Agentive Namespace

Formed by merging the former Causative (@causative) and Action (@action) namespaces into a single Agentive (@agentive) namespace. Both profile an Agent or Cause initiating an event; they differed only in whether a caused result on a Patient is profiled. That difference is now an intra-namespace distinction (the two branches below), not a namespace boundary.

Core Definition

Agentive frames foreground an Agent or Cause that initiates an event — either by performing an activity or by bringing about a change in another entity. The unifying semantic content is the initiating participant in subject position: a sentient, volitional Agent or a non-intentional Cause. Within the namespace, two branches are distinguished by whether a caused Result on a Patient is profiled:

• Result-oriented (causative) branch — causation is the primary content: the Agent/Cause acts on a Patient that reaches a resultant state. Typically telic; the caused change is independently verifiable.
• Activity-oriented (action) branch — the activity itself is the primary content: what the Agent does, with no resultant state profiled. Typically atelic.

Formal template:

ACT(Agent, Activity) [± Manner] [± Location] [± Time]          (activity branch)
CAUSE(Agent/Cause, BECOME(State(Patient)))                     (result branch)

Key participants:

• Agent — the sentient, volitional entity performing the activity or causing the change (subject position)
• Cause — a non-intentional initiator (natural/physical force, abstract or institutional force); only in the result-oriented branch
• Activity — the action being performed (activity branch)
• Patient — the entity that undergoes the change (result branch)
• Result — the resultant state the Patient reaches (result branch)

The presence of a volitional Agent or a Cause is the primary contrast with Eventive frames (bare occurrences with no initiator). The presence of Patient + Result is what separates the two internal branches.

Scope

Includes — result-oriented (causative) branch:

• Direct physical causation: João quebrou o vaso (João broke the vase)
• Creation events: Maria construiu uma casa (Maria built a house)
• Change-of-state causation: O calor derreteu o gelo (Heat melted the ice)
• Natural / physical force causation: O vento quebrou a janela (The wind broke the window), A enchente destruiu a ponte (The flood destroyed the bridge)
• Abstract or biological causation: A doença matou milhares (The disease killed thousands)
• Social/institutional causation: O juiz condenou o réu (The judge convicted the defendant)
• Psychological causation: Maria convenceu João a sair (Maria convinced João to leave)

Includes — activity-oriented (action) branch:

• Motion activities: João correu (João ran), Maria nadou (Maria swam)
• Work and labor: João trabalhou (João worked), Maria estudou (Maria studied)
• Performance and expression: João cantou (João sang), Pedro tocou (Pedro played)
• Social interaction: João conversou (João conversed), Maria participou (Maria participated)
• Bodily activities: João comeu (João ate), Maria dormiu (Maria slept)
• Cognitive activities: João pensou (João thought), Maria planejou (Maria planned)

Excludes — see other namespaces:

• Intransitive natural phenomenon with no caused result → Eventive (Choveu, O vento soprou)
• Result-state change with the causer not profiled (affected entity in subject) → Change (O vaso quebrou — The vase broke)
• Same causer-and-Patient scene, but the undergoer is profiled and the causer backgrounded (a lexically patient-profiling frame, e.g. sofrer, ser vítima de) → Undergoing (A vítima sofreu ferimentos) — a semantic choice, not the passive of an Agentive frame (a passivized o vaso foi quebrado por João stays Agentive)
• Agent moves along a directed path to a goal → Transition (João foi para casa)
• Mental / perceptual event centred on an Experiencer/Cognizer → Experiential (João viu Maria, João sabe a resposta)

Critical boundary — natural forces are non-intentional Causes: A natural or physical force that acts on a Patient to produce a result is a Cause, so the frame is Agentive (result branch) — not Eventive. What gates the result branch is the caused change (Cause/Agent → Patient → Result), not whether the causer is sentient:

• O vento quebrou a janela → Agentive (o vento = non-intentional Cause; janela = Patient; quebrada = Result)
• João quebrou a janela → Agentive (João = intentional Agent)
• O vento soprou → Eventive (no Patient, no caused result — a bare occurrence)

The causer's nature only chooses Agent vs. Cause inside Agentive; it never moves the frame to Eventive. And when the affected entity is in subject position with the causer unprofiled (A janela quebrou), the frame is Change — the Agentive/Change choice is decided by the subject (causer → Agentive; affected entity → Change).

Important note — transitive activities with non-affected objects: Activity-branch frames can take objects, but the object is used as an instrument, not changed as a Patient:

• João tocou o violão → violão unchanged → Agentive (activity) (instrument)
• João quebrou o violão → violão now broken → Agentive (result) (Patient)

Subtypes

Branch — result-oriented vs. activity-oriented

Result-oriented branch — internal distinctions

By intentionality:

By directness:

Aspect (result branch): achievements (punctual result: quebrar, matar) or accomplishments (durative process leading to result: construir, pintar). Both accept em X tempo; the accomplishment type also accepts por X tempo to emphasize the process phase.

Activity-oriented branch — internal distinctions

Telicity (activity branch): Most activity frames are atelic — compatible with por X tempo, incompatible with em X tempo. Activities can be bounded by adding measure phrases (correu um quilômetro), which shifts them toward telic accomplishments, but the namespace focus remains on the activity, not an achieved result.

