Auxiliary Selection in Spanish

Auxiliary Selection in Spanish
Studies in Language Companion Series (SLCS)

This series has been established as a companion series to the periodical
Studies in Language.
For an overview of all books published in this series, please see
http://benjamins.com/catalog/slcs
Editors
Werner Abraham
University of Vienna /
University of Munich
Elly van Gelderen
Arizona State University
Editorial Board
Bernard Comrie
Max Planck Institute, Leipzig

and University of California, Santa Barbara
William Croft
University of New Mexico
sten Dahl
University of Stockholm
Gerrit J. Dimmendaal
University of Cologne
Ekkehard Knig
Free University of Berlin
Christian Lehmann
University of Erfurt
Marianne Mithun
University of California, Santa Barbara
Heiko Narrog
Tohuku University
Johanna L. Wood
University of Aarhus
Debra Ziegeler
University of Paris III
Volume 155
Auxiliary Selection in Spanish. Gradience, gradualness, and conservation
by Malte Rosemeyer

Gradience, gradualness, and conservation
Malte Rosemeyer
University of Freiburg
John Benjamins Publishing Company

Amsterdam/Philadelphia
TM
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of

theAmerican National Standard for Information Sciences Permanence
of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ansi z39.48-1984.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Rosemeyer, Malte.
Auxiliary Selection in Spanish : Gradience, gradualness, and conservation / Malte Rosemeyer.
p. cm. (Studies in Language Companion Series, issn 0165-7763 ; v. 155)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Spanish language--Variation. 2. Spanish language--Study and teaching. I. Title.
PC4074.7.R67
2014
465--dc23
2014001875
isbn 978 90 272 5920 2 (Hb ; alk. paper)
isbn 978 90 272 7040 5 (Eb)
2014 John Benjamins B.V.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, by print, photoprint, microfilm, or any
other means, without written permission from the publisher.
John Benjamins Publishing Co. P.O. Box 36224 1020 me Amsterdam The Netherlands
John Benjamins North America P.O. Box 27519 Philadelphia pa 19118-0519 usa
To my family
Eigentlich hat jedes vernderliche Ding das Ma seiner Zeit in sich: dies besteht,
wenn auch kein anderes da wre; keine zwei Dinge dieser Welt haben dasselbe
Ma der Zeit... Es gibt also (man kann es eigentlich und khn sagen) im Universum zu einer Zeit unzhlbar viele Zeiten.
(Johann Gottfried Herder, Metakritik zur Kritik der reinen Vernunft)
Table of contents
Conventions
List of tables
List of figures
Acknowledgements
chapter 1
Introduction
1.1 Aims and concepts 1
1.2 Outline of the study 6
chapter 2
Theoretical prerequisites
2.1 What is auxiliary selection? 9
2.2 Auxiliary selection in Spanish 18
2.2.1 Auxiliated verbs 21
2.2.2 Sentence-level constraints 27
2.2.3 A note on reflexive verbs 30
2.2.4 Why was ser + PtcP replaced by haber + PtcP? 32
2.3 Summary 36
chapter 3
A constructional approach to Spanish auxiliaryselection
3.1 Resultatives and anteriors 40
3.1.1 The stativity of resultative constructions 43
3.1.2 Persistence of the resultant state at reference time 45
3.2 Origins of Spanish auxiliary selection 52
3.2.1 Origins of haber + PtcP 54
3.2.2 Origins of ser + PtcP 64
3.2.3 Differences between habre + PtcP and esse + PtcP 70
3.3 Summary 72
chapter 4
A model of linguistic disappearances
4.1 Gradience and gradualness 76
4.2 Actualisation and diffusion 83
4.3 Interim summary: Two types of diffusion 86
xiii
xv
xvii
xix
39
75
4.4
4.5
4.6
4.7
hy and how do linguistic elements disappear? 87

W
Remanence and conservation 88
4.5.1 Remanence 89
4.5.2 Conservation 91
Persistence as conservation 96
Summary 101
chapter 5
Methodology and corpus
5.1 Quantitative data in historical linguistics 106
5.1.1 Usage frequencies and discourse traditions 107
5.1.2 Usage frequencies and copying 108
5.1.3 Dating the texts 111
5.2 Data selection 112
5.2.1 A corpus of historiographical texts 113
5.2.2 Determining the envelope of variation 115
5.2.2.1 The multivalency of ser + PtcP and haber + PtcP 116
5.2.2.2 Verbs displaying variable behaviour 126
5.2.3 Queries 128
5.2.4 Randomisation 129
5.2.5 Quantitative survey of the data 129
5.3 Statistical methods 131
5.4 Summary 135
chapter 6
Auxiliary selection in Old Spanish
6.1 Periodisation 138
6.2 Measurements 142
6.2.1 Date of occurrence 142
6.2.2 Auxiliated verbs 142
6.2.3 Reflexivity 147
6.2.4 Subject referentiality 147
6.2.5 Locative, manner, intention expressions 148
6.2.6 Temporal adverbial modification and number marking 149
6.2.7 Modality 150
6.2.8 Temporal-aspectual morphology 152
6.2.9 Persistence 152
6.3 Descriptive quantitative analysis 153
6.4 Multivariate analysis 157
6.4.1 Measurements 157
6.4.2 Model selection 158
105
137
6.5
Table of contents
6.4.3 R
esults 161
6.4.4 D
iscussion 162
6.4.4.1 Verb semantics and subject referentiality 163
6.4.4.2 Reflexivity 167
6.4.4.3 Adverbials expressing manner, location, or intention 172
6.4.4.4 Temporal adverbial modification, number morphology,
modality 172
6.4.4.5 Temporal morphology 176
6.4.4.6 Persistence 179
Summary 179
6.5.1 Transitivity 180
6.5.2 Reference to event vs. reference to resultant state 180
6.5.3 Persistence of resultant state 181
6.5.4 Discourse function 181
6.5.5 General summary 182
chapter 7
Gradualness and conservation in the loss of ser + PtcP
7.1 Methodological approach 187
7.2 Remanence 191
7.2.1 Descriptive analysis 193
7.2.2 Multivariate analysis 197
7.2.2.1 Measurements 198
7.2.2.2 Model selection 199
7.2.2.3 Results 201
7.2.2.4 Discussion 201
7.3 Frequency effects 204
7.3.1 Longevity of ser-selection due to conservation 204
7.3.1.1 Descriptive analysis 206
7.3.1.2 Multivariate analysis 211
7.3.2 Changes in the distribution of auxiliary selection 214
7.3.2.2 Descriptive analysis 216
7.3.2.3 Multivariate analysis 222
7.4 Persistence 248
7.4.1 Multivariate analysis 249
7.4.1.2 Model selection 250
7.4.1.3 Results 250
7.4.1.4 Discussion 255
185
7.5
Summary 257
7.5.1 Remanence 257
7.5.2 Conservation 258
7.5.3 Persistence 260
7.5.4 Causes of the generalisation of haber + PtcP 261
chapter 8
Conclusions
8.1 Summary of findings 263
8.2 Relevance for studies of auxiliary selection 270
8.3 Relevance for studies on frequency effects 274
References
chapter 9
Appendix
9.1 Composition of the corpus of historiographical texts 299
9.2 Query syntax per verb lemma 303
9.3 Full event history table 306
Index
263
277
299
309
Conventions
General abbreviations
aic
Akaike Information Criterion
ash
Auxiliary Selection Hierarchy
biblia
Biblia medieval corpus (Enrique-Arias 2008)
c
C information criterion
cde
Corpus del Espaol (Davies 2002)
corde Corpus diacrnico del espaol (Real Academia Espaola 2012)
n
Number of tokens
or
Odds ratio
p P-value
rl
Reference level
x
Interaction term
Glossing abbrevations
1
First person
2
Second person
3
Third person
cond Conditional
f Feminine
fut Future
imp Imperative
inf Infinitive
ipfv Imperfective
m Masculine
pfv Perfective
pl Plural
pro.dat
Dative pronoun
pro.refl
Reflexive pronoun
prs Present
pst Past
ptcp Participle
sbjv Subjunctive
sg Singular
Predictor and dependent variables and their abbreviations

[author]
Author of the source text
[aux_temp]
Temporal-aspectual morphology on the auxiliary
[con] Control
[converb] Percentage with which a verb appears in contexts marked as
[+CON]
[dir]
Directed change
[dirverb] Percentage with which a verb appears in contexts marked as
[+DIR]
[event]
Transition of a verb to categorical haber-selection
[freq]
Mean verb lemma frequency in the Corpus del Espaol (CDE)
[intent]
Expression of subject referent intention
[irrealis]
Irrealis modality
[loc]
Stative locative adverbials
[macro-period] Macro period (Old/Pre-Classical/Classical Spanish)
[manner]
Manner adverbials
[mo]
Movement leading to a change in location
[moverb] Percentage with which a verb appears in contexts marked as
[+MO]
[neg]
Negative modality
[number]
Number morphology on the auxiliary
[period]
50-years time period
[persist_haber] Presence/distance of recent haber + PtcP token
[persist_ser]
Presence/distance of recent ser + PtcP token
[pro]
Reflexive pronoun
[ser]
Selection of ser instead of haber
[subtype]
Type of subject referent
[te] Telicity
[teverb] Percentage with which a verb appears in contexts marked
as [+TE]
[temp]
Temporal adverbial modification
[time]
Date of occurrence
[verb]
Verb lemma from which the participle is formed
List of tables
Table 2.1. The Auxiliary Selection Hierarchy for Italian and French (adapted
from Legendre & Sorace 2003:227) 15
Table 2.2. Parameterisation of predictors of auxiliary selection (adapted from
Legendre & Sorace 2003:227) 16
Table 2.3. Event structure templates (Sorace 2000:885) 16
Table 2.4. Verb classes selecting ser as anterior auxiliary according to
Benzing (1931: 400412) 19
Table 2.5. Semantic entailments for Agent and Patient Proto-Roles (adapted
from Dowty 1991:572) 21
Table 2.6. Intransitive verb class and date of last occurrence with ser
(Aranovich 2003: 6) 22
Table 2.7. Parameterisation of the verb classes of the ASH (adapted from
Mateu2009: 190) 25
Table 2.8. BE and HAVE with intransitive compound pasts marked as
[+irrealis] or [+negation] (Stolova 2006:316) 27
Table 2.9. Quasi-reflexive verb class and date of last occurrence with ser
(adapted from Aranovich 2003:22) 30
Table 3.1. Parameters distinguishing resultative from anterior
constructions 52
Table 3.2. The grammaticalisation of haber + PtcP (adapted from Rodrguez
Molina2010: 1137) 60
Table 5.1. Categorisation of the four functions of ser + PtcP according to
eventivity andvoice 117
Table 5.2. Verbs selected according to semantic verb classes and
frequency 127
Table 5.3. Numbers of tokens from each text per century 130
Table 6.1. Parameterisation of subject referent types [SUBTYPE] 148
Table 6.2. Statistical make-up of the variables [PERSIST_SER] and
[PERSIST_HABER] 153
Table 6.3. Descriptive analysis of Old Spanish auxiliary selection 154
Table 6.4. Generalised linear mixed-effect regression model of auxiliary
selection in the Old Spanish section of the corpus of
historiographical texts (MODEL1 ) 159
Table 6.5. Auxiliary selection in Old Spanish according to the combinatorial
possibilities of the parameters directed change [DIR] and telicity
[TE] 163
Table 6.6. Auxiliary selection in Old Spanish historiographical texts according

to (a)presence/absence of a reflexive pronoun and (b) predicate
classes 168
Table 6.7. The six verbs with the highest relative frequency of plural
morphology in Old Spanish historiographical texts 175
Table 6.8. Distribution of tense morphology for Old Spanish haber/ser + PtcP
tokens in subordinate temporal clauses that situate the situation
expressed by the main clause verb after the situation expressed by
haber/ser + PtcP in the subordinate clause 177
Table 7.1. Coding of three verbs in the event history table 190
Table 7.2. Example of the verb-period coding of the data 198
Table 7.3. Generalised linear regression model measuring the probability
of the occurrence of an event of disappearance of ser-selection by
verb-semantic predictors (MODEL2 ) 200
Table 7.4. Mean verb lemma frequencies and frequency in haber + PtcP and ser
+ PtcP constructions for the most frequent verbs in the study 206
Table 7.5. Mean verb lemma frequency and frequency rank of the five verbs
appearing inthe ser + PtcP construction in the second half of the
17th century section of the corpusof historiographical texts 207
Table 7.6. Linear regression analysis measuring the correlation between
semantic predictors and mean verb lemma frequency [FREQ] 210
Table 7.7. Generalised linear regression model measuring the probability of
the occurrence of an event of disappearance of ser-selection for
a verb (MODEL2 ) 212
Table 7.8. Summary of the parameterisation of Old Spanish auxiliary selection
and the results of MODEL1 215
Table 7.9. Descriptive analysis of Early Modern Spanish auxiliary
selection 216
Table 7.10. Descriptive analysis of the changes in the distribution of Spanish
auxiliary selection between Old Spanish, Pre-Classical Spanish,
and Classical Spanish 219
Table 7.11. Generalised linear mixed-effect regression model of the development
of auxiliary selection in the corpus of historiographical texts
(MODEL3 ) 224
Table 7.12. Generalised linear mixed-effect regression model of Early Modern
Spanish auxiliary selection (MODEL4 ) 251
Table 9.1. Source texts in the corpus of historiographical texts 299
Table 9.2. Query syntax per verb lemma 303
Table 9.3. Event history table 306
List of figures
Figure 3.1. Aspectual make-up of anteriors and resultatives 40
Figure 3.2. Anteriors and resultatives in narrative chains 48
Figure 3.3. Resultative I constructions (adapted from Detges 2001:88) 56
Figure 3.4. Anterior constructions (adapted from Detges 2001:89) 56
Figure 3.5. Resultative II constructions (adapted from Detges 2001:89) 57
Figure 4.1. The remanence effect in language change 90
Figure 4.2. The conserving effect in language change 94
Figure 4.3. Schematic summary of the model of linguistic disappearances 96
Figure 6.1. Development of the mean percentage of use of ser + PtcP in the
corpus of historiographical texts 139
Figure 6.2. Variability-based neighbour clustering (VNC) for the percentage
of use of ser + PtcP with respect to haber + PtcP in the corpus
of historiographical texts 141
Figure 7.1. Hazard rates and estimated survival probability of verbs in the ser +
PtcP construction over time 193
Figure 7.2. Hazard rates and estimated survival probability for verbs in the
ser+ PtcP construction over time by verb groups according to
predicate class 195
Figure 7.3. Date of last appearance of a verb in the ser + PtcP construction as a
function of its mean verb lemma frequency 208
Figure 7.4. Hazard rates and estimated survival probability for verbs in the ser
+ PtcP construction over time by verb lemma frequency 209
Figure 7.5. Proportion of plural number morphology over time for haber +
PtcP and ser + PtcP 232
Figure 7.6. Development of auxiliary selection by number morphology, divided
for verbs that typically have a motional semantics and verbs that
typically have a non-motional semantics 233
Figure 7.7. Auxiliary selection of tornar and volver in the 16th century as a
function of their semantic usage (Rosemeyer 2013:448) 237
Figure 7.8. Development of use of haber + PtcP and ser + PtcP with imperfective and perfective past tense morphology over time 238
Figure 7.9. Development of infinitival morphology for haber + PtcP and ser +
PtcP over time 241
Figure 7.10. Development of auxiliary selection by reflexive pronoun 247

Figure 7.11. Development of the use of reflexive pronouns in the corpus of
historiographical texts 248
Figure 8.1.
The course of actualisation of haber + PtcP 264
Acknowledgements
This work was made possible by the funding received by the Deutsche Forschungs
gemeinschaft (DFG) for the Graduiertenkolleg 1624/1 Frequenzeffekte in der
Sprache at the University of Freiburg. I am grateful to Rolf Kailuweit and Daniel
Jacob for their constant help, guidance, and interest in my topic, and more thankful yet for never failing to point out problems with my approach. I also feel greatly
indebted to Stefan Pfnder, who to us graduate students was much more than the
speaker of the Graduate School. Lastly, I wish to thank my colleagues from the
Graduate School.
Of course, there were many more colleagues and friends who helped me
developing the ideas and analyses presented in this monograph, and I cannot
name all of them here. Some persons however deserve special mention. Heike
Behrens, Hendrik de Smet, Oliver Ehmer, Javier Elvira Gonzlez, Mar Garachana
Camarero, Marco Garca Garca, Jaume Mateu, and Javier Rodrguez Molina
had an important influence on the development of my ideas on the development
of Spanish auxiliary selection. In conducting the statistical analyses, I received
crucial assistance by Harald Baayen, Martin Hilpert, Lars Konieczny, Benedikt
Szmrecsanyi, Sascha Wolfer, and Christoph Wolk. However, in finishing the statistical modelling, the most important person was Nicole Hiekel.
chapter 1
Introduction
This chapter develops the aims and concepts of the study (1.1), and describes its
structure (1.2).
1.1 Aims and concepts
This study investigates the language change by which a grammatical construction replaces another construction, causing its disappearance. It is argued that
frequency effects play an important role in these processes because they directly
influence the grammatical status of the constructions involved in the change.
Notably, language change is intimately connected to synchronic variation. Recent
studies on language change like Traugott and Trousdale (2010a) highlight the
relationship between diachronic gradualness and synchronic gradience. The
concept of gradualness refers to the fact that the processes by which a construction intrudes into the usage contexts of another construction proceed in small
steps, affecting certain usage contexts earlier than others. Increases in the usage
frequency of a construction leads to gradience, i.e. ordered variation between the
two constructions. However, usage frequency can counteract these processes. It
has been observed that if speakers use a specific instantiation of a disappearing
construction very frequently, this syntagm will persist longer in a language. This
conserving effect (Bybee 2006) interacts with categoriality. Due to the declining
syntactic productivity of the disappearing construction, surviving syntagms are
likely to be reanalysed by the speakers.
The validity of this model of linguistic disappearances is demonstrated in an
empirical investigation of the phenomenon frequently described as split perfect
auxiliary selection in older stages of the Spanish language, using a corpus of
Spanish historiographical texts between 1270 and 1699. In the following, a functional definition of auxiliary is assumed (see Heine 1993; Kuteva 2001), wherein
auxiliation is not seen as an intrinsic property, but rather as a function of a linguistic item. It must be understood that auxiliation modifies the portrayal of a s ituation
in a sentence. In Heines (1993) terms,
A good auxiliary is verblike to some extent and is used either to place the
situation described in the sentence with reference to deictic time (tense), to
ascribe a temporal contour to it (aspect), or to assess its reality (modality)
(Heine 1993:22)
As illustrated by the following examples, in Old Spanish both ser be and haber
have could auxiliate past participles formed from intransitive verbs:1
(1) depues que el fue
muerto
fallaron
en sus

after that he be.pst.pfv.3sg die.ptcp.m.sg find.pst.pfv.3pl in his

archas dos libros
trunks two books
After this death they found two books in this trunks [EDEI, 4235]2
(2) el conde don Enrique e el maestre don Fadrique e todos

