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In this article, we discuss the syntactic properties and structure of two analytic causative constructions,
which we have referred to as the ‘no’ causative and ‘ɔ’ causative, in Akan (Kwa, Niger-Congo). We show
that although the two analytic causative constructions have often received a unitary analysis as a serial
verb construction (e.g. Osam 1994, 2004; Agyeman 2002; Morrison 2007) they, in fact, exhibit different
syntactic behavior and structure in the language. In this vein, we apply Haspelmath’s (2016) definitional
criteria for serial verb constructions as a diagnostic for the two causatives and show that while one of the
causatives behaves similar to a serial verb construction the other does not but displays clausal embedding.
We argue that the ‘no’ causative involves symmetrical sharing of the object marked causee argument by
both V1 and V2 similar to what Hiraiwa and Bodomo (2008) proposed for some Dagaare serial verb
constructions. Evidence for symmetric sharing of the object comes from adverb placement and
reflexivization. The syntactic behavior of causatives in Akan brings to the fore the need for refinements
in generalizations about so-called comparative concepts like serial verb constructions because such
concepts may not be discreet, compartmentalized categories but may be distributed along a continuum.
