dativeinto

Dativeinto is a term used in linguistic typology to describe a hypothetical construction that combines a dative marking of a recipient with a directional into marker. In this approach, the recipient of a ditransitive verb is encoded with a dative case that can also carry a directional sense of movement into the recipient’s location or possession, typically realized with a preposition or postpositional clitic labeled into. The term is mostly theoretical and not widely attested in natural languages as a unified morphosyntactic category; it appears mainly in constructed-language grammars and theoretical discussions about directional case and recipient marking.

Morphology and syntax: Dativeinto can be realized as suffixes, clitics, or separate prepositional phrases attached to the recipient noun phrase. In a sentence with a ditransitive verb, the recipient is marked with the dativeinto feature, while the direct object may bear standard case marking depending on the language. The into element signals goal-directed movement toward the recipient, and may interact with the verb’s valency, word order, and alignment.

Usage and typology: If present, dativeinto interacts with other directional and case systems, such as allatives or languages with overt dative marking. It is often discussed as a cross-linguistic possibility or as a grammaticalization pathway from a simple ditransitive construction with a recipient PP into a more integrated recipient marking scheme.

See also: dative case, allative, ditransitive constructions, directional marking, prepositional phrases.