1. How do ditransitives change?
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Chiara Fedriani
Abstract
This chapter offers a descriptive and theoretical account of ditransitives and reassesses the contribution of diachronic research to their analysis and understanding. It opens with some introductory remarks about the syntactic and semantic status of ditransitives from a functional-typological perspective. Then, it provides an updated state of the art on the relevant literature on the topic, showing that scholarship has thus far predominantly dealt with ditransitives from a synchronic viewpoint. However, given that one of the characteristic traits of ditransitive verbs and constructions is precisely their high degree of synchronic variation in terms of structural alternation and alignment split, the diachronic approach can shed light on distinct routes of evolution followed by these verbs across languages. The present chapter focuses on the main developmental pathways along which ditransitives change; it examines which factors play a role in determining the emergence or decay of competing ditransitive constructions, as well as the rise of new meanings and functions; finally, it discusses the general principles that seem to be involved in the functional reorganization of coexisting ditransitive constructions.
Abstract
This chapter offers a descriptive and theoretical account of ditransitives and reassesses the contribution of diachronic research to their analysis and understanding. It opens with some introductory remarks about the syntactic and semantic status of ditransitives from a functional-typological perspective. Then, it provides an updated state of the art on the relevant literature on the topic, showing that scholarship has thus far predominantly dealt with ditransitives from a synchronic viewpoint. However, given that one of the characteristic traits of ditransitive verbs and constructions is precisely their high degree of synchronic variation in terms of structural alternation and alignment split, the diachronic approach can shed light on distinct routes of evolution followed by these verbs across languages. The present chapter focuses on the main developmental pathways along which ditransitives change; it examines which factors play a role in determining the emergence or decay of competing ditransitive constructions, as well as the rise of new meanings and functions; finally, it discusses the general principles that seem to be involved in the functional reorganization of coexisting ditransitive constructions.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Frontmatter I
- Preface V
- Contents VII
- List of abbreviations IX
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Part 1: The nature of ditransitive arguments: the contribution of diachrony
- 1. How do ditransitives change? 1
- 2. Roles and grammatical relations in synchrony and diachrony: the case of the indirect object 19
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Part 2: Ditransitive verbs and construction alternation
- 3. The spread of the ad construction in Merovingian Latin: identifying semantic paths in the domain of ditransitives 61
- 4. Old Italian ditransitive constructions: between alternation and change 97
- 5. The emergence of the dative alternation in Dutch: towards the establishment of a horizontal link 137
- 6. Attraction and differentiation in the history of the English dative and benefactive alternations 169
- 7. The ditransitive alternation in the history of German: the case of verkaufen (‘sell’) 197
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Part 3: Ditransitives between stability and further developments
- 8. The diachrony of ditransitives in Vedic Sanskrit 231
- 9. Passives of ditransitives: the gradual rise of a Recipient passive in Italian 259
- 10. ‘Hit’ semantics and physical sensations: on the development of spontaneous event constructions with Spanish dar ‘give’ 285
- Subject Index 313
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Frontmatter I
- Preface V
- Contents VII
- List of abbreviations IX
-
Part 1: The nature of ditransitive arguments: the contribution of diachrony
- 1. How do ditransitives change? 1
- 2. Roles and grammatical relations in synchrony and diachrony: the case of the indirect object 19
-
Part 2: Ditransitive verbs and construction alternation
- 3. The spread of the ad construction in Merovingian Latin: identifying semantic paths in the domain of ditransitives 61
- 4. Old Italian ditransitive constructions: between alternation and change 97
- 5. The emergence of the dative alternation in Dutch: towards the establishment of a horizontal link 137
- 6. Attraction and differentiation in the history of the English dative and benefactive alternations 169
- 7. The ditransitive alternation in the history of German: the case of verkaufen (‘sell’) 197
-
Part 3: Ditransitives between stability and further developments
- 8. The diachrony of ditransitives in Vedic Sanskrit 231
- 9. Passives of ditransitives: the gradual rise of a Recipient passive in Italian 259
- 10. ‘Hit’ semantics and physical sensations: on the development of spontaneous event constructions with Spanish dar ‘give’ 285
- Subject Index 313
