LINGUIST List 12.889

Thu Mar 29 2001

Qs: Subject-Aux Inversion, L.S. Levin Manuscript

Editor for this issue: Karen Milligan <karenlinguistlist.org>

Directory

1. Frederick Newmeyer, History of Subject-Aux Inversion
2. Cathy Clavette, Looking for a manuscript by Levin, L.S.

The 'default' function of Subject-Auxiliary in Modern English is to signal
a question ('Have you been working'). But it has other functions as well:

SUBJUNCTIVE: Had I the time, I would travel more
NEGATIVE PREPOSED ADVERBS: Under no circumstances would I go there
PREPOSED SO CLAUSES: So happy is Mary, she doesn't care about how Bill has
been acting

Can anybody point me to a history of this construction, insofar as the
different uses are concerned? In particular, I am curious to know if they
all entered the language at roughly the same time, or if there was an
historically prior usage that served as a 'model' for the others.

Thanks,

Fritz Newmeyer
fjnu.washington.edu

Hi,

I would like to know if anyone can tell me where to locate the following
manuscript:

Levin, L.S. (1981) : "A Look at English Vowels", unpublished manuscript,
MIT.

Thank you,

Cathy Clavette
Universit� Laval