Would you say you ‘...gave a stranger your phone number’ or does ‘...gave your phone number to a stranger’ sound better? In essence, this termpaper is trying to analyse this question. The grammatical phenomenon underlying which decribes those two constructions – the double object dative [a stranger] [your phone number] and the prepositional object dative [your phone number] [to a stranger] – is the so-called dative alternation. The term dative alternation has the ability to express the same event of giving with two specific structures, as shown above.
The following paper will focus on the approaches of Krifka and Rappaport Hovav and Levin. At first, a definition of dative alternation will be given. Important facts, examples and a list of verbs, which allow or do not allow dative alternation, will be provided to give an overview of the topic. This term paper will also respond to the differences between the dative alternation and the benefactive alternation and will afterwards compare the two approaches on dative alternation. The main ideas of Krifka's “Semantic and Pragmatic Conditions for the Dative Alternation” (2003) and Rappaport Hovav's and Levin's “The English dative alternation: The case for verb sensitivity” (2008) will be presented and compared. Last but not least, I am going to introduce brief thoughts of dative alternation in the German language and how it is connected to the English dative alternation.
Contents
1. Introduction
2. The English dative alternation
2.1. Distribution of Verbs
2.2. The main views on the dative alternation
2.2.1. The Monosemy View
2.2.2. The HAVE-GOAL approach
2.2.3. The Information Structure View
2.2.4. Animacy
2.2.5. The benefactive alternation
3. Comparison of Krifka´s HAVE-GOAL approach and the verb-sensitive approach by Rappaport Hovav and Levin
3.1. Krifka´s HAVE-GOAL approach
3.2. The verb-sensitive approach by Rappaport Hovav and Levin
3.3. Comparison of the two approaches
4. The dative in German
5. Conclusion
Bibliography
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the English dative alternation?
It describes the ability to express the same event of giving using two structures: the double object dative (e.g., "gave a stranger your number") and the prepositional object dative (e.g., "gave your number to a stranger").
What is the difference between dative and benefactive alternation?
While dative alternation usually involves "giving" to a recipient, benefactive alternation involves doing something "for" someone (e.g., "bought him a gift" vs. "bought a gift for him").
What is the "HAVE-GOAL" approach by Krifka?
Krifka's approach focuses on the semantic and pragmatic conditions that determine which dative construction is preferred based on ownership and movement concepts.
How does verb sensitivity affect dative alternation?
According to Rappaport Hovav and Levin, certain verbs inherently allow or disallow alternation based on their specific meaning and the way they describe the transfer of an object.
Does German have a similar dative alternation?
The paper explores connections between the English dative alternation and similar grammatical phenomena in the German language.
- Quote paper
- Susa Schnuck (Author), 2014, The English Dative Alternation, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/293719
