Asecundative language is a language in which the recipients ofditransitive verbs (which takes a subject and two objects: atheme and arecipient) are treated like thepatients (targets) ofmonotransitive verbs, and the themes get distinct marking. Secundative languages contrast withindirective languages, where the recipient is treated in a special way.

While English is mostly not a secundative language, there are some examples. The sentenceJohn gave Mary the ball uses this construction, wherethe ball is the theme andMary is the recipient.

The alternative wordingJohn presented Mary with the ball is essentially analogous to the structure found in secundative languages;the ball is not the direct object here, but basically a secondary object marked by the prepositionwith. In German, the prefixbe- (which is sometimes likened to anapplicative voice) can be used to change thevalency of verbs in a similar way: InJohn schenkte Mary den Ball, the themeBall is the direct object and the recipientMary the indirect object (in the dative case); inJohn beschenkte Mary mit dem Ball, the recipientMary is now the direct object and the themeBall is now anoblique argument (anoblique dative) marked by the prepositionmit.

This language type was calleddechticaetiative in an article by Edward L. Blansitt, Jr. (from Greekdekh- 'take, receive' andaitiatikḗ 'accusative', intended to suggest "recipient-as-accusative"),^[1] but that term did not catch on. They have also been calledanti-ergative languages^[2] andprimary object languages.^[3]

Ditransitive verbs have two arguments other than the subject: atheme that undergoes the action and arecipient that receives the theme (seethematic relation). In a secundative language, theprimary object which is the recipient of a ditransitive verb, equivalent to theindirect object, is treated in the same way as the single object of a monotransitive verb. Thesecondary object which is the theme of a ditransitive verb, is treated separately.

Secundative constructions are found inWest Greenlandic, where the direct object of a monotransitive verb appears in theabsolutive case:^[4]

In a ditransitive sentence, the recipient appears in absolutive case and the theme is marked with theinstrumental case:

Similarly, inLahu, both the patient of a monotransitive verb and the recipient of a ditransitive verb are marked with the postpositionthàʔ:^[5]

In secundative languages withpassive constructions, passivation promotes the primary object to subject. For example, inSwahili:^[6]

the recipientFatuma is promoted to subject and not the themezawadi 'gift'.

Many languages show mixed indirective/secundative behavior.English, which is primarily indirective, arguably contains secundative constructions, traditionally referred to asdative shift, however English is not a true secundative language, as neither the theme nor recipient is primary, or either can be primary depending on context. 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.^{[citation needed]} In addition, the argument structure of verbs likeprovide is essentially secundative: in

The project provides young people with work.

the recipient argument is treated like a monotransitive direct object.

• Object (grammar)
• Dative case
• Ditransitive verb
• Ergative–absolutive alignment
• Morphosyntactic alignment

• Blansitt, E.L. Jr. (1984). "Dechticaetiative and dative". InObjects, F. Plank (Ed.), 127–150. London: Academic Press.
• Comrie, Bernard (1975). "Antiergative."Papers from the 11th Regional Meeting of the Chicago Linguistic Society, R. E. Grossman, L. J. San, & T. J. Vance (eds.), 112-121.
• Dryer, Matthew S. (1986). "Primary objects, secondary objects, and antidative."Language 62:808-845.
• Haspelmath, Martin (2013). "Ditransitive Constructions: The Verb 'Give'." In: Dryer, Matthew S. & Haspelmath, Martin (eds.)The World Atlas of Language Structures Online. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. (Available online at[1], Accessed on 2014-03-02.)
• LaPolla, Randy (1992). "Anti-ergative Marking in Tibeto-Burman.”Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area 15.1(1992):1-9.
• Malchukov, Andrej & Haspelmath, Martin & Comrie, Bernard (eds.) (2010).Studies in ditransitive constructions. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton.
• Trask, R. L. (1993).A Dictionary of Grammatical Terms in Linguistics Routledge,ISBN 0-415-08628-0

• Linguistic typology

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