The network of reflexive dative constructions in South Slavic

Abstract

Abstract This paper analyses a number of constructions with a reflexive marker on the verb and a dative argument, using the framework of Construction Grammar. In these constructions the predication is ascribed in various modes to the experiencer argument. We focus on these constructions in the South Slavic languages in which they have a wide distribution, Macedonian, Bulgarian and Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian (BCS). The following basic types are identified: Emotional processes and states, Accidental, Perception/Cognition and Stative Reflexive-Dative Construction (SRDC). The specific clusters of features in each one are due to the inheritance properties from a reflexive construction, indicating a valence reduction, in combination with the features of affectedness and lack of control, characteristic of a dative argument. This results in varied but multiply linked patterns that create a complex network of constructions. The study aims at defining the relations between these constructions and in particular at determining the place of SRDC in this network.