In:Historical Linguistics 2009: Selected papers from the 19th International Conference on Historical Linguistics, Nijmegen, 10-14 August 2009
Edited by Ans M.C. van Kemenade and Nynke de Haas
[Current Issues in Linguistic Theory 320] 2012
► pp. 191–210
On the development of the perfect (participle)
Published online: 12 April 2012
https://doi.org/10.1075/cilt.320.10lar
https://doi.org/10.1075/cilt.320.10lar
This paper argues that the perfect tense has developed from a resultant state construction (in the sense of Kratzer 2000) that expresses bounded or resultative aspect. The development involves changes in the structure and meaning of the participle. Perfect participles and resultant state participles differ with respect to stativity and tense, and in Present-Day Swedish they also involve different forms. It seems plausible that the development of the perfect began with an extended use of resultant state participles with HAVE at some point in Old Germanic. Traces of such a development are observed in the Old Norse Edda and the Grágás, as well as in Old Saxon Heliand. In these texts, the frequency of agreeing participles in the complement of HAVE is considerably higher than in both Gothic and Old High German, as well as in the Present-Day languages.
Cited by (1)
Cited by one other publication
Larsson, Ida
2021. On the emergence of auxiliary selection in Germanic. In The Perfect Volume [Studies in Language Companion Series, 217], ► pp. 291 ff.
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