Putting objects in order: Asymmetrical relations in Spanish and Portuguese ditransitives

Spanish, European Portuguese, and Brazilian Portuguese allow two possible linear orders for the direct object (DO) and indirect object (IO) in ditransitives: DO>IO and IO>DO. The goal of this paper is twofold. First, we show that the arguments supporting a Double Object Construction (DOC) in these languages are inconclusive on both semantic and structural grounds. Accordingly, we claim that there is no DOC in these three languages. Second, we provide evidence that DO>IO and IO>DO are derivationally related. We show that DO>IO is the base order and that IO>DO is the result of an information structure operation, the latter order being possible only when IO conveys given information in the discourse and occupies the specifier of a low-periphery TopP. We offer a unified analysis that contributes to a comparative understanding of ditransitives in Romance