Cross-linguistic contrasts in the structure of causatives in clausal nominalizations

It is usually assumed that the causee ‘subject’ of a causativized transitive predicate merges below the causativizer, within the causativized clause. However, gerundive nominalizations (masdars) in Georgian provide evidence for a different structure. It is proposed that, in Georgian, this causee is projected by an applicative phrase that merges outside the causative vP, below the Voice projection that introduces the causer/external argument. Key evidence involves masdars in which causative meaning can be expressed, but a causee cannot. While the causee of a causativized transitive predicate can be expressed in a verbal context, it cannot be expressed in a masdar, even though the masdar can be based on a causative of a transitive. It is proposed that the Georgian masdar involves a nominalizing head that selects a vP complement, and that both causers and causees are excluded from the masdar because they can only merge outside this causative vP.