Abstract
Dinka, a Western Nilotic language, has a class of auxiliary verbs which is remarkable in the following four respects: (i) It is unusually large, comprising some 20 members; (ii) it is grammatically homogeneous in terms of both morphology and syntax; (iii) most of the auxiliary verbs correspond to adverbs in languages like English, while the rest are tense-aspect markers; and (iv) it is possible to combine several auxiliary verbs in a single clause. For some of the auxiliary verbs there are extant full verbs from which they have evolved. To some extent, therefore, it is possible to observe what semantic changes the auxiliary verbs have undergone or are undergoing during the process of grammaticalization.
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