Double Object Constructions Research Articles

The order of operations and A/Ā interactions

AbstractDouble object constructions provide an ideal context in which to investigate interactions between multiple instances of movement. With two internal arguments, we can construct scenarios where one A-moves and another Ā-moves, such as in the passive wh-question What was Sue given? Holmberg et al. (2019) observe that in many languages (e.g. Norwegian) that otherwise permit either object of a double object construction to A-move to subject position, a restriction emerges when the indirect object wh-moves: the indirect object must also A-move (e.g. Who was given a book?). One cannot pronounce an indirect object wh-question in a clause where the direct object A-moves instead (*Who was a book given?). In this paper, I observe that this restriction is only found in languages that otherwise permit the indirect object to A-move. In languages such as Greek, which have no indirect object passives, indirect objects can freely wh-move in a direct object passive, and thus do not exhibit the same restriction as in Norwegian. I propose that this restriction comes about in languages such as Norwegian but not Greek due to the timing of wh-movement relative to A-movement within vP. Indirect objects wh-move through the position that controls A-movement early, blocking a direct object from A-moving, so long as the indirect object can A-move itself. The analysis features a smuggling approach to passives of ditransitives (Collins 2005) and an economy condition like van Urk and Richards’ (2015) Multitasking, which jointly predict the order of operations that gives rise to the wh-movement restriction observed in Norwegian.

Comparison of Double Object Construction in Chinese and Japanese

Double-object construction is a common cross-linguistic phenomenon, and there exists a special double-object construction which differs from the normal one both syntactically and semantically. This article aims to explore the syntactic and semantic similarities and discrepancies of two types of construction in Chinese and Japanese. Specifically, this article first generalizes the similar and divergent syntactic and semantic features of the two patterns in Chinese and Japanese (also involving other languages, such as Korean). Further, based on the comparison, this article reveals that the formation of the special construction depends on whether its possessor can receive appropriate case.

Anaphora and Depictives Do Not Rule Out Small Clause Approaches to Argument Structure: A Reply to Bruening 2018

Abstract Bruening (2018) uses the facts of anaphora and depictive modification to justify non-small-clause analyses of resultative constructions, caused-motion constructions, verb-particle constructions, and double object constructions: these constructions behave differently from canonical small clause constructions in terms of anaphora and depictive modification. In this reply, we argue against treating these tests as reliable diagnostics of small clauses. For one thing, we show that small clauses may have two different kinds of interpretations: they can be either semantically complete or incomplete. For another, Bruening’s (2018) arguments rely on some particular assumptions about anaphora and depictive modification which, we argue, are not without problems. If we adopt another set of reasonable assumptions, those facts of anaphora and depictive modification can be accounted for via the two kinds of interpretations for small clauses and thus do not argue in favor of non-small-clause analyses of the relevant constructions.

In the Beginning Was a to-Phrase

Abstract In this paper we reply to the objections raised against a connection between Double Object Constructions (DOC) and to-constructions and present new arguments showing the empirical and theoretical advantages of derivational analyses over non-derivational ones. We argue that to-constructions and DOCs share a common substructure—where the theme is higher than the goal—that construction-based analyses fail to capture, both crosslinguistically and English-internally. We also argue that variation on the lexical properties of verbs and adpositions is the right tool to account for the alternation.

Argument structure hierarchies and alternations in causative and double object constructions

Many varieties of Arabic display a causative construction that adds a causer to the argument structure of the underlying verb. When this verb is transitive, the causative derivative is ditransitive. In the Arabic varieties, these ditransitive causative verbs display a double object alternation fully parallel to the alternation that change of possession verbs like give display. I claim that two current analyses of the double object alternation do not extend naturally to Arabic causative constructions. Rather, the parallels between causative and change of possession ditransitives in Arabic implicate an analysis of change of possession verbs in which the recipient argument (parallel to the external argument of the underlying verb in causative ditransitives) is base generated syntactically superordinate to the theme (parallel to the internal argument of the underlying verb in causative ditransitives). The unifying analysis I propose draws on certain elements of the ‘VP-shell’ analysis of Larson (1988) as well as the ‘neo-constructionist’ approach of Ramchand (2008; 2018) regarding the syntactic instantiation of argument structure. The Arabic variety I take as an exemplar of the Arabic causative construction is Syrian.

