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[Wikipedia (Japanese Verb
Conjugation)](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_verb_conjugation):

> Negatives [verb negative-conjugations] are not normally made into
> causatives. Instead, a negative ending is added to the causative of the
> verb. Thus, for example, Tabesasenai: "Do not let eat".

From the quote above, we can see that although negatives are not normally made
into causatives, they _can_ be made into causatives.

What is the difference between a causative-of-negative and a negative-of-
causative? How do we decide when to use which?

For example, what is the difference in nuance
between「これを[食べさせない](https://www.google.com.sg/search?sugexp=chrome,mod=4&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=%22%E9%A3%9F%E3%81%B9%E3%81%95%E3%81%9B%E3%81%AA%E3%81%84%22)」and「これを[食べなくさせる](https://www.google.com.sg/search?sugexp=chrome,mod=4&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=%22%E9%A3%9F%E3%81%B9%E3%81%AA%E3%81%8F%E3%81%95%E3%81%9B%E3%82%8B%22)」?
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2012-06-20T22:35:31.863
5929
2012-06-21T14:18:35.280
264
question
grammar usage nuances
"causative of negative" vs "negative of causative"?
Causative has two meanings: **forcing** and **allowing**. Let me first
illustrate the semantic distinction considering only "forcing":

  * Negation of causative of P = "not force doing P"
  * Causative of negation of P = "force to not do P"

In general, there is a mismatch between the hierarchy in the syntactic
structure (at the surface) and the hierarchy in the logical structure. For
example, the English expression `I cannot do P` does not mean "It is possible
('can') for me to not do P" (potential of negation of P) but means "It is not
the case that I can do P" (negation of potential of P). What the article is
probably saying is that `tabe-sase-nai` syntactically looks like the hierarchy
is "negation of causative of eat", but its meaning is "causative of negation
of eat", or "forcing not to eat".

Now, there is the same semantic distinction for "allowing":

  * Negation of causative of P = "not (particularly) allow doing P"
  * Causative of negation of P = "allow not doing P"

Note that "forcing" and "allowing" are logically connected under the following
formulae from modal logic (~ = negation, ◇ = possibility operator (i.e.,
"allowing" in this case), □ = necessity operator (i.e., "forcing" in this
case)):

> ~◇P = □~P  
>  ~□P = ◇~P

From this, the expression `tabe-sase-nai` which means "forcing not to eat" can
also be paraphrased as "not allowing to eat".
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2012-06-21T01:40:35.143
5931
2012-06-21T14:18:35.280
2012-06-21T14:18:35.280
5929
answer