Jan-Wouter Zwart (University of Groningen)

Title: Periphrastic tense and the nature of verb movement.

Abstract:  This paper discusses the proper analysis of periphrastic tense (like Dutch ‘heeft gelopen’ [TEMP.AUX:3SG GE-walk-PART] walked) in current minimalism, assuming, as appears to be standard nowadays, that inflectional morphology is realized only after the syntactic derivation has run its course. On this view, syntactic terminals involve roots and features, but no inflectional morphemes, raising the question of the morphosyntactic status of the periphrastic tense auxiliary. Recent literature in theoretical morphology suggests that periphrastic expressions simply fill cells in morphological paradigms, on a par with synthetic formations. We discuss the arguments supporting this view, but will continue to argue that assuming that periphrastic morphology is postsyntactic also leads to considerable simplification of Dutch verbal syntax, especially in the domain of verb clusters. We see, then, a convergence of argumentation from both morphology and syntax for denying the auxiliary in periphrastic tenses the status of a syntactic terminal. If so, the auxiliaries undergoing verb-second are introduced only postsyntactically, leading me to conclude that verb-second, and possibly all verb-movement, must be postsyntactic as well.