Causatives in German

In this paper I argue for a unified account of causative constructions in G erman. The approach rests on assumptions for case assignment and subcategor ization which will be independently motivated by an analysis of passive con structions. It will be shown that the difference between standard causative s and what I call causative passives should be analyzed as a special case o f optional subcategorization: causative lassen optionally subcategorizes fo r an external argument of the embedded verb, the non-realization of which l eads to a causative passive. The adoption of a (synthetic) passive bare inf initive, as advocated for in the literature, can thus be dispensed with. In stead, causative passive can be shown to function like a combination of cau sative and passive, thereby creating a "passivelike" structural context.