Processability Analysis of the Acquisition of English L2 Syntax by Japanese and Chinese Speakers

Processability Theory (PT; Pienemann, 1998) argues that there is a universal hierarchy in the acquisition of second language (L2) grammar. As for L2 syntax, PT proposes the Lexical Mapping Hypothesis (LMH; Pienemann, et al. 2005) in which learners are predicted to progress from ‘default mapping’, where the argument hierarchy maps onto the grammatical function hierarchy in a default way, to ‘non-default mapping’, where the strictly hierarchical mapping is disrupted under semantic and/or pragmatic pressure (Pienemann, et al., 2015). More recently, an additional intermediate stage between default and non-default mapping stages has been proposed by Bettoni and Di Biase (2015) accounting for locative, ditransitive, and other constructions containing ‘default mapping plus additional argument.’ Although this intermediate stage has been tested to some extent (e.g., Di Biase, et al., 2015; Kawaguchi, 2015; Liu, et al., 2023; Yamaguchi & Kawaguchi, 2022), more detailed analyses of how L2 learners proceed from the default mapping stage to the non-default mapping stage are needed. The participants in the present study are 139 English L2 learners, that is 88 learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) in Japan and 21 Japanese and 30 Chinese speakers in English as a second language (ESL) environments in Australia. Their speech production in English is examined based on the updated LMH (Bettoni & Di Biase, 2015). Results show that, in terms of additional arguments in the intermediate stage, the oblique (OBL) construction emerges before the double object (OBJ) construction. This finding contributes to the further development of PT hypotheses for L2 syntactic development.

Double pronominalization and clitic doubling in Dialectal Brazilian Portuguese and Colloquial Standard Brazilian Portuguese

In this study, we propose a comparative analysis of the ditransitive constructions in Dialectal Brazilian Portuguese (DBP) and Colloquial Standard Brazilian Portuguese (BP), taking into consideration the phenomenon named Double Pronominalization, in which both the theme and the goal arguments are realized as clitics or full pronouns, with consequences for the occurrence of a type of Person Case Constraint as well as a specific case of clitic doubling. In the comparative scenario, we show that the DBP instantiates a particular type of Double Object Construction (DOC), in which the grammatical licensing of the goal argument has similarities with the English DOC. Further we consider that both the dialectal and the standard varieties display the prepositional ditransitive construction (PDC), in which the goal argument is introduced by the preposition para (‘to’). In this paper we propose that these innovative properties can be accounted for if we consider the theory of low and high applicative, as expressed in Pylkännen’s (2008) typology. Following Pancheva & Zubizarreta (2018), we also assume that the applicative head bears an interpretable person feature entering an agreement relation with the argument introduced in the specifier position of the applicative domain (cf. also Torres Morais & Salles 2010, 2016, 2019). Finally, we claim that the loss of third person dative clitics in BP undermine the feature make-up of the low applicative head, excluding clitic cluster and clitic doubling formation (of the EP type). Consequently, two strategies arise in the licensing of the goal argument in ditransitive structures: (i) under structural Case, in a low applicative head, as found in DBP; (ii) as an oblique phrase, introduced by the preposition para (‘to’). However, first and second clitics me and te remain, implying that the BP pronominal system expresses a monovalent value for the feature [participant]. We propose that they are licensed in a high applicative structure bearing an interpretable person feature, under an agreement relation with the inherent interpretable person feature, which corresponds to first (speaker) and second person (addressee) (cf. Torres Morais & Salles, 2022).

Scope Freezing Restricts Binding in Italian Right Dislocation

Abstract Binding into right-dislocated categories is generally possible in Italian but fails when the binder is a direct object and the right-dislocated constituent an indirect object or a PP doubled by ci, even though direct objects binding into indirect objects or PPs is otherwise acceptable. These data fall into place once it is recognized that cliticization of an indirect object or a PP gives rise to a scope-freezing effect (on a par with English double-object constructions). We develop our account using a biclausal analysis of right dislocation but explore to which extent monoclausal analyses can capture the data as well.

