Ditransitive Verb - Ditransitive/monotransitive Alignment

Ditransitive/monotransitive Alignment

Just as the way the arguments of intransitive and transitive verbs are aligned in a given language allows one sort of typological classification, the morphosyntactic alignment between arguments of monotransitive and ditransitive verbs allows another kind of classification. If the three arguments of a typical ditransitive verb are labeled D (for Donor; the subject of a verb like "to give" in English), T (for Theme; normally the direct object of ditransitive verb in English) and R (for Recipient, normally the indirect object in English), these can be aligned with the Agent and Patient of monotransitive verbs and the Subject of intransitive verbs in several ways, which are not predicted by whether the language is accusative, ergative, or active. Donor is always or nearly always in the same case as Agent, but different languages equate the other arguments in different ways:

• Indirective languages: D = A, T = P, with a third case for R
• Secundative or dechticaetiative languages: D = A, R = P, with a third case for T
• Split-P languages: D = A, some monotransitive clauses have P = T, others have P = R