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A secundative language is a language in which the recipients of ditransitive verbs are treated like the patients of monotransitive verbs and the themes get distinct marking. This language type was called dechticaetiative in an article by Edward L. Blansitt, Jr.〔Blansitt 1984.〕 (from Greek ''dekhomai'' "take, receive" and an obscure second element, unlikely ''kaitoi'' "and indeed"), but that term did not catch on. They have also been called anti-ergative languages〔Comrie 1975, LaPolla 1992.〕 and primary object languages.〔Dryer 1986.〕 Secundative languages contrast with ''indirective languages'', where the recipient is treated in a special way. Ditransitive verbs have two arguments other than the subject: a theme that undergoes the action and a recipient that receives the theme (see thematic relation). In a secundative language, the recipient of a ditransitive verb is treated in the same way as the single object of a monotransitive verb, and this syntactic category is called primary object. The theme of a ditransitive verb is treated separately and called secondary object. For example in West Greenlandic, the direct object of a monotransitive verb appears in the absolutive case:〔Fortescue 1984:130, cited by Malchukov, et al. 2010.〕 : In a ditransitive sentence, the recipient is appears in absolutive case and the theme is marked with the instrumental case: : Similarly, in Lahu, both the patient of a monotransitive verb and the recipient of a ditransitive verb are marked with the postposition ''thàʔ'':〔Matisoff 1973:156, cited by Dryer 1986.〕 : : In secundative languages with passive constructions, passivation promotes the primary object to subject. For example, in Swahili:〔Vitale 1981:130, cited by Malchukov, et al. 2010.〕 : : the recipient ''Fatuma'' is promoted to subject and not the theme ''zawadi'' 'gift'. Many languages show mixed indirective/secondive behavior. English, which is primarily indirective, arguably contains secundative constructions, traditionally referred to as dative shift. For example, the passive of the sentence :John gave Mary the ball'. is :Mary was given the ball by John. in which the recipient rather than the theme is promoted to subject. This is complicated by the fact that some dialects of English may promote either the recipient (''Mary'') or the theme (''the ball'') argument to subject status, and for these dialects ' :The ball was given Mary by John. (meaning that the ball was given to Mary) is also well-formed. In addition, the argument structure of verbs like ''provide'' is essentially secundative: in :The project provides young people with work. the recipient argument is treated like a monotransitive direct object. == Notes == 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Secundative language」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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