Grammaticalization of the French and Bulgarian Causative Constructions. Some Diachronic and Developmental Aspects

Abstract

The present article deals with the processes of grammaticalization from a diachronic and developmental point of view. To compare grammatical changes in history and acquisition, we fo­cus on the French and Bulgarian causative constructions (e.g. Fr. faire travailler qn vs. Blg. karam njakogo da raboti – ‘to make someone work’). A total of 113 French speakers (71 children and 42 adults) and 96 Bulgarian speakers (56 children and 40 adults) took part in this cross-linguistic study. Children were aged 3 to 6 years at the time of the study. Results show that historically, the French causative construction evolves from analytic devices to synthetic forms. As a compact structure, the faire + Vinf complex predicate requires argument rearrangement and clitic raising. These specifici­ties explain why its acquisition is difficult and occurs at a late stage in French-speaking children. The Bulgarian causative construction evolves in the opposite direction, from synthetic devices to less grammaticalized structures. As an analytic form including two predicates followed by their own arguments, the karam NP da + Vpres periphrastic causative seems easier to acquire and its full command by children is achieved earlier. Finally, we suggest that there are some similarities between language history and language acquisition with regard to the stages of competition between two causative mechanisms and the stabilization of the new construction.