AuxSel 01_Auxiliary Selection
| Definition |
|---|
| The property Auxiliary Selection has the value "yes" when the language has an active perfect aspect (or past tense) that makes use of a past participle and an auxiliary verb where the auxiliary verb alternates between "have" or "be" depending on various factors. Some factors known to influence auxiliary selection include verb class (unergative versus unaccusative), transitivity, and person features of the subject. NA (Not Applicable): This property is defined for a language only if: (a) the language has main verb "have" (e.g., "John has a book", where the possessor is the subject "John" and the possessed is the object "a book"), (b) the language uses auxiliary verbs in the formation of the perfect (past). Otherwise, the language is NA for this property. Examples: 1. Italian is "yes" for Auxiliary Selection, since the intransitive verb "telephone" takes a different auxiliary verb from the intransitive verb "arrive" in the past. Gianni ha/*è telefonato G. has/*is telephoned "Gianni called." Gianni è/*ha arrivato G. is/*has arrived "Gianni arrived." 2. English is "no" for auxiliary selection since English expresses the perfect with the verb "have", but it never expresses the perfect with the verb "be": John has left. *John is left. (* means ungrammatical) Comment: For many speakers, the verb 'go' can occur with both 'be' or 'have' in the perfect, (Mary is/has gone to the movies). Since only the verb 'go' behaves in this way, and is not productive, this does not suffice for a 'yes' value. |
| Contributed by: Chris Collins |
| Language | Value | Contributor | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| =Hoan | No | Chris Collins | |
| Acehnese | NA | Julie Legate | |
| Afrikaans | No | Theresa Biberauer | Afrikaans perfect tenses are all formed with invariant "het" ("have"). The only relic of Dutch auxiliary selection can be found in structures like "Hy is dorp toe" - he is town to, i.e. "He has gone to town". |
| + Albanian | Yes | Dalina Kallulli | |
| American Sign Language | No | Natasha Abner | No "be"; "have" not used as auxiliary or tense/aspect marker. |
| Amharic | No | Girma Demeke | |
| Ancient Greek | No | Richard Faure | |
| Arabic, Gulf | No | Dimitrios Ntelitheos | |
| Aymara | NA | Matt Coler | |
| Bajau, West Coast | No | Mark Miller | |
| Bardi | NA | Claire Bowern | |
| Basaa | NA | Paul Roger Bassong | |
| Basque | Yes | Karlos Arregi | |
| + Bellinzonese | Yes | Chris Collins | |
| Beng | NA | Denis Paperno | |
| Bole | No | Alhaji Gimba | |
| Brazilian Portuguese | Yes | --- | |
| + Breton | Yes | Steve Hewitt | |
| Bulgarian | No | Iliana Krapova | |
| + Burgenland-Romani | NA | Michelle McComb | This property is set to NA as Burgenland-Romani has no verb 'have'. Instead, it uses the verb 'to be' + accusative on the possessor and nominative on the possession. |
| Burmese | NA | Timothy Ho | |
| Calabrian (Northern) | No | Giuseppina Silvestri | |
| + Catalan | No | Txuss Martin | |
| Chalcatongo Mixtec | NA | Jess Combs | |
| Chichewa | NA | Sam Mchombo | |
| Chickasaw | NA | Pam Munro | |
| Chol | NA | Jessica Coon | |
| Czech | No | Peter Kosta | |
| Dagaare | NA | Adams Bodomo | |
| Dholuo | NA | Hilda Koopman | |
| Digo | NA | Steve Nicolle | |
| Digor Ossetic | NA | David Erschler | |
| + Dutch | Yes | Hilda Koopman | |
| Eastern Armenian | No | Karine Megerdoomian | |
| English | No | Chris Collins | |
| English (Singapore) | No | Adam Chong | |
| + European Portuguese | Yes | Salvador Mascarenhas | |
| Ewe | No | Chris Collins | |
| Farefari | NA | Mary Esther Kropp Dakubu | |
| Faroese | Yes | Gunnar Hrafn Hrafnbjargarson | |
| Finnish | No | Anders Holmberg | |
| + French | Yes | Chris Collins | |
| Frisian (West Frisian) | Yes | Jarich Hoekstra | |
| Ga | No | Mary Esther Kropp Dakubu | |
| galician | NA | Naír García | |
| Garifuna | NA | Teresa O'Neill (contributor till 2012) | |
| georgian | No | Lea Nash | |
| German | Yes | Martin Haspelmath | |
| + Greek | No | Chris Collins | |
| Greenlandic, West (Kalaallisut) | No | Stephen Mayeaux | |
| Gungbe (Porto-Novo) | No | Enoch Oladé Aboh | |
| Gurene | NA | Samuel Atintono | |
| Haitian | NA | Michel DeGraff | |
| Hakka | No | Iris Wu | |
| Hanga | No | Geoffrey Hunt | |
| Hausa | No | Michael A. Estrada | |
| Hebrew | NA | Ur Shlonsky | |
| Hindi | No | Gurprit Bains | |
| Hixkaryana | No | Laura Kalin | |
| Hungarian | NA | Anna Szabolcsi | |
