causation so as to determine whether
various sentences are causative, or not. The follow three sentences
are representative of my difficulty:

 (1) He painted the wall.
 (2) He climbed the rope.
 (3) He played the guitar.

My questions are:

 (A) Is (1) causative? Consider:

 (1-a) He caused the wall to be covered with paint.
 (1-b) He covered the wall with paint.

 (B) Is sentence (2) causative?

 (2-a) He caused himself to go up the rope.

 (C) Sentence (3) has a similar form to (1) and (2) in
 ASL. It might be possible for someone to argue that
 (3) is indeed causative. Consider:

 (3-a) ? He caused the guitar to produce music.

 My intuitions say that (3) is not causative, but I
 have no arguments to support this claim. I would
 appreciate any arguments, either for or against the
 interpretation of (3) as causative.

Please respond to the following e-mail address:
holschermace.cc.purdue.edu

I will post a summary of suggestions and arguments.

Thanks in advance,
Dan Holscher

The Institute of Oriental Studies, Warsaw University, wishes to collect
possibly the most complete information on software available (commercial and
public domain) for processing of Oriental languages and texts of non-Latin
script systems: wordprocessors, font sets, data bases, parsers, checkers. This
query stands in connection with the workshop CATALYSIS-92 (see LINGUIST List
vol-2-853) now extended to Oriental languages. Thanks in advance for any
suggestion. We will keep a file of all responses and e-mail it to anyone
who sends a request.

Answer directly by e-mail to: ORIENTUWPLEARN (Bitnet) or to the following
address:
Eugeniusz Rzewuski
Institute of Oriental Studies
Warsaw University
PL-00-927 Warszawa 64, Poland
fax: (48-22) 267520