“GIVING SOMEONE FREEDOM” IN OLD ICELANDIC IN MINIMALIST SYNTACTIC TERMS

The present paper discusses the word order alternatives attested with OIce double object constructions of the type gefa einhverjum frelsi ‘give someone freedom’ found in the ONP (https://onp.ku.dk/onp/onp.php) within a largely Minimalist syntactic framework (Chomsky (1995) and beyond). Specifically, this study draws on theoretical assumptions borrowed from sources in the area of the movement approach to modified word order types in the early Germanic languages (e.g. Eythórsson (1995); Haugan (2001)). The paper starts off with an analysis of base-generated post-VP indirect object (Dat) – frelsi (Acc) order and proceeds to an account of modified orders derived by VP-internal Scrambling, short-distance Scrambling, and Topicalization, wherein the direct object frelsi is claimed to have moved leftwards from its base position. The author of the paper argues that leftward dislocation takes frelsi to various target positions, i.e. an adjunction position in the left periphery of VP (resulting from VP-internal Scrambling), an adjunction position in the left periphery of vP (as a result of shortdistance Scrambling), the specifier position of CP (consequent upon Topicalization). The objective of the paper is to analyze the conditions, under which the above displacement operations apply, the structural configurations, derived by leftward movement and the properties of the ex-situ positions, targeted by frelsi.

PENONJOLAN PERAN SEMANTIS DAN KONSTRUKSI GRAMATIKAL PASANGAN VERBA -I DAN -KAN: KAJIAN GRAMATIKA KONSTRUKSIONAL BERBASIS KORPUS ATAS MENAWARI/MENAWARKAN

This paper presents quantitative corpus analyses of the profiled participant/semantic roles and the preferred grammatical constructions of semantically similar Indonesian verb-pair suffixed with -i and -kan. Menawari/menawarkan ‘to offer’ pair is chosen as a case study. Couched within the Construction Grammar and Frame Semantics theories, the analyses revealed that each verb differs regarding the profiled semantic roles within the preferred grammatical constructions the verb occurs in. Menawari strongly profiles Offerer, Potential_recipient and Theme in Double-Object Construction, while menawarkan only profiles Offerer and Theme in Monotransitive Construction. Although the quantitative findings confirm the theoretical hypothesis of the constructional behaviours for menawari/menawarkan, the study also discovers previously unpredicted constructional variation for menawari. Such variation (i) has a typological implication concerning the grammatical alignments of trivalent verbs and (ii) raises an intriguing question regarding constructional contamination by the constructional profile of the more frequent form (i.e., menawarkan) that is paradigmatically related to menawari.

The use of ditransitive constructions among L1 Lugbarati speakers of English in Uganda: A preliminary study

One of the important features of structural nativization of L2 varieties of English is how their grammar converges with and/or diverges from their parent variety, usually, British English. Building on Isingoma (2016, 2021a), this study is set out to augment discourse on verb complementational profile in Ugandan English, focusing on ditransitive constructions. Using naturalistic data from semi-structured interviews involving 50 participants from L1 Lugbarati (a Central Sudanic language) speakers of English, the study shows that the Prepositional Phrase Construction (PPC) involving goal verbs is preferred over the Double Object Construction (DOC) configuration. Moreover, our data did not have a single incidence of benefactive DOCs. Substrate influence from Lugbarati, among others, appears to be a contributing factor, given that DOCs are rare in this language, as they are constrained by the semantic criterion of ‘prior possession’ of the theme/patient by the recipient/beneficiary referent. The findings thus show that Isingoma’s (2016) monolithic generalizations about this phenomenon are debatable, as he indicates that the DOC is overwhelmingly acceptable with goal verbs in Ugandan English and that the particularities observed in ditransitive constructions in the variety are influenced by Bantu languages (where the DOC is the norm). Likewise, the assertion that Ugandans ubiquitously use the non-canonical PPC configuration for benefactive verbs (Isingoma, 2016) does not hold for L1 Lugbarati speakers of English, as the configuration was manifestly sporadic in our data, as opposed to the canonical PPC. The current study thus underscores the fact that there is substantial interspeaker variability in Ugandan English along ethnolinguistic lines (cf. Isingoma & Meierkord, 2022).