the count Don Enrique and the master Don Fadrique and all

los que eran
en su conpaia eran
those that be.pst.ipfv.3pl in their company be.pst.ipfv.3pl

partidos
de Talauera e eran
en Toro
leave.ptcp.m.pl from Talhabera and be.pst.ipfv.3pl in Toro
Count Don Enrique and Master Don Fadrique and everyone in their
company had left Talhabera and were in Toro [CDP, 4507]
(3) Ms Rmulus se
alleg
a ellas e

but Romulus pro.refl come.closer.pst.pfv.3sg to them and

les
dixo
que esto ava
acaescido
pro.dat say.pst.pfv.3sg that that have.pst.ipfv.3sg happen.ptcp.m.sg

por lo grande orgullo de sus padres
because.of the great pride of their parents
But Romulus came to them and told them that this had happened because
of their parents great pride [DTL, 2815]
. Throughout this monograph, HAVE and BE in capital letters will be used to refer to the
corresponding lexemes, whatever the language debated, while italised small letters will be
used to refer to the language-specific lexeme (e.g. haber).
. The references to the source texts given in square brackets have to be read as follows.
The abbreviation refers to the title of the source book (in this case, the Estoria de Espanna).
The number refers to the example number as given in the corpus of historiographical texts.
Both the corpus of auxiliary selection in Spanish historiographical texts used in this study
and the documentation of the statistical analyses can be requested from the author (malte.
rosemeyer@romanistik.uni-freiburg.de). Sources of examples that are not from the corpus of
auxiliary selection in Spanish historiographical texts are indicated with apud.
Chapter 1. Introduction
(4) d=esta guisa se

acab
all estonces la

of=this manner pro.refl finish.pst.pfv.3sg there then the

discordia e la contienda del sacerdotado que avi
discord and the battle
of.the priesthood that have.pst.ipfv.3sg

durado
luengo tiempo
last.ptcp.m.sg long time
In this way the discord and battle about the priesthood that had lasted a
long time ended [GEI, 3005]
The ser + PtcP and haber + PtcP tokens in (1)(4) can be argued to express the
temporal anteriority of the respective situations. Therefore, ser and haber have
often been analysed as perfect tense auxiliaries or, in Bybee et al.s (1994) terminology, anteriors. However, haber and ser are not merely allomorphs in free variation.
Even in older stages of Spanish, haber was already used categorically in transitive
sentences and very nearly categorically with intransitive verbs expressing controlled activities like fablar talk. By contrast, the usage contexts of ser were always
much more restricted in that ser is used almost exclusively with intransitive verbs
expressing a change of state like crecer grow, or a change of location like tornar
return.
Most studies of auxiliary selection are based on observations about Modern
Italian, Modern French, and Modern German (see, among many others, Burzio
1981; van Valin 1990; Sorace 2000; Bentley & Eythrsson 2004; Legendre
2007b). Usually, these studies concentrate on the influence of the semantics
of the auxiliated verb on auxiliary selection. In the vein of the Unaccusative
Hypothesis (Perlmutter 1978), split auxiliary selection has, on the one hand,
been taken to be the result of a universal difference between unergative verbs
such as fablar and unaccusative verbs such as crecer split intransitivity. From
this point of view, it is the configuration of the verb phrase, and especially the
thematic role of the subject, that determines whether speakers use HAVE or BE.
On the other hand, studies like van Valin (1990) argue that its is the semantic
properties of the auxiliated verb that are responsible for auxiliary selection. In
particular, BE-selection is much more likely with auxiliated verbs that typically
express temporally bounded situations, such as change of state and change of
location predicates.
Recent approaches to auxiliary selection have cast doubt on the premise that
HAVE + PtcP and BE + PtcP can always be analysed as anteriors. In a series of
studies on Old and Middle English, McFadden and Alexiadou (2006a, 2006b,
2010) show that factors operating on the sentence level like iterative aspect and
counterfactuality have a determining influence on the selection of have over be.
Since traditional approaches to auxiliary selection cannot account for these effects,
they propose to analyse have + PtcP and be + PtcP as distinct constructions and
that in Old and Middle English, be + PtcP has not developed an anterior function,
thus behaving like a simple copula.
One aim of this monograph is to assess the utility of these different approaches
to the problem of auxiliary selection in Old and Early Modern Spanish. It is shown
that, similar to the situation in Old English, Old Spanish ser + PtcP does not usually have an anterior function. Quantitative and qualitative evidence is presented
in support of the analysis of ser + PtcP in Old Spanish as a resultative construction.
Whereas in many instances, Old Spanish haber + PtcP has a temporal function,
ser + PtcP usually has an aspectual function. Although both haber and ser can
be characterised as auxiliaries, they differ with regard to their influence on the
portrayal of a situation. To some degree, this situation also applies to their Latin
predecessors esse + PtcP and habre + PtcP. A series of restrictions were found to
be operating on the distinction between ser and haber in Old Spanish. They relate
to the functional difference between anteriors and resultatives. It is lastly argued
that a number of these restrictions ceased to exist in Early Modern Spanish, after
which the possibility that ser + PtcP acquired an anterior function before disappearing from Spanish is explored.3
This study also attempts to tackle the problem of variation regarding auxiliary
selection. It has been hypothesised that gradient auxiliary selection in synchronic
stages of Old and Early Modern Spanish is the result of a gradual process by which
haber expanded into usage contexts previously reserved for ser. This model of the
development of auxiliary selection in Old Spanish has been termed the Semantic
Displacement Hypothesis by Aranovich (2003). It proposes that the expansion
of haber as the sole anterior auxiliary first affected verbs of prolongation of a preexisting state like quedar stay, followed by verbs of existence and appearance like
acaecer happen, and finally, after a somewhat of a delay, verbs of change of location and change of state like volver return. This model also appears to predict the
degree of variation between haber- and ser-selection found for one verb class at a
given moment in time. Its prediction relates to the Auxiliary Selection Hierarchy
(Sorace 2000), which models the variation regarding auxiliary selection from an
. The term perfect auxiliary selection is controversial both with regard to its component
words perfect and auxiliary. In addition, many studies on this phenomenon use the term
selection in a somewhat curious manner. Thus, a verb is said to select one of the auxiliaries
over the other when arguably, it is the speaker who makes the selection. Although strictly
speaking, this humanisation of linguistic elements is incorrect, this monograph sticks to the
usage of the verb established in previous studies. The term ser-selection must then be understood as occurrence of a verb in the ser + PtcP construction or selection of ser + PtcP over
haber + PtcP by the language user.
intra- and inter-linguistic point of view as a function of different predicate classes.

It is argued here that the gradualness in the replacement of ser by haber is the result
of actualisation (de Smet 2012). In the analogical expansion of a construction,
speakers first use the expanding construction in usage contexts that are similar to
its original usage context. Since certain predicate classes in the Auxiliary Selection
Hierarchy are more similar to the predicate classes which haber + PtcP was originally used with, the change from ser to haber starts affecting these predicate classes
first. As a result, the Auxiliary Selection Hierarchys accurate description of variation in auxiliary selection across languages can be explained by the fact that (a) in
Germanic and Romance languages, Modern HAVE + PtcP anterior constructions
derive from the same type of construction and that (b) due to their abstractness,
predicate classes are cross-linguistically valid.
Another consequence of the assumption that diachronic gradualness shapes
synchronic gradience is that language use directly influences the development of
Spanish auxiliary selection. There is considerable variation in the development of
the auxiliary selection behaviour of some verbs belonging to the same verb classes.
For instance, in Aranovichs (2003) class of verbs of directed change of location,
the verb descender go down is last attested with ser in the 15th century, caminar
walk in the 16th century, and ir go in the 17th century. Consequently, the semantics of a verb may only predict to a limited extent the point in time at which it
stopped being used with ser.
The third goal of this study is to show that these inconsistencies can be
explained in part by the application of notions developed in the framework of
usage-based grammar. Language users regularly recur to formulaic language and
often base their linguistic decisions in language on persistence viz. priming
effects caused by recency (cf. Szmrecsanyi 2005, 2006). From a diachronic perspective, this often results in a partial conservation of patterns of expression in
decline. Empirical evidence that a high token frequency of specific ser + PtcP syntagms leads to an autonomy effect is provided. It ultimately shows how due to
the entrenchment of these ser + PtcP tokens, they emancipated from the original
ser + PtcP construction. In the historical development of auxiliary selection, this
leads to conservation. Highly frequent ser + PtcP tokens resisted the replacement
by haber + PtcP longer. This effect is shown to particularly concern change of location verbs. For instance, the verb ir go, the verb in this study that was documented
most frequently in the corpus, shows a great longevity of ser-selection.
Due to the correlation between increasing formulaicity and conservation, this
process is argued to result in a number of functional changes in the disappearing construction. First, late ser + PtcP tokens show signs of increasing paradigmatic atrophy. Since in terms of token frequency, singular number morphology
is more frequent than plural number morphology, conservation processes lead
to an irregularisation of the use of ser + PtcP in this domain. Second, due to the
fragmentation of the ser + PtcP paradigm, the function of ser + PtcP tokens in
Early Modern Spanish becomes increasingly irregular. The authors of the source
texts both restrict the use of ser + PtcP to specific usage contexts, such as perfective past tense morphology, and reanalyse ser + PtcP in terms of the new dominant
construction, haber + PtcP.
In addition, conservation is proposed to not only depend on the cumulative
usage frequency of verbs, but also on temporary activation. The concept of persistence refers to the fact that in some instances, ser + PtcP is only used because
another ser + PtcP token occurs in the preceding co-text. The decline of ser +
PtcP is shown to accompany a growing relevance of persistence effects. Persistence effects have a lasting effect on language change in that although the syntactic productivity of the ser + PtcP construction declines, the positive influence
of persistence on its productivity increases. Significantly, the conserving effect of
persistence not only influences form (i.e. the choice of ser as auxiliary), but also
the function of ser + PtcP. In the later stages of the disappearance of ser + PtcP, ser
+ PtcP is used more conservatively if a ser + PtcP token appears in the preceding
co-text.
In summary, this study proposes answers to three questions regarding the history of auxiliary selection in Spanish:
1. Which predictors govern auxiliary selection in Old Spanish, and how can
these predictors be motivated?
2. How can the development of Spanish auxiliary selection until the end of the
17th century be modelled in terms of these predictors, and what are the implications of this model for the analysis of ser + PtcP in Early Modern Spanish?
3. To what extent can frequency effects account for the longevity of ser-selection
with specific verbs and changes in the function of ser + PtcP, and how do these
changes interact with persistence? Furthermore, how can these findings be
implemented into theories of language change?
1.2 Outline of the study

The structure of this study mirrors the order of these questions. Hence, Chapter2
gives an introduction to theories of anterior auxiliary selection, paying special
attention to theories accounting for variation regarding auxiliary selection. In
Chapter 3, the existing literature that models the origin and the development of
the haber/ser- alternation in Spanish is reviewed, and a constructional account is
proposed: haber and ser realise different types of auxiliation. Chapter 4 discusses
the question of frequency effects in phenomena of grammatical change and proposes a model of linguistic disappearances. Chapter 5 is dedicated to methodological considerations. After a discussion of the problem of text frequency as an
indicator for language change, the data used in this study, as well as the statistical
methodology, are introduced. In Chapters 6 and 7, the results of the study are
presented. Chapter 6 argues for an analysis of ser + PtcP in Old Spanish as a resultative construction. The anterior resultative distinction accounts for a range of
differences in the distribution of haber + PtcP and ser + PtcP regarding auxiliated
verbs, reflexivity, subject referentiality, adverbial modification, number marking,
modality, and temporal-aspectual morphology. By applying these predictors to
Early Modern Spanish, Chapter 7 models the change in the relationship between
haber + PtcP and ser + PtcP between Old and Early Modern Spanish. An investigation of the question of frequency effects in this development is conducted, during
which entrenchment is proven to have had substantial influence on the development of the haber / ser- alternation in Spanish. The conserving effect of entrenchment is accompanied by a growing influence of the usage-based phenomenon of
persistence on auxiliary selection. Finally, the results of this study are summarised
in Chapter 8.
In the course of this study, four statistical models (MODEL1 MODEL4) are
presented, which provide empirical evidence for the account of Spanish auxiliary
selection proposed in 1.1. Each model is described in four steps: (i) measurements, (ii) model selection, (iii) results, and (iv) discussion. The measurements sections describe the statistical make-up of the variables employed in the
regression models, while the sections under the heading of model selection walk
through the process leading to the selection of the ultimate statistical model. The
results of the models are described in the sections labelled results and closely
examined in the discussion sections. Readers who are not interested in the technicalities leading to the statistical model selected may skip parts (i) and (ii) of
the model presentation, turning directly to the description and discussion of the
statistical results in (iii) and (iv).
chapter 2
Theoretical prerequisites
This chapter establishes the theoretical prerequisites for this study and introduces
current theories of auxiliary selection. In Section 2.1, the problem of variation
is addressed, followed by a review of the syntactic and semantic approaches to
auxiliary selection. Section 2.2 describes the application of these theories to the
phenomenon of auxiliary selection in Old and Early Modern Spanish. A crucial
argument has been made about how variation with regard to auxiliary selection
in Old Spanish can help to predict the trajectory of the process by which Spanish
ser + PtcP was replaced by haber + PtcP. The discussion of diachronic gradualness
also illustrates the need to model the influence of frequency effects on that process. Moreover, the question of reflexivity has to be taken into account (2.2.3). The
chapter ends with a discussion of possible reasons for the generalisation of haber
+ PtcP (2.2.4) and then, a brief summary (2.3).
2.1 What is auxiliary selection?
In many European languages, intransitive anterior constructions can be formed
using the two auxiliaries HAVE and BE. Within Romance languages, the usage
of verbs derived from Latin habre and esse as anterior auxiliaries is common in
Italian (Beninc 1985; Centineo 1996; Loporcaro 1998; Sorace 2000; Bentley
2006; C
ennamo & Sorace 2007; DAlessandro & Roberts 2010; Cennamo to
appear), French (Benveniste 1966; Sankoff & Thibault 1977; Canale, Mougeon&
Belanger 1978; Moreno 1998; Legendre & Sorace 2003), Sardinian (Jones 1993:132;
Remberger 2006), Corsican (Legendre 2007a:1531), as well as in some Catalan dialects (Corts 1993). Although as a marginal phenomenon, auxiliary selection can be
found in Romanian (Avram & Hill 2007). Auxiliary selection is also widespread in
Germanic languages like Danish (Bjerre & Bjerre 2007; Larsson to appear), Dutch
(Lieber & Baayen 1997; Hoekstra 1999; Gillmann to appear), German (Shannon
1990; Keller & Sorace 2003; hl 2009; Gillmann to appear), Swedish (Larsson 2009;
to appear), and Norwegian (Larsson 2009; to appear).1 In earlier stages of Greek

(Bentein 2012; Alexiadou to appear), English (McFadden& Alexiadou 2006a; Smith
2007; McFadden & Alexiadou 2010), and Spanish (see below), BE-selection was
used in contexts that can be interpreted as expressing anteriority, but was later lost
in favour of HAVE-selection. In these languages, however, BE + PtcP still survives
with a passival or resultative function. As argued in Drinka (2013), the geographic
distribution of the HAVE/BE alternation can be described as a core periphery
pattern: languages in central Europe belonging to the Charlemagne Sprachbund
(van der Auwera 1998:824) display auxiliary selection, whereas languages in the
areas peripheral to the Sprachbund do not.
The realisation of either HAVE or BE is often argued to depend on either
(a) the morphosyntactic configuration of the intransitive verb phrase or (b) the
semantic properties of the verb. Since the semantic role of a subject is determined
by the verb phrase (Fillmore 1968), it is then reasoned that the typical correlations
between the selection of HAVE or BE and the semantic role of the subject derive
specifically from the type of intransitive verb. Following Levin and R
appaport
Hovav (1995), research frame (a) will be called the syntactic approach to auxiliary selection, while research frame (b) will be called the semantic approach
to auxiliary selection. Fundamentally, these two approaches highlight different
aspects of the triangular relationship between the semantic properties of the subject, the predicate, and the auxiliary.
Syntactic approaches to auxiliary selection suggest that there are two types of
intransitive verb phrases that differ in terms of their morphosyntactic configuration. According to Perlmutters (1978) Unaccusative Hypothesis, these two types
of intransitive verbs assign different semantic roles to the subject. On the one
hand, unergative-intransitive verbs like talk or walk imply a subject referent that
controls the situation expressed by the verb. Therefore, in a syntactic representation these subjects are situated outside the verb + object complex. On the other
hand, unaccusative-intransitive verbs like return or grow imply a subject referent
affected by the situation expressed by the verb. Syntactically speaking, the subject
is situated within the verb + object complex, from which it is later extracted by a
transformation process. The anterior of unergative verbs is formed with HAVE,
while unaccusative verbs select BE.
In earlier generative research (Burzio 1981, 1986), this difference is formalised
in the following manner. Verb phrases have the universal representation VP[Spec
. It is controversial whether the opposition between hafa (have) and vera (be) in I celandic
falls under the scope of the phenomenon termed auxiliary selection (see Yamaguchi &
Petursson 2003; rinsson 2007:243244; Larsson 2008 for differing opinions on this issue).
Chapter 2. Theoretical prerequisites
V[V NP]], in which the Spec(ifier)-position is reserved for the subject. While both
types of verbs have the same surface structure, they are argued to differ on a more
profound level in their syntactic structure. That is, the subjects of unergative verbs
are tied to the Spec-position, whereas the subjects of unaccusative verbs are basegenerated as the NP in the V-phrase, and only afterwards rise to the Spec-position
via a transformation process. Burzio (1986) explains this with the assumption that
unaccusative verbs cannot assign case to their complement. Since case is assigned
in the Spec-position, the complement of unaccusative verbs must rise to the subject position in order to receive case. Consequently, the subjects of unaccusative
verbs bear resemblance to both the objects of transitive verbs and the subjects of
passive sentences. While they retain the same original position in the V- phrase,
they rise up to become the subjects of a sentence in a similar manner to the subjects of passives (Mller 1999:44).
The analysis in terms of unaccusativity has also been claimed to account for
the auxiliary selection behaviour of reciprocals and reflexive verbs. In Italian and
French, the presence of the pronouns si viz. se triggers the selection of BE for
reciprocals (5) and anticausatives (6):
(5) Penelope Cruz e Javier Bardem si sono

Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem pro.refl be.prs.3pl

sposati
alle Bahamas
marry.ptcp.m.pl in.the Bahamas
Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem have married in the Bahamas [Corriere
della Sera, 14 July 2010, apud http://www.corriere.it/spettacoli/10_
luglio_14/bardem-penelope-cruz-sposi_6f445efc-8f1c-11df-9bdb00144f02aabe.shtml, last access 12 October 2011]
(6) Le mur de la peur s=est cass
en Syrie

