The Category P Features, Projections, Interpretation

98
would be [-c] PP-verbs in English which occur obligatorily with to. But there are such
verbs (e.g. speak to, talk to). I conclude this section with a brief discussion of the
obligatory occurrence of to with certain [-c] PP-verbs.
3.5.2.3 The obligatory occurrence of to: Based on the above discussion, the
internal argument of the [-c] PP-verbs in English occurring with no preposition is a
Dative DP. The preposition to, which instantiates Dative Case, does not occur, since
the argument is adjacent to the verb. Why then there are [-c] PP-verbs such as speak
to, talk to, which occur with to?
As already mentioned, the preposition to is used both in the Dative and in the
Directional constructions. It introduces Recipients in the former and spatial Goals in
the latter.
It is argued extensively in chapter 4 that the Dative to is a purely Case related
P. Therefore, in the English Dative construction an argument interpreted as a
Recipient may be realized either as the complement of to (e.g. I sent a book to John)
or without to, as a Dative DP adjacent to the verb (e.g. I sent John a book). As noted
above, the Dative Case realization is predominant in the English PP-verb
constructions, as the [-c] argument is adjacent to the verb.
In contrast, in the Directional construction in English to carries the
‘directional’ meaning conveyed by the verb and therefore cannot be omitted (*I sent
Paris Rina). In other words, the presence of to is essential for the spatial Goal
interpretation of the [-c] argument. Thus, English PP-verbs which occur with to (e.g.
speak to, talk to) are Directional verbs. Their [-c] argument is interpreted as spatial
Goal, rather than a Recipient, and therefore has to be introduced by to, regardless of
its adjacency to the verb.
To summarize, I have proposed that Dative Case, on a par with P C , is a device
to check Case. Given this and a few assumptions regarding Dative Case in English,
the apparent cross-linguistic diversity between English and Hebrew [-c] verbs is
accounted for. The [-c] verbs in English which occur without an overt preposition
realize their [-c] role as a Dative DP rather than a PP. Strictly speaking, then, it would
be misleading to refer to these verbs as PP-verbs. However, since they exemplify the
same kind of phenomenon as verbs realizing their [-c] argument as a PP, it will be
more explanatory to view the term ‘PP-verb’ as a cover term for verbs which are not
associated with the [Acc] feature, and therefore have to use one device or the other to