Alternation ‘Neutral Ditransitive Alternation’ (Coded)

The Mandarin ditransitive construction is coded as SVoO only, in which the prototypical indirect object o denotes a person as a receiver or loser of the direct object O which in its prototypical case denotes something discrete and tangible. This construction has an ambiguous constructional meaning in that the possessional transfer of O can be both rightward and leftward from S to o and vice versa. So the interpretation of a specific sentence hinges on the specific verb that enters into the construction. For that reason, this alternation is also termed as Neutral Ditransitive Alternation. Semantic extension can happen to all the three NPs, i.e. S, o and O, bringing about change in animacy and from material to non-material or information-like entities. The verb can also be extended along a continum, from factual giving or taking to unreal or conditional giving or not giving. All those extensions lead to constructional semantic extension.

Verb Meaning Verb form Basic coding frame Derived coding frame Occurs Comment # Ex.