Linguistic typology |
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Morphological |
Morphosyntactic |
Word order |
Lexicon |
A secundative language is a language in which the recipients of ditransitive verbs (which takes a subject and two objects: a theme and a recipient) are treated like the patients (targets) of monotransitive verbs, and the themes get distinct marking. Secundative languages contrast with indirective languages , where the recipient is treated in a special way.
While English is mostly not a secundative language, there are some examples. The sentence John gave Mary the ball uses this construction, where the ball is the theme and Mary is the recipient.
The alternative wording John presented Mary with the ball is essentially analogous to the structure found in secundative languages; the ball is not the direct object here, but basically a secondary object marked by the preposition with. In German, the prefix be- (which is sometimes likened to an applicative voice) can be used to change the valency of verbs in a similar way: In John schenkte Mary den Ball, the theme Ball is the direct object and the recipient Mary the indirect object (in the dative case); in John beschenkte Mary mit dem Ball, the recipient Mary is now the direct object and the theme Ball is now an oblique argument (an oblique dative) marked by the preposition mit.
This language type was called dechticaetiative in an article by Edward L. Blansitt, Jr. [1] (from Greek dekhomai 'take, receive' and an obscure second element, unlikely kaitoi 'and indeed'), but that term did not catch on. They have also been called anti-ergative languages [2] and primary object languages. [3]
Ditransitive verbs have two arguments other than the subject: a theme that undergoes the action and a recipient that receives the theme (see thematic relation). In a secundative language, the primary object which is the recipient of a ditransitive verb, equivalent to the indirect object, is treated in the same way as the single object of a monotransitive verb. The secondary object which is the theme of a ditransitive verb, is treated separately.
Secundative constructions are found in West Greenlandic, where the direct object of a monotransitive verb appears in the absolutive case: [4]
Piita-p
Peter-ERG.SG
takornartaq
stranger.ABS.SG
toqup-paa
kill-INT.3S/3S
'Did Peter kill the stranger?'
In a ditransitive sentence, the recipient appears in absolutive case and the theme is marked with the instrumental case:
(Uuma)
(that.ERG)
Niisi
Nisi
aningaasa-nik
money-INSTR.PL
tuni-vaa.
give-IND.3S/3S
'He gave Nisi money.'
Similarly, in Lahu, both the patient of a monotransitive verb and the recipient of a ditransitive verb are marked with the postposition thàʔ: [5]
ŋà
1SG
thàʔ
OBJ
tâ
NEG.IMP
dɔ̂ʔ
hit
'Don't hit me.'
lìʔ
book
chi
that
ŋà
1SG
thàʔ
OBJ
pîʔ
give
'Give me that book.'
In secundative languages with passive constructions, passivation promotes the primary object to subject. For example, in Swahili: [6]
Halima
Halima
a-li-m-pa
she-PAST-her-give
zawadi
gift
Fatuma.
Fatuma
'Halima gave a gift to Fatuma.'
Fatuma
Fatuma
a-li-p-ew-a
she-PAST-give-PASS
zawadi
gift
na
by
Halima.
Halima
'Fatuma was given a gift by Halima.'
the recipient Fatuma is promoted to subject and not the theme zawadi 'gift'.
Many languages show mixed indirective/secundative behavior. English, which is primarily indirective, arguably contains secundative constructions, traditionally referred to as dative shift, however English is not a true secundative language, as neither the theme nor recipient is primary, or either can be primary depending on context. For example, the passive of the sentence
is
in which the recipient rather than the theme is promoted to subject. This is complicated by the fact that some dialects of English may promote either the recipient (Mary) or the theme (the ball) argument to subject status, and for these dialects '
(meaning that the ball was given to Mary) is also well-formed.[ citation needed ] In addition, the argument structure of verbs like provide is essentially secundative: in
the recipient argument is treated like a monotransitive direct object.
In grammar, a ditransitiveverb is a transitive verb whose contextual use corresponds to a subject and two objects which refer to a theme and a recipient. According to certain linguistics considerations, these objects may be called direct and indirect, or primary and secondary. This is in contrast to monotransitive verbs, whose contextual use corresponds to only one object.
In linguistics, an object is any of several types of arguments. In subject-prominent, nominative-accusative languages such as English, a transitive verb typically distinguishes between its subject and any of its objects, which can include but are not limited to direct objects, indirect objects, and arguments of adpositions ; the latter are more accurately termed oblique arguments, thus including other arguments not covered by core grammatical roles, such as those governed by case morphology or relational nouns . In ergative-absolutive languages, for example most Australian Aboriginal languages, the term "subject" is ambiguous, and thus the term "agent" is often used instead to contrast with "object", such that basic word order is often spoken of in terms such as Agent-Object-Verb (AOV) instead of Subject-Object-Verb (SOV). Topic-prominent languages, such as Mandarin, focus their grammars less on the subject-object or agent-object dichotomies but rather on the pragmatic dichotomy of topic and comment.
In grammar, an oblique or objective case is a nominal case other than the nominative case and, sometimes, the vocative.
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