| Ibibio | No | Willie Willie | |
| + Icelandic | Yes | Jim Wood | |
| Igala | No | Johnson Folorunso Ilori | |
| Iha | No | Mark Donohue | |
| Ilokano | No | Jeremy Rafal | |
| imbabura quichua | No | UCLA Linguistics 210 | |
| Indonesian | NA | Mark Donohue | |
| + Irish | NA | Bridget Nixdorf | |
| Iron Ossetic | NA | David Erschler | |
| Isbukun Bunun | No | Iris Wu | |
| Italian | Yes | Andrea Cattaneo | |
| Jamaican Creole English | No | Tonjes Veenstra | |
| Japanese | No | Ken Hiraiwa | |
| Jarawara | NA | Alan Vogel | |
| Jingulu | NA | Rob Pensalfini | |
| Karachay | No | Steve Seegmiller | |
| KiLega | NA | Kasangati Kinyalolo | |
| Kiswahili | NA | Aggrey Wasike | |
| Kiyaka | NA | Lukowa Kidima | |
| Konni | No | Michael Cahill | |
| Korean | No | Chung-hye Han | |
| Kuot | NA | Eva Lindström | |
| Kurdish (Sorani) | NA | Yadgar Karimi | |
| Kusunda | Yes | Mark Donohue | |
| Laal | NA | Florian Lionnet | |
| Lango | No | Arwa Rangwala | |
| Lani | NA | Mark Donohue | |
| Lao | NA | Alif Silpachai | Lao does not use "have" nor "be" as an auxiliary |
| Lebanese Arabic | NA | Lina Choueiri | |
| Lubukusu | NA | Aggrey Wasike | |
| Maasai (Kisongo) | NA | Hilda Koopman | |
| Malagasy | NA | Ed Keenan and Laura Kalin | |
| Mandarin | No | Arthur Wang | |
| Maori | NA | Ray Harlow | |
| Marshallese | NA | Heather Willson Sturman | |
| Masarak | NA | Jessica Chen | |
| Medumba | NA | KEUPDJIO HERMANN SIDOINE | |
| + Middle Dutch | Yes | Gertjan Postma | |
| Miya | NA | Michael A. Estrada | Miya does not use 'have' or 'be' as auxiliaries |
| N|u | No | Chris Collins | |
| Nahuatl (Central Huasteca) | No | John Garcia | |
| + Nahuatl (Classical) | No | John Garcia | |
| Naki | NA | Jeff Good | |
| Ndut | NA | Daniel Morgan | |
| Nepali | Yes | Mark Donohue | |
| Nez Perce | NA | Amy Rose Deal | |
| Norwegian | Yes | Marit Julien | There is dialectal variation in Norwegian with respect to this property. In most spoken varieties, participles of unaccusative verbs can combine with BE or HAVE in the perfect. See Christensen, Kirsti Koch & Tarald Taraldsen (1989): "Expletive chain formation and past participle agreement in Scandinavian dialects." In Paola Benincá (ed.) Dialect Variation and the Theory of Grammar, pp. 53-84. Foris, Dordrecht. However, some dialects in the southeast of Norway only use the auxiliary HAVE in active eventive perfect constructions. |
| Nupe | NA | Jason Kandybowicz | |
| Nweh | NA | Hilda Koopman | |
| + Occitan | Yes | Patrick Sauzet | |
| Okinawan | NA | Ken Hiraiwa | |
| Old English | Yes | Willem Koopman | |
| Old French | Yes | Heather Burnett | |
| One | NA | Mark Donohue | |
| Palue | NA | Mark Donohue | |
| panjabi | No | Gurprit Bains | |
| Pashto | NA | Taylor Roberts | |
| Pima | No | Marcus Smith | |
| Polish | No | Barbara Tomaszewicz | |
| Q'anjob'al | NA | Kathleen O'Flynn | |
| + Romanian | Yes | Oana Savescu | |
| Russian | NA | Jillian Kozyra | |
| Salasaca Quichua | No | Pieter Muysken | |
| Samoan | NA | Vincent Homer | |
| San Dionisio Ocotepec Zapotec | No | George Aaron Broadwell | |
| Sandawe | NA | Helen Eaton | |
| Scottish Gaelic | No | David Adger | |
| Senaya | No | Laura McPherson | |
| Shupamem | No | Abdoulaye Laziz Nchare | |
| Skou | NA | Mark Donohue | |
| Slovenian | No | Franc Marušič | |
| + Spanish | No | Violeta Vazquez-Rojas | |
| + Swedish | No | fredrik heinat | |
| Swiss German | Yes | Cecile Meier | |
| Tagalog | No | Edith Aldridge | |
| Taiwanese Southern Min | No | Arthur Wang | |
| Thai | No | Peter Jenks | |
| Titan | No | Claire Bowern | |
| Tlingit | No | James Crippen | |
| Tommo-So | Yes | Laura McPherson | |
| Tongan | NA | Hilda Koopman | no verb have |
| Triqui, Copala | No | George Aaron Broadwell | |
| Tukang Besi | NA | Mark Donohue | |
| Tuki (Tukombo) | NA | Edmond Biloa | |
| Turkish | No | Murat Kural | |
| Tuvan | NA | Brian Hsu | |
| Twi | No | Chris Collins | |
| Ukrainian | NA | Roksolana Mykhaylyk | |
| Vata | No | Hilda Koopman | The language has a verb of possession like have (ka); the language has a perfect auxiliary (la). There is also a future auxiliary Ka. |
| Welsh | NA | David Willis | |
| + West Flemish | Yes | Liliane Haegeman | |
| Western Armenian | No | Hrayr Khanjian | |
| Wolof | No | Harold Torrence | |
| Yan-nhaŋu | NA | Claire Bowern | |
| Yawa | NA | Mark Donohue | |
| + Yiddish | Yes | Shannon Mooney | |
| Yoruba | No | Johnson Folorunso Ilori | |
| + Zulu | NA | Esther Park |