Research Catalog

Title

English auxiliaries : structure and history / Anthony R. Warner.

Author

Warner, Anthony.

Publication

Cambridge [England] ; New York, NY, USA : Cambridge University Press, 1993.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

xvi, 291 pages : illustrations; 24 cm.

Summary

"Auxiliaries form one of the most complex areas of English syntax. Disagreement over both the principles and the details of their grammar has been substantial. Anthony Warner offers a new and detailed account of both their synchronic and their diachronic properties. He first argues that lexical properties are central to their grammar, and gives a brief account within Head-driven Phrase Structure Grammar. He then traces in detail the history of processes of grammaticalization in their development, claiming that we can identify a group of auxiliaries on formal grounds from an early period, and working out the consequences of this view for their status as a word class. The account ties together the establishment of the class of auxiliaries with loss of the general verb-second order of earlier English, and interprets both as factors underlying the development of the modern use of do." "This book meets the dual challenge of accounting for both the grammar and the history of the English auxiliary. It will be essential reading for all those interested in English syntax and its history."--BOOK JACKET.

Series Statement

Cambridge studies in linguistics ; 66

Uniform Title

Cambridge studies in linguistics ; 66.

Subjects

• Anglais (langue) > Verbes auxiliaires
• Anglais (langue) > Grammaire historique
• English language > Syntax
• English language > Auxiliary verbs
• Engels
• Hulpwerkwoorden
• 18.04 English language

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (p. 268-283) and indexes.

Contents

• 1. Basic properties of English auxiliaries -- 1.1. Introduction -- 1.2. Traditional criteria for auxiliaries -- 1.3. Auxiliaries as a word class -- 1.4. The semantics of modals -- 1.5. Problems and historical context of analysis -- 2. The morphosyntactic independence of auxiliaries -- 2.1. Ordering and categorical availability -- 2.2. Morphosyntactic independence of auxiliaries -- 2.3. Inflected auxiliaries as 'anaphoric islands' -- 2.4. Implications for modals of this account -- 2.5. Recent history -- 3. A formal interlude: the grammar of English auxiliaries -- 3.1. Head-driven Phrase Structure Grammar -- 3.2. Morphosyntactic features -- 3.3. The lexical structuring of auxiliaries -- 3.4. Auxiliary constructions -- 3.5. Conclusion -- 4. Distinguishing auxiliaries and verbs in early English -- 4.1. Introduction -- 4.2. The ancestors of present-day auxiliaries -- 4.3. Verblike characteristics -- 4.4. Word classes -- 5. Identifying an 'auxiliary group' before Modern English: sentence-level syntax -- 5.1. Elliptical constructions -- 5.2. Transparency to impersonal constructions -- 5.3. Significance -- 6. Identifying an 'auxiliary group' before Modern English: further properties of 'modals' -- 6.1. Subcategorization for the plain infinitive -- 6.2. Preterite-present morphology -- 6.3. Restriction to finite forms -- 6.4. The developing independence of preterite forms -- 6.5. Negative forms, and occurrence with do -- 6.6. Conclusion
• 7. The developing modal semantics of early English 'modals' -- 7.1. Introduction -- 7.2. Verbs of group A and typically modal meanings in Old English -- 7.3. The modal group and typically modal meanings in Middle English -- 7.4. Modern English developments -- 7.5. Conclusion -- 8. The status of modals and auxiliaries before Modern English -- 8.1. The full range of properties -- 8.2. Notional correspondences: identifying the group -- 8.3. The special position of finiteness -- 8.4. A speculative historical sketch to the fifteenth century -- 8.5. Comments on grammaticalization -- 9. Auxiliaries in early Modern English and the rise of do -- 9.1. Apparent generalizations of earlier properties -- 9.2. New developments -- 9.3. A category-based account of early Modern English -- 9.4. Lightfoot revisited -- 9.5. Periphrastic do -- 9.6. Conclusions. 10. Conclusions.

ISBN

• 0521302846
• 9780521302845
• 0511752997
• 9780511752995

LCCN

92041068

OCLC

• ocm27069047
• 27069047
• SCSB-2004910

Owning Institutions

Princeton University Library