First objects and datives: Two of a kind?

Beth Levin, Stanford University

I reevaluate the notion of "first object" in the English double object construction and argue that despite the label "object," the first object is comparable to the dative NP found with ditransitive verbs in languages with a dative case. I support this claim by adducing parallels between first objects and dative NPs. Among them, I show that Rappaport Hovav & Levin's (2005) proposal that verbs of giving have only a causation of possession event schema, while verbs of throwing and verbs of sending have both caused motion and causation of possession event schemas holds not only of English, but also of languages with dative case, such as Hebrew and French. Abstracting away from the data, I suggest the parallels between the two language types have two sources: some reflect the single semantic role expressed by first objects and dative NPs, while others arise from information structure considerations, as they play out in the two language types.