The Semantics of Auxiliary Do

The meaningfulness of auxiliary do has important implications for linguistic theory. Do signals a presupposition that some question attaches in some way to the event designated by the verb. Although useful as an auxiliary, do is semantically appropriate in all the contexts in which it is used (questions, negation, other cases of auxiliary inversion, affirmation and imperatives). Considerations of value — in particular, the relation of do to indicative forms — are important in understanding its use. The meaning proposed casts light on the origins of auxiliary do, which in turn explains some of the synchronic peculiarities of the sign.