Last Updated：2025/11/30
(linguistics) The apparent paradox that children learning English encounter many sentences amenable to dative shift (e.g. give the book to me
→ give me the book
) but apparently have no way to learn that this is not possible with certain verbs (e.g. *donate me the book
is unacceptable), and yet rarely make this kind of error.
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Baker's paradox
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Source Word
Baker's paradox
Proper noun
(linguistics)
The
apparent
paradox
that
children
learning
English
encounter
many
sentences
amenable
to
dative
shift
(e.g.
"give
the
book
to
me"
→
"give
me
the
book")
but
apparently
have
no
way
to
learn
that
this
is
not
possible
with
certain
verbs
(e.g.
"*donate
me
the
book"
is
unacceptable),
and
yet
rarely
make
this
kind
of
error.
Japanese Meaning
（言語学）英語を習得する子供たちが、与格変換が可能な文―例えば『give the book to me』を『give me the book』に変換できる―と、ある動詞に対してはその変換（例：『*donate me the book』は不適切）が許されないという矛盾するように見える現象を示す概念。
Sense（1）
(linguistics)
The
apparent
paradox
that
children
learning
English
encounter
many
sentences
amenable
to
dative
shift
(e.g.
"give
the
book
to
me"
→
"give
me
the
book")
but
apparently
have
no
way
to
learn
that
this
is
not
possible
with
certain
verbs
(e.g.
"*donate
me
the
book"
is
unacceptable),
and
yet
rarely
make
this
kind
of
error.
