A NEW ANALYSIS FOR MACHINE TRANSLATION OF THE AUXILIARY AND MAIN VERB COMPLEX

Abstract

The analysis of the verb phrase poses interesting problems. This paper suggests a binary solution where the auxiliary is treated as one constituent and the main verb complex as another. Auxiliaries are thus not treated as main verbs as was suggested by Ross 1967 (and followed in the first version of Referent Grammar, Sigurd 1987). The auxiliary may be lacking (latent, empty), in which case the main verb carries the tense (finite) marker, or the auxiliary may be present, in which case the auxiliary carries the tense marker, while the main verb complex must be nonfinite. In the main verb complex, the main verb may be preceded by almost any number of nonfinite auxiliaries, and it is this possibility which creates theoretically interesting chains of nonfinite verb forms such as Swedish Eva maste ha velat kunna vaga (att) hoppa (Eva must have wanted to be able to dare (to) jump). A basic idea of this paper is that the nonfinite auxiliary verb forms can be added as prefixes (or as in G man suffixes) by a kind of morphological rule. (Less)