The wall of the fear pro.refl=be.prs.3sg break.ptcp.m.sg in Syria
The wall of fear has broken in Syria [souriahouria.com, 26 September 2011,
apud http://souriahouria.com/2011/09/26/salam-kawakibi-%C2%ABlemur-de-la-peur-s%E2%80%99est-casse-en-syrie%C2%BB/, last access 13
October 2011]
Labelle (1992) deems pronominal anticausatives like (6) to be the result of a transformation by which the transitive verb casser break is reduced in valency. The
clitic pronoun se discharges (Labelle 1992:395) the subject, thus clearing the
subject position, i.e. the Specifier slot. This allows the object to rise to the Specifier
slot. Since according to this analysis, the subject of pronominal anticausatives is
an underlying object, this finding has been taken as evidence for the Unaccusative
Hypothesis (cf. also the summary in Heidinger 2008:24).
It has been claimed that the Unaccusative Hypothesis explains a number of

correlations between various morphosyntactic phenomena. Among other diagnostics, it has been argued that only unaccusative verbs allow for absolute participle constructions (Perlmutter 1978; Cinque 1990:24) and partitive cliticisation
(Burzio 1986:2326). Moreover, postverbal subjects displaying low definiteness
are said to rule out unergative verbs in expletitive constructions (Belletti 1988:4).
These three phenomena are illustrated in (7)(12).
(7) Arrivata
in ritardo, Maria non si

arrive.ptcp.f.sg in delay Maria not pro.refl

scus neppure.
apologise.pst.pfv.3sg even
Arrived late (Having arrived late), Maria did not even excuse herself.
(Cinque 1990:24)
(8) *?Telefonato
a casa, Maria seppe
che
phone.ptcp.m.sg to home Maria know.pst.pfv.3sg that

era stata
promossa.
be.pst.ipfv.3sg be.ptcp.f.sg promote.ptcp.f.sg
Phoned home (After phoning home), Maria learned she had passed.
(Cinque 1990:24)
(9) Ne arrivano molti.

of.them arrive.prs.3pl many
Many of them arrive.
(Burzio 1986:20)
(10) *Ne telefonano molti.

of.them phone.prs.3pl many
Many of them phone.
(Burzio 1986:20)
(11) Il est
arriv
trois filles.

there be.prs.3sg arrive.ptcp.m.sg three girls
Three girls have arrived.
(Belletti 1988:4)
(12) *Il est

arriv
la fille.
there be.prs.3sg arrive.ptcp.m.sg the girl
The girl has arrived.
(Belletti 1988:4)
However, these unaccusativity diagnostics do not always identify the same verbs
as belonging to one or the other verb class. Such unaccusativity mismatches
pose a problem for the Unaccusative Hypothesis. Alexiadou, Agnostopoulou and
Everaert (2004) summarise that on the one hand, some unaccusativity diagnostics
may be context-dependent. This appears to be the case, for instance, for bare plurals in postverbal positions, e.g. in Spanish (cf. also Mackenzie 2006:70102). On
the other hand, some verbs appear to demonstrate truly variable behaviour with
regard to one or several less controversial unaccusativity diagnostics (Alexiadou,

Agnostopoulou & Everaert 2004:9).
The latter problem also concerns auxiliary selection. It has been noted as early
as Legendre (1989) that unaccusative verbs sometimes select HAVE in French, as
evinced by (13). This either suggests that unaccusativity does not always lead to
BE-selection, or that unaccusativity is not a binary feature.
(13) La neige a fondu
rapidement.

the snow have.prs.3sg melt.ptcp.m.sg quickly
The snow has melted quickly.
(Legendre 1989:147, ann. and bold marking MR)
Semantic approaches to auxiliary selection try to solve this problem by relying

on a finer description of the auxiliated verbs semantics (van Valin 1990; Dowty
1991; Zaenen 1993; Lieber & Baayen 1997). Van Valin (1990) specifies aspectual
criteria of auxiliary selection for Italian. Adopting Vendlers (1967) classes of verbal aspect, he claims that the logical structure of state verbs (e.g. It. stare, stay),
achievement verbs (e.g. It. morire, die) and accomplishment verbs (e.g. It. venire,
come) implies a state predicate. This, however, is not true for activity verbs like It.
ballare dance (van Valin 1990:233). According to van Valin, BE-selection is only
possible with predicates that imply a state.
This analysis can indeed account for some typical patterns of variation in auxiliary selection. Consider van Valins (1990:235) Examples (14) and (15).
(14) Luisa ha corso (di proposito) nel parco.

Luisa have.prs.3sg run.ptcp.m.sg (on purpose) in.the park
Luisa ran in the park (on purpose).
(van Valin 1990:235, ann. and bold marking MR)
(15) Luisa corsa
(di proposito) a casa.

Luisa be.prs.3sg run.ptcp.f.sg (on purpose) to home
Luisa ran home (on purpose).
(van Valin 1990:235, ann. and bold marking MR)
Van Valin explains the difference between (14) and (15) as follows. The goal adverbial a casa in (15) provides an end point to the activity expressed by the verb correre run. Therefore, the complex predicate correre a casa consists of an activity
predicate (running) and a (resultant) state (being at home). The complex predicate thus has to be analysed as an accomplishment predicate, justifying its selection of essere (van Valin 1990:236237). Processes like this one in which the event
structure of a verb phrase is altered by other elements appearing in the sentence
have been termed event composition (Pustejovsky 1995) or template augmentation (Rappaport Hovav & Levin 1998).
It will be emphasised at various points of this investigation that aspect and

argument structure interact. In particular, there is an overlap between the aspectual properties of events and non-aspectual notions such as agentivity/control
(Levin & Rappaport Hovav 2005:89). For instance, it has often been noted that
many stativity tests actually identify agentivity (Lakoff 1966). In this vein, the
aspectual-semantic analysis of auxiliary selection correlates with the interpretation proposed by the syntactic approach. To predicate a state of a subject
imposes a certain semantic role on that subject. Thus, its referent is portrayed as
affected by a state over which s/he has a low degree of control. Consequently, in
van Valins (1990) analysis, the subject of these verbs is classified as having the
semantic role of undergoer, as opposed to actor. Similar analyses of auxiliary
selection have been conducted using semantic approaches to argument realisation that support the notion of generalised semantic roles (e.g. Dowty 1989,
1991). As noted by Levin and Rappaport Hovav (2005:52), this idea is already
found in Dixons (1972, 1994) work on ergativity. Analyses like these parallel
syntactic approaches to auxiliary selection that employ the notion of unaccusativity, in which the selection of HAVE or BE depends on the semantic role of
the subject.
However, semantic approaches to auxiliary selection neglect the question
of syntactic encoding of the verb meaning. Hence, they are not able to (and do
not intend to) explain the morphosyntactic similarities between unaccusative
verbs, passives and reflexives (Levin & Rappaport Hovav 1995:11). Moreover, it is
unclear whether variable auxiliary selection behaviour can always be explained by
phenomena of the kind illustrated in (14) and (15). Thus, the grammatically relevant components of verb meaning (Levin & Rappaport Hovav 2005:10) for auxiliary selection are not always easy to isolate. This is why projectionist accounts like
Levin and Rappaport Hovav (1995) claim that split intransitivity is semantically
determined but syntactically encoded. Thus, Levin and Rappaport Hovav (1995)
determine three semantic parameters relevant for auxiliary selection: directed
change, appearance/existence, and immediate causation. These are then mapped
onto the syntactic structure via linking rules.
Sorace (2000, 2004 et passim) synthesises insights from projectionist accounts
into an approach to auxiliary selection that has been widely influential in the past
decade. She attempts to account for both apparently idiosyncratic and ordered
variation regarding auxiliary selection. This variation depends on processes
of change in the aspectual-semantic interpretation of a situation due to adverbial modification (as portrayed above). Both within one language and between
languages, certain predicate types tend to display more variation with regard to
auxiliary selection than others (Sorace 2000:859860). Consequently, auxiliary
selection is organised in gradients. Sorace models these gradients in an Auxiliary

Selection Hierarchy (henceforth abbreviated as ASH):
Table 2.1 The Auxiliary Selection Hierarchy for Italian and French (adapted from
Legendre & Sorace 2003:227)
Selected auxiliary
Verb class
French
Italian
BE
BE
BE
BE*
BE
BE
BE*
HAVE
BE
BE*
Change of state
a. change of condition: mourir/morire, etc.
b. appearance: apparatre/apparire, etc.
c. indefinite change in a particular direction:
monter/salire, descendre/scendere
faner/appassire, empirer/peggiorare, etc.
HAVE
BE*
Continuation of a pre-existing state: durer/durare, etc.
HAVE
HAVE
BE
BE*
Existence of state:
a. tre/essere
b. exister/esistere, suffire a/bastare
HAVE
HAVE
HAVE
HAVE*
HAVE
HAVE*
Uncontrolled processes
a. emissions: rsonner/risuonare, etc.
b. bodily functions: suer/sudare, etc.
c. involuntary actions: trembler/tremare, etc.
HAVE
HAVE*
Controlled processes (motional): nager/nuotare, etc.
HAVE
HAVE
Controlled processes (non-motional): travailler/lavorare, etc.
Change of location: arriver/arrivare, venir/venire, etc.
In the two left rows of the table, the auxiliary selection behaviour of each
verb class (bound to typical predicate classes) in French and Italian is specified.
The table suggests that variation in auxiliary selection is greatest with regard
to verb classes (where HAVE or BE is marked by an asterix) in the middle
of the hierarchy. This applies especially to verbs that describe the existence of
a state or the continuation of a pre-existing state. In this set of verb classes,
auxiliary selection varies between French and Italian; while HAVE is preferred
as the auxiliary in French, BE is preferred in Italian. By contrast, in both French
and Italian, the verb classes towards the top of the hierarchy are consistent in
their selection of BE while the verbs towards the bottom almost categorically
select HAVE.
The ASH is organised by a mixture of aspectual and semantic parameters.
Selection of BE is favoured if the verb expresses a movement event, implies a
transition (cf. below), or is telic (i.e. it implies the achievement of the goal of an
action). Contrarily, instances where the subject referent has control over the situa-
tion favour the selection of HAVE. Legendre and Sorace (2003) propose a semantic decomposition of the ASH, which is illustrated in Table 2.2. In the table, a +
indicates that the parameter is invariably true for a predicate class, a indicates that the parameter is invariably false, and a indicates that no categorical
assumption about the value of the parameter in the predicate class can be made.
Table 2.2 Parameterisation of predictors of auxiliary selection (adapted from Legendre &
Sorace 2003:227)
TE
MO
DIR
CON
ST
a. change of condition
b. appearance
c. indefinite change in a particular direction
Continuation of a pre-existing state
Existence of state
a. bodily functions
b. involuntary actions
c. emission
Controlled processes (motional)
Controlled processes (non-motional)
Change of location
Change of state
Uncontrolled processes
Sorace (2000) explains the gradience in the variability of auxiliary selection with the notion of event complexity. Consider Rappaport Hovav and Levins
(1998) representation of the event structures of Vendlers (1967) predicate classes:
Table 2.3 Event structure templates (Sorace 2000:885)
[x ACT (MANNER)]
process (activity)
[x (STATE)]
state
[BECOME [x (STATE)]]
transition (achievement)
[[x ACT (MANNER)] CAUSE [BECOME[y (STATE)]]]
transition (accomplishment)
[x CAUSE [BECOME[y (STATE)]]]
transition (accomplishment)
As indicated in the last three lines of Table 2.3, verbs referring to existence
of state and continuation of a pre-existing state, are aspectually underspecified
when compared to verbs that denote a transition (i.e. a BECOME operator).
Through template augmentation, states can be combined with other event

structures to form complex achievement and accomplishment event structures.2
According to Sorace (2000:870), this aspectual underspecification of stative verbs
explains the great amount of variation regarding auxiliary selection found with
these verbs:
On the assumption that the syntax of auxiliary selection is sensitive to event
structure, alternations in auxiliary choice are a function of the flexibility of a
verbs meaning and the range of possible interpretations that it can have. Core
verbs at the extremes of the ASH are not susceptible to multiple interpretations
and are therefore compatible with only one structural meaning: their rigidity is
reflected by the lack of variation in auxiliary selection. Intermediate verbs, in
contrast, are compatible with more than one structural configuration and can
therefore be associated with a wider range of interpretations: Their flexibility is
reflected by variation and indeterminacy in auxiliary selection.
(Sorace 2000:886)
In the past decade, many applications of Soraces model have shown the ASH to
account for ordered variation regarding auxiliary selection both within one language and between languages. The ASH has been applied in synchronic studies
(among others, Bentley & Eythrsson 2004; Cennamo & Sorace 2007; Kailuweit
2011), as well as in experimental studies that investigate the processing speed of
auxiliary selection (Bard, Frenck-Mestre & Sorace 2010). It has been argued that
the speed of L1 and L2 acquisition of auxiliary selection differs according to the
verb classes established in the ASH (Keller & Sorace 2003:64). As will be discussed
below, the ASH has also been debated to predict the chronology of processes
of language change where HAVE replaced BE as an anterior auxiliary (Larsson
2009:233299; Mateu 2009).
Although the ASH appears to sufficiently model variation in auxiliary selection, the reasons that Sorace gives for the existence of this variation must be
examined. It is particularly unclear whether the reasons for variation in auxiliary
selection can be reduced to processes of event composition or template augmen-
. This adheres to Levin and Rappaports (1999, 2005:115) proposal that event complexity
can be explained by temporal alignment. Whereas in a complex situation expressed in a sentence like Terry thawed the meat, neither the event (thawing) nor the resultant state (not being
frozen) are true for the duration of the complex situation. By contrast, situations such as run
are non-complex; the predicate (running) applies to the whole duration of the situation. Note
that although event complexity in this sense is correlated to telicity (i.e. the boundedness of an
event), event complexity is determined by the presence of a transition and not by the presence
of a telos (for the contrary perspective, cf. Pustejovsky 1991, 1995; van Hout 2000a, 2000b).
Thus, event complexity and telicity are in principle independent from each other.
tation. This study maintains that a historical perspective on auxiliary selection is

necessary to explain the fact that cross-linguistically, auxiliary selection is typically
subject to ordered variation.
2.2 Auxiliary selection in Spanish
This section describes the previous research on split auxiliary selection in S panish.
All of the approaches to auxiliary selection described in the last section have been
employed in the description of the diachrony of haber + PtcP and ser + PtcP as anterior auxiliaries in Spanish. Both the distribution of haber + PtcP and ser + PtcP in
Old Spanish are described, as well as the gradual spread of haber + PtcP to all intransitive verbs. Special emphasis will be placed on the question of variation regarding
auxiliary selection, and theories like those of Aranovich (2003) and Mateu (2009)
that try to model this variation as a result of ongoing language change.
The traditional account of auxiliary selection in Old and Early Modern
Spanish as represented by Benzing (1931) and Keniston (1937) claims that whereas
transitive sentences in active voice exclusively demonstrate haber-selection, both
haber and ser could be used as anterior auxiliaries with intransitive verbs. Over
time, the use of haber + PtcP spread to intransitive verbs that previously appeared
exclusively with ser. This process is usually regarded as a replacement process by
which haber intruded domains previously reserved for ser. Most authors argue
that the replacement process was very slow, lasting from before the beginning
of the records up until its conclusion around 1650. For instance, Lapesa (1981)
notes that in the middle of the next century [the 17th century, MR], only very
few examples of soy muerto I have died and eres llegado you have come remain
(Lapesa 1981:400, transl. MR).
It is usually assumed that the distribution of haber + PtcP and ser + PtcP
with intransitive verbs in Old Spanish depends on the type of predicate expressed
by the auxiliated verb (Benzing 1931; Keniston 1937; Yllera 1980:231; England
1982; Company Company 1983; Batllori Dillet 1992; Andres-Surez 1994; Elvira
Gonzlez 2001; Garca Martn 2001; Batllori Dillet & Castillo Herrero 2002;
Aranovich 2003; Mackenzie 2005; Castillo Herrero 2006; Rodrguez Molina 2006a;
Romani 2006; Mateu 2009; Rodrguez Molina 2010; Snchez Marco 2012). The use
of haber is definite with intransitive verbs expressing atelic activities like trabajar:
(16) Rey Alexandre muchos annos auemos
ya
trabaiado

king Alexander many years have.prs.1pl already work.ptcp.m.sg

con tu padre
with your father
King Alexander, we have worked many years with your father [GEIV, apud
CORDE]
The situation is much less clear for other types of intransitive verbs. Benzing (1931:
400412) distinguishes four intransitive verb classes that take ser as an auxiliary in
Old Spanish. These are summarised in Table 2.4.3
Table 2.4 Verb classes selecting ser as anterior auxiliary according to Benzing (1931)
Verbs of movement
ir go, andar walk, venir come, llegar arrive, arribar dock, entrar
enter, salir go out, exir go out, pasar pass, correr run, escapar
escape, huir flee, derramar spill, volver return, tornar return,
subir go up, partir leave, caer fall, viar walk, desviar digress, errar
wander, avenir come
Verbs of emergence and

disappearance
nacer be born, aparecer appear, crecer grow, finar end, die,

fallecer die, morir die, transir die, cuntir happen
Verbs of repose
quedar stay, fincar stay, rastar stay, holgar rest, adormir fall
asleep
Other verbs
fallir break ones word, cenar dine, yantar breakfast
More recent research tries to explain this distribution either from a syntactic or a semantic perspective. For instance, Elvira Gonzlez (2001) takes a syntactic approach when claiming that auxiliary selection in Old Spanish depends
on the unergativity or unaccusativity of the auxiliated verb; while unaccusative
verbs allow for the selection of ser, unergative verbs do not. Contrastingly, other
researchers have employed a semantic approach to explain auxiliary selection in
Old Spanish. For instance, Castillo Herrero (2006) claims that the auxiliary selection of intransitive verbs in Old Spanish is governed by two aspectual-semantic
features, namely the dynamicity [DYN] and the delimitation [DEL] of the
situation expressed by the auxiliated verb. A verb that implies [+DYN, +DEL] typically selects ser, while a verb that implies [DYN, DEL] selects haber. Castillo
Herreros (2006) model is based on the same premises as the ASH; dynamicity can
be taken to (conversely) correspond to the parameter of stativity in the ASH,
while delimitation corresponds to telicity.
Both syntactic and semantic approaches to auxiliary selection in Old Spanish
face the problem of variation. In principle, all of the verbs that appear in the
ser+ PtcP construction can also appear in the haber + PtcP construction (Aleza
Izquierdo 1987:24; Jacob 1994:355; Octavio de Toledo y Huerta 2002:259). While
a telic motion verb like venir come will usually be auxiliated with ser (17), there
are examples of haber venido in the earliest texts (18). Likewise, the verb quedar
. Many of the verbs are polysemous. The English translations in the brackets only give the
dominant interpretation of the verb that fits best to the verb class selected by Benzing. The
verbs are given in Modern Spanish orthography.
stay expressing the prolongation of a pre-existing state is usually auxiliated with

haber, yet at times appears in the ser + PtcP construction, as in (19).
(17) Ellos respusiron=le
que pues que en aquel logar
they answer.pst.pfv.3pl=pro.dat that after that in that place

eran venidos []
que luego farin
quequier
be.pst.ipfv.3pl come.ptcp.m.pl that later do.prs.cond.3pl whatever

que les
l mandasse
that
pro.dat he order.pst.ipfv.sbjv.3sg
They answered him that since they had come to this place [] that they
would do whatever he told them [GEI, 2385]
(18) Orosio [] diz
que non cuentan aquel Pompeyo e
Orosio say.prs.3sg that not tell.prs.3pl that Pompeyo and

