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This study addresses claims made by two theories--the Alternative Projection and Verb Sensitive approaches--regarding an interpretation of possession attributed to certain ditransitive constructions. The Alternative Projection approach argues that an interpretation of possession is only available in the double object (DO) pattern expressed by English ditransitive verbs (1a) and is not available in the prepositional (PP) pattern (1b). The Verb Sensitive approach argues that this possession interpretation is either available for both the DO and PP patterns, or for neither pattern, depending on the class of ditransitive verb with which the patterns occur. (1a) The salesperson gave the young farmer the grain mixture. (1b) The salesperson gave the grain mixture to the young farmer. Both approaches posit a possession interpretation of the DO pattern across all ditransitive verbs. This study tests to what degree native English speakers interpret a meaning of possession from the DO and PP patterns through an online survey with 88 participants. Ditransitive verbs from five semantic classes are analyzed to determine if the interpretation of possession varies based on use of the DO or PP pattern (Alternative Projection) or by the semantic class of the verb (Verb Sensitive). The results do not support the Alternative Projection approach. The results suggest partial support for the Verb Sensitive approach, as semantic classes do not entirely follow the pattern predicted by this approach. Further, judgements reported in this study contradict some judgements reported in the literature, highlighting the importance of quantitative studies in evaluating theoretical claims. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Languages group verbs in different ways. Because of the ergative feature of Zazaki, it plays a big role whether the verbs are transitive or intransitive. Zaza Language introduces some pronouns to distinguish double-transitive verbs from transitive and intransitive verbs. In some linguistic works, the terms transitive and ergative are used synonymously. This article aims to scrutinize ditransitive constructions in the Zaza language, which has some interesting syntactic elements in these structures. They are mostly pronouns in combination with directions. Several pronouns replace indirect object. On the one hand, the goal of this study is to find out the functions of these pronouns. The semantic content of these pronouns decides which pronouns may appear in a specific position. They can appear with or without directions. Only the pronouns such as cı can alone replace a NP, the other ones need a direction for this replacing. On the other hand, this study discusses the morphosyntactic and semantic realizations in ditransitive constructions. While these pronouns do not syntactically follow the same word order, they can semantically be classified into two groups.

This paper presents the syntactic dimension of ditransitive verbs in terms of the universal theory of Role and Reference Grammar (RRG). This theory is syntactic in nature, but it also covers the semantic as well as the pragmatic aspects of any linguistic phenomenon. It assumes a universal framework through which syntactic constructions can be analyzed. However, the morphological structure that each language enjoys renders the universal treatment more complicated and can question the universal nature of such a theory. In this paper, an attempt is made to check if the universal tenet of the theory is maintained over two typologically different languages: English and Arabic in respect of the way that double-object constructions (DOCs) are represented in the theory. A limitation is made to answer these questions: does the rich morphological nature of Arabic affect the universality of RRG in so far as Layered Structure of the Clause (LSC) is concerned? and; where and how does the information about tense is represented in both languages? The results show that this theory is indeed universal when it deals with a syntactic phenomenon like DOCs and that a separate projection is dedicated to represent some related information about the clause and this is concluded from the analysis of the selected data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The text analyses the relation between argument structure and information structure with "core dative verbs" in European Portuguese (EP), specifically in the constructions with heavy direct objects (DO). Developing some previous analysis, I will argue in favour of the proposal that EP has a basic construction of ditransitives where the DO is projected as complement of a low verbal category and the IO is projected in the specifier position of that verbal category. When the DP DO raises to a higher position because of Case reasons, the order V DO IO is obtained. With a heavy and focalized DO the order is V IO OD and that can be explained if the DP DO leaves a spelled-out copy. This approach makes discursive functional categories such that topic and focus in the left periphery of the Verbal Phrase unnecessary and reinforces the view that in languages like European Portuguese information structure relates, in a very strong way, Syntax and Phonology and Syntax and Prosody. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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A major goal of the quantitative study of syntax has been to identify factors that have predictive power on speaker choices in the face of word-order or valence alternations (e.g. Arnold et al. 2000; Bresnan et al. 2007; Bresnan & Ford 2010; Bader & Häussler 2010). In this paper, we study the role of animacy on the order of constituents in French. Animacy has been shown to affect sentence production in other languages, either directly (Feleki & Branigan 1999; Kempen & Harbusch 2004; Tanaka et al. 2011) or indirectly through grammatical role assignment (McDonald et al. 1993). Corpus studies however, have failed to find such an effect in French (Thuilier 2012a; Thuilier et al. 2014). Using a sentence recall task, we examined whether animacy has an impact on linear ordering or on grammatical function assignment. While we do find evidence for a role of animacy in the choice between active and passive voice, we do not find a preference to place animate arguments first with ditransitive verbs nor with nominal coordinations. While these findings tend to support the indirect hypothesis (McDonald et al. 1993; Kempen & Harbusch 2004), we also find what may look like an anti-animacy effect: inanimate direct objects tend to precede animate indirect objects. We propose that canonical mappings between syntactic function and semantic role play a role in putting (inanimate theme) direct objects before (animate recipient) indirect objects, thus overriding the animacy first tendency in French.

