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Subcategories of Auxiliaries

Subcategories of Auxiliaries . Lec . 9. Objectives . Investigate the similarities and differences between main verbs, auxiliaries, and modals Discover the difference between auxiliary verbs be and have and main verbs be and have.

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Subcategories of Auxiliaries

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  1. Subcategories of Auxiliaries Lec. 9

  2. Objectives • Investigate the similarities and differences between main verbs, auxiliaries, and modals • Discover the difference between auxiliary verbs be and have and main verbs be and have

  3. 1. Main Verb vs. auxiliary verb uses of be, have, and do What do the following sentences have in common? What do the following sentences have in common? Calvin has eaten a peanut Frank has eaten too much Bill has been dancing • Calvin has a peanut • Susan has a cold • Bill had an accident

  4. Exercise i What do the following sentences have in common? What do the following sentences have in common? John did his homework Calvin did a backflip John did not eat Calvin did not do a back flip • John is a doctor • Bill was the one • John was eating the corn • Calvin was sat on by his brother

  5. Discussion • English appears to have multiple verbs be, at least two verbs have and two verbs do:

  6. Notation • In terms of features, we will notate the auxiliary usage of these verbs with the feature [SUBCAT + aux] • We should find evidence that helps us in our distinction between main verb usages and auxiliary uses. We will use the Subject/ Verb Inversion test:

  7. Exercise ii • Consider the following sentences: • Has Pangur eaten his tuna? • Is Pangur eating his tuna? • Did Pangur eat his dinner? • *Ate Pangur his dinner? • Can main verbs in English undergo Subject/Aux Inversion? Yes No • Can Auxiliary verbs undergo Subject/ Aux Inversion? Yes No

  8. EXERCISE III • Consider the following sentences: • Calvin has not eaten his dinner. • Pangur did not play with his mouse. • *Calvin ate not his dinner. • *Pangur plays not with his mouse. • Can main verbs come before not? Yes No • Can auxiliary verbs come before not? Yes No

  9. Note • Auxiliaries and modals can both undergo Subject/ Aux Inversion. Main verbs cannot. • So there seems to be some overlap between auxiliaries and modals.

  10. 2. Modals VS. Auxiliaries • Modal verbs have a slightly different distribution than other auxiliaries like have or be.

  11. Exercise iv • Are auxiliaries like beand haveverbs? In what ways are they like verbs? In what ways are they not like verbs? • Use the Subject/ Verb Inversion test • Calivn would eat the tuna?

  12. Auxiliaries be & have • Be and have take inflectional suffixes just like verbs including tense, morphology, and the suffixes turn them into participles and gerunds. Be, being, been / Have, having, had • They can be negated with not • They follow modals, the infinitive marker to. • They can follow adverbs, like often. • They have some verbal properties, making them a special subcategory of verbs.

  13. Auxiliaries • All speakers of English allow multiple be/have combinations, such as • I have been working hard • I’m being taught English syntax

  14. Modals • Unlike auxiliaries, modals do not take verbal inflection endings. E.g. *shoulding 2. They also cannot follow not, nor follow other modals or auxiliaries or the infinitive marker to. E.g. *to should 3. They do however follow subjects and precede objects , and can follow the adverb often. E.g. I often have to change the fish water myself

  15. Discussion • Consider the following sentences: • I’m not eating the plums. • I should not eat plums. • I have not been eating plums. • * I have not should eat plums • Can modal verbs appear before not? • YES – NO • Can auxiliary verbs appear before not? • YES – NO • Can modal verbs appear after not? • YES – NO • Can auxiliary verbs appear after not? • YES - NO

  16. DISCUSSION • Modals must be in the first position in the string of verbs in an English sentence, and must precede negation. • Other auxiliaries can appear in later positions. • There two ways, so far, in which modals pattern differently form auxiliaries like be and have: (i) we are allowed one modal, but we can have multiple auxiliaries like be/ have;(ii) modals must appear before negation and can never follow it.

  17. Discussion • Auxiliaries and modals are different categories. • They sometime overlap in Subject/ Auxiliary Inversion & the position of negation. • How can we account for this contradictory ???

  18. Notation [SUBCAT+AUX] • CATEGORY T CATEGORY V Modals Auxiliaries Verbs

  19. MODALS & TENSE • Modals are of category T • The T category stands for TENSE • The category V stands for VERB • (i) The tense particle will patterns just like a modal; and (ii) when a modal is present, no tense morphology is present.

  20. Notation • Be pass • CATEGORY • V • SUBCAT +aux • SEM • VOICE passive

  21. Notation • Have perf • CATEGORY • V • SUBCAT + aux • SEM • ASPECT PERFECTIVE

  22. Notation • Will • CATEGORY • T • SUBCAT +aux • TENSE future

  23. Notation • Should • CATEGORY • T • SUBCAT + aux • SEM • MOOD obligation

  24. Notation • be prog • CATEGORY • V • SUBCAT + aux • SEM • ASPECT progressive

  25. Notation • Can • CATEGORY • T • SUBCAT + aux • SEM • MOOD ability

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