Causative and Passive in Manju, Mongolian and Japanese - Permanent International Altaistic Conference

Causative and Passive in Manju, Mongolian and Japanese

67^th Annual Meeting of the PIAC, Gotemba 2025

Manju-Tungusic, Mongolian and Japanese belong to the Altaic languages. Manju and Mongolian are geographically close to each other while Japanese is comparatively far away from these languages. It is no wonder if Manju and Mongolian share some common vocabulary which are not found in Japanese.

These languages Manju, Mongolian and Japanese are agglutinative languages. Transitive, causative and passive verbs are formed by adding suffixes. It is typical for Manju that for all of these functions the same suffix (Ma) -bu- is used while in Mongolian and Japanese various suffixes are needed depending upon the function in the sentence.

In this paper we will discuss findings based on the corpora Manju i Yargiyan Kooli 満洲実録 Manju Shih-lu (MS) (1781) [Manju Veritable Records] and Mongɣol‑un niɣuca tobciyan 元朝秘史 [Secret History of the Mongols] (SH) (13-14. c.), e. g.:

Vi → Vt

(Ma) jobo-bu- (Vt) (MS VIII: 356, 157)
(Mo) joba-ga- (Vt)
(Ja) kurushim-e- 苦しめ- (Vt)
(En) `to torment´

Vi → Causative

(Ma) jirga-bu- (Causative) (MS VIII: 356, 157)
(Mo) jirga-gul- (Caus.)
(Ja) tanoshim-a-se- 楽しませ- (Caus.)
(En) `to make amuse´

Vt → Causative

(Ma) sali-bu- (Caus.) (III: 87, 32)
(Mo) ejele-gül- (Caus.)
(Ja) osame-sa-s-e- 治めさせ- (Caus.)
(En) `to let rule´

Vt → Passive

(Ma) wa-bu- (Passive) (MS III: 96, 83)
(Mo) ala-kda- (Pass.)
(Ja) koros-a-re- 殺され- (Pass.)
(En) `to be killed´

A typical property of the passive suffix in Mongolian and Japanese is that the passive suffix can be added to intransitive verbs. Also in this respect, Mongolian and Japanese share common features, e.g.

Vi → Passive

(Mo) ire-gde- (Pass.) (SH §248)
(Ja) kor-a-re- 来られ- (Pass.)
(En) `to come …´