Abstract
The chapter examines a set of observations concerning the cluster of features (syntactic, textual, semantic) that suggest a tangible shift in the grammatical status of the so-called interational dative (I-D) in Czech, specifically its 2nd person sg. form. The shift consists in acquiring properties from the domain of pragmatic particles.
The central notion in the analysis is the proces of "pragmatic strengthening", which is based on the idea that grammatical change originates in specific contextual preferences and specific socio-pragmatic settings; the change takes place gradually through feature-based shifts; and the change progresses in the direction from propositional meanings (event-participant marking in the case of semantic datives) toward non-propositional meanings (discourse structuring functions in the case of I-Ds). I propose that the current state of the Czech I-D as attested in actual texts can be best accounted for through reference to these three conditions.