datiivilaadne

Datiivilaadne is a term used in linguistic and grammatical descriptions, particularly in Estonian-language sources, to denote forms or constructions that functionally resemble the dative case. The word is formed from datiiv (dative) and the suffix -laadne, meaning “like” or “resembling,” so the label signals resemblance to a dative usage rather than an exact, morphologically defined dative category in the language being described.

In practice, datiivilaadne describes constructions that convey recipient, beneficiary, or indirect-object-like semantics in a way that parallels how the dative is used in other languages. The concept is primarily descriptive and typological: it highlights how a language or a given analysis marks or encodes the participant who benefits from or receives the action, without asserting that the language has a formal dative case of the same status as classic dative systems.

The term is used to compare how different languages encode similar roles. In some languages with a productive dative case, a datiivilaadne description might refer to actual dative endings. In others, where recipient or beneficiary is expressed by postpositional phrases, prepositions, or other case-like markers, the label helps linguists discuss parallel functions, even if the surface forms differ. Datiivilaadne is thus a useful analytic category in cross-linguistic studies of indirect objects, beneficiaries, and recipient-focused arguments.

Overall, datiivilaadne serves as a flexible, descriptive label for dative-like recipient/beneficiary phenomena, rather than a fixed morphosyntactic category universal to all languages.