Ditransitive alignment splits and inverse alignment

Abstract

This paper argues that language-particular restrictions on ditransitive constructions are best understood as instantiations of easily falsifiable implicational universals that can be explained functionally, rather than as falling out from a restrictive formal metalanguage. Well-known restrictions on ditransitives in English (*She gave Kim it) and French (*Elle donna Kim le livre) are shown to be instantiations of inverse patterns that are completely parallel to inverse patterns in monotransitive constructions. Moreover, ditransitive constructions are parallel to monotransitives in that they exhibit differential recipient marking and differential theme marking, analogous to differential object and subject marking.