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

What do the following sentences have in common? 1. Calvin has a peanut 2. Susan has a cold 3. Bill had an accident What do the following sentences have in common? 1. Calvin has eaten a peanut 2. Frank has eaten too much 3. Bill has been dancing 1. MAIN VERB VS. AUXILIARY VERB USES OF BE, HAVE, AND DO

What do the following sentences have in common? 1. John is a doctor 2. Bill was the one 3. John was eating the corn 4. Calvin was sat on by his brother What do the following sentences have in common? 1. John did his homework 2. Calvin did a backflip 3. John did not eat 4. Calvin did not do a back flip EXERCISE I

DISCUSSION English appears to have multiple verbs be, at least two verbs have and two verbs do: SubcategoryMeaningNameForm Main verbCopula (identity/property) Be / copCalvin is the cutest cat. AuxiliaryProgressiveBe / progCalvin is eating. AuxiliaryPassiveBe / passCalvin was sat on. Main verbPossessionHave/ possCalvin has a luxurious coat. AuxiliaryPerfectHave / perfCalvin has eaten Main verbAccomplishment / performance Do / mainCalvin did his homework AuxiliaryPresent to support tense before negation Do / auxCalvin did not eat.

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:

EXERCISE II Consider the following sentences: 1.Has Pangur eaten his tuna? 2.Is Pangur eating his tuna? 3.Did Pangur eat his dinner? 4.*Ate Pangur his dinner? Can main verbs in English undergo Subject/Aux Inversion? Yes No Can Auxiliary verbs undergo Subject/ Aux Inversion? Yes No

EXERCISE III Consider the following sentences: 1.Calvin has not eaten his dinner. 2.Pangur did not play with his mouse. 3.*Calvin ate not his dinner. 4.*Pangur plays not with his mouse. Can main verbs come before not? Yes No Can auxiliary verbs come before not? Yes No

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

2. MODALS VS. AUXILIARIES Modal verbs have a slightly different distribution than other auxiliaries like have or be.

EXERCISE IV Are auxiliaries like be and have verbs? 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?

AUXILIARIES BE & HAVE 1.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 2.They can be negated with not 3.They follow modals, the infinitive marker to. 4.They can follow adverbs, like often. 5.They have some verbal properties, making them a special subcategory of verbs.

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

MODALS Unlike auxiliaries, modals do not take verbal inflection endings. E.g. *shoulding They also cannot follow not, nor follow other modals or auxiliaries or the infinitive marker to. E.g. *to should 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

DISCUSSION Consider the following sentences: 1.I’m not eating the plums. 2.I should not eat plums. 3.I have not been eating plums. 4.* 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

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.

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 ???

NOTATION [SUBCAT+AUX] CATEGORY T CATEGORY V Modals Auxiliaries Verbs

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.

NOTATION Be pass CATEGORY V SUBCAT +aux SEM VOICE passive

NOTATION Have perf CATEGORY V SUBCAT + aux SEM ASPECT PERFECTIVE

NOTATION Will CATEGORY T SUBCAT +aux TENSE future

NOTATION Should CATEGORY T SUBCAT + aux SEM MOOD obligation

NOTATION be prog CATEGORY V SUBCAT + aux SEM ASPECT progressive

NOTATION Can CATEGORY T SUBCAT + aux SEM MOOD ability