The Syntax and Semantics of Personal Datives in Appalachian English

Abstract

The personal dative (PD) construction in Appalachian English consists of a pronoun in the position normally occupied by the recipient/beneficiary of the Standard English double object construction that is obligatorily co-referent with the grammatical subject (i.e., – I ate some cake). The main claim of this paper is that the PD pronoun is introduced by a new type of low applicative head called ApplSAT for “satisfactive” applicative. It is argued that ApplSAT is unique in the typology of applicatives in that it combines the syntax of low applicatives with the semantics of high applicatives. It is demonstrated that by adopting this analysis an explanation emerges for a number of constraints on the PD constructions including (1)) the lack of –self morphology on the locally bound pronoun, (2)) the nature of the meaning contribution of the PD pronoun (assertive content versus conventional implicature), and (3)) the restrictions on the direct object in the PD construction.