Focus in double object constructions

Studies of the English dative alternation during the last three decades have not yet reached an agreement on the proper syntactic analysis of this alternation. The main goal of this article is to show that a study of the information structural properties of certain constructions can provide independent evidence for the adequacy of a particular syntactic analysis. Relying on the empirical adequateness of the argument structural approach to focus structure (Gussenhoven 1984; Selkirk 1995), we use accentual patterns as a test for syntactic representations. We argue that approaches in which any of the semantic arguments in triadic constructions is represented as a syntactic adjunct is not supported from a focus-theoretical perspective. Since double object constructions raise some problems for the overall applicability of the focus rules, a constraint on focus domain formation will be formulated which is not construction specific, but independently motivated.