Justino que aquellas pestilencias sobre los egipcianos
Justino that these diseases over the Egyptians

oviessen
venido
por la razn que Moisn
have.pst.ipfv.sbjv.3pl come.ptcp.m.sg for the reason that Moses

dize
en la Biblia
say.prs.3sg in the bible
Orosio says [] that Pompeyo and Justino do not say that these diseases
had come over the Egyptians because of the reason that Moses gives in the
Bible [GEI, 2384]
(19) asy andudo
souertyendo a todas quantas mugeres de

so go.pst.pfv.3sg subvert.prog to all how.much women of

altos omnes ouo
en greia. otrosy a algunos que
noble men have.pst.pfv.3sg in Greece also to some that

aujan
quedado
en greia, en tal manera que
have.pst.ipfv.3pl stay.ptcp.m.sg in Greece in such manner that

todas las mas de=las grandes mugeres de greia se
all the most of=the noble women of Greece pro.refl

leuantaron
contra sus maridos con algunos de=los que
rise.pst.pfv.3pl against their husbands with some of=those that

en=la tierra eran
quedados
in=the country be.pst.ipfv.3pl stay.ptcp.m.pl
So he went about subverting all of the women of noble men that there were
in Greece, and also some who had stayed in Greece, so that all of the noble
women of Greece rose against their husbands with some of those who had
stayed in the country [SUM, 149]
Thus far, researchers have essentially proposed two different ways of explaining
this variation. The first approach dictates that variation is localised in the graded
semantic features of auxiliated verbs. Aranovich (2003) employs Dowtys (1991)
proto-role approach to argument realisation, claiming that there are varied interpretations of the subject of the auxiliated verb; in general, the more affected the
subject referent, the more likely is ser-selection. By contrast, Mateu (2009) relies
on a modified version of the ASH in his description of variation with regard to
auxiliary selection in Old Spanish and Old Catalan. Specific combinations of certain semantic features favour the selection of ser over haber. The different combinatorial possibilities lead to the gradient auxiliary selection of Old Spanish verbs.
The second explanation identifies sentence-level constraints on auxiliary selection.
Relying on studies of Germanic languages (in particular, Shannon 1990, 1996),
Stolova (2006) uses quantitative methodology to show that modality is important for Old Spanish auxiliaries. If an event is portrayed as counterfactual as
in Example (18) haber is more likely to be selected. These two approaches are
described in more detail in the following sections.
2.2.1 Auxiliated verbs
With Dowty (1991), Aranovich (2003) takes a generalised semantic role approach
similar to van Valins (1990) analysis sketched in 2.1 in order to model gradient auxiliary selection in Old Spanish. Generalised semantic role approaches to
argument realisation can account for variation since they deliberately abstract
macro- or proto- roles from the multitude of semantic roles that are said to
exist for the subject. Dowty proposes that all semantic roles of the subject can be
classified as pertaining to one of two proto-roles: the Agent Proto-Role and the
Patient Proto-Role. As summarised in Table 2.5, each role has a specific set of
semantic entailments.
Table 2.5 Semantic entailments for Agent and Patient Proto-Roles (adapted from Dowty
1991:572)
Contributing properties for the Agent
Proto-Role
Contributing properties for the Patient

Proto-Role
a. volitional involvement in the event or state

b. sentience (and/or) perception)
c.causing an event or change of state in
another participant
d.movement (relative to the position of
another participant)
e.(exists independently of the event named
by the verb)
a. undergoes change of state

b. incremental theme
c. causally affected by another participant
d.stationary relative to movement of
another participant
e.(does not exist independently of the event,
or not at all)
The more the semantic entailments imposed by a verb match the specific
entailment configuration of either proto-role, the closer the subject referent is to
the respective proto-role prototype (and the more distant it is to the other protorole prototype). The gradient interpretation of the semantic roles allows for variable auxiliary selection behaviour. The closer the subject referent of a given verb in
an anterior construction is to the Patient Proto-Role, the more likely the speaker
will use BE in the participle construction (Dowty 1991:606607). Consequently,
the selection of HAVE is possible in more ambiguous cases.
Aranovich (2003) adduces data from Benzing (1931) as evidence for D
owtys
(1991) approach. Benzing assumes that the generalisation of haber as the sole
anterior auxiliary for intransitive verbs was already under way in Old Spanish.
However, this process did not affect the class of intransitive verbs uniformly. In
fact, some verb classes lost their ability to be auxiliated with haber earlier than
other verb classes. Aranovich summarises Benzings findings in the table reproduced here as Table 2.6.
Table 2.6 Intransitive verb class and date of last occurrence with ser (Aranovich 2003:6)
Century:
13th
14th
Stative appearance &

existence:
fincar
rastar
quedar
holgar
Dynamic appearance &

existence:
cuntir
Manner of motion:
15th
16th
17th
aparecer
acaecer
desaparecer
errar
correr
caminar
Directed change of location:
exir
desviar
viar
arribar
descender
tornar
venir
llegar
caer
entrar
salir
huir
escapar
volver
subir
avenir
pasar
ir
partir
Change of state:
cenar
yantar
transir
fallir
despertar
fallecer
finar
fenecer
adormir
adormecer
amanecer
anochecer
acabar
nacer
crecer
morir
As Aranovichs table reveals, verbs of stative appearance & existence were

the first to be affected by the spread of haber, uniformly selecting haber after the
15th century.4 The second class to be affected was the class of verbs of dynamic
appearance & existence, followed by verbs of manner of motion. Some verbs
expressing the predicate classes directed change of location and change of state
can be found in the ser + PtcP construction up until the 17th century.
Importantly, Aranovich (2003) assumes that the chronology of the displacement of ser by haber for the different verb classes mirrors the synchronic variation with regard to the auxiliary selection found in these verb classes. He claims
that this sequence of events can be modelled as a function of the typical semantic entailments of the verb classes, and formulates this Semantic Displacement
Hypothesis as follows:
Semantic Displacement Hypothesis: In the diachronic development of the
Spanish perfect auxiliary system, the closer the subject is to being a prototypical
patient, the longer the predicate resists the displacement of ser by haber.
(Aranovich 2003:11)
Verbs of stative appearance and existence show mixed entailments regarding their
semantic proto-roles, in that no real state of change is involved (criterion a in
Dowtys list) and the subject neither causes the event nor is causally affected by it
(criterion c) (Aranovich 2003:12). In Aranovichs words,
These verbs seem to be completely inert with respect to proto-role entailments.
They are not any closer to being Proto-Patients than Proto-Agents. These stative or
inert predicates are among the first ones to be taken over by haber, this being the
only auxiliary with which they combine in the perfect from the 15th century on.
(Aranovich 2003:12)
Verbs of dynamic appearance and existence differ from the first verb class in
that a change of state takes place (criterion a), and its subject referents come into
existence by the process expressed by the verb (criterion e). Since these semantic
entailments are Proto-Patient properties, verbs of dynamic appearance and existence are expected to select ser longer than verbs of stative appearance and existence. According to Benzings (1931) data, this is indeed the case. Due to the fact
that verbs of directed change of location, as well as change of state, fulfil even more
of the Proto-Patient properties (especially criterion c, being causally affected by
another agent), they are more prone to ser-selection and thus continue selecting
ser the longest.
. Aranovich refers to the predicate classes assumed in Levin and Rappaport Hovav (1995).
In a more recent paper, Mateu (2009) develops a competing approach that

relies on a modified version of the Auxiliary Selection Hierarchy. His main criticism of Aranovich (2003) concerns the lack of constraints in Dowtys (1991)
model. Mateu particularly criticises the fact that the foundations of this set of
semantic entailments presented in this approach are not fully vindicated; it is
unclear why it is this exact set of entailments that determines argument realisation
and auxiliary selection rather than another. Because of the non-exhaustiveness
of the list of semantic entailments, Dowtys Proto-Role theory and Aranovichs
Semantic Displacement Hypothesis [] turn out to be hard to test and falsify
(Mateu 2009:182). In the vein of Levin and Rappaport Hovav (2005:6061), it
may be added that the different entailments may differ in their influence on the
categorisation of the subject as Proto-Agent or Proto-Patient. It has been proposed
(e.g. in Koenig & David 2001) that the cause-entailment (parameter c) is the
most important parameter in that respect (also cf. Primus 1999a; 1999b). Consequently, it might be necessary to rank the entailments according to their degree of
influence on the semantic role of the subject and auxiliary selection accordingly.
Mateu (2009) aims at defining in an exhaustive fashion those semantic properties of the auxiliated verbs that govern auxiliary selection in Old Spanish. He
employs the Auxiliary Selection Hierarchy to justify variable auxiliary selection.
Like Aranovich (2003), he assumes that the chronology of the displacement of ser
by haber in Spanish is determined by the synchronic gradience of auxiliary selection within certain semantic verb classes. Mateu expects that the first intransitive
verbs to admit the replacement of BE by HAVE in Old Catalan and Old Spanish
(e.g. verbs of appearance and existence) are precisely those verbs that show a more
variable behaviour regarding auxiliary selection in Italian (Mateu 2009:184). He
demonstrates that the data for Spanish from Benzing (1931), as well as data for
Catalan from Batlle (2002) do indeed meet this expectation. The verbs that display most variation regarding auxiliary selection in Old Spanish and Old Catalan
belong to the verb classes in the middle of the ASH, in particular, verbs of existence of state and appearance of state. These verbs were the first to begin selecting haber categorically (Mateu 2009:185187).
Mateu (2009) elucidates these findings by providing a more finite explanation
for the verb classes assumed by the ASH. He applies a projectionist account to thematic structure (Mateu 2002) in which three semantic features are assumed to be
relevant for auxiliary selection: [T], [r], and [R]. Summarising broadly, [T]
corresponds to the existence of a transition (as in achievement and accomplishment verbs), the coincidence relation [r] marks the completion of an action
(comparable to the notion of telicity), and [R] marks agentivity of the verbs subject referent (Mateu 2009:189190). This approach allows him to parameterise the
verb classes of the ASH, as indicated in Table 2.7.
Table 2.7 Parameterisation of the verb classes of the ASH (adapted from
Mateu2009:190)
[[+T] [+r]]
(cf. telic change of location/state)
[[+T] [r]]
(cf. atelic change of location/state)
[[T] [r]]
(cf. continuation of a pre-existing state/existence of state)
[R]
(cf. non-volitional internal cause)
[+R]
(cf. volitional internal cause)
Mateus (2009) parameterisation of the verb classes of the ASH is remarkable

because it reduces the set of semantic parameters assumed in the original formulation of the ASH to parameters that can be captured in terms of either subject referentiality [R] or purely aspectual parameters ([T], [r]). Consequently, Mateus
model conflates change of location and change of state verbs, both of which involve
a transition [+T]. It also conflates verbs expressing the existence of state as well as
the continuation of a pre-existing state. As a result, Mateus approach takes BEselection to principally depend on verbal aspect. This reduction results in a number of empirical predictions that are different from the predictions of the original
ASH. First of all, it does not assume that change of location predicates appear more
frequently in the BE + PtcP construction than change of state predicates. Second,
neither does it presuppose that predicates of the continuation of a pre-existing
state class appear more frequently in the BE + PtcP construction than true stative
predicates.
Mateu follows Sorace (2000) in assuming that it is the synchronic variability
of auxiliary selection in the middle predicate classes of the Auxiliary Selection
Hierarchy that causes these predicates to be more susceptible to the expansion of
haber + PtcP. However, a closer look at this issue reveals a problem with the definition of causality in the versions of the Auxiliary Selection Hierarchy reviewed so
far. As Chapter 4 will show, synchronic variation and diachronic gradual expansion processes are intricately correlated. Although it is possible that the variable
selection behaviour of stative predicates leads to their being affected earlier by the
expansion of haber + PtcP, one could conversely claim that the latter leads to the
former as well. The position of this predicate class on the Auxiliary Selection Hierarchy is not in itself explanatory for their being affected earlier by the expansion
of haber + PtcP, i.e. stating a correlation does not alone supply an adequate explanation. This problem illustrates the need for an explicit model of the interplay
between gradience and gradualness in order to sufficiently rationalise the changes
in the Spanish auxiliary selection system.
The two semantic approaches to Spanish auxiliary selection presented here
can predict and explain variable auxiliary selection behaviour to a certain extent.
However, their ways of doing so only take into account properties of the verb
phrase. This is problematic because variable auxiliary selection is more widespread
in Old Spanish than assumed by these approaches, in that there is variation within
an entire predicate class as well as with regard to one and the same verb.
The first implication of Benzings (1931) data is that there is a considerable
amount of variation regarding auxiliary selection within one predicate class. Note
that the gradual replacement of ser by haber demonstrated in Table 2.6 does not
appear to affect the verbs within one class in a uniform manner. Some verbs of
directed change of location, as well as change of state, start selecting haber categorically much earlier than others.5 Although Aranovichs (2003) and Mateus
(2009) approaches allow for variation, they predict this variation to be much
more ordered. The idiosyncrasy of the auxiliary selection behaviour of specific
verbs suggests that other factors governing auxiliary selection in Old and Early
Modern Spanish have to be investigated, as well. Aranovich (2003) proposes that
the idiosyncratic variation may be partly due to frequency effects. Hence, he
hypothesises that frequency of occurrence influenced the spread of haber, in that
the most frequent verbs are the last ones to lose their ability to combine with ser
(Aranovich 2003:30). Finally, he advocates that both usage frequency and semantics have to be taken into account in order to model the development of auxiliary
selection in Spanish: A possible scenario is one in which the two approaches
complement each other, with the most frequent verbs resisting the expansion of
haber the longest within each lexical semantic class (Aranovich 2003:30). The
question of frequency effects is introduced in Chapter 4, where it is argued that
this explanatory approach is connected to a different question raised by Octavio
de Toledo y Huerta (2002) and Stolova (2009). These authors claim that late ser
+ PtcP tokens no longer display full syntactic productivity. For instance, in his
study on the disappearance of ser-selection for ir go, Octavio de Toledo y Huerta
(2002) notes that over time, ser ido tends to appear with a lower range of personal
morphology. He identifies the fossilised patterns es ido s/he is gone, son idos they
are gone, era ido s/he was gone, and eran idos they were gone (Octavio de Toledo
y Huerta 2002:262).
A second implication of Benzings research is that one and the same verb
can appear with different auxiliaries. The ASH predicts this type of variation for
verbs in the middle of the hierarchy. However, as illustrated by Example (18),
variation is also possible for verbs that express predicates belonging to the upper
. It is curious that Aranovich considers cenar dine and yantar breakfast verbs of change of
state. This treatment of the two verbs points towards the question of the resultative interpretation of ser + PtcP tokens (cf. Chapters 3 and 6).
classes of the ASH. Although polysemy may account for some of these cases,
it cannot validate the differences between them. Consequently, this variation
appears to escape the generalisations of the semantic approaches to Old Spanish
split intransitivity.
2.2.2 Sentence-level constraints
A second strand of research on auxiliary selection in Spanish offers explanations
for this observation. Studies belonging to this research paradigm show that there
may be another predictor of Old Spanish auxiliary selection in addition to verb
semantics, namely a series of constraints operating on the sentence level. Stolova
(2006) conducts a quantitative analysis of auxiliary selection in Old S panish
in which she finds haber + PtcP to be overrepresented in contexts marked as
[+irrealis] or [+negation]. As Stolova points out, this irrealis effect was first
documented in Germanic languages, such as German (Magnusson 1939:2232),
English (Shannon 1990, 1996; McFadden & Alexiadou 2006a, 2006b, 2010) and
Dutch (Kern 1912: Chapter 4; Shannon 1996). In Romance languages, a similar
effect was found in Old French (Nordahl 1977) and Old Neapolitan (Formentin
2001; Ledgeway 2003). Stolova (2006) extracts intransitive anterior tokens for 124
change of location verbs from Marc Davies Corpus del Espaol (Davies 2002).
While the overall ratio of compound tense constructions with ser to haber is
1.96, the ratio is much lower when only taking into account contexts marked as
[+irrealis] or [+negation]:
Table 2.8 BE and HAVE with intransitive compound pasts marked as [+irrealis] or
[+negation] (Stolova 2006:316)
Total number
of tokens
153
Number of tokens
with BE
Number of tokens
with HAVE
Ratio of BE-based to
HAVE-based
77
76
1.01 (roughly 1)
In a series of papers, McFadden and Alexiadou (2006a, 2006b, 2010) develop

a theory of auxiliary selection in Old and Middle English that accounts for the
existence of an irrealis effect in English. Similarly to Stolova (2006), the authors
gather quantitative data to illustrate that contexts marked as [+irrealis] favour the
selection of have in Old English.6 In addition, they find infinitival morphology of
the auxiliary to favour have (McFadden & Alexiadou 2010:397398).
. However, in contrast to Stolova (2006), they do not find negation to be a statistically relevant factor in auxiliary selection (McFadden & Alexiadou 2010:397).
McFadden and Alexiadou (2010:392394) propose that Early English have

and be differ with regard to their status as auxiliaries. While have was grammaticalised into an anterior auxiliary, no such process took place for be. They argue
for be to be a simple copula. The anteriority interpretation of be + PtcP is formed
compositionally; when combined with a participle, this copula is interpreted as a
perfect of result. Following Iatridou (2000), they assume that simple past tense
morphology can in principle be interpreted as past or as counterfactual but
not as both (McFadden & Alexiadou 2010:412413). Since be lacks a grammaticalised anteriority interpretation, be + PtcP with past tense morphology excludes a
past counterfactual interpretation. According to McFadden and A
lexiadou (2010),
this explains the irrealis effect in Early English.
Significantly, it has been frequently asserted in previous works that Old Spanish
ser + PtcP cannot always be interpreted as a compound tense (Yllera 1980:231;
Andres-Surez 1994:6984; Jacob 1994:354358; Mackenzie 2005, 2006:131141;
Rodrguez Molina 2006a, 2010:10311037). In the words of Yllera (1980:231), es
venido expresses a completed action and its result (= s/he has come and is here), ha
venido merely expresses the completed action (= s/he has accomplished the action
of coming) (transl. MR). Rodrguez Molina (2006a) therefore characterises ser +
PtcP in Old Spanish as a resultative, a construction that expresses the result of
a telic action. This becomes clear in his discussion of the following example from
the 14th century:
(20) A la vesperada de cruz fue desido