Dative alternation in Chinese

Abstract This study investigates the factors significantly constraining dative alternation in Chinese by adopting mixed-effects logistic regression modelling. The analysis showed that such factors significantly affected the choice of dative variants in Chinese, including the animacy, pronominality, and definiteness of the recipient, the accessibility and concreteness of the theme, and the length difference between the theme and the recipient. Findings were compared with those for the English dative alternation discussed in the literature. When the theme was recoverable from context or shorter than the recipient, the prepositional dative construction was preferred in both English and Chinese. This can be explained by the principles of end-focus and end-weight. However, when the recipient was animate or definite, the double object construction was preferred in English, while the prepositional dative construction was more likely to be used in Chinese. This divergence is due to the different syntactic and semantic features of their recipient markers.

Double Object Constructions in Afro-Brazilian Portuguese

During the colonial period (16th - 19th centuries), Brazil was a multilingual country, home to Portuguese, Indigenous peoples, and Africans. Portuguese was learned as a second language by the Africans brought to Brazil by the slave trade, mainly under the influence of the Bantu languages the slaves spoke. From this language contact, an Afro-Brazilian Portuguese variety has emerged (ABP) which displays a ditransitive construction with an unmarked Goal dative, and V-Goal-Theme order, similar to Double Object Constructions (DOC) in English. We propose that the so-called DOC in ABP can be understood in terms of the Maximizing Minimal Means model (Biberauer 2018, 2019). In this model, Feature Economy and Feature/Input Generalization (Biberauer & Roberts 2017) constitute a major factor in L2 learning in contact scenarios. For the innovative ABP structure, the [+animate] and low applicative features of the Bantu substrate grammars are shown to have been key in the first generation’s L2 acquisition of a marked Classical Portuguese V-Goal-Theme structure. The structure becomes established in subsequent L1 acquisition of ABP, with expansion beyond the original core structures.

Are there biological gender differences at the early stages of first language acquisition when producing double object constructions and to/for-datives?

This study examines whether biological gender differences appear in the early stages of acquisition in the case of English dative alternation (DA) structures (double object constructions (DOCs) and to/for-datives). Girls have been found to show faster syntactic development when compared to boys (Lovas, 2011). In the case of the acquisition of DA, an order in the emergence and in the incidence of English DA would entail a syntactic derivational status between DOCs and to/for-datives with one being the original structure and the other the derived one (Gu, 2010). However, analogous ages of onset and fairly similar frequency rates in the production could suggest the construction of two underived structures. We investigate whether biological gender differences appear in the case of DOCs and to/for-datives. We also investigate whether the exposure to English DA (adult input) results in differences between the girls’ output and the boys’ output. We analyze data from seven monolingual English girls and six monolingual English boys, and the adults that interact with them, as available in CHILDES. Our findings reveal that monolingual girls and monolingual boys pattern closely in the acquisition of the syntactic non-derivational relationship between DOCs and to/for-datives, as seen in their similar emergence. Biological gender differences are not seen either in the acquisition of the additional properties of to/for-datives given their later onset and their lower incidence when compared to DOCs. These production patterns also correlate with the frequency with which these structures are heard in the adult input.

DALL·E 2 fails to reliably capture common syntactic processes

Machine intelligence is increasingly being linked to claims about sentience, language processing, and an ability to comprehend and transform natural language into a range of stimuli. We analyze the ability of DALL·E 2 to translate natural language prompts into images, since it remains unclear whether it possesses the facility for accurately representing grammatical strategies. We target the performance of DALL·E 2 across 10 phenomena that are pervasive in human language: binding principles and coreference, passives, structural ambiguity, negation, compositionality and word order, quantification, double object constructions, sentence coordination, ellipsis, and comparatives. In contrast to young infants, who master these tasks, DALL·E 2 fails to accurately represent inferred meanings, performing at or near chance. While programs can be trained to recognize vast numbers of words and calculate probabilities of word sequences, these results challenge recent claims concerning artificial understanding of human language. The full set of tested materials and the outputs are made available as a benchmark for future testing.

