Differential object marking, datives and types of licensing

The presence of dative morphology on differential objects raises non-trivial puzzles under a variety of theoretical approaches. Using data from genetically unrelated languages, this paper puts forward a comprehensive account under which differential objects are equated with multiple Case configurations. The latter are flagged by the presence of more than one licensing operation on the same nominal. The oblique dative morphology is correlated with an additional licensing operation connected to a discourse linking strategy; thus, it can co-occur with other grammatical (uninterpretable Case) licensing operations. The analysis can also reconcile other recalcitrant aspects of differential objects, such as their syntactic differences from both accusatives and datives. These differences are problematic under both purely morphological accounts and under analyses which take differential objects and datives to have the same syntax.