The dative alternation has been extensively studied in the literature on Dutch although the focus of attention has always been on the dative/ aan-PP alternation. Some important studies are Balk-Smit Duyzentkunst (1968), Kooij (1975), Jansen (1976) and Schermer-Vermeer (1991). The possessive dative construction, including the dative/ bij-PP alternation, is also fairly extensively discussed: Janssen (1976/1977); Van Bree (1981); Corver (1990/1992); Schermer-Vermeer (1991:ch.7/1996); Cornips (1991/1994); Broekhuis & Cornips (1997); Broekhuis et al. (1996). For a review of a number of more recent theoretical proposals we refer the reader to Den Dikken (1995), Bresnan et al. (2007), Rappaport Hovav & Levin (2008).