Together with its central complements, verbs model basic patterns of interaction. The constellations of these complements in turn correspond to central patterns of the argument structure. Nominative and accusative complements formally occupy the first and second positions (subject and object), but they also have certain semantic preferences. The formal function of the dative is less pronounced, where it occurs (ditransitive verbs) the semantic imprint of the frame („transfer”) is very strong. This corresponds to the meaning of a core group of corresponding verbs. Other verbs that allow this pattern are used more often in other valence structures and the ditransitive use appears as a systematic way of personal extension of object-related activities. This will be discussed with reference to the verbs zeigen and (in a different way) lehren. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a comparative analysis of some ditransitive verbs in Latin and English which assign accusative case to both internal arguments (theme and recipient). In English, these verbs also display the possibility to realize the recipient as the object of the preposition to. In the passive, the two constructions behave differently. Whilst in the double accusative construction the subject is the recipient (Mary was given a book), in the prepositional construction the subject is the theme (a book was given to Mary). In Latin, in which the double object construction is generally known to be the only possibility, the tendency to have the recipient as the subject of the double object construction in the passive is confirmed, with the exception of verba rogandi. This exception will be shown to be only apparent and will be reduced to the possibility for verba rogandi to realize the recipient as indirect object in dative case.

The goal of this paper is to re-examine the behaviour of Latin verbs taking double accusative from the perspective of functional-typological research on the so-called “ditransitive constructions”. I will focus on two aspects: the types of passivization allowed by these verbs and the alternating types of constructions to which they give rise, depending on the encoding of the two object arguments.

The syntax of the Mansi ditransitive verbs from the aspect of their semantics *** The paper investigates the ditransitive constructions and the ditransitive verbs of the Mansi language. It intends to answer the question whether the semantics of the verb influences the choice of the structure. Mansi has an alternation between two different kinds of ditransitive constructions. The alternation is based on the information structure and independent of the semantics of the verb used in the given structure. Any ditransitive verb can appear in any ditransitive construction. *** Jelen tanulmány a manysi nyelv ditranzitív szerkezeteit és ditranzitív igéit vizsgálja. A vizsgálat főképpen arra irányul, hogy a ditranzitív igék szemantikája befolyásolja-e a szerkezetválasztást. A manysiban kétféle ditranzitív szerkezet használatos. A tanulmány bemutatja, hogy a vizsgált szempontból a szerkezetek alternálódása teljesen szabadnak tűnik, bármely ditranzitív ige bármelyik szerkezetben szerepelhet. A szerkezetválasztás pragmatikai alapú, az ige szemantikai tulajdonságai nem befolyásolják.

