Definition:
The dative alternation is the systematic alternation between two syntactic patterns for ditransitive verbs in English: the double-object construction (“She gave him a book“) and the prepositional dative (“She gave a book to him“). The choice between them is influenced by information structure, pronominality, weight, and other discourse factors.
In-Depth Explanation
The dative alternation is one of the most studied phenomena in English syntax because it poses a core question: what determines the choice between two grammatically correct options that describe the same event?
| Factor | Favors DOC | Favors Prep. Dative |
|---|---|---|
| Recipient is pronoun | “Give him the book” ✓ | Less natural |
| Theme is pronoun | Less natural | “Give it to him” ✓ |
| Recipient is long/heavy NP | Less natural | “Give the book to the student who just arrived” ✓ |
| Focus on recipient | “I gave Mary the book” (Mary is focused) | — |
| Focus on theme | — | “I gave the ancient manuscript to her” |
| Verb type: transfer | “give, send, lend” — both patterns ✓ | Both ✓ |
| Verb type: Latinate | *”donate him a book” ✗ | “donate a book to him” ✓ |
Cross-linguistic comparison:
The dative alternation is largely specific to English and some Germanic languages. Most other languages use a single, fixed pattern:
- Japanese: Always uses particle-marking (に for recipient, を for theme). No alternation — the word order is flexible, but the particles are obligatory.
- Spanish: Uses “a” for recipients: “Le di un libro a María.” No DOC.
- Korean: Similar to Japanese — particles mark roles, no DOC alternation.
This means Japanese learners of English must learn to produce both patterns and develop intuitions about when each is natural — something that takes extensive input and exposure to naturally acquire.
Related Terms
See Also
Research
- Bresnan, J., Cueni, A., Nikitina, T., & Baayen, R. H. (2007). Predicting the dative alternation. In G. Bouma et al. (Eds.), Cognitive Foundations of Interpretation (pp. 69–94). Royal Netherlands Academy of Science. — Comprehensive corpus study of the factors governing the alternation.
- Rappaport Hovav, M., & Levin, B. (2008). The English dative alternation: The case for verb sensitivity. Journal of Linguistics, 44(1), 129–167. — Argues that verb semantics is the primary factor.