at the evening from cross be.pst.pfv.3sg come.down.ptcp.m.sg
In the evening he [Jesus] had come down from the cross [Libro de buen
amor, apud Rodrguez Molina (2006a: 1065, transl. MR)]
In accordance with Rappaport Hovav and Levins (1998) event-semantic decomposition, accomplishments like Old Spanish desir come down involve a transition from a causing event to a state resulting from that event. In Rodrguez
Molinas (2006a: 1065) words, this example expresses and highlights a change
of state: Jesus body changes from being nailed to the cross to not being so
(transl. MR). The past time reference of fue desido is secondary to this resultative function.
The existence of sentence-level constraints, such as modality, on Old Spanish
auxiliary selection suggests that Old Spanish ser + PtcP should be analysed as a
copula construction with resultative function. This hypothesis is explored further
in Chapter 3.
In summary, this section has pinpointed at least three possible sources of the
variation in Old and Early Modern Spanish auxiliary selection:
1. It has been hypothesised by Sorace (2000) and Mateu (2009) that the different degrees of variable auxiliary selection behaviour found in the semantic
verb classes of the ASH are a result of the aspectual underspecification of
verb classes situated at the centre of the hierarchy. Stative verbs may easily be
involved in processes of event composition. Alternatively, Aranovich (2003)
proposes that stative verbs are balanced with regard to the Proto-Agent and
Proto-Patient entailments. Both approaches predict more variable auxiliary
selection behaviour with these verb classes at the centre than with those at
the top (i.e. verbs of directed change of location, or change of state). The synchronic variability of these centrally located verb classes correlates with the
nature of the diachronic expansion process of haber + PtcP. These verbs were
the first lose their ability to be auxiliated with ser during the generalisation
process of haber. It has been argued that in order to explain this correlation, it
is necessary to establish an explicit model of the interplay between synchronic
gradience and diachronic gradualness in the expansion of haber + PtcP;
indeed, the position of a predicate class on the Auxiliary Selection Hierarchy
does not in itself explain why this predicate class is affected earlier rather than
later by the expansion process.
2. In addition to these factors resulting from a synchronic perspective on auxiliary selection, there are indications that genuinely diachronic factors must be
taken into account, as well. For instance, the longevity of ser-selection of certain verbs appears to be determined by a frequency effect. Thus far, high frequency verbs have been seen to be less affected by the spread of haber + PtcP
due to ser-selection being routinised to a higher degree with these verbs than
with less frequent verbs. This hypothesis may account for differences in the
degree of ser-selection of verbs that belong to the same semantic verb class.
The influence of frequency effects on Spanish auxiliary selection is outlined in
greater detail in Chapters 4 and 7.
3. Lastly, it appears that contexts marked as [+irrealis] or [+negation] favour
selection of haber in Old Spanish. This irrealis effect gives an explanation
as to why examples like (18) can be found in the same text, where one and
the same verb appears with both haber and ser. This sentence-level constraint
provides a broader approach to the study of auxiliary selection in Spanish;
ser + PtcP may not have (yet) been grammaticalised to a compound tense in
Old Spanish, but often have a resultative function. Note that an explanation
of the variation between haber + PtcP and ser + PtcP in terms of a difference
between constructions does not necessarily contradict the predictions by the
ASH. Furthermore, the ASH does not claim that variation in auxiliary selection does not exist in the semantic verb classes at the bottom and top of the
hierarchy, but rather that variation in these cases is much more uncommon.
2.2.3 A note on reflexive verbs

As noted in Section 2.1, the syntactic approach to auxiliary selection assumes that
at a more profound syntactic level, the subjects of reflexive verbs are objects; they
are affected by the situation expressed by the reflexive verb. The fact that reflexives
and reciprocals typically occur alongside BE is therefore taken as evidence for the
Unaccusative Hypothesis.
For this reason, Aranovich (2003) explicitly includes reflexive verbs in his investigation of the diachrony of auxiliary selection. The Unaccusative Hypothesis would
predict that reflexive verbs in Old Spanish, similar to those in Modern French and
Italian, select ser. Following a distinction made by Manacorda de Rosetti (1969), he
differentiates between true reflexives (in which the agent of a situation achieves
a particular effect on her-/himself from the situation) and quasi-reflexives. This
latter group subsumes inherent reflexives (internally caused verbs in which the
agent is not affected by the situation) and anticausatives.7 Significantly, Aranovich
demonstrates that while from early on, true reflexives always select haber, quasireflexives are subject to auxiliary selection and yet, also predominantly select haber
(Aranovich 2003:1620). He claims that these findings contradict the predictions
from the Unaccusative Hypothesis and consequently provide evidence against a
purely syntactic analysis of auxiliary selection (20).
Moreover, Aranovich (2003) applies the Semantic Displacement Hypothesis
to the class of quasi-reflexive verbs. He groups these verbs into semantic classes
similar to non-reflexive verbs and dates their last occurrences in his corpus, as
illustrated in Table 2.9.
Table 2.9 Quasi-reflexive verb class and date of last occurrence with ser (adapted from
Aranovich 2003:22)
Century:
12th
13th
Volitional achievement:
vengarse
Existence &
appearance:
demostrarse
fallarse
provarse
quedarse
Assume-position:
alzarse
Directed motion:
escaparse partirse
pasarse
Change of state:
14th
15th
16th
irse
salirse
17th
levantarse
ahogarse desencasarse arrepentirse

hacerse
. Aranovich (2003) provides verbs like jactarse boast, ampararse seek refuge, or apartarse
move away as examples of inherent reflexives.
Aranovich argues that the Semantic Displacement Hypothesis can also

account for the development of auxiliary selection behaviour with quasi-reflexive
verbs. He makes this assumption on the basis that once again, those verbs that start
selecting haber categorically at an early point in time (verbs of volitional achievement and existence and appearance) show few Proto-Patient entailments. In
other words, the subject referents of these verbs cause the situation expressed by
the verb and are not affected by a change of state (Aranovich 2003:23). By contrast, those quasi-reflexive verbs that select ser until a late point in time express
the same predicate types that have been shown to be resistant to the expansion of
haber, i.e. verbs of directed motion and change of state. These verb classes allegedly imply many Proto-Patient entailments. Consequently, the chronology of the
displacement of ser by haber within the class of quasi-reflexive verbs appears to be
governed by the amount of Proto-Patient entailments implied by the respective
verbs, thus confirming the Semantic Displacement Hypothesis.
There are two problems with Aranovichs approach to the diachrony of the
auxiliary selection of reflexive verbs (also cf. Loporcaro to appear). The first concerns Aranovichs semantic classification of reflexive verbs. For instance, he classifies arrepentirse repent, feel sorry for oneself , the verb that he finds to select ser
longest, as expressing a change of state predicate. Arrepentirse behaves like verbs
referring to a change of state in that the subject referent is not in control of the
situation expressed by the verb. However, is the subject referent affected by a subsequent state in a way analogous to the subject referent of, for instance, arrive?
Similar problems arise with hacerse become something as the result of an action
or fallarse find oneself in a certain situation.
More importantly, Aranovich includes many verbs in his class of quasi-
reflexive verbs that also appear in the corresponding set of non-reflexive verbs,
including quedar, ir, pasar, partir, and salir. Apparently, he assumes these verbs to
be polysemous; the presence of the pronominal clitic se justifies the inclusion of
these verbs in the class of quasi-reflexives. He does not, however, give a theoretical
motivation for this decision. In practice it is very complicated to tell apart reflexive
and non-reflexive uses of a verb, as already noted by England (1982):
With other verbs used both with and without the reflexive pronoun such as
tornar/tornarse, ir/irse, and venir/venirse, the situation is even more complicated;
although in some cases the context makes clear which form is used, and in others
the construction gives a good indication (venir a/venirse para; ir a, ir sobre/irse
para; tornar a/tornarse para), these can be no more than approximate guidelines,
since the reflexive and non-reflexive forms were frequently interchangeable
(England 1982:120121)
For this reason, it seems more reasonable to treat se as a grammatical element in its
own right that can combine with certain verbs and impose a particular function.
In other words, the development of Spanish auxiliary selection should not rely
solely on semantic parameters but also take into account the syntactic difference
between reflexive and non-reflexive contexts (this argument is developed in detail
in Loporcaro 2011; to appear). Such an approach has been adopted, for instance,
in Octavio de Toledo y Huerta (2002) and Mackenzie (2006). Octavio de Toledo y
Huerta (2002) interprets se as a particle that marks the completion of a telic situation. Since like Rodrguez Molina (2006a), Octavio de Toledo y Huerta assumes
ser + PtcP to be a resultative construction, the use of the clitic pronoun in the construction is, in fact, redundant (Octavio de Toledo y Huerta 2002:260). This interpretation may explain the variability of the use of se in the ser + PtcP construction
noted by England (1982). Consequently, the assumption of constructional differences between haber + PtcP and ser + PtcP argues against distinguishing reflexive
and non-reflexive uses of participles formed from the same verb. This discussion
illustrates the importance of taking into account reflexivity in the analysis of the
history of auxiliary selection in Spanish.
2.2.4 Why was ser + PtcP replaced by haber + PtcP?
The theories reviewed in the last sections only try to model the generalisation
process of haber + PtcP without accounting for the question of why this generalisation process took place. This focus also entails indeterminacy about the correct
interpretation of the nature of this historical process. Those studies that do evaluate the possible causes for the change in auxiliary selection pay great attention to
typological aspects of this phenomenon. It has been noted that the European languages appear to share a tendency towards HAVE-selection.8 As observed above,
many European languages have lost BE-selection. This phenomenon also applies
to languages where BE-selection still exists; for instance, selection of BE appears to
be declining in Canadian French (Sankoff & Thibault 1977).
These similarities in the development of auxiliary selection between various languages favour a typological explanation. It is very possible that the development of auxiliary selection may be the result of a more general change in
. To some extent, Portuguese is a special case, since here ter (derived from Latin tenere,
hold, possess) has been generalised as the one perfect auxiliary. Interestingly, this development appears to coincide with a lesser degree of grammaticalisation of ter when compared to Spanish haber (Harre 1991:122126). Thus, Portuguese perfects formed from ter
appear to indicate a habitual interpretation of a situation leading up to speech time, i.e. a
universal interpretation (Comrie 1985:8081; Laca 2010), whereas Modern Spanish perfects
formed from haber usually express present relevance or hot news perfectivity (Harris 1982;
Schwenter 1994b).
a rgument structure configuration that affected most Indo-European languages.

It has been claimed that the European languages drift from active-stative argument coding towards nominative-accusative argument coding. This assumption,
defended since the 1970s (Schmidt 1979; La Fauci 1988; Lehmann 1989), is summarised in Elvira Gonzlez (2009: Chapter 3) as follows. The argument structure
of Proto-Indo-European (PIE) is organised around the distinction between agent
and patient arguments.9 Only situations caused by an agentive subject argument
were expressed by verbs. By contrast, non-agentive situations were expressed via
nominal complexes. At some point, however, verbs came to be used for all types
of situations. Thus, nominal syntax was increasingly replaced with verbal syntax.
According to Elvira Gonzlez (2009:9091), as a result of this generalisation of the
use of verbs, the use of the copula spread to nominal complexes like haec mirabilia
these things are astonishing and absolute constructions.
The contrast between agent and patient arguments also permeates into the
domain of (agentive) verbs. PIE distinguished between two types of verbs: active
verbs (typically indicating motion or activity) and stative verbs (indicating condition and state) (Bauer 2000:6569). In the American Indian languages that
Mithun (1991) analyses as stative languages, there is a crucial correlation between
active/stative and agent/patient coding. In the words of Bauer (2000),
The use of event and stative prefixes, which was long thought to be purely
arbitrary, turned out to be determined by additional semantic criteria []. In
addition to the opposition [event]/[state], a second characteristic determines the
nature of the prefix used in these contexts. This criterion is agency: if the verb
implies a performing, instigating, effecting, or controlling the action, it is marked
with the event-prefix.
(Bauer 2000:7576)
Arguably, the PIE voice system with its distinction between active and middle
voice is a by-product of this correlation. Although the active/middle opposition
corresponds to the functional domain covered by the diathetic opposition between
active and passive in modern Indo-European languages, the two expression types
differ from voice in that none of the forms is derived from the other one. Consequently, the notions of passive and anticausative do not apply. It is important
. There is some dissent as to whether PIE should be characterised as an active-stative or a

nominative language. However, at the end of Bauers (2000) study on the spread of transitivity
in Latin and French, she summarises that the combination of the individual facts, which
at first glance may seem arbitrary, shows a widespread pattern of binarism reflecting the
opposition animate vs. inanimate, which supports the hypothesis that Proto-Indo-European
at an early stage was characterized by a different, presumably active language system (Bauer
2000:347).
that Elvira (2009:94) treats Modern Spanish reflexive constructions like se me cae
la baba I am drooling, lit. the spit is falling from me as remnants of the special
marking of non-prototypical, non-agentive subjects. These reflexive constructions
are the successors to PIE middle verbs. Remarkably, it is exactly these successors
of the middle that are able to select BE in Old Spanish; deponent verbs like morir
die, as well as reflexive verbs like alzarse rise.
As will be shown in Section 3.2.1, many studies on the grammaticalisation of
HAVE + PtcP argue that the anterior construction only arose in Latin or even later.
Originally, HAVE was only used to auxiliate transitive verbs. Consequently, the
creation of a periphrastic HAVE-anterior appears to have been closely related to
the spread of the transitive configuration in the Indo-European languages. Bauer
(2000) contends that the replacement of nominal syntax by verbal syntax largely
favoured transitive over intransitive verbs. The Indo-European languages changed
from a predominantly active-stative to a nominative-accusative coding configuration. The generalisation of HAVE-selection to intransitive, and even intransitiveunaccusative verbs can thus be explained as a consequence of this typological
change:
Modern Spanish has not only sterilised the coding of the active/stative opposition
in periphrastic verbal morphology, but, rushing even more ahead, has neutralised
in that domain all manifestations of the opposition middle/active and has
reinstated a system that codes the accusative/nominative opposition
(La Fauci 1988:62, transl. MR)10
The typological explanation of the generalisation of HAVE however faces a problem: there are indeed differences in the auxiliary selection development between
the Ibero-Romance languages and other Romance languages like French and
Italian. If these languages are subject to the same configurational changes, why
are there Indo-European languages that still exhibit BE-selection? Pountain (1982,
1985) develops an account of the history of auxiliary selection as structurally
interdependent changes that aims at explaining this asymmetry. In this view, the
oppositions between HAVE and the possessive verb tener possess, hold, as well as
between ser and the stative copula estar be are crucial in explaining the change in
auxiliary selection in Spanish.
As Pountain notes, tener and haber are rivals as auxiliaries of the anterior construction in Old Spanish, as evinced by the following example:
. The exact nature of the change from active-stative argument structure to nominativeaccusative argument structure is controversial. Thus, La Fauci assumes an ergative intermediate stage between the active origin of the Indo-European languages and attainment of the
eventual nominative-accusative coding system.
(21) muchos pobres fanbrientos las [=viandas]

many poor hungry them[=victuals]

tienen deseadas
have.prs.3pl desire.ptcp.f.pl
Many poor hungry people (have) wanted them [Libro de poemas o Rimado
de palacio, apud Pountain (1985:344, bold marking and annotation MR)]
However, instead of replacing haber as the anterior auxiliary (as in Portuguese),

tener supplanted haber as the standard verb expressing possession. According
to Pountains (1985:342) data, this process becomes apparent by the mid-14th
century (also cf. Garachana & Rosemeyer 2011). It appears that a division of the
functional domain of possession between haber and tener took place between Old
and Early Modern Spanish.
A similar process appears to have occurred with ser and estar. Pountain claims
that ser + PtcP tokens like (22) can be analysed as resultant state passives:
(22) espantron=se
todos ca

get.frightened.pst.pfv.3pl=pro.refl everyone because

era aguisado
be.pst.ipfv.3sg prepare.ptcp.m.sg
Everyone got frightened because s/he was ready [Milagros de Nuestra
Seora, apud Pountain (1985:351, bold marking and transl. MR)]
According to Pountain, originally estar was used to auxiliate adjectival participles.

However, over time its use spread to eventive participles like aguisado to express
the resultant state of the situation, superseding ser + PtcP in this function after the
15th century (Pountain 1985:353). He argues that this process relieved the heavy
functional load of ser + PtcP (used as an active passive, anterior auxiliary, resultant state passive, etc.).
Pountain presents typological evidence supporting his hypothesis. In particular, he notes that the conservation of auxiliary selection in French and Italian correlates to the relative unimportance of periphrases based on Latin tenere andstare
in these languages (Pountain 1985:346). He suggests that because tenere and
stare did not intrude into the functional domains of HAVE and BE in French and
Italian, respectively, the use of HAVE was not strengthened and the use of BE not
weakened. Consequently, the replacement process of BE by HAVE was attenuated
or even inhibited in these languages.
The two hypotheses of the causes of the changes in Romance auxiliary selection differ in their assessment of the empirical facts. While proponents of the typological explanation tend to discount the great disparity with regard to auxiliary
selection within the Romance language family, Pountain (1982, 1985) overlooks
existing similarities between those languages. In addition, the two approaches differ as far as their assessment of how grammatical categories expand in a language.
This difference can be described in terms of Martinets (1952, 1955) distinction
between push-chain and pull-chain mechanisms. On the one hand, the typological approach assumes a push-chain mechanism, in which the expansion of
theuse of HAVE + PtcP led to the replacement of BE + PtcP by HAVE + PtcP. On
the other hand, Pountains approach assumes a pull-chain mechanism wherein the
functional overload of BE + PtcP led to the replacement process.
In Chapter 4, a model of linguistic disappearances based on a push-chain
mechanism is presented. It is argued that due to the expansion of HAVE +
PtcP, HAVE + PtcP and BE + PtcP entered into competition and thereby instigated a paradigmatic relationship. The fact that replacement processes involve
functional reanalyses of the grammatical categories competing against each
other gives credit to the typological approach to the development of auxiliary
selection.
2.3 Summary
In this chapter, a number of challenges to the study of the history of auxiliary
selection in Spanish have been identified:
1. How can the variation in Old Spanish auxiliary selection be modelled? Which
parameters influence Old Spanish auxiliary selection? It has to be clarified
whether ser + PtcP in Old and Early Modern Spanish should be analysed as an
anterior auxiliary, since this assumption has important repercussions on the
nature of the variation between haber + PtcP and ser + PtcP.
2. A model of the influence of these parameters on the development of auxiliary
selection in Spanish has to be established, followed by a thorough investigation of the interaction between synchronic gradience and diachronic gradualness. The Auxiliary Selection Hierarchy does not in itself give an explanation
for the fact that predicates at the centre of the hierarchy are affected earlier
by the expansion of haber + PtcP than predicates at the top of the hierarchy.
When dealing with gradualness, possible influences of frequency effects on
the trajectory of the generalisation of haber + PtcP need to be accounted for.
3. To model the generalisation process of haber + PtcP does not necessarily
imply investigating the causes of this generalisation process. However, a more
accurate model of the history of auxiliary selection in Spanish may shed light
on the causes of these changes.
Most notably, points (12) are inextricably intertwined. As will be elaborated

