The article explores the division of grammatical functions of verbs that, according to the author, is the most suitable for the general Latvian language system and illustrates this division with practical examples of language use. Respectively, all verbs are divided into two groups according to their grammatical functions - independent verbs and auxiliary verbs. All groups of verbs used with an auxiliary meaning are explored - auxiliary verbs, copulas and modal verbs. This division of verbs is based on the grammaticalization of the verbs, since, formerly, verbs, now used in auxiliary sense, were used in a substantive meaning and only gradually acquired their auxiliary meaning.The use of auxiliary verbs is a significant indicator of a grammatical system development of a language, therefore it also attracts the attention of child language researchers, as it allows exploring in what order and in what ways children acquire the corresponding meanings and functions of verbs. The aim of this study is to, within limitations, explore the grammatical functions of verbs used in child language and the order of their acquisition, to analyze peculiar constructions that are formed with auxiliary verbs, as well as to detect problems that should be prevented prior to further research. One of the main problems is the limited child language material available for this study. In order to objectively judge about the ways the grammatical system develops in child language, one should first conduct full research on language of several children, as this is the only way to observe the order and ways in which certain forms and constructions emerge in child language.Child language has the same division of grammatical functions of verbs as general language. By studying the acquisition sequence of various grammatical functions in child language, it may be concluded that independent verbs are the first to appear in child language. Children start using auxiliary verbs later - initially they use the verbs with an auxiliary meaning that are the most common in the language of their parents and in the most common constructions. The order of their appearance is as follows: copula būt (to be), modifiers gribēt, varēt (want, can), auxiliary verb būt (to be) (initially present perfect forms of the indicative mood, the rest of the forms emerge significantly later). Constructions with auxiliary verbs that are not characteristic to general language are also common in child language. Such constructions are formed at the beginning stages of auxiliary verb application, before the grammatical function system of verbs is fully understood.
The author argues that the so-called "phase-predicates", such as to begin to..., to continue to... etc., from the semantic point of view, constitute integral parts of a predicative entity which should be treated as a periphrastic predicate.
The form of terminative, in Old and Classical Egyptian known as sDm.t=f, was present in all the stages of Egyptian language until Coptic. The paper analyses changes which occurred in that form due to a process of grammaticalization. These changes were mostly congruent with a well-known pattern: main verb > auxiliary verb > prefix, the pattern, which can be commonly observed in the development of Egyptian language. However, there were also some other mechanisms, which should be considered much more unusual. The paper shows circumstances under which such mechanisms can be observed, in particular: a role of phonetic change in a language and coexisting of words of different lexical category, originating from the same word. Egyptian, being a written language for nearly four thousand years, allows to point such atypical examples and show their origins and consequences over a long period of time.
PL
Forma terminativu, w staroegipskim i klasycznym egipskim znana jako sdm. t=f, występowała we wszystkich etapach języka egipskiego, aż do koptyjskiego. Autorka artykułu analizuje zmiany, które zaszły w tej formie na skutek procesu gramatykalizacji. Zmiany te w znacznym stopniu zgodne były z dobrze znanym schematem: czasownik główny > czasownik posiłkowy > prefiks, schematem, który jest powszechnie obserwowalny w rozwoju języka egipskiego. Jednakże, zachodziły tam także inne, bardziej nietypowe mechanizmy. W artykule ukazano okoliczności, w jakich takie mechanizmy mogą wystąpić, w szczególności: rolę mających miejsce w języku zmian fonetycznych oraz współwystępowanie słów należących do różnych części mowy, ale pochodzących od tego samego słowa. Egipski, który był językiem pisanym przez niemal cztery tysiące lat, pozwala wskazać takie nietypowe przykłady i określić ich pochodzenie oraz późniejszy rozwój w dłuższym okresie.
The article analyses 2nd person singular perfect forms in a collection of Old Russian documents of the 14–16th centuries. The main focus is placed on their formal aspects and the transition from an analytic to synthetic form. The process itself is well-known, yet it still lacks a detailed description and fully explained reasons for its occurrence. The author, providing statistical data on the use of the auxiliary verb byti and explicitly expressed subject, proves its great regularity. There is a strong dependence between the two items and usually only one of them is applied with perfect constructions. This shows that the function of the auxiliary verb has been completely changed and in the period described it played only the role of a person indicator. Thus, it became redundant when the use of personal pronouns was increased. All the exceptions to this rule are scarce and can be explained with factors of a syntactical or extra-linguistic character. The author’s assumptions are confirmed with statistical data and examples taken from spiritual and contractual charters of grand princes and appanage princes in the XIV–XVI centuries.
The article is devoted to the problem of compound tense formation in Italian and German. In particular, the question of the choice of an appropriate auxiliary verb is discussed. The choice between the auxiliary verb avere/haben ‘to have’ and the auxiliary verb essere/sein ‘to be’ is based on some premises, such as the transitivity or intransitivity of the verb, but also on the kind of action that the verb conjugated expresses. In the present study we want to compare the rules of compound tense forms creation in the two languages in order to identify similarities and differences between these languages in this aspect. The present analysis is of particular importance for teachers of each of the two languages teaching students who learn them both or who are native speakers of either language learning the other one. The comparison of the rules of compound tense formation will render studying a foreign language easier, accelerating the acquisition of identical rules and allowing one to avoid errors committed due to the differences between the two language systems.
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