THE ENGLISH AUXILIARY SYSTEM
- BASICS
- SYNTAX
- MORPHOLOGY
- PHONOLOGY & MORPHOPHONOLOGY
- SEMANTIC & PRAGMATICS
LIST OF AUXILIARIES
DUAL CATEGORISATION
MODALS
OTHER
Can / Could
May / Might
Will
Shall / Should
Must
Ought
Need
Dare
[%use]
Do
Have
Be
Need
Dare
Have
Do
[%use]
AUXILIARIES VS. MAIN VERBS (Distributional Properties)
TYPES OF AUXILIARIES
Negation
Adverbs & Quantifiers
Inversion (Subj-Aux)
Code
Dual Categorisation
Aux: Negation immediately follows auxiliary
MV: Negation can't immediately follow main verb
Do support + MV non-finite form
Exception = when a constituent is negated c.f. whole sentence
Aux: Generally precede adverbs and quantifiers, but can occur after
MV: Must occur after frequency adverbs and quantifiers
Adverbs: modal (probably, certainly) and frequency (often, always, never)
Quantifiers: All
Other stylistically marked contexts
E.g. direct questions, interrogative questions
Aux: Do-support is impossible
MV: Do-support if there is no Aux
Clauses with initial negative constituent negating whole clause
Clauses modified by 'only'
Clauses with initial constituent modified by 'so'.'such'
Conditional clauses without 'if'
Exclamatives (Inversion = optional in this case)
Conclusion: in questions + other constructions...
Auxiliaries invert with subject
Main verbs always stay on right of subject
Can do this for Auxiliaries but not MVs
E.g. He has seen it and I have too
Do
Have
Dare - more commonly MV
Need - more commonly MV
%Use - much more commonly MV
Modal (+ 'Do') vs. Have / Be
Ordering Restrictions
Modals + Do = always first position
Order = Modal - Have (perfect) - Be (progressive) - Be (passive)
SYNTACTIC ANALYSIS
Combinatory Restrictions
Can be more than one occurrence of have / be in a sentence
Modals are mutually exclusive (as so is 'do')
Core vs. Non-Core
Core = Auxiliary + Main Verb
Non-Core = when Auxiliary is used alone
Is
Have
Would
Simple Declarative Clauses
Interrogative Clauses
Modals & 'Do': Always in I, always finite
Be / Have: begin in V and can be raised to I if finite. Select VP as complement
MV: Always in V. Inflection lowered from I-V
Questions with Auxiliary
Questions without Auxiliary
Do-support - do inserted under I
I - C movement
Modals: I - C
Be / Have: V - I, I - C
HAVE - 4 forms (core use)
Finite & Non-Finite possible
Present tense
Bare form - 'Have'
Form ending in -s (3rd person singular, names, numbers): 'Has'
Other inflected forms
Gerund - 'Having'
Past tense - 'Had'
Past Participle - 'Had' (Not possible in core use)
DO - 3 forms
3rd Person Singular - 'Does'
Base form for other persons / numbers in present - 'Do'
Past Tense - 'Did'
Be - 8 Forms
Present Tense x 3: 'Am' 'Are' 'Is'
Past Tense x 2: 'Was' 'Were'
Gerund: 'Being'
Past Participle: 'Been'
MODALS - 1 or 2 forms
Present Tense
Past Tense
No...
3rd Person Singular Agreement
Non-finite forms
Past Participle
Complement Selection...
Modals & Do select bare non-finite form
'Be' selects past participle or gerund
'Have' selects past participle
Emphatic Polarity
ALLOMORPHY: found in 3 main contexts...
Possible with Aux.
When you deny a negative proposition by stressing an Aux.
MV can't - need do-support
Weak Forms
Reduced Forms
Forms that co-occur with reduction of 'not'
Aux = generally unstressed in connected speech
Schwa replaces vowel or vowel deleted
Can't weaken when in clause-final position or emphasis
Reduced allomorphs merge with adjacent word
Examples...
High restriction: are, am, have, will
Medium restriction: had, would
Low restriction: is, has
Reduction possible after subject pronoun
Can come after DPs
Last sound of DP must be a vowel
I'm, You're, I'll. I've, etc.
He'd, Mary'd, Mary & Sue'd, etc.
Possible after any DP, even wh- words and in C position
Has allomorphic variation --> phonologically conditioned allomorphy
The car's, neither Gloria nor Godfrey's, who's, etc.
Restriction for ALL = no reduction if syntactic gap or stress
Restrictions
Can't attach to 'may' or 'am'
No double contractions
Attaching reduced form of 'not' can create an allomorph of the Auxiliary