Re: a grammar sketch...

H. S. Teoh wrote:

>But yeah, I know what you're talking about. I struggled for a long time
>with the awkwardness of the accusative + dative construct too, because
>when you give something to someone, that someone is a primary focus of
>your sentence; it shouldn't be relegated to a secondary dative case.
Don't think of the dative as a "secondary" case.  Think of the accusative
as the lowest-of-the-low.  That is, it is the case that goes to the *least*
important object.  In a monotransitive that is the only object by
default.  In a ditransitive, it is the direct object.  The dative goes to
the "more important" indirect object.



===============================
Marcus Smith
AIM:  Anaakoot
"When you lose a language, it's like
dropping a bomb on a museum."
   -- Kenneth Hale
===============================