Grammatical encoding of double-object alternations in Zhuang: Evidence for the one-stage model.

Production research has yielded mixed findings regarding whether grammatical encoding specifies grammatical functions and linear word order simultaneously or separately, supporting either one-stage or two-stage models. Here, we focused on the double object (DO) and shifted double object (SDO) constructions in Zhuang, an ethnic minority language in China because they differ only in linear ordering of the two nouns whose grammatical functions are direct object and indirect object, assuming the roles of Theme and Recipient, respectively. Using two structural priming experiments, we found that both DO and SDO constructions induced within-structure priming effects, but they did not prime each other. Such structural priming effects persisted, regardless of whether semantic features (i.e., animacy of the Theme) were repeated across primes and targets. Taken together, these priming patterns support the one-stage model of grammatical encoding, where a conceptual representation is converted into a structure specifying both grammatical functions and linear word order.

Asymmetries in Double Object Constructions and Labeling

Asymmetries in Double Object Constructions and Labeling

The development of and factors influencing double object construction preference of the ditransitive verbs envy and forgive

The development of and factors influencing double object construction preference of the ditransitive verbs envy and forgive

Pronominalization and clitic doubling in Syrian and Omani Arabic

AbstractThis article treats cliticization of a pronoun to a syntactic host and doubling of the clitic pronoun with a non-pronominal counterpart in Syrian and Omani Arabic. Although the two varieties are closely related and the morphological paradigms they display are very similar, the pronominalization and clitic pronoun doubling patterns they display are quite different. We trace this difference to a basic difference in whether the relevant syntactic processes are sensitive to intervention effects in the two dialects, with the result being that the restrictiveness of pronominalization and clitic pronoun doubling patterns parallel the restrictiveness of basic word order patterns – whether double-object constructions are ‘symmetric’ or ‘asymmetric’ – with Syrian being the more restrictive of the two varieties.

Revisiting constraints on postverbal argument coding and linearization in English goal ditransitive constructions

The current study seeks to revisit the analysis that attributes the infelicity, in all varieties of English, of strings like (1) ‘*He gave the man it’ and (2) ‘*He gave to him it’ to “the clash between the topical character of the pronoun ‘it’ and the focality associated with end position in English”, in addition to the “breach of the short-before-long principle” (Siewierska & Hollmann, 2007: 86f.) The string in (1) is a double object construction (DOC), while that in (2) is a prepositional construction (PPC). In contradistinction to the above constraints, the present study shows that the pronoun ‘it’ can felicitously appear in the end position in DOCs, as in e.g. “He gave him it” (cf. Huddlestone, 2002: 248), besides the fact that the so-called ‘short-before-long principle’ is clearly violated in that sentence without rendering it ungrammatical. Hence, end position and the “breach of the short-before-long principle” are not tenable constraints. Thus, the current study maintains that for a DOC to accommodate a personal pronoun theme, its goal argument must be realized as a lexically unstressed constituent (cf. Antilla, 2008), specifically as a pronoun (e.g. He gave him it). On the other hand, postponing a personal pronoun theme in the PPC is not possible (e.g. *He gave to him it) because a postponed theme involving non-heavy NP shift is only possible if it is a nominal constituent, since nominal constituents are both contrastively and lexically stressable (cf. Antilla et al., 2010), as in e.g. He gave to him the book – a construction that has been reported to occur in the northern dialect of British English (cf. Siewierska & Hollmann, 2007). Any attempt to postpone a personal pronoun theme will render the sentence ungrammatical (e.g. *He gave to him it), even where there is an unequivocally contrastively stressable pronoun like ‘them’ (e.g.*He gave to him them), since, while ‘them’ is no doubt contrastively stressable, it is not lexically stressable. Both lexical stressability and contrastive stressability are a requirement for this kind of postponement.