Typology of Periphrastic 'Do'-constructions

Abstract

This dissertation provides a typological account of the cross-linguistic functions that can benassociated with periphrastic 'do'-constructions minimally consisting of a lexical verb and anmschematic action- auxiliary element equivalent to English do. The investigation is based on ansample of 200 genetically and typologically diverse languages.n While in some languages the occurrence of a periphrastic ldo' -auxiliary in the clause isnobligatory under certain morphosyntactic conditions, it is optional in others. The analysis ofnperiphrastic 'do' -constructions in the sample shows that the variation of functions associatednwith obligatory 'do'-periphrasis as a consequence of grammatical properties is limited andncan be described in terms of four types, A considerable number of languages that employn'do' -periphrasis optionally allows similar form-function relations, which suggests that thesenfour types represent likely domains for grammaticalisation.n Functions of optional 'dor-periphrasisnnevertheless also include the establishment of discourse coherence andnmorphosyntactic economy, more specifically avoidance of morphological complexity, forninstance during language acquisition.nn The sample also contains languages in which a 'dor--auxiliary directly encodesngrammatical categories typically associated with verb morphology such as tense, mood andnaspect. In these languages the mdo' -auxiliary is not triggered by morphosyntactic features ofnthe clause it occurs in. Furthermore 'do' -periphrasis can be attested as a cross-linguisticallyncommon strategy for the purpose of symmetric verb coordination.n

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