By domain (both branches): Physical (quebrar, derreter, cortar; correr, nadar), social (demitir, aprovar, condenar; conversar, participar), psychological-causative (convencer, assustar, emocionar). Domain affects what constitutes a valid Agent/Cause, result, or activity, but does not change the core agentive structure.

Characteristic signature

Profiles the AGENTIVE role. In the result branch the agentive role is realised as either an Agent (Sentient, intentional) or a Cause (non-Sentient: a natural/physical force or an abstract State_of_affairs, non-intentional), and a Result on a Patient is profiled. In the activity branch there is an Agent and an Activity, and no Patient or Result — their absence is the signal that the frame is activity-oriented. Any object present in the activity branch maps to a CONSTITUTIVE Instrument/Theme (used, not changed), never to Patient.

The Sentient type does the Agent-vs-Cause split within this namespace — it does not gate Agentive vs. Eventive. Distinguished from Eventive by profiling an initiator (Agent/Cause or a volitional Agent) at all; a natural force is simply a non-Sentient Cause, so o vento quebrou a janela is Agentive, not Eventive.

graph LR
    Agent["Agent<br/><i>AGENTIVE</i><br/>Sentient"]
    Cause["Cause<br/><i>AGENTIVE</i><br/>non-Sentient: force / State_of_affairs"]
    Event(("Event"))
    Activity["Activity<br/><i>CONSTITUTIVE</i><br/>activity branch"]
    Patient["Patient<br/><i>TELIC</i><br/>result branch"]
    Result["Result<br/><i>FORMAL</i><br/>result branch"]

    Agent -->|intentionally_causes / performs| Event
    Cause -->|causes| Event
    Event -->|consists_of| Activity
    Event -->|affects| Patient
    Patient -->|reaches| Result

    classDef core fill:#8B0000,stroke:#8B0000,color:#fff
    classDef opt fill:#fff,stroke:#8B0000,stroke-dasharray:4 3,color:#8B0000
    class Agent,Cause,Event core
    class Activity,Patient,Result opt

Diagnostic Tests

Test 1 — Agent/Cause in subject (membership gate)

Does the frame profile an initiating Agent (volitional) or Cause (non-intentional force) in subject position?

✓ João correu (Agent) → AGENTIVE (activity)
✓ João quebrou o vaso (Agent) → AGENTIVE (result)
✓ O vento quebrou a janela (Cause) → AGENTIVE (result)
✗ Choveu (no initiator) → NOT AGENTIVE (Eventive)
✗ O vaso quebrou (affected entity in subject, causer unprofiled) → NOT AGENTIVE (Change)

Test 2 — Result state (which branch)

Does the frame entail a specific resultant state, independently verifiable after the event?

Result branch:
✓ João quebrou o vaso → O vaso está quebrado → AGENTIVE (result)
✓ Maria abriu a porta → A porta está aberta → AGENTIVE (result)

Activity branch:
✗ João correu → *João está corrido (no result state) → AGENTIVE (activity)
✗ Maria cantou → *Maria está cantada (no result state) → AGENTIVE (activity)

Test 3 — Periphrastic causative (result branch)

Can the frame be paraphrased with fazer com que (make it so that)?

✓ João quebrou o vaso → João fez com que o vaso quebrasse → AGENTIVE (result)
✓ Maria abriu a porta → Maria fez com que a porta abrisse → AGENTIVE (result)
✗ João correu → ?João fez com que corresse (coercion needed) → AGENTIVE (activity, not result)

Test 4 — Causative-change alternation (result branch)

Does the frame alternate between a transitive (Agent subject) and intransitive (Patient subject) form?

✓ João abriu a porta ↔ A porta abriu → AGENTIVE (result) / CHANGE pair
✓ Maria derreteu o gelo ↔ O gelo derreteu → AGENTIVE (result) / CHANGE pair
✗ João construiu a casa ↔ *A casa construiu (no alternation — creation verb)

Non-alternating creation verbs (construir, criar, fabricar) are still result-branch Agentive; they simply don't have an change counterpart.

Test 5 — Intentionality (Agent vs. Cause)

Is the causer compatible with purpose clauses and intentionality adverbs?

Agent (intentional):
✓ João quebrou o vaso deliberadamente
✓ João quebrou o vaso para irritar Maria

Cause (non-intentional):
✗ *A doença matou deliberadamente
✗ *O erro causou o acidente para irritar alguém

Incompatibility with intentionality markers signals a Cause rather than an Agent (an intra-namespace distinction).

Test 6 — Imperative (activity branch)

Can the verb take imperative form directed at a sentient agent?

✓ Corra! (Run!) → AGENTIVE (activity)
✓ Trabalhe! (Work!) → AGENTIVE (activity)
✗ *Chova! (impossible to command nature) → NOT AGENTIVE (Eventive)

Test 7 — Atelic duration (por X tempo, activity branch)

Is the activity naturally bounded by por X tempo rather than em X tempo?

✓ João correu por duas horas → AGENTIVE (activity, atelic)
✓ Maria trabalhou por oito horas → AGENTIVE (activity, atelic)
✗ João quebrou o vaso em um segundo → AGENTIVE (result, telic)

Test 8 — Passivization (result branch)

Can the frame passivize, with the Agent expressed in a por phrase?

✓ João quebrou o vaso → O vaso foi quebrado por João → AGENTIVE (result)
✓ Maria construiu a casa → A casa foi construída por Maria → AGENTIVE (result)
✗ *Isso custa dez reais → *Dez reais são custados por isso → NOT AGENTIVE