The present paper aims at contributing to the study of passivization of ditransitive complementation from the FSP point of view. English ditransitive verbs generally allow two passive constructions, i.e. the subject of a passive can in the active correspond either to Oi (Jack was sent a copy of the letter) or to Od (A copy of the letter was sent (to) Jack). As the passive usually serves as one of the means used to achieve the basic distribution of communicative dynamism, the choice of the subject and the object of the passive can be supposed to be motivated, respectively, by their thematic and rhematic function. Thus, the sentence is perspectived away from the subject and constitutes the quality scale. The aim of the paper is to verify this assumption and to find out whether a passive sentence with a ditransitive verb can also implement the presentation scale, i.e. whether the sentence can be perspectived towards the subject and introduce a phenomenon into discourse. Attention is paid to other potential factors that might play a role in the selection of the passive, namely the semantics of the verb and of the indirect object (whether the recipient is actual or intended), object deletion (i.e. omission of an object) and the expression of the by-agent. The analysis is based on examples obtained from the British National Corpus.

In the acquisition of first language, among different word types "verbs" seems to be more challenging because of both the cognitive and linguistic constraints that they require. However, as Naigles & Hoff-Ginsberg (1998: 95) point out the effect of syntactic diversity in addition to frequency and positional salience leads to syntactic bootstrapping, which help children to acquire the meanings of new verbs. Thus, as children start using verbs in different combinations, they start to be aware of the abstract notions verbs denote and learn more new verbs. Within this framework children also acquire syntactic and semantic properties of these verbs such as the number of arguments a verb requires and whether the language in question allow argument ellipses. The aim of this study is to investigate how children acquire ditransitive verbs in Turkish. For this purpose, spontaneous speech data collected from 10 children between the ages of 1;4 and 3;6 and their mothers has been analysed both quantitatively and qualitatively. Six ditransitive verbs have been chosen for analysis. The results show that among the six verbs investigated, koy- (put) and ver- 'give' have been used more often than the other verbs by the children from the younger group. In the older group, in addition to the six verbs present in the vocabulary of younger children, new verbs have also appeared. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to account for the variability in the linearization of ditransitive constructions in English, semantic and syntactic as well as pragmatic motives have been proposed. Of recent, gradience grammar has been proposed (cf. Bresnan & Ford 2010), whereby categorical semantic constraints have been discounted and probabilistic tendencies advanced. While the current study subscribes to all those criteria, it intends to focus on two auxiliary properties that have so far not received enough attention as regards their role in the variability in the linearization of ditransitive constructions, namely diachronic factors and analogical leveling. This complementary account will thus fill up the lacuna posed by the fact that despite the role of the multifactorial predictors advanced so far, these do not fully answer, for example, the question as to why some speakers or speech communities accept, while others reject, constructions in which these very predictors are at work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the syntactic and semantic features of a verb class of Croatian ditransitive verbs termed verbs of negative transfer. With verbs of negative transfer, the transfer of an item is performed in the opposite direction of the transfer observable with typical ditransitive verbs such as give, get, obtain etc. Special concern is given to the interconnection of semantic and syntactic features within this verb class. As demonstrated in the paper, the syntactic expression of arguments is sensitive to one semantic feature of these verbs: the feature whether a given verb has malefactive meaning or not. The paper convincingly shows that a major strategy for expressing the semantic role of a maleficiary is the dative case. This use of the dative is usually called the malefactive dative and has not yet been thoroughly researched for Croatian. Accordingly, a great deal of attention has been devoted to the description of the malefactive dative. Furthermore, some similarities of this dative meaning have been related to some already known features of other dative meanings in Croatian.

