Sentence datives and grammaticization of the dative possessive: evidence for Germanic

As a starting point, this paper takes what in Germanic linguistics has traditionally been dubbed the sentence (or sometimes personal) dative, and examines it in the light of certain syntactic features of early Dutch. Included here are a number of unusual medieval Dutch construction types which show exceptional uses of the dative. Far from being scribal errors, however, as has traditionally been thought, it is argue here that these constructions have much wider theoretical implications for the overall organization of Dutch grammar at this time. Of particular interest here is the fact that these expressions form the basis of a reanalysis whereby the dative emerges as the new case of possession, in some Germanic languages totally taking over the role of the original genitive. This illustrates quite a different grammaticalization path than has formerly been recognised for the dative. In sum, this paper has two specific purposes. Firstly, it seeks to show that the Dutch dative, indeed the Germanic dative generally, expresses in all its grammatical uses one basic value within the language system; namely, “indirect participation in an action or event”. Secondly, it seeks to explain how it is that in some constructions this meaning has given way to a primarily possessive sense