Introduction to General Linguistics WS10/11
Course author: Hubert Truckenbrodt
Syntax 5
page 1
Course teacher: Sam Featherston
Sequences of verbs
Important things you will learn in this section:
• How to analyze series of verbs in English
• The similarities and differences in German
1. Non-finite verbs in English
English main verbs have both finite and non-finite forms.
(1)
Finite forms
3rd person
sg. present
is
has
sees
eats
calls
brushes
status:
Non-finite forms
other persons past
infinitive present
present
tense
participle
am/are
was/were be
being
have
had
have
having
see
saw
see
seeing
eat
ate
eat
eating
call
called
call
calling
brush
brushed brush
brushing
infinitive
present
finite
participle
participle
past participle
been
had
seen
eaten
called
brushed
past
For all regular verbs the past tense (finite) and past participle (non-finite) are identical (both
end in -ed) but for many irregular verbs they are different.
The modal verbs, or simply modals are a special class of English verbs. These modals have
only a single form, which is finite, and no non-finite forms:
(2)
she can, will, must, could, would, should, …
*to can, to will, to must, to could, to would, to should, ...
Even though the modals are always finite, they are the only verbs which do not show any
agreement with the subject:
(3)
Other finite verbs
Mary eats.
They eat.
Modals
Mary can …
They can …
Mary must …
They must …
Mary swims.
They swim.
Mary will …
They will …
Mary should …
They should …
…
Introduction to General Linguistics WS10/11
Course author: Hubert Truckenbrodt
page 2
1.1. Verbs as complements
We have seen that verbs and prepositions often require their complement DPs to be in a
particular case. In German for instance, many verbs, such as sehen and schlagen, and many
prepositions, such as für and um, take accusative complements while verbs like helfen and
gefallen prepositions like von and zu take dative complements.
Now verbs which take other verbs as their complements also select their status.
Modals
Modal verbs require a verb as complement and this is always in the bare infinitive form. We
may say modals select the status bare infinitive in their complement.
(4)
modal + bare infinitive
May will eat/swim/be_happy
* Mary will eats/ate
* Mary will eating/eaten
Auxiliaries
The verbs have and be can be auxiliary verbs. (They can also *not* be auxilary verbs as in I
have a cat and I am a firefighter.) As auxiliaries, they also select the status of the verb that
follows.
The perfect auxiliary verb have requires the following verb to be a past participle.
(5)
perfect tense: have + past participle
John has seen Mary (... attacked, shot, kicked, insulted, ....)
* seeing Mary
* saw Mary
* see Mary
The verb be has two functions as an auxiliary: first, it can function as a progressive auxiliary
and combine with a present participle to form the progressive (or continuous), as in (6a);
second, it can function as a passive auxiliary and combine with a past participle to form the
passive - (6b).
(6) a. progressive: be + present participle
John is singing.
* John is sang.
* John is sing.
b. passive: be + past participle
Mary was seen (by John).
* Mary was see.
* Mary was saw.
It is important to distinguish the status that a verb has itself, and the status that the verb
selects for the next verb. For example, in John is singing, the verb is is finite and 3rd person
present, but selects the status present participle for the following verb singing. Whatever
form the verb be occurs in itself, if it is functioning as a progressive auxiliary, it always
selects a present participle for the next verb, eg John is singing, John was singing, John has
been singing, John will be singing, etc.
Introduction to General Linguistics WS10/11
Course author: Hubert Truckenbrodt
page 3
Non-finite forms of be behave exactly the same way. In (7), the first verb is a finite form of
the auxiliary have, which selects the form of the next verb as a past participle – cf. (5). This is
been, a form of be. This in turn selects the present participle form for the next verb, singing.
(7)
finite
Mary has
been
singing
a.
have + past part.
b.
be
+
present participle
So in a series of verbs, the first verb appears in a finite form, but all later verbs appear in the
status selected by the one before:
(8)
Mary could have
been
modal infinitive past
participle
talking
present
participle
to John.
The modal selects the status of the next verb have as infinitive. The verb have, in turn, selects
the status of been as past participle. Since this is a form of be, it selects the status of the next
verb as present participle.
(9)
Mary could have
been
infinitive past
participle
talking
to John.
present
participle
modal +bare infinitive
have + past participle
be +
present participle
2 The phrase structure of sequences of verbs
Each verb projects a VP and each is the complement of the preceding verb. A verb can
select the status of its complement VP just as it can select the category of a complement DP.
(10)
VP1
V1
VP2
V2
have been
VP3
V3
seeing
DP
Mary
We can write the selection of status into the argument structure of the lexical entry: modals
and auxiliaries not only select the category (VP) of their complements, but also their status.
(11)
Verbal complements in argument structures
could: <__, <VP[infinitive]>>
have: <__, <VP[past participle]>>
be:
<__, <VP[present participle]>>
be:
<__, <VP[past participle]>>
(likewise for other modals)
perfect
progressive (or continuous)
passive
Introduction to General Linguistics WS10/11
Course author: Hubert Truckenbrodt
page 4
These lexical features interact with phrase structure rules to determine structure. Note that
features such as [past participle]are shared between head (V2) and phrasal projection (VP2).
(12)
have + VP[past participle]
VP1
V1
VP2[past p.]
|
have V2[past p.]
DP...
|
see-n
lex.entry:
have
<__, <VP[past participle]>>
Even a modifier often adjoined to the left of the VP 2, and thus coming between VP1 and VP2,
creates no problem with selection, since we assume that the two VP2 nodes share features.
