Auxiliary verb constructions (review)

This new monograph on auxiliary verb constructions (AVCs) is noteworthy for two reasons. First, unlike previous interpretations, Anderson does not limit his focus only to constructions in which the auxiliary verb serves as inflectional head. He includes complex predicates in which the main verb (the verb phrase's semantic head) carries the inflections and also types where inflections appear on the main verb as well as the auxiliary. This broad sweep permits examination of a much larger sample of complex predicate types crosslinguistically, yielding new insights into the nature of canonical types of AVCs. Second, the focus of the book is diachronic as well as synchronic-A uses the term 'panchronic'-a vantage that leads to interesting observations about the diverse origins of V + V constructions across languages.

Also impressive is the sheer number and geographic variety of the languages examined. Examples derive from over 800 distinct languages from dozens of families on every continent. Although A admits that his choice represents a sample of convenience, it seems hardly possible to have utilized any significantly less 'convenient' sample, given the severely incomplete documentation of the world's languages. Data are gleaned from families and isolates across the world, including hundreds of languages rarely, if ever, included in crosslinguistic analyses. Noteworthy are the many examples from South Siberian Turkic, Burushaski (northern Pakistan), and the Munda family of South Asia. All of these languages represent areas where A has performed original documentation or analysis (see in particular A's (2004) monograph on auxiliary verb constructions in Altai-Sayan Turkic). Although Khakas, Altai, and Tuvan (Turkic languages of south-central Siberia) contain a rich array of auxiliary verb constructions, they have hitherto been little remarked upon in broader crosslinguistic studies of complex predicates.

The book's seven chapters begin with an introduction framing the scope of the study. A's definition of 'auxiliary verb construction' is admittedly vague (4-5), since he wishes to examine phenomena beyond the bounds of canonical AVCs, as well as instances where the genesis of complex predicate constructions is an ongoing process. This view of auxiliation as a continuum between lexical verb and functional affix is consonant with the approach of Kuteva (2001). It also allows examination of instances in which the same combination of AVC elements exists simultaneously at two different points on the grammaticalization continuum, as is the case with modern Khakas, a South Siberian Turkic language. The perennial difficulty of clearly defining the notion of serial verb construction further plays to the advantage of the approach taken. A more restricted definition would have hampered the examination of complex predicates from a diachronic perspective. Heine (1993) already noted the ambiguous grammatical status of elements in transition between full verb and auxiliary. A's approach is tailored toward this reality, and it is significant that he refrains from compiling the sort of misleadingly precise percentages that often form conclusions in typological studies. AVCs, however defined, represent a structural category that is too fuzzy to lend itself to this type of an analysis.

The next few chapters subcategorize AVCs according to the locus of inflectional material. The position of inflections within the complex predicate is the primary criterion used to classify AVCs in A's analysis. Ch. 2 examines what could be called 'canonical AVCs', that is, constructions in which all of the predicate's inflections are attached to the auxiliary element. A labels this morphosyntactic configuration as 'AUX-headed' patterns of inflection. This is the type generally typical of AVCs that happen to be found in better-known languages. Previous studies, notably Harris & Ramat 1987, regarded them as the only true AVC.

Ch. 3 turns to complex predicates in which the inflections are located on the lexical verb rather than the auxiliary. A calls this type of AVC 'LEX-headed'. The examples come from a wide variety of languages, demonstrating the extent of the distribution of this type. A regards as 'LEX-headed AVCs' only those constructions in which the...