Dativedirection

Dativedirection is a term used in linguistics to describe the role of arguments marked in the dative case or dative-like constructions that indicate the direction of transfer or benefit in an event. It focuses on how the recipient, beneficiary, or experiencer of an action is encoded and how this encoding interacts with the verb’s semantics and with other participants in the clause.

In many languages, the dative-marked indirect object signals the direction of transfer toward a participant. In ditransitive constructions, the direct object denotes what is transferred, while the recipient or beneficiary is expressed in the dative. Some languages have a clear dative case that syntactically marks these participants, whereas others use prepositional phrases or clitic pronouns with indirect-object semantics. The distinction between datives that mark recipient versus those marking benefaction or interest can influence word order, agreement, and determiner use.

Cross-linguistic patterns illustrate dativedirection in different ways. English typically uses a prepositional dative with to/for in verbs like give, as in I gave the book to the girl. German uses a true dative case for the indirect object: Ich gebe dem Mädchen das Buch. Russian employs the dative for the recipient in verbs of giving: Ya dal knigu devushke. Some languages rely on indirect-object pronouns or clitics to encode similar directional roles without a distinct dative case.

Dativedirection intersects with theories of case, ditransitive syntax, and sentence-level semantics, contributing to typological variation in how languages encode transfer and benefaction. See also dative case, indirect object, ditransitive constructions, and benefactive constructions.