THE NOTION OF VERB Lesson 2
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Introductory definition of V Any member of a class of words that are formally distinguished in many languages, as in English by taking the past ending in -ed, that function as the main elements of predicates, that typically express action, state, or a relation between two things, and that (when inflected) may be inflected for tense, aspect, voice, mood, and to show agreement with their subject or object. www.dictionary.com 2
Morphology of the English Verb There are only 4 inflectional morphemes, suffixes: -s, -ing, -ed and -en, which are used for creating the following verb forms: a) the ’s’ form or the third person singular of the present tense, b) the present participle, c) the past (tense) form and d) the past participle.
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Types of definitions: formal, functional and semantic. 1. Formal Definitions – they consider the FORM (morphology) of the verb; verb inflections. Problems: 1. BE 2. Modals 3. Verb morphology also differs in a cross-linguistic perspective 4
2. Functional Definitions – they consider the function of predication.
Problems: 1. Predicates often do not consist of just one word 2. Phrasal and other multi-word verbs 3. AUX. + V combinations 4. Linking Vs 5. ... 5
•Tom _______________ smart. (linking verb, copula) •Tom _______________ cookies. (non-linking verb, transitive) •Tom _______________ quietly. (non-linking verb, intransitive)
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3. Semantic Definitions - start from the meaning of the verb: verbs denote activities, states and processes. Problems: 1. The notions that verbs denote are not clearly defined; 2. AUX. verbs; 3. Modals 4. V polysemy 7
HAVE a) I have a car. b) I’m having a party/a bath/ a good time. TASTE a)This soup tastes great. b)The chef is tasting the soup.
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DEFINITION: A verb is a part of speech inflected for tense, person, number, possibly mood and voice and it has the function of the predicate in a clause denoting an activity, process or state.
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Lexical Verbs vs Auxiliaries • Verbs can be classified in many different ways. • The first distinction is between those verbs that have a full set of forms and those that do not. • This distinction coincides roughly with the distinction between lexical verbs (or full verbs) and auxiliaries (or auxiliary verbs). 10
• These two groups show differences on various levels: – formal (morphological), – semantic and – syntactic.
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Lexical V • Lexical verbs, as their name suggests, have a lexical meaning, that is, a meaning that is denotational (extralinguistic) rather than grammatical (intralinguistic). • They are verbs like burst, run, change and contain, which refer to situations types of different kinds (events, actions, processes or states)
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• Lexical verbs form an ‘open’ (i. e. unlimited, productive) group. • For example, as the world around us changes, new verbs are coined to express new ways to interact with it, such as google (“to search the Web using the search engine Google for information on a person or thing”): – I didn’t know what a cosmopolitan was in the drinks world so I googled it and it said something about it being for tarts. (www...) 13
Aux V • Auxiliaries have little or no lexical meaning. They express either a grammatical notion (like ‘passive’, ‘progressive’ or ‘tense’) or one or more modal meanings. • This is not to say that auxiliaries are devoid of meaning, but their meanings are more schematic (i. e. more ‘skeletal’, more ‘abstract’, less ‘full’) than those of lexical verbs. 14
• Within the auxiliaries we can make a distinction between two classes: – grammatical auxiliaries and – modal auxiliaries.
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Grammatical Auxiliaries •
Grammatical auxiliaries which are sometimes referred to as ‘primary auxiliaries’, have a purely grammatical function:
(a) the ‘tense auxiliary’ have, which is used in forming perfect tense forms; (b) the ‘aspect auxiliary’ be, which is used for building progressive verb forms; (c) the ‘voice auxiliary’ be, which is used in the passive; (d) the ‘periphrastic auxiliary’ do, which is used as a ‘dummy’ (pro-form) when a VP that does not contain an auxiliary (e. g. love her) is used in a construction that requires one (e. g. I don’t love her, Do you love her?, Ido love her, etc.)