in the chapter on auxiliary selection in Old Spanish, it is assumed that the question of variable auxiliary selection in Spanish can be explained by close scrutiny
of the function of ser + PtcP. The study aims at showing in an empirical manner
that a number of constraints operating on auxiliary selection in Old Spanish can
only be explained when ser + PtcP is not analysed as an anterior. This hypothesis
is explored in Chapter 3. Significantly, this analysis is argued to also account for
the distribution of verbs auxiliated by haber and ser and their historical development. The study also shows the importance of assuming an influence of frequency
effects on this development. Therefore, Chapter 4 is dedicated to the question of
how the interplay between gradience and gradualness can be modelled, and where
frequency effects can be expected to come into play.
chapter 3
A constructional approach to Spanish

auxiliaryselection
As summarised in Chapter 2, most approaches to auxiliary selection treat HAVE
and BE as allomorphs with the same (temporal) function. However, as mentioned at the end of Section 2.2, there are certain indications that Old S panish
haber + PtcP is an emergent anterior, whereas in its prototypical use, Old Spanish
ser + PtcP does not express anteriority. This chapter explores this suggestion and
clarifies its implications. Accordingly, an account that deals with auxiliary selection in terms of a distinction between two types of constructions is developed.
Old Spanish ser + PtcP is a copula + PtcP construction with an aspectual function, whereas Old Spanish haber + PtcP is an auxiliary + PtcP construction with
a temporal function. The apparent allomorphy between the two constructions
stems from the metonymy between the concepts of result and event. Thus, a
construction expressing a result can be used metonymically to express an event,
and vice versa.
Section 3.1 reviews the literature on the resultative anterior distinction, and
elaborates the concrete predictions for the distribution of these two construction
types. In 3.2, first evidence for the pertinence of this distinction for Old Spanish
auxiliary selection is gathered by evaluating the Latin origins of Old Spanish haber
+ PtcP and ser + PtcP in 3.2. In 3.3, the findings of the chapter are summarised.
Before entering the discussion, note that the term construction is used in line
with the family of grammatical theories termed Construction Grammar (CG)
(Goldberg 1995; Kay & Fillmore 1999; Croft 2001; Croft & Cruse 2004:236290;
Fried 2004; Fried & stman 2004; stman & Fried 2004; Goldberg 2006; Bergs&
Diewald 2008; Traugott & Trousdale 2013; Trousdale & Hoffman 2013). Although
there are substantial differences between various CG approaches (see Croft& Cruse
2004:257290), they commonly assume the independent existence of constructions as symbolic units, the uniform representation of grammatical structures,
and the taxonomic organization of constructions in a grammar (Croft & Cruse
2004:265). These assumptions make CG highly compatible with usage-based
approaches to language.
3.1 Resultatives and anteriors

Resultatives are constructions that express a state that was brought about by
some action in the past (Nedjalkov & Jaxontov 1988:6; Bybee, Perkins & Pagliuca
1994:63). By contrast, anteriors express a past action that is relevant to a present situation (Bybee, Perkins & Pagliuca 1994:54). According to these definitions,
anterior and resultative meanings are not always mutually exclusive. In particular,
a past action may be relevant to a present situation in virtue of its causing a relevant
resultant state.
This is possible because an event and a state resulting from this event are
inextricably intertwined in a metonymical relationship that lends itself readily to
exploitation by speakers. As the discussion of Rappaport Hovav and Levins (1998)
representation of the Vendlerian verb classes has shown, this metonymy is fundamental to event semantics. The event structure templates of two of Vendlers verb
classes rely on the operator BECOME, which expresses the existence of a transition to a resultant state; achievements and accomplishments involve a transition,
whereas activities and states do not. This distinction cannot be derived from other
event-semantic properties.
Given the indivisibility of the concepts of cause and result in complex situations, the distinction between anterior and resultative constructions is only
feasible if a strict division between expressed and implied meaning is assumed.
An anterior construction formed from a complex situation expresses an event,
but semantically entails a resultant state. A resultative construction expresses a
resultant state, but semantically entails the event causing the state.1 Figure 3.1
summarises the difference between resultatives and anteriors. Bold marking refers
to the aspect of the complex situation that either construction expresses, while
the absence of bold marking indicates that this aspect of the complex situation is
implied rather than explicitly expressed. The bidirectional implication between
event and resultant state is expressed by the arrow.
Anterior
Event <-----------> Resultant state
Resultative
Event <-----------> Resultant state
Figure 3.1Aspectual make-up of anteriors and resultatives
. This difference can also be defined as a difference in the relevance to the immediate
context of each part of the complex situation. In Maslovs (1988:64) words, one of the two
situations [i.e. event and resultant state, MR] seems to be semantically more important, while
the other serves, as it were, as a background, often barely suggested.
Chapter 3. A constructional approach to Spanish auxiliaryselection
As a result of the different functions of anteriors and resultatives, each type

of construction systematically differs with regard to the range of auxiliated verbs
they can appear with. While resultatives can only appear with predicates expressing complex situations that involve a transition to a resultant state (e.g. die), this
restriction is lost in the grammaticalisation of a resultative to an anterior. This
issue will be dealt with in greater detail in 3.2.
The bidirectional implication between event and resultant state can be
exploited in order to pragmatically implicate the non-expressed situation component. Anteriors can thus be used to express the resultant state of an event.2
Likewise, resultatives can be used to express the event causing the resultant state.
This implicature leads to past time reference (cf. Mustanoja 1960:440; Petr &
Cuyckens 2009:327).
In line with Heines (1993) functional definition of auxiliation (cf. Chapter1),
both anterior and resultative constructions can be characterised as complex verb
constructions involving an auxiliary and a non-finite form such as a participle
specifying the situation that the speaker wants to express. However, the type of auxiliation differs for the two construction types. In anteriors, the auxiliary expresses
tense, whereas in resultatives, the auxiliary expresses aspect. In resultatives, the
situation is portrayed as stative because the auxiliary receives a stative interpretation. Bybee et al. (1994) adduce typological evidence that cross-linguistically, the
known lexical sources for resultatives tend to involve stative meaning (1994:67)
and argue that the stativity of the auxiliary is an important prerequisite for the
resultative function:
In the most common case, the resultative sense is the outcome of the combination
of the stative auxiliary, which provides the sense of a present state, and the past
and/or passive participle, which signals a dynamic situation which occurred in
the past and is seen as affecting the object of the transitive verb or the subject of
the intransitive.
(Bybee, Perkins & Pagliuca 1994:6768)
Bybee et al.s term stative auxiliary implies that the verb that expresses the predication can be characterised as a copula verb. Importantly, it is often assumed that
the logical form of copula verbs does not introduce a Davidsonian event argument
. Anteriors that express a resultant state are called resultative anteriors (cf., e.g. Pancheva
2003). The grammaticalisation of resultative constructions to anteriors is accompanied by
a weakening of the semantic resultant state entailment in complex situations. The difference between resultatives and resultative anteriors lies in the fact that the latter construction
type does not necessarily affirm that the resultant state holds at reference time. Although
the metonymy between cause and effect is thus weaker in resultative anteriors, it still allows
speakers to express the event in order to pragmatically implicate the resultant state.
(Katz 2000:402404; Maienborn 2000, 2003, 2005a). Maienborn (2003) demonstrates that in contrast to eventive predicates, predicative copula constructions
cannot occur as the infinitival complement of perception verbs (23). Likewise,
they are incompatible with locative adverbials that specify the location of a situation (24) and manner adverbials, whether true manner adverbials as in (25) or
comitatives as in (26).3
(23) *Heidi heard the piano be untuned.
(Maienborn 2003:67, transl. MR)
(24) *Luise is unconscious in the kitchen [external modification]

(25) *Shirin was confidently a pianist and non-confidently an alpinist [manner]
(26) *Paula resembles Romy Schneider with her niece [manner: comitative]
Predicative copula constructions share these restrictions with stative verbs

(Maienborn 2003:67).4 For instance, Katz (2000, 2003, 2008) insists that stative
verbs are incompatible with manner adverbials since the logical form of these
verbs does not entail an event variable that could be modified by the adverbial. In
apparent counterexamples like (27), the adverbial receives a degree reading. While
in (28), well refers to the quality of Johns speaking French, in (27) it refers to his
degree of knowledge of French (Katz 2008:238).
. According to Maienborn (2003), it is necessary to distinguish between frame-setting

locative adverbials and locative adverbials that specify the location of a situation. There are
apparent counter-examples to her generalisation that stative verbs cannot appear with locative
adverbials, as in In candlelight, Andrea resembles her cousin (Maienborn 2003:85, transl. MR).
However, in this example the locative adverbial in candlelight does not specify the location
of the situation resembles, but rather limits the domain of the interpretation of a discourse
referent. In other words, the predicate resembles her cousin is only true for the referent Andrea
in a specific situation.
. Maienborn (2003) distinguishes between two kinds of stative verbs, Kimian state terms
know, believe, love, ) and Davidsonian state terms sit, stand, wait, ). Whereas Kimian
state terms can be characterised as true stative verbs, Davidsonian state terms cannot. Although
like Kimian state terms they consist of atomic time intervals, they share a number of properties with verbs expressing dynamic situations that exclude Kimian state terms (anaphoric
reference via phrases like this happened yesterday, modification with manner adverbials
(Maienborn 2003:5961). She suggests that Davidsonian state terms introduce a Davidsonian
event variable in their logical form, while Kimian state terms do not.
(27) John knows French well.

(28) John speaks French well.
The stativity of copula verbs explains why in resultatives it is the resultant state
component of a complex situation, and not the event component, that is predicated of the subject. Since copula verbs are stative, they are incompatible with
a true eventive argument. Contrastingly, anteriors reveal a dynamic rather than
a stative relation between the subject and the predicate, wherein the auxiliary
develops a past tense meaning. Therefore, in anteriors the auxiliary establishes a
relationship between the situation expressed by the participle and the subject of
the sentence. The subject referent becomes co-referential with the entity causing
the event expressed by the participle (Vincent 1982). The grammaticalisation of
anteriors is described in more detail for Old Spanish haber + PtcP in Section 3.2.1.
Due to the central metonymy between cause and result, it is often very difficult
to distinguish between anteriors and resultatives. In order to enable the distinction,
it is helpful to analyse the syntactic context of the two constructions. Thus, the stativity of resultative constructions leads to restrictions regarding their syntactic context.
Since the event-structural template of resultative constructions does not involve a
Davidsonian event variable, resultative constructions cannot appear with adverbials
that directly modify the event component of the complex situation expressed by the
participle. In addition, resultative constructions imply that the resultant state of a
complex situation persists at reference time. Therefore, a resultative reading is less
likely in syntactic contexts in which the situation is conceptualised as bounded. This
characteristic of resultative constructions also leads to different functions of resultatives and anteriors regarding the textual o
rganisation of narratives.
3.1.1 The stativity of resultative constructions
Resultative constructions are incompatible with adverbials that specify inherent
properties of the event component of the complex situation expressed by a participle. This restriction follows from Maienborns (2003) definition of the function of
copula verbs as stative predications. Copula verbs do not introduce a D
avidsonian
event variable. Since resultative constructions are copula verb constructions, they
are subject to the same restriction. Although the expression of the resultant state
of an event semantically entails the existence of the prior event, the event cannot be modified by event-modifying adverbials because the event is not explicitly
expressed.
This restriction regarding a resultative interpretation of constructions has been
noted in several studies investigating either anteriors with a resultative reading
(Michaelis 1994; Mittwoch 2008:326332) or stative passives (Sankoff & Thibault
1977:8594; Maienborn 2007). Thus, Mittwoch (2008) shows that English anteriors do not licence the interpretation that the resultant state of the event persists
at reference time in the context of manner adverbials that necessarily modify the
event component (29) and locative adverbials when the locative meaning is not
inherent to the verb meaning of the participle (31). Contrarily, manner adverbials that modify the resultant state component are compatible with resultative
anteriors (30).
(29) # She has sealed the window quickly. (# on resultative reading)
(Mittwoch 2008:329)
(30) She has sealed the window hermetically. (on resultative reading)
(Mittwoch 2008:329)
(31) # I have peeled the potatoes in the garden. (# on resultative reading)
(Mittwoch 2008:330)
The same applies to stative passives. There is a wide consensus in more recent
literature that stative passives are copula constructions (Sankoff & Thibault 1977;
Lenz 1994; Rapp 1996, 1997; Wunderlich 1997; Zimmermann 1999; Kratzer 2000;
Maienborn 2005b, 2007). They can be analysed as resultative constructions in
which a stative copula combines with a participle expressing a resultant state. In
Maienborns (2007) words,
The stative passive is a special case of a copula construction with an adjective
functioning as a predicate. Like all other copula constructions, it thus attributes a
property to the subject referent []. In the case of the stative passive, this is the
property of being in the state resulting from the event expressed by the base verb.
In a very thorough study, Sankoff & Thibault (1977:8594) identify a number

of criteria that distinguish between Canadian French tre + PtcP as an anterior
construction with tre functioning as an auxiliary, with a temporal function and
as a stative passive construction in which tre functions as a copula. Similarly to
Mittwoch (2008), Sankoff and Thibault note that adverbials referring to the manner in which an event is realised block the stative passive, i.e. the resultative, interpretation of tre + PtcP (Sankoff & Thibault 1977:90). In addition, they claim that
adverbials expressing the motivation of a subject referent for an action favour an
eventive (anterior) interpretation of tre + PtcP, as in the following example:
(32) On est parti de l pour aller

we be.prs.3sg leave.ptcp.m.sg from there for go
Pointe-aux-Trembles
to Pointe-aux-Trembles
We have left this place in order to go to Pointe-aux-Trembles
(Sankoff & Thibault 1977:90, bold marking and transl. MR)
3.1.2 Persistence of the resultant state at reference time

In addition to the restrictions regarding adverbial modification, Sankoff &
Thibault (1977) mention a series of further restrictions resulting from the difference in the functions of anterior and resultative constructions. Resultative
constructions imply that the resultant state of the complex situation expressed
by the participle holds at reference time. While this implication is licit in syntactic contexts involving durative temporal adverbials that are unbounded (e.g.
now or at that time), it is not with punctual, bounded durative, or iterative
adverbials. It has been claimed that the same restriction explains why resultative anteriors appear less with subjects marked for plural number (Mittwoch
2008). Sankoff and Thibault (1977) also observe that the resultative interpretation sometimes hinges on the discourse context, since in the case of hypotaxis, it is sensitive to the temporal-aspectual marking on the verb in the main
clause. In this section, it is argued that the restrictions within narrative contexts
mirror a difference in the discourse function of resultatives and anteriors. In
narrations, resultatives have a foregrounding function, whereas anteriors have
a backgrounding function. Lastly, a resultative interpretation of tre + PtcP is
rejected in irrealis contexts.
Sankoff and Thibault (1977) adopt a Reichenbachian system of temporal logic
(Reichenbach 1947). An event taking place at event time (E) is talked or written
about at speech time (S). While this dual classification would suffice to describe
the aorist, past-of-past contexts make necessary a third variable of point of view.
This is reference time (R). Thus, in past-of-past tense constructions like s/he had
come, the event of coming (E) is talked about at speech time (S). However, it is
portrayed as being anterior to reference time (R).
From this perspective, the distinction between anterior and resultative tre +
PtcP resides in whether the complex situation expressed by the participle is conceptualised as bounded or unbounded in relation to reference time. This is evident
in the patterns of temporal adverbial modification in the following two examples
from Sankoff & Thibaults paper:
(33) Hier,
mon petit frre il tait
ici, puis il

yesterday my small brother he be.pst.ipfv.3sg here then he

est
parti
dix heures et demie.
be.prs.3sg leave.ptcp.m.sg at ten hours and half
Yesterday, my small brother was here, then he left at 10:30.
(34) Il est parti en France maintenant.

he be.prs.3sg leave.ptcp.m.sg in France now
He is away now, in France.
The adverbial dix heures et demie in (33) expresses a punctual temporal meaning.
Consequently, the situation is conceptualised as bounded, and it is unclear whether
the resultant state holds at reference time. By contrast, the adverbial maintenant in
(34) leads to an unbounded interpretation of the situation. Thus, the resultant state
clearly holds at reference time (the subject referent is in France at reference time).
Thus, tre + PtcP has a resultative function in (34), but an anterior function in (33).
The parameter of boundedness also explains why a resultative reading is often
excluded in contexts that express the repetition of the situation expressed by the
participle:
(35) On est dmnag
peut-tre cinq six fois

we be.prs.3sg move.ptcp.m.sg maybe five six times
We have moved maybe five or six times
(36) Many people have complained about this practice.
(Mittwoch 2008:326, italics MR)
In these examples, the situation expressed by the participle is pluralised either

by means of a temporal adverbial with iterative meaning (35), or a plural subject
referent (36). Since pluralisation presupposes boundedness (cf., e.g. Krifka 1989b),
these contexts favour a bounded interpretation of the situation, and consequently
an interpretation as an anterior. Note however that this presupposition appears to
be defeasable in the case of plural subject referents because it is possible to conceptualise these events holistically. It is possible that in (36), the complaints took place
at (roughly) the same time. Although from a logical point of view the events are
clearly distinct, they can be conceptualised as a macro-event composed of various
events if the subject referent is treated as a mass noun. Contrastively, the iterative
adverbial in (35) necessarily implies that the events took place at different points
in time. For this reason, the predictive power of a parameter referring to iterative
adverbials for the resultative anterior distinction is expected to be greater than the
predictive power of a parameter referring to plural subject referents.
The question of temporal adverbial modification becomes more complicated
when more than one temporal adverbial is involved. The following example from
Sankoff and Thibault (1977:91) shows that it is important to take into account the
scope of the adverbials when considering their influence on the interpretation of
tre + PtcP as resultative or eventive:
(37) Toutes les fins de semaine en t,
on tait

all
the end of week in summer we be.pst.ipfv.3sg

toujours parti
always leave.ptcp.m.sg
Each summer weekend, we were always away
It could be assumed that since the stative passive interpretation depends on

whether the resultant state persists at reference time (and thus, the situation is
conceptualised as unbounded), the durative adverbial toujours always is responsible for the stative passive interpretation of this example.
However, Sankoff and Thibault (1977:91) demonstrate that durative adverbials often express iterativity. They argue that replacing the tre + PtcP token with a
simple preterite will change the interpretation of the adverbial toujours:
(38) On partais
toujours

we leave.pst.ipfv.3sg always
We always went away
In (38) toujours expresses an iteration of situations. Sankoff and Thibault claim

that this iterative interpretation derives from the imperfective past tense morphology of the verb. Arguably, the interpretation of on tait toujours parti in (37) as a
resultative is not a consequence of the presence of toujours, but rather the adverbial toutes les fins de semaine en t. This adverbial has scope over the entire succeeding sentence. In the lights of these observations, it appears that adverbials like
always, all the time, most of the time, etc. do not favour a resultative interpretation
of tre + PtcP. These adverbials often display an iterative meaning and could thus
be expected to rather favour an eventive interpretation.
Interestingly, the interpretation of a BE + PtcP token as resultative or anterior
is often directly conditioned by its narrative context. Sankoff and Thibault (1977)
discuss narrative configurations in which tre + PtcP is part of a subordinate temporal clause introduced with quand, as in the following example:
(39) Quand les gardiens taient partis l, on

when the guards be.pst.ipfv.3pl leave.ptcp.m.pl there we

jouait
une bonne partie de la nuit
play.pst.ipfv.3sg a good part of the night
au ballon-balai.
to.the broomball
When the guards were gone, we spent a good part of the night playing
broomball.(Sankoff & Thibault 1977:88, bold marking and transl. MR)
In Sankoff and Thibaults words, the tense of the verb in the main clause fixes
reference time after event time and thus serves as an indicator of non-completion
(Sankoff & Thibault 1977:88, transl. MR). The resultant state of taient partis holds
at reference time (fixed by jouait). This is what distinguishes (39) from the next
Example (40).
(40) J=avais
a mme quand on est arriv

