Personal datives

In Shaetlan the object form of the pronoun can be used to show that the subject is benefitting from something, as in:

– A'm catched me a fysh ('I've caught myself a fish)

– Shø's bocht her a car ('She's bought herself a car')

– D'ir gotten dem a dug ('They've got themselves a dog')

– We laek wis wir tattie soup ('We do like our reestit mutton soup')

– He's fun him a new hoose ('He has found a new house for himself')

In linguistics this is called a "personal dative", sometimes "benefactive personal dative", because the indirect object (me/her/dem/wis/him), the one who is affected by the action, is the same person as the main actor of the sentence (the subject A/shø/dey/we/he).

In many cases it translates to a Standard English reflexive construction, as the translations show: (for) myself/herself/themselves/himself. But not all personal dative constructions have Standard English equivalents. Something like *"We like ourselves some reestit mutton soup" just doesn't work in Standard English.

Personal dative constructions are most common in Southern US English, especially in Appalachian English, but it can also be found in a number of other non-standard Englishes. It is a neat tool to stress the subject's involvement in an event. To "correct" it would be misguided.

PS: The term "ethical dative" was borrowed from Latin grammar (dativus ethicus) and means that the person referred to has an interest in or is indirectly affected by the event. It is not the same as the personal dative because with the personal dative the indirect object has to be coreferential with the subject (ie refer to the same entity as the subject), but this is not necessary with the ethical dative.