In this post I discuss some features of English inflection: English identifies 6 combinations of person (eg 1st person singular, 3rd person plural) but mostly distinguishes only 2 categories: (a) 3rd person singular versus (b) all others. the most prominent inflectional ending in English is -s, which serves as both:- the 3rd person singular ending…… Continue reading Notes on English inflection
Tag: Richard Kayne
Selecting the auxiliary for French and Italian anticausatives
In forming the perfect tense, both French and Italian use the auxiliary ‘have’ (Italian avere, French avoir) for most verbs, but the auxiliary ‘be’ (Italian essere, French être) for some verbs. Both languages use ‘have’ for all (non-reflexive) transitive verbs and use ‘be’ for reflexive verbs. For some intransitive verbs, both languages use ‘have’, but…… Continue reading Selecting the auxiliary for French and Italian anticausatives
How to need and how to have
The way languages express needing something is linked in a surprising way to how they express having something. In their paper Having “need” and needing “have” Stephanie Harves and Richard Kayne (Linguistic Inquiry, 2012) summarise the facts and suggest an explanation. How to have: H-languages English and some other languages use a transitive verb like…… Continue reading How to need and how to have
The English verbal ending -s
It is often said that English verbs inflect in the present tense for the person (1st / 2nd / 3rd) and number (singular / plural) of their grammatical subject. In Notes on English Agreement, Richard Kayne provides a different analysis. He suggests that English verbs inflect only for number, not for person. Background Almost all…… Continue reading The English verbal ending -s