(13)
Intervening adjuncts
VP1
V1
|
have
VP2[past p.]
The two nodes VP2 created by
adjunction must also share features.
AdvP
VP2[past p.]
|
Adv V2[past p.]
DP ...
|
|
often see-n
2 Non-finite verbs in German
German is similar, but with different affixes and some different auxiliary verbs
(14) Morphology of the non-finite verb in German
a. (bare) infinitive: -en;
les-en, schreib-en
b. present participle: -end (= -d added to infinitive): les-end, schreib-end
c. past participle
circumfix ge-__-en/-t;
ge-les-en, ge-leg-t
sometimes with infixation of first part: auf-weck-en, auf-ge-weck-t.
sometimes without the first part of the prefix: er-arbeit-en, er-arbeit-et
sometimes with a change in the stem: geh-en, ge-gang-en.
Introduction to General Linguistics WS10/11
Course author: Hubert Truckenbrodt
page 5
(15) Choice of the non-finite verb in German (core cases)
a. haben/sein + past participle
gelesen haben, gegangen sein
b. werden + passive participle
entführt werden
c. similar variety of verbs with bare infinitive:
modal + bare infinitive
lesen müssen
(16) Main differences from English, apart from the word order
a. German verbal passive uses werden ("become"), English passive uses be.
gefragt werden;
to be asked
b. But stative passive: sein + past participle
gefragt sein
c. German perfect tense uses haben 'have' or sein 'be', English uses only have:
gearbeitet haben
to have worked
gerannt sein
to have run
d. Present participle form not selected by verbs in German; used with nouns only:
ein les-end-er Fahrgast
*/?? lesend sein
a reading
passenger
to be reading
e. German do + infinitive is marginal & colloquial [G. umgangssprachlich]
Ich tu mal was lesen.
So apart from the lexical differences, just about the only major difference to the English VP
structures ....
... is the order of head V and complement:
(17)
Simple English VP
VP
V
Complement
Simple German VP
VP
Complement
V
Whether the complement of a V is a DP or another VP makes no difference.
(18)
English
...
VP1
V1
VP2
|
have V2
DP
|
bought
books
German
...
VP1
VP2
DP
Bücher
V1
|
haben
V2
|
gekauft
Introduction to General Linguistics WS10/11
Course author: Hubert Truckenbrodt
page 6
The V1 selects the status of its verbal complement in exactly the same way, but to the left.
(19)
VP1
VP2[past p.]
DP
das Stück
V1
|
V2[past p.] haben
|
ge-seh-en
NB: leftward selection:
past participle + haben (but we still write haben + past participle)
The German system of VPs is the same as the English, they stack. But because German VPs
are head-final, they stack from the back. The systems of VPs in German and English are
therefore still mirror images of each other: on the vertical axis they are identical, but on the
horizontal axis they are opposites.
Introduction to General Linguistics WS10/11
Course author: Hubert Truckenbrodt
page 7
Draw trees for (but not the bits in brackets):
1. (I should) have eaten it.
2. (I will) be dreaming.
3. (Mary might) be photographed.
4. (Jack may) have been drinking tea
5. (Kim must) have been delayed.
6. (Jane could) be being examined.
7. (I saw two police officers holding that man's arms, but he can’t) have been being arrested,
(because both he and the police were smiling.)
And now in German......
8. (Der Geist hat) verschwinden können.
The spirit has disappear
been.able.to
'The spirit was able to disappear'
9. (Mephisto muss) Martha verflucht haben.
Mephisto must Martha cursed have
'Mephisto must have cursed Martha.'
10. (Wagner ist) streng geprüft worden.
Wagner is strictly tested been
'Wagner has been tested strictly.'
11. (Gretchen muss) sofort
gerettet worden sein.
Gretchen must immediately saved been
be
'Gretchen must have been saved immediately.'
12. (Martha wird) das Paar beobachtet haben
Martha will the pair observed have
'Martha will have observed the couple.'
13. (Heinrich hätte) sie heiraten wollen sollen.
Heinrich have her marry want should
'Heinrich should have wanted to marry her.'
14. (Gretchen wird) bald in dem Himmel ankommen
Gretchen will soon in the heaven arrive
'Gretchen will soon arrive in heaven.'
Introduction to General Linguistics WS10/11
Course author: Hubert Truckenbrodt
page 8
Some trees from the exercises of Syntax 4:
talk slowly vs langsam reden
VP
VP
|
V
|
talk
VP
AP
|
A
|
slowly
AP
|
A
|
langsam
VP
|
V
|
reden
fly to the moon vs zum Mond hinfliegen
VP
V
|
fly
VP
PP
P
|
to
PP
DP
the moon
P
|
zu
DP
dem Mond
fly to the moon in a dream vs im Traum zum Mond fliegen
VP
VP
V
|
fly
PP
PP
V
|
hinfliegen
VP
PP
in a dream
VP
im Traum
to the moon
PP
V
|
fliegen
zum Mond
the students keen on syntax vs die von der Syntax begeisterten Studenten
DP
DP
D
|
the
NP
NP
|
N
|
students
D
|
die
AP
A
|
keen
PP
on the syntax
NP
AP
NP
|
PP
A
N
|
|
von der Syntax begeisterten Studenten
envy the firmly employed workers vs die fest angestellten Arbeiter beneiden
VP
VP
V
|
envy
DP
D
|
the
DP
NP
AP1
AP2
firmly
NP
|
AP1
N
|
employed workers
D
|
die
NP
AP1
AP
fest
V
|
beneiden
NP
|
AP1
N
|
angestellten Arbeiter