Dative possessor in ditransitive Spanish predication, in diachronic perspective

Abstract

This paper analyses the diachronic behavior (12th to 20th centuries) of the ditransitive predications, with Direct Object (DO) and Indirect Object (IO), coded by Noun Phrases in Spanish. The analysis accounts for the properties of those participants, possessor and possessed respectively, and the verbs in the constructions. The analytic approach assumes that transitivity is a scalar phenomenon, without distinction between actantial and non-actantial dative. The possessive dative is an IO that refers to the possessor of the DO, while the ditransitive construction is an extension of the prototypical ditransitive. Our claim is that the construction i) gives relevance to the possessor over the possessed, and ii) shows that diachronically the DO has lexically diversified from concrete to non-concrete and animate entities, especially from the 16th century onwards.