Historical changes in Basque dative alternations: Evidence for a P-based (neo)derivational analysis

Abstract

The properties and internal chronology of various dative changes in the history of the Lapurdian dialect of Basque are shown to be fully incompatible with the basic tenets of standard non-derivational approaches to dative alternations (both Phave and “Low Applicative projection” types), and support the presence of an underlying P in applicative constructions. A neo-derivational approach based on the incorporation of an adpositional head accounts naturally for important generalizations on the distribution of the changes and conforms to the properties of dative variation crosslinguistically.