I=have.pst.ipfv.1sg that same when we be.prs.3sg arrive.ptcp.m.sg

ici Pointe Saint-Charles
there to Pointe Saint-Charles
The same thing happened to me when we arrived here at Pointe
Saint-Charles (Sankoff & Thibault 1977:88, bold marking and transl. MR)
Whereas in (39), quand can be translated as when, in (40) it has the meaning in the
instant in which. This is due to the difference in the temporal morphology of tre
+ PtcP in the subordinate clause, and the main verb. In contrast to Example(39),
in (40) the complex situation expressed by the participle is conceptualised as
bounded, thereby making a resultative interpretation of est arriv unwarranted.
The disparity between the Examples (39) and (40) observed by Sankoff &
Thibault is significant because it sheds light on the different discourse functions of
the two construction types. In Rosemeyer (2012), the idea that there is an affinity
between the concepts of boundedness and causality is posited. The different aspectual make-up of of anteriors and resultatives leads to different typical discourse
functions. This is most evident in narrative chains. Figure 3.2 illustrates a narrative
chain in which a complex situation consisting of an event1 and a resultant state is
followed by an event2.5
Anterior
[Event1-----------> Resultant state----]---------> Event2
Resultative
[Event1-----------> Resultant state---] ---------> Event2
Figure 3.2Anteriors and resultatives in narrative chains
The arrows in Figure 3.2 indicate causal relations. In a complex situation, the
resultant state is caused by a preceding event. For instance, the event of breaking causes a referent to be broken. However, in what sense can the successive
event2 be conditioned by the preceding complex situation? It is proposed here that
event2 is not directly conditioned by the preceding event1, but rather by the state
resulting from event1. Consider the following introspective example also given in
Rosemeyer (2012). In (41), the action of Daves having coffee with Susan is enabled
by Daves being in Boston rather than by Daves action of arriving in Boston. This
is a result of the greater temporal distance between event1 and event2, and the conceptualisation of event1 as bounded.
. The resultant state is facultative for the anterior construction, but not for the resultative
construction.
(41) After Dave had arrived in Boston, he had coffee with Susan.
Since resultatives express the resultant state of a complex situation, they are more
adequate in contexts like (41). Such contexts are typically used to advance a narrative. As a consequence, resultatives typically appear to contribute information
relevant for the progression of the narrative, whereas anteriors usually provide
background information.6
The difference between the narrative function of the two construction types
in these contexts is quite clear in the examples discussed above. Example (39)
expresses a causal connection between the situation in the pre-posed temporal
clause and the main clause. Indeed, it is because the guards were away that the
subject referents were able to play football. In contrast, a similar causal inference
is much weaker in Example (40), where it is not specified whether the subject
referents arriving at Pointe Saint-Charles was a necessary prerequisite for the subsequent situation.
In 6.4.4.5, it is argued that in Spanish, the difference in the typical narrative
functions of resultatives and anteriors is evinced by the temporal-aspectual morphology on the auxiliary. When a haber + PtcP or ser + PtcP construction appears
in a past-of-past context, the auxiliary must be marked for either imperfective
past tense (as in haba venido s/he had come) or perfective past tense (as in hubo
venido s/he had come). As will be recapitulated in 6.4.4.5, haba venido in temporal clauses is typically paraphrased as when s/he had come, whereas in the same
context hubo venido is typically paraphrased as in the instant in which s/he had
come. The contrast in temporal-aspectual morphology in such examples thus parallels that in (39)(40).
Since Weinrichs (2001[1964]) work on tense it has become well known that
the distinction between imperfective and perfective past tense morphology in
Romance languages reveal differing discourse functions. While imperfective past
tense is used to mark background information, perfective past tense is used to
mark foreground information. This is illustrated by the fact that imperfective past
tense morphology necessitates a contextually given anchor in discourse, whereas
perfective past tense morphology does not (Giorgio & Pilanesi 1997:173174;
Carrasco Gutirrez 2004:483; Becker 2010). For example, the Spanish sentence
com una manzana I ate an apple (marked for perfective past tense morphology)
can be interpreted as is. The sentence coma una manzana I/she/he/it ate an apple
(marked for imperfective past tense morphology), on the other hand, requires
. This finding does not contradict the well-known fact that anteriors often express present
relevance (McCawley 1971), since present relevance refers to a relationship between event
time (E) and speech time (S).
contextual details. Whereas perfective past tense morphology introduces a reference point in discourse, imperfective past tense morphology does not. As a result,
the standard use of perfective past tense morphology is to advance a narrative,
while that of imperfective past tense morphology is to expound on the circumstances (Kamp & Rohrer 1983; Vet 2005).
In the light of these assumptions, Old Spanish haber + PtcP and ser + PtcP
should differ according to the temporal-aspectual morphology regularly applied
to the auxiliary. Whereas due to its anterior function, haber + PtcP should typically occur with imperfective past tense morphology, ser + PtcP should typically
occur with perfective past tense morphology.
Narrative chains are not the only contexts in which resultatives have a different discourse function than anteriors. Mackenzie (2005:135137) claims that
copula verbs can always be used inceptively, i.e. to indicate a change of state.
This is possible due to the stativity of copula verbs. As noted by M
ackenzie,
stative verbs are typically ambiguous between a stative and a change of state
reading. For instance, English understand can designate a certain state of the
mind or a momentary event that brings the state into existence (Mackenzie
2005:145). He argues that likewise, Romance copula constructions have an
affinity towards change of state contexts. By advancing narratives, these contexts arguably fulfil a foregrounding function in discourse. If in the Old S panish
ser + PtcP construction ser is indeed a copula, it should appear with both a
resultative and an inceptive function. This issue is highly relevant for the analysis of Old Spanish auxiliary selection, as evinced by the further discussion in
Sections 5.2.2 and 6.4.3.
Lastly, Sankoff and Thibault (1977) also discuss irrealis modality and negation.
They claim that past counterfactuals as in the following example systematically
emphasise the event as such rather than the state that result from it (Sankoff&
Thibault 1977:92, transl. MR).
(42) En avoir vu
une, j=aurais
dmnag

in have see.ptcp.m.sg one I=have.pst.ipfv.sbjv.1sg move.ptcp.m.sg

tout de suite.
all of next
If I had seen one, I would have moved instantly.
Sankoff and Thibault claim that in (42), the sentence en avoir vu une validates the
interpretation of the avoir + PtcP token as an anterior by specifying the conditions under which the main sentence would have become true. Since these truth
conditions depend on the event rather than the resultant state, a resultative interpretation of this token is unfavourable. Consequently, the selection of the anterior
auxiliary avoir over tre is not surprising.7 Since past counterfactuals are not usually expressed without specification of the conditions under which the events
would have come true, hypothetical situations can be argued to support eventive
readings.
Although negation may seem to have a similar effect when used to express
counterfactuality, Sankoff and Thibault (1977:9293) argue that negative sentences actually behave more comparably with sentences exerting positive polarity.
A negated tre + PtcP token can on the one hand express a negated event, and on
the other hand a negated resultant state:
(43) Puis si elle tait
pas rentre
minuit une,

then if she be.pst.ipfv.3sg not go.back.in.ptcp.f.sg at midnight one

elle sortait
pas pour une semaine.
she leave.pst.ipfv.3sg not for one week
Because if she had not been back at midnight, they would not have allowed
her to leave for a week.
In Example (43), tait pas rentre is interpreted as expressing a negative state.

Sankoff & Thibault ascribe this interpretation to the fact that the main verb sortait
has the same temporal-aspectual morphology as the auxiliary tre. In line with
Sankoff & Thibaults observations, this triggers a resultative interpretation. The
important aspect in the narrative constellation in (43) is not the subject referents return, but rather her being there. Note that this interpretation contrasts with
Stolova (2006) findings for Old Spanish (see 2.2.2).
Thus far, this chapter has illustrated a series of syntactic contexts that are
favourable to either an eventive or a resultative reading. An eventive reading is
enabled by (a) elements that modify the eventive component of a complex situation, such as manner adverbials, locative adverbials, or adverbials indicating
the cause of an event, and (b) contexts that disfavour the interpretation that the
resultant state holds at reference time, such as punctual temporal adverbials, iterative temporal adverbials, plural subjects, subordinate temporal clauses where
the auxiliarys tense morphology does not correspond to the main verbs tense
morphology, or counterfactual situations. A resultative reading is enabled by contexts that indicate that the resultant state holds at reference time, such as temporal adverbials expressing unbounded duration, or subordinate temporal clauses
where the auxiliarys temporal-aspectual morphology corresponds to the main
. Note however that in this example, the manner adverbial tout de suite rapidly already
licences an interpretation of the token as an anterior and consequently, the selection of avoir.
verbs temporal-aspectual morphology. A summary of these parameters can be

found in Table 3.1. A + indicates that the syntactic context favours the reading
indicated by the column name, whereas a indicates that the syntactic context
is adverse to that reading.
Table 3.1 Parameters distinguishing resultative from anterior constructions
Syntactic context
Examples
Anteriors
Resultatives
Modification of event properties

Manner or instrument
adverbials
hermetically, see (29)
Locative adverbials
in the garden, see (31)
Adverbials that express

acause
On est parti de l pour aller

Pointe-aux-Trembles, see (32)
Persistence of resultant state at reference time

Adverbials expressing
bounded duration
yesterday, the other week, in

1922, four times, ever, see (33)
Adverbials expressing
unbounded duration
now, at that time, see (34)
Iterative temporal adverbials
cinq fois, toujours, see (35)
Plural subjects
Many people have complained

about this practice, see (36)
Subordinate temporal clause

where the auxiliarys tense
morphology corresponds
to the main verbs tense
morphology
Quand les gardiens taient

partis l, on jouait [] au
ballon-balai, see (39)
Subordinate temporal
clause where the auxiliarys
tense morphology does not
correspond to the main
verbs tense morphology
Javais a mme quand on

est arriv ici Pointe
Saint-Charles, see (40)
Counterfactuality
En avoir vu une, jaurais

dmnag tout de suite,
see(42)
3.2 Origins of Spanish auxiliary selection

Describing the diachrony of anterior auxiliary selection in Spanish entails modelling two different yet intertwined processes. Haber + PtcP and ser + PtcP were not
created in Old Spanish. The roots of the competition between them trail back to
their Latin and Proto-Romance predecessors. Although researchers have not yet
reached a consensus regarding the exact nature of that process, it is well known
that the anterior construction haber + PtcP stems from the full verb habre in
Late Latin or Early Romance. By contrast, it is unclear whether ser + PtcP merely
took over the function of esse + PtcP or whether a grammatical development took
place. This section investigates the Latin origins of haber + PtcP and ser + PtcP and
additionally provides preliminary evidence for an analysis of Old Spanish auxiliary selection in terms of an opposition between an anterior and a resultative
construction.
Before entering the discussion, it is however necessary to briefly introduce
the Latin verbal system and distinguish between tense and aspect. Latin grammarians justifiably warn against mixing the notions of tense and aspect (Leumann
1977:509). As exemplified by the Reichenbachian (1947) system of temporal logic
presented in the last section, tense expresses the relationship of the time period
of an event to another time period. Aspect, by contrast, describes the internal
temporal constituency of a situation (Comrie 1976:3). An event can be conceptualised as bounded or unbounded, regardless of its relationship to speech time. This
conceptualisation can either be introduced as part of the verb meaning (lexical
aspect) or through grammatical means (grammatical aspect).
The Latin verb system is based on the distinction between infectum and
perfectum forms (Leumann 1977:507; Salvi 2010:328).8 Infectum forms
express unbounded situations, whereas perfectum forms express bounded situations. This aspectual difference parallels with a difference in relative tense:
perfectum forms indicate the anteriority of the situation to a point of time.
Boundedness and anteriority are contiguous concepts: the existence of an end of
a situation implies the temporal anteriority of that situation to a following situation. Since infectum forms express the unboundedness of a situation, they do
not indicate relative tense. Note that the temporal meaning of perfectum and
infectum forms is historically posterior to the aspectual meaning that derives
directly from Proto-Indo-European (see Kulikov 1999:31 and references therein;
Tichy 2000:93). As already noted in Meillet and Vendryes (1924), linnovation
fondamentale du latin est dexprimer la notion de temps par le thme. En
indo-europen, les thmes verbaux expriment dordinaire des nuances daspect
(Meillet & Vendryes 1924:249).
. Instead of the infectum perfectum opposition (coined by Varro in his discussion of the
Greek aspectual system and adopted for Latin by Meillet 2009[1933]:28), Leumann (1977)
uses the terms Praesensformen Perfektformen for the same phenomenon.
3.2.1 Origins of haber + PtcP

There is an ongoing debate regarding the genesis of the Romance periphrastic
anterior, specifically its original function (cf. de Acosta 2011). However, haber +
PtcP is often assumed to have originated from a construction in which the transitive full verb habre was adjoined to a complex syntagm formed from the object
of habre and an adnominal PP agreeing with each other (Benveniste 1952, 1968;
Vincent 1982; Pinkster 1987; Salvi 1987; Garca Martn 2001:2850). The participle thus functions as an adjective (Olbertz 1993:244). Jacob (1995) distinguishes
three types of meanings of habre + PtcP, which are exemplified in (44)(46).
(44) inclusum
in curia
senatum habuerunt

confine.ptcp.m.sg in senate.house senate have.pst.pfv.3pl
They held the senate confined in the senate house [Cicero, Epistolae ad
Atticum, apud Vicent (1982:80, transl. and bold marking MR)]
(45) scio
quidem et bene compertum habeo

know.prs.1sg anyway and well understand.ptcp.m.sg have.prs.1sg
I know that anyway and have understood it well [Lucan, Comment. Lucan,
apud Jacob (1998:118, transl. and bold marking MR)]
(46) ecce episcopum cum duce et civibus

behold bishop with leader and citizens

invitatum habes
invite.ptcp.m.sg have.prs.2sg
Behold besides the leader and the citizens, you have the bishop as a guest
[Gregory of Tours, De vita patrum, apud Jacob (1995:378, transl. and bold
marking MR)]
Examples like (44) express what Jacob calls a causative-durative meaning. In

these types of cases, habre can be translated as hold or maintain. Here, the subject referent actively maintains the senate in the state of being confined to the
senate house. Jacob shows that the set of examples analysed as possessive constructions by traditional approaches (in particular, Vincent 1982) effectively belong to
this group. When habre auxiliates cognition and perception verbs as in(45), the
subject bears the semantic role of experiencer. Additionally, in examples of this
type habre + PtcP has a special pragmatic value. In (45), compertum habeo does
not change the truth-conditional semantics of the sentence. If the subject referent
knows something, this implies that s/he has understood it. This redundancy demonstrates that the speaker wishes to put emphasis on the fact that he has understood the issue. The situation expressed by habre + PtcP thus appears to have
pragmatic relevance to the speaker. Notably, the classical Example (46) can be
interpreted along similar lines. The action expressed by the participle in this case
also has pragmatic relevance to the subject referent. As the agent of the event of
inviting, the subject referent is responsible for the result of this invitation. Later on,
it is revealed that there is a lack of wine for which the subject referent is also held
responsible, causing this person to become pragmatically affected by the situation.
In Jacobs (1996) words,
In general terms it could be stated that the periphrasis refers to an action executed
by the subject referent. This action causes a debt, a merit, a claim, or an obligation
of the agent towards other persons. In these actions, the agent is not only an agent
but s/he is bound or affected socially, morally or legally, in the broadest sense
ethically.(Jacob 1996:262, transl. MR)
Jacob (1994, 1995, 1996, 1998) argues any examples analogous to (46) can be
analysed as modal periphrases with a deontic meaning. The speaker-hearer-
constellation in (46) implies that the speaker expects the subject referent to
assume responsibility for the bishops presence. Jacob terms this concept subject
relevance (Subjektrelevanz, Jacob 1996:263).
Subject relevance implies a type of weak resultativity wherein the subject referent is affected by the fact that the event has taken place. This is true for both
Example (46) and Example (45), in which the subject has an experiencer role.9
Note that this relationship of affectedness differs from the affectedness of subject
referents in resultative constructions. It is difficult to state simply that in (45) the
subject referent is in the state of having understood, or that in (46) the subject
referent is in the state of having the bishop as a guest. While resultative constructions predicate an intrinsic state of the subject (e.g. in he is gone, the state
of being away is predicated of the subject), constructions expressing subject relevance express that the result of an event is of importance to the subject referent.
Consequently, rather than the resultant state of an event, it is the relevance of the
event to the interlocutors that persists at reference time (Jacob 1995:379).
Jacob argues that the reanalysis of habre + PtcP as an anterior is related to
this special type of resultativity (Jacob 1996:263). Importantly, subject relevance
is correlated to control. If a person must take responsibility for a situation, this
person is likely to have caused it in the first place. The deontic meaning of the
. Note that Example (44) can be interpreted along similar lines: the subject referent
is responsible for the fact that the senate is imprisoned in the senate house. De Acostas
(2011) analysis of this type of example is similar to Jacobs proposal. He argues that habre
+ PtcP expresses a relationship of pertaining. The parallels between Jacobs and de Acostas
approaches become apparent when considering de Acostas definition of the term. Pertaining
is an asymmetrical relation, in which something belongs to or befalls the major member of
the relation, but not vice versa (de Acosta 2011:165).
s ituation can thus be reanalysed in temporal terms. If the affectedness of the subject referent is the result of its earlier action, the habre + PtcP construction can
be used to express the action itself. As indicated by the affinity between modal and
perception verbs in the Germanic Praeteritopraesentia (Jacob 1998 and references therein), there is a diachronic-typological correlation between anterior constructions and verbs whose subject is not an agent, but an experiencer.
This proposal is detailed further in Detges (2001). He shows that Example
(46) can have two meanings: (a) you have the bishop as a guest, and (b) someone,
maybe you, has invited the bishop (Detges 2001:88, transl. MR). Whereas reading
(a) refers expresses the relevance of the result of an earlier event to the subject referent, reading (b) refers to the event itself. He summarises the differences between
the two readings in Figure 3.3 and Figure 3.4, where resultative I is parallel to
conventionalised constructions in a reading of (a), and anterior to conventionalised constructions in a reading of (b).10
Reading (a)
Reading (b)
Type of
Present result
Past event
verbal action
Affected by the present state in a
Agent of the past event
Semantic role non-specified manner (even
of the subject possibly as the agent of the past
event that causes the present state)
Figure 3.3 Resultative I constructions (adapted from Detges 2001:88)
Reading (a)
Reading (b)
Type of
Present result
Past event
verbal action
Figure 3.4 Anterior constructions (adapted from Detges 2001:89)
In its resultative I function, early habre + PtcP resemble Modern Spanish

