Dative shift
Encyclopedia
Dative shifting is a grammatical process by which an oblique
argument of a verb
, usually one functioning as a recipient or a benefactive
(roles often expressed by datives
), is placed in the same grammatical role as a patient
, increasing the valency
of the verb and forming a clause with two objects. An example in English would be:
He gave a present to me versus He gave me a present, the latter being the dative-shifted version.
This is commonly done to emphasize the oblique, which would normally be of secondary importance.
Dative shifting is similar to the applicative
construction, though with two main differences: The oblique roles are generally restricted to recipient or beneficiary as opposed to the other forms of obliques that may appear in applicatives; there is also usually no marking on the verb, as opposed to applicatives which usually signal the construction through a morpheme
added to the verb.
Oblique case
An oblique case in linguistics is a noun case of synthetic languages that is used generally when a noun is the object of a verb or a preposition...
argument of a verb
Verb
A verb, from the Latin verbum meaning word, is a word that in syntax conveys an action , or a state of being . In the usual description of English, the basic form, with or without the particle to, is the infinitive...
, usually one functioning as a recipient or a benefactive
Benefactive case
The benefactive case is a grammatical case used where English would use "for", "for the benefit of", or "intended for", e.g...
(roles often expressed by datives
Dative case
The dative case is a grammatical case generally used to indicate the noun to whom something is given, as in "George gave Jamie a drink"....
), is placed in the same grammatical role as a patient
Patient (grammar)
In linguistics, a grammatical patient, also called the target or undergoer, is the participant of a situation upon whom an action is carried out. A patient as differentiated from a theme must undergo a change in state. A theme is denoted by a stative verb, where a patient is denoted by a dynamic...
, increasing the valency
Valency (linguistics)
In linguistics, verb valency or valence refers to the number of arguments controlled by a verbal predicate. It is related, though not identical, to verb transitivity, which counts only object arguments of the verbal predicate...
of the verb and forming a clause with two objects. An example in English would be:
He gave a present to me versus He gave me a present, the latter being the dative-shifted version.
This is commonly done to emphasize the oblique, which would normally be of secondary importance.
Dative shifting is similar to the applicative
Applicative voice
The applicative voice is a grammatical voice which promotes an oblique argument of a verb to the object argument, and indicates the oblique role within the meaning of the verb. When the applicative voice is applied to a verb, its valency may be increased by one...
construction, though with two main differences: The oblique roles are generally restricted to recipient or beneficiary as opposed to the other forms of obliques that may appear in applicatives; there is also usually no marking on the verb, as opposed to applicatives which usually signal the construction through a morpheme
Morpheme
In linguistics, a morpheme is the smallest semantically meaningful unit in a language. The field of study dedicated to morphemes is called morphology. A morpheme is not identical to a word, and the principal difference between the two is that a morpheme may or may not stand alone, whereas a word,...
added to the verb.