Implicit Causality in Language: Evidence from Afrikaans

Using English verbs naming interactions between persons Brown and Fish (1983) show that speakers apportion causality unequally between interactants. Action verbs draw greater causal weight to Agent than to Patient arguments while state verbs draw greater weight to Stimulus than to Experiencer arguments. Verbs frequently have derived adjectives naming an attribute of one of the arguments. The direction of causality attribution in adjectives predicts the causality respondents attribute to interactions. Brown and Fish propose two cognitive schemata underlying this phenomenon. Although supporting the Brown hypotheses, data from the present Afrikaans replication are consistently attenuated. Moreover, interaction of verb class with measuring technique has a much stronger effect in Afrikaans than in English. Tentative explanations for these differences are suggested.