English Auxiliary Constructions and Related Phenomena: From a Constraint-based Perspective

Abstract

As noted by Sag and Wasow (1999, p. 295) the English auxiliary system involves a relatively small number of elements interacting with each other in complicated and intriguing ways. This has been one of the main reasons for making the system the most extensively analyzed empirical domains in the literature on generative syntax. This paper shows that the precise lexicon information on auxiliary verbs and constructional constraints sensitive to the presence of an auxiliary verb can play important roles in predicting various related properties. In particular, facts such as linear ordering restrictions among auxiliaries can directly follow from the precise subcategorization information on the auxiliary verbs. It also shows that constructional constraints can explicitly express generalizations among auxiliary-sensitive phenomena such as negation, inversion, contraction, and ellipsis, which we would otherwise miss.