Basic valency orientation in Hittite

The paper discusses basic valency orientation in Hittite, based on the typology proposed in Nichols et al. (2004). Verb pairs employed for testing basic valency indicate a clearly transitivizing character of this language. The high productivity of causative derivation is shown by the fact that morphologically marked causatives are derived from both stative and change-of-state verbs. In the case of the latter, a minor pattern is also attested, whereby valency alternation is encoded through voice (active/middle) alternation. Since neither voice can be considered derived with respect to the other, verbs that display this behavior are indeterminate as to basic valency orientation. In spite of the limited extent to which voice indicates valency alternation, this finding becomes more significant when set into the framework of valency alternation in the early Indo-European languages, and sheds some light on the original function of the Hittite and of the Indo -European middle voice.