Minimalist approach to symmetric and asymmetric double object constructions: Across-linguistic analysis

Abstract

Double object construction (DOC) seems to be attested across languages and thus has received much attention among linguists since eighties. It has been attested in literature that passivization patterns in double object/applicative constructions are of different types (i.e., symmetric and asymmetric). Different syntactic accounts have been proposed to account for such symmetric and asymmetric typology. In this paper, I propose an analysis that accounts for passivization of DOC in Modern Standard Arabic (MSA). The analysis is based on the recent minimalist framework of which assumes an Agree relation to be established at distance. In addition, the paper argues that the proposed account can be generalized to accommodate the cross-linguistic passivization patterns. The paper also proposes an alternative analysis that can capture the cross-linguistic symmetric vs. asymmetric distinction.

Keywords

• double object construction
• minimalism
• applicative construction
• passivization