Cognitive Science Colloquium - Title: Dative Blends

Speaker:Ricardo Maldonado is a prominent linguist at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), specializing in cognitive linguistics and the conceptualization of Spanish dative constructions.

Abstract: This talk explores the emergence of complex dative meanings in Mexican Spanish through the lens of Conceptual Blending Theory. Traditional accounts often struggle to unify the varied functions of datives, from indirect objects to "sympathetic" datives (Se me rompió el vaso). I argue that these are not isolated rules but constructional blends. By mapping the Transitive construction (possessor-object) onto the Dative schema (affected participant), speakers create a "fictive" space where the dative participant is construed as both a possessor and an affected entity. This analysis demonstrates that dative variation is a result of the conceptualizer's strategic alignment within the scene, moving from the objective core to the subjective periphery.

References:
Maldonado, R. (2002). Objective and Subjective Datives. In Cognitive Linguistics 13(1), 1–65.
Flores, M., & Maldonado, R. (2016). Datives and Blending in Mexican Spanish. In Linguistic Studies in Spanish and Portuguese.
Maldonado, R., & De la Mora, J. (2026). "'Ya ves que'—You See That: A Deictic Intersubjective Pragmatic Marker." Languages 11(1): 16.
Links to Papers and Resources
Close and Distal Datives and Applicatives (PDF): Download Paper
ResearchGate Profile: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ricardo-Maldonado-2
Google Scholar profile: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=N1t2jHYAAAAJ&hl=en
Soft Causatives in Spanish (PDF): Download Paper

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