Some thoughts on the morphology of silent verbs: Chapter 2. The absent, the silent, and the audible

van Riemsdijk, Henk

doi:10.1075/lfab.8.05van

In:Of Grammar, Words, and Verses: In honor of Carlos Piera
Edited by Esther Torrego
[Language Faculty and Beyond 8] 2012
► pp. 19–39

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Chapter 2. The absent, the silent, and the audible

Some thoughts on the morphology of silent verbs

Henk van Riemsdijk

Published online: 18 April 2012

https://doi.org/10.1075/lfab.8.05van

This chapter pursues the issue of phonetically silent lexical items (cf. Van Riemsdijk 2002). Two more empirical domains are examined, and in both cases I tentatively conclude that a silent verb is involved. The first of these concerns the copula/auxiliary be when combined with a directional PP in Dutch and Swiss German. The second has to do with what I call silent particle verbs in Dutch. In a last section I discuss the more general issue of how widespread the phenomenon of silent lexical verbs is? And if the impression that this is a relatively rare phenomenon is correct, why do languages make such a limited use of what looks like a very economical device?

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