ABSTRACT
This chapter explores a well-known syntactic variable and in so doing contribute to one of the pre-eminent conundrums in modern linguistics the dialectic between grammar and usage. By applying Variationist Sociolinguistic techniques to a phenomenon that has been scrutinized by structurally motivated inquiry, It shows that usage data-vernacular speech-offers a contrasting and insightful perspective into formal theories of grammar. The dative alternation in English has been subject to extensive linguistic scrutiny. For the most part these implicate the nature of the recipient and theme in terms of qualities such as animacy, type, definiteness, length, and so forth. Then, the chapter examines how the various predictors operate and how they intersect. It focuses on the contexts in which the dative alternation is variable: recipient noun/theme noun combinations. A factor that does not directly implicate the recipient or theme but that is also claimed to the choice of dative construction is the nature of the verb.