This paper is a study of 55 ditransitive idioms in Hebrew, to the best of our knowledge, the first of its kind. The examination of these idiomatic constructions reveals asymmetries in their composition, thereby providing us with new insights into their internal structure and the principles governing their formation. In particular, we show that idioms reflect properties of their literal counterparts, explain word order patterns ditransitive idioms exhibit, argue that idioms do not have to be continuous constituents, and investigate the distribution of their free position. In addition, the paper provides support for Rappaport Hovav and Levin's (2008) 'verb sensitive' approach to the dative alternation and Landau's (1994) seminal observation that Hebrew manifests the alternation, though it fails to mark it morphologically. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper investigates two classes of verbs in the Naikhin dialect of Nanai (Tungusic; spoken mostly in the Russian Far East) that demonstrate a certain instability with respect to their argument structure in a situation where there is contact with Russian, the dominating language of the region. The avalent verbs tend to acquire a subject, thus turning into intransitives, while ditransitive verbs reduce the original number of possible argument encoding strategies and preserve the dative-accusative pattern only. The general claim of this article is that although there might be some other reasons (structural, typological, etc.) for the argument structure change in an endangered language, language contact also contributes to the process.

The default definition for a double object construction (DOC) is almost invariably ‘a construction like the give-construction’. While the GIVE-construction may be a cross-linguistically representative example of such constructions, within Cantonese, the construction certainly displays syntactic behaviour that is anomalous. One such anomaly is that, in the GIVE-construction, the theme-object immediately follows the verb, while the recipient-object is the argument that is the furthest away from the verb. This order of objects is quite rarely found across languages. It should, however, be noted that Cantonese as a language does not have an exceptional order of non-subject arguments in DOCs, the verb bei ‘give’ in this language, and this verb only , does. The syntax of the GIVE-construction patterns with that of all other DOCs in many other respects. Proposals, couched within the Lexical-Functional Grammar framework, are offered to capture these facts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our study analyses the manner of conceptualising and of describing the secondary object (SO) in the latest treatise of Romanian Grammar (GALR 2005, 2008). To that effect, the five criteria presented by the academic treatise for the purpose of differentiating the SO from the direct object (DO) are considered both from the perspective of their consistency and from the perspective of the current tendencies in the dynamics of the Romanian language. With respect to consistency, the last three of the five criteria advanced by the GALR -- the impossibility of coordination between the SO and the DO, the existence of a different grid of thematic roles and the incompatibility between the SO and the indirect object (IO) -- are discarded as non-conclusive in the process of carrying out an efficient separation between the SO and the DO. Furthermore, we note the fact that, from the list of the 12 ditransitive verbs provided by the GALR (to announce, to listen, to convince, to teach, to examine, to inform, to learn, to ask, to advise, to state, to traverse and to pass), some have lost this trait in the current stage of evolution of the Romanian language. On the other hand, when the SO indicates an object co-referential to a 3rd person singular feminine clitic, in the common use of the Romanian language one can observe the tendency of constructing the SO with pe and, therefore, of substituting/ doubling it by the corresponding clitic (o), which results in these properties no longer functioning as distinctive traits of the DO in relation to the SO. In conclusion, none of the five criteria suggested by the GALR works as a diagnostic test in order to dissociate between the two functions (DO and SO). However, we think that this fact should not lead to the elimination of the SO function from the Romanian grammar, but merely to a more rigorous formalisation of the thematic roles characteristic to the SO and the DO. In our opinion, only such an operation shall be able to support a criterion which should be sufficiently solid to differentiate between the two syntactic functions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One controversial issue in the literature on Japanese concerns the question of whether the surface accusative-dative order of ditransitive constructions is base-generated or derived by syntactic movement. In the light of nominalized clauses in which dative-V and accusative-V idioms are embedded, this article shows that ditransitive verbs project an argument structure whereby dative arguments could be base-generated to either the left or the right of accusative arguments, as countenanced by the base-generation hypothesis for the argument order of ditransitive verbs. Nevertheless, dative arguments are not freely ordered relative to accusative arguments. We argue that with ordinary ditransitive verbs, only the dative-accusative order is available by base-generation, the reverse order being derived via syntactic movement, as conceived by the movement hypothesis. We suggest that the dative position below an accusative argument does not reside in a θ-marking domain, and thus it can be filled only by idiomatic dative arguments that are interpreted without θ-role assignment. The data show that both base-generation and movement analyses are necessary for characterizing the word order variation of Japanese ditransitive verbs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]