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Modal Auxiliaries • Next, there are the ‘modal auxiliaries’: can, could, may, might, must, shall, should, ought to, will, and would. • These auxiliaries express special shades of meaning, such as volition, possibility, permission, necessity, intention, obligation, expectation, inference, ability, determination, etc. • The modal auxiliaries differ semantically from the first group in that they add lexical meaning rather than fulfil a grammatical function. 17
• Since an auxiliary does not have a full lexical meaning, it cannot be used without a main (lexical) verb, except in ‘code’, where the auxiliary is used as pro-form for an entire verb phrase (as in John will not be sleeping, but I will). • In other words, an auxiliary cannot be the only or last verb form in the VP (except in ‘code’). 18
Simple VP or Complex VP? 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
You should have been informed earlier. (modal+perfective aspect+passive voice) They can’t have been fighting again! (modal+perfective+progressive) He should have been being paid. (modal+perfective +progressive+passive) He decided to go. I don't want to have to be forced to begin to try to make more money. (Palmer 1987: 172)
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•The complex VP actually involves subordination and more than one VP, i.e. it contains the non-finite subordinate clause – it contains at least two verb lexemes and each of them has its own lexical meaning. •The simple VP practically has a ‘one lexeme’ status because auxiliaries add only grammatical meanings.
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TNP Tests •Palmer (1987) establishes syntactic tests in order to distinguish simple and complex VPs formally. •TNP tests (tense, negation, passivization)
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Tense (Time) In a complex VP, will time (but not always tense !) be marked more than once. If there are two lexical verbs, both may be indepently marked for time. 1) Bill seems to have seen Mary yesterday. ‘Seen’ is marked not for tense but for aspect or time. 2) Mary wants to go on holiday. Clausal subordination, but no double-time marking (!) 22
Palmer believes that adverbials of time also mark time in the same way as tense suffixes do: 1) Bill intended to come tomorrow. The problem with adverbials: 2) Bill was coming tomorrow. 3)Yesterday Bill was coming tomorrow. •These are simple VPs. However, tense is marked twice (grammatical and lexical time marking). 23
1) Bill seems to like Mary. • Some complex VPs are not marked for time (when the situations are simultaneous).
The T-test is not reliable since it is restricted only to certain contexts.
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Negation The simple VPs can contain only one negation, whereas the complex VPs can have more than one. 1. Bill doesn’t like that film. 2. Bill prefers not to come. 3. Bill doesn’t prefer to come. 4. Bill doesn’t prefer not to come. (one negation in each clause) 5. Bill can’t not come. (double negation with modals)
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Passivization (“voice neutrality”) In the simple VP, there is “voice neutrality” because passive sentences have the same meaning as the active ones (if we disregard the possible change of emphasis). 1. a) The salesman was helping the customer when the thief came into the store. b) The customer was being helped by the salesman when the thief came into the store. 2. a) Many tourists have visited that castle. b) That castle has been visited by many tourists. 26
Passivization in the complex VP causes change in meaning. So, the complex VPs are not voice neutral. 3. a) John prefers to meet Jane. b) John prefers to be met by Jane. 4. a) John wants to love Mary. b) *Mary is wanted to love by John. c) Mary wants to be loved by John. d) * Mary is wanted to be loved by John. e) John wants to be loved by Mary.
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However, the modal auxiliary will of volition in the simple VP is also not voice neutral. 5. a) Bill won’t meet Mary. (future WILL) b) Mary won’t be met by Bill. (future WILL) c) Bill won’t tell her what to do. (WILL of volition) d) Mary won’t be told what to do (WILL of volition) Only the ‘future’ meaning is voice neutral.
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• These criteria are used, therefore, to distinguish simple and complex phrases. • They do not, however, provide an absolute distinction between simple and complex phrases, but they are sufficient to confirm the distinction between primary auxiliaries, modals and catenatives. • Phrases involving primary auxiliaries are fairly clearly simple, while those with catenatives are complex (though not all pass all the tests). • Phrases with modals lie somewhere between the two, sharing characteristics of both simple and complex phrases 29
Subject and complex VP 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
Strong winds blow in these fields. The strong wind was blowing in the fields. The strong wind might blow in the fields, The strong wind kept blowing in the fields. The strong wind might keep blowing in the fields. 6. *The strong wind intended/wanted/planned to keep blowing in the fields. 30