tener + PtcP tokens that clearly have a resultative function (Detges 2001:92).
In order to account for the grammaticalisation of haber + PtcP, Detges (2001)
. Detges (2001) uses the term perfect constructions.
roposes the existence of an intermediary construction, the resultative II. The

p
make-up of the resultative II is illustrated in Figure 3.5.
Reading (a)
Reading (b)
Type of
Present result
Past event
verbal action
Figure 3.5 Resultative II constructions (adapted from Detges 2001:89)
Like resultative I constructions, resultative II constructions express the present

result of a past event. However, the subject referent is co-referential with the agent
of the past event. Although resultative II constructions do not already express past
time reference, they behave like anteriors with regard to the conceptualisation of
the subject referent: the subject is interpreted as the agent of the past event leading to the present situation. Due to its focus on the present result, resultative II
constructions express subject relevance by showing how the subject referent is
responsible for the present situation.
Detges (2001) assumes that the change from the resultative I to the resultative
II function of haber + PtcP took taken place between Late Latin and Old Spanish.
He proposes that a majority of haber + PtcP constructions in early Old Spanish
can be analysed as resultative II constructions. As in the following examples, the
subject referents of haber + PtcP constructions in Old Spanish often are conceptualised as being responsible for the situation expressed by the participle:
(47) Gradid
me=lo, mis fijas,
ca
bien vos

thank.imp.pl him=that my daughters because well you

he
casadas
have.prs.1sg marry.ptcp.f.pl
Thank me for that, my daughters, for because of me you are married well
[Poema de mio Cid, apud Detges (2001:91, transl. and bold marking MR)]
(48) ca
assi=l
dieran
la fed
e

because so=pro.dat give.pst.ipfv.sbjv.3pl the credence and

ge=lo
avien jurado
pro.dat=it have.pst.ipfv.3pl swear.ptcp.m.sg
Because they had assured it to him and are sworn to him [Poema de mio
Cid, apud Detges (2001:95, transl. and bold marking MR)]
(49) [B]ien creo

que habrs visto algunas
well believe.prs.1sg that have.fut.2sg see.ptcp.m.sg some
d=estas cosas
of=these things
I do believe that you have seen some of these things [Doze sabios, apud
Detges (2001:97, transl. and bold marking MR)]
According to Detges, these tokens exemplify the three verb classes with which
haber + PtcP was predominantly used in Old Spanish. Haber was used to auxiliate transitive accomplishment or achievement verbs (47), transitive verbs with
illocutionary power that refer to communicative acts (48), and transitive cognition/perception verbs (49). In the situation posed in (47), the subject referent is
the causator of the event of marrying, and he explicitly assumes the responsibility
for the resultant state, i.e. the daughters being married. Likewise, the illocutionary power of the act of swearing in (48) entails the subject referents committing
themselves to the oath, and thus assuming responsibility for keeping it. Lastly,
perception verbs denote the resultant experience of an experiencer subject. Detges
(2001:96) argues that the auxiliation of these verbs with haber puts emphasis on
the actual experience. For example, in (45) the speaker emphasises that the subject
referent has indeed experienced a situation (also cf. Jacob 1995, 1996, 1998).
Cognition and perception verbs are crucial for Jacobs and Detges approaches
because it is widely accepted that these are the first intransitive verbs that are auxiliated with habre as early as in Latin (Thielmann 1885:509; Benveniste 1968;
Vincent 1982:8485; Pinkster 1987:204205; Carey 1994:100115; Jacob 1994).
Detges analysis can account for this observation. With cognition and perception
verbs,
the experiencer of the acquisition of knowledge (who is not the agent of the
process), is always the person affected by the state of present knowledge.
Hence, the grammatical subject of the construction is necessarily identical to the
logical subject of the process that the participle expresses, without being a real
agent.(Detges 2001:9798, transl. MR)
Due to their argument structure, cognition and perception verbs are thus argued
to be bridging contexts in the development of the resultative II and consequently,
the anterior function. The specific argument constellation of the resultative II construction appears most clearly with these verbs. In resultative II constructions,
the subject referent is always coreferential with the agent of the past event. This
constellation is a prerequisite for the temporalisation of haber + PtcP (Vincent
1982:84; Salvi 1987:230; Jacob 1994; Garca Martn 2001:33; Rodrguez Molina
2010:1054). An entity can only be responsible for a situation if it directly or indirectly caused the event leading to that that situation. The reanalysis of haber + PtcP
from a r esultative II to an anterior thus relies on the contiguity of the concepts of

event and result outlined in 3.1. Speakers started using haber + PtcP constructions
that usually express present results to refer to past events. According to Detges,
the speakers motivation for this strategy may have been rhetorical. When using
a present result to affirm that a previous event has in fact happened, the speakers
affirmation is given credibility (2001:100). The same phenomenon can be found in
Modern Spanish tener + PtcP tokens such as in (50). As evident in the translation
of speaker Bs answer, the speaker presents the finished letter in order to confirm
that the past event of writing has actually happened.
(50) A: Has
escrito la carta?

have.prs.3sg write.ptcp.m.sg the letter

B: S, aqu la tengo
escrita
ya
yes, here it have.prs.1sg write.ptcp.f.sg already

A: Have you written the letter?

B: Yes, here it is already
(Detges 2001:100, transl. and ann. MR)
Overall, the lexical expansion of haber + PtcP to intransitive cognition and perception verbs was probably the starting point of its grammaticalisation to an
anterior.11 The grammaticalisation process itself has been the subject of a great
number of studies that cannot be conclusively reviewed here (but cf. the thorough
summary in Rodrguez Molina 2010:10561128). In short, it is ususally argued
that the reanalysis of haber + PtcP led to the reclassification of its components.
This process, in turn, correlates with morphosyntactic changes like the loss of
agreement between object and participle and the fixation of the word order auxiliary + PtcP. Thereafter, the construction was generalised to all types of intransitive
verbs, leading to a rise in usage frequency. The semantic generalisation of haber +
PtcP is closely associated with the constructions change in function.
The grammaticalisation of haber + PtcP was enabled by a reanalysis of the
constituent structure of the construction. In Pinksters (1987:196) notation:
(51) habre + (object + participle) > (habre + participle) + object
Since resultative I and II constructions express a situation resulting from an event,

they display an affinity between object and participle in that the resultant state
expressed by the participle applies to the object. Consequently, in many Old
Spanish examples the object and the participle of transitive haber + PtcP constructions agree in personal morphology. In (52) the participle acabada agrees in
gender and number with the direct object razon.
. See Chapter 4 for an introduction to grammaticalisation theory.
(52) despues que Jaason su razon ouo acabada

after that Jason his speech have.pst.pfv.3sg complete.ptcp.f.sg
When Jason had completed his speech [RDT, apud Parker (1977:9)]
When the subject was reanalysed as the causator of the past event, this link between
object and participle weakened, leading to the loss of agreement (Andres-Surez
1994:53). Whereas in the original constellation the participle had adjectival character, it was reanalysed as expressing anteriority (Olbertz 1993:251; Azofra Sierra
2006). It was also at this point in development that haber acquired an auxiliary
function, selecting clausal instead of nominal complements (Rodrguez Molina
2010:1060). Subsequently, it was haber and the participle that displayed a close
structural bond, as demonstrated by the increasing fixation of the word order of
haber + PtcP. For instance, Olbertz (1993) reports that already in the Poema de mio
Cid, written before 1200, only 4 of the 22 cases of haber + PtcP had lexical material
intervening between auxiliary and participle (1993:252).
There is little doubt that the construction had already been subject to a process of analogical expansion even before the languages evolution into Old Spanish.
It was through this process that it came to be used in a large variety of contexts.
The change in the function of haber + PtcP was intricately related to this analogical
expansion. Rodrguez Molina (2010) offers the most comprehensible study of this
phenomenon in Old Spanish (until 1499), accounting for functional, discursive,
and dialectal factors. He raises quantitative data to support the model of the grammaticalisation of haber + PtcP summarised in Table 3.2.
Table 3.2 The grammaticalisation of haber + PtcP (adapted from Rodrguez
Molina2010:1137)
Parameter
Diachronic trajectory
A. Subject animacy
animate
-> inanimate/abstract
B. Transitivity
transitive verbs
-> intransitive verbs
C. Voice
active
-> passive
active
-> anticausative
D. Object type
canonical
-> non-canonical
E. Stative auxiliated verbs
not possible
-> possible
F. Modal auxiliated verbs
not possible
-> possible
G. Paradigmatic integration
weak
-> strong
H. Usage frequency
less frequent
-> more frequent
Rodrguez Molinas (2010) model follows grammaticalisation theories that

assume that grammaticalisation entails processes of generalisation of meaning and
grammatical function (Hopper & Traugott 2003:100106) or, in Himmelmanns

(2004) terms, processes of context expansion. Most of the parameters refer to the
process of diffusion of haber + PtcP. Factors A, E and F refer to the fact that the
range of verbs occurring in the haber + PtcP construction increased. Haber + PtcP
gradually came to be used to auxiliate intransitive, stative, and modal verbs.12 In the
domain of transitive auxiliated verbs, haber + PtcP was used more and more often
with non-canonical objects, in particular sentential objects (parameter D). Paradigmatic integration (factor G) is a classical grammaticalisation parameter already
proposed in Lehmann (1995, 2002). Rodrguez Molinas data show that haber +
PtcP only gradually came to be used with future and conditional morphology, i.e.
in hypothetical or counterfactual contexts (Rodrguez Molina 2010:12021212).
Unsurprisingly, as indicated by the factor H, the expansion of the usage contexts of
haber + PtcP leads to an increase in its usage frequency. In the following passages
of this section, special emphasis will be put on parameters A, B, and C.
Parameter A deals with the referentiality of the subject of haber + PtcP. While
the subjects of resultative II constructions were very likely to be [+animate], these
restrictions were lost with the increasing temporalisation of haber + PtcP. It should
be noted that animate entities are much more likely to be ethically affected by an
event. Rodrguez Molinas (2010:11421143) data show an increase of the relative
frequency of inanimate and abstract subjects in the haber + PtcP construction
from 1 to 10 per cent between 800 and 1499.
Parameter B refers to the spread of haber + PtcP from transitive to intransitive
verbs. Between 800 and 1499, the use of haber + PtcP with intransitive verbs rose
from 2 to 24 per cent (Rodrguez Molina 2010:1148). However, the author shows
that many intransitive haber + PtcP tokens are, in fact, absolute transitives in
which a two-argument verb is used with only the subject argument:
(53) e fablo
con ellos eleazar assi como le

and talk.pst.pfv.3sg with them Eleazar such like pro.dat

avie
dicho
el senor abraam
have.pst.ipfv.3sg say.ptcp.m.sg the lord Abraham
And Elazar talked to them as Lord Abraham had suggested [La Fazienda de
Ultramar, apud Rodrguez Molina (2010:1150, transl. MR)]
Rodrguez Molina (2010:1151) argues that these were the first intransitive contexts in which haber + PtcP appeared. By contrast, the first genuinely intransitive predicates to be auxiliated with haber were unergative verbs (cf. 2.1). The
. Rodrguez Molinas term stative verbs refers to the three true stative verbs estar be, ser
be, and haber have.
a rgument structure of these verbs resembles the argument structure of absolute

transitives. In both cases, the only argument is a subject referent causing the event.
This is not true for unaccusative verbs in which the subject argument is affected
by the event. The following diachronic model, wherein each predicate class is connected to the successive class by a similarity relationship, establishes absolute transitives as belonging within the intermediary stage of the extension of haber + PtcP
to being used as an intransitive predicate:
(54) transitive > absolute transitive > unergative intransitive > unaccusative
intransitive
(adapted from Rodrguez Molina 2010:1151)
Assuming a scalar model of transitivity (Hopper & Thompson 1980), Rodrguez

Molina (2010:1151) explains this sketch of the expansion process of haber + PtcP
as a gradual detachment of haber + PtcP from prototypical semantic transitivity.
Moreover, Rodrguez Molina (2010) shows the importance of dialectal factors for the expansion process of haber + PtcP to intransitive verbs. He demonstrates that a great number of both early absolute transitive (Rodrguez Molina
2010:11521153) and genuinely intransitive tokens of haber + PtcP (Rodrguez
Molina 2010:11611162) are found in Aragonese texts. It appears, thus, that the
Aragonese variety of Spanish was most progressive with regard to the grammaticalisation of haber + PtcP. This assumption is also supported by the finding that
the overall usage frequency of haber + PtcP is highest in texts of Aragonese origin
(Rodrguez Molina 2010:1214).
In addition, Rodrguez Molina (2010:11531160) demonstrates that the
expansion of haber + PtcP to the intransitive verb classes was a heterogeneous
process. He observes that during this process, certain intransitive verb classes
were used earlier in the haber + PtcP construction than others. This observation is in line with the results from the research on split auxiliary selection.
However, Rodrguez Molinas chronology of the displacement of ser + PtcP by
haber + PtcP in the domain of intransitive verbs does not match the data proposed by the studies in 2.2. Most importantly, he (2010:1156) reports that verbs
expressing change of location events such as tornar return, were more likely to
be auxiliated with haber before 1499 than change of state predicates like nacer
be born. This contradicts the straightforward application of the original version
of the Auxiliary Selection Hierarchy as a model for this process. Recall that in
the original formulation of the ASH (Sorace 2000), change of location predicates are expected to more consistently lead to BE-selection than change of state
predicates. Rodrguez Molinas findings also discredit Mateus (2009) modified
approach in which change of location predicates are not expected to cause ser to
be more frequently selected than change of state predicates. The intransitive verb
class most susceptible to haber-selection appears to be verbs of existence and
appearance (Rodrguez Molina 2010:1156). Rodrguez Molinas (2010) results

cast doubt on the validity of the data used in the current literature on Spanish
auxiliary selection. Note, however, that he operates with a rather small dataset,
namely 212 change of location tokens and 36 change of state tokens from the time
period between 1140 and 1499. More importantly, he bases his argument on a
quantitative analysis of the absolute number of haber + PtcP tokens in that time
period. However, in order for these data to be representative, it would be more
appropriate to analyse the frequency of haber-selection relative to the frequency
of ser-selection, as has been done in this study.
According to parameter C, haber + PtcP was increasingly used in combination
with diatheses. Rodrguez Molina (2010:11661180) discovers an increase of the
use of haber + PtcP in compound passives like (55) and anticausative constructions like (56).
(55) si aujan seydo
bien tratados

if have.pst.ipfv.3pl be.ptcp.m.sg well treat.ptcp.m.pl
Whether they had been treated well [TAM, apud Rodrguez Molina
(2010:1171, transl. MR)]
(56) las muertes & Robos que en la dicha
ibdad se

the murders and raids that in the say.ptcp.f.sg city pro.refl

auian fecho
have.pst.ipfv.3pl do.ptcp.m.sg
The murders and raids that had been committed in the said city
[ATA, apud Rodrguez Molina (2010:1174, transl. MR)]
With regard to auxiliary selection, this development is of importance since both

passives and anticausatives were formed with ser in Old Spanish. Unlike in Modern
Spanish, the passive with ser could express anteriority without an additional
auxiliary haber. Consider the following token from the 15th century:
(57) Ya
era
passada
la mayor partida del ao,

already be.pst.ipfv.3sg pass.ptcp.f.sg the greatest part of.the year,

e las dos tablas de las leyes eran
ayuntadas a las
and the two tables of the laws be.pst.ipfv.3pl join.ptcp.f.pl to the

diez tablas
ten tables
The greatest part of the year had already passed, and the two tables with the
laws had been joined to the (other) ten tables [DTL, apud CORDE]
In Section 3.2.2, the polysemy of Old Spanish ser + PtcP is shown to be a result of the
function of its Latin predecessor esse + PtcP: esse + PtcP has a reflexive-passive function that is a remnant of the earlier system of middle voice. The fact that haber + PtcP
came to be used in passives and reflexive constructions was thus of great relevance to
the development of Old Spanish ser + PtcP.
It should be duly noted that the grammaticalisation of haber + PtcP did not
end with its temporalisation. Anteriors are not just anteriors, due to the way they
adopt different functional values according to the context in which they are situated.
McCawley (1971) established a typology of anterior uses that has been adopted,
albeit in modified versions, in many subsequent studies (Comrie 1976:5661; Harris
1982; Dahl 1985:129144; Bybee, Perkins & Pagliuca 1994:6162; Schwenter 1994b;
Squartini & Bertinetto 2000; Pancheva 2003; Copple 2009b, 2009a). Although it is
unclear whether a unified semantic theory for the anterior is possible (Alexiadou,
Rathert & von Stechow 2003: viii; Iatridou 2003; Pancheva 2003), it has been proposed that compound tense constructions undergo an aorist drift. Thus, their
meaning shifts from a present relevance to a perfective aorist function. Evidence for
such a process has been found in Romance languages like French, Northern Italian,
and Romanian. In these languages, HAVE + PtcP is compatible with temporal adverbials expressing pre-hodiernal contexts (e.g. yesterday or two years ago). In Spanish
and English, this is not the case (Pancheva & von Stechow 2004; Schwenter& Torres
Cacoullos 2008). The aoristic drift positively correlates positively with an elevated
frequency of compound tense constructions: in languages in which HAVE + PtcP
has acquired an anterior function, the construction has come to replace synthetic
aorist forms in spoken language. In French, Northern Italian and Romanian, the
synthetic aorist forms have been largely confined to written texts.
In addition, there are parallels between the development of the HAVE-anterior
from Latin and the development of the HAVE-anterior in Germanic languages.
Thus, studies on the grammaticalisation of the Germanic HAVE + PtcP construction claim that as in Latin, it originated in a transitive resultative present that was
reanalysed as a transitive anterior. The construction was subsequently extended
to intransitive contexts, leading to variable auxiliary selection between HAVE
and BE (Abraham 1990, 1991a, 1991b; Leiss 1992:280; Bybee, Perkins & Pagliuca
1994:6869; hl 2009; Gillmann 2011). As in the Romance languages, the construction was then affected by the aorist drift. For instance, Modern G
erman
haben have + PtcP is typically used as an aorist, whereas the synthetic past the
original construction expressing aoristic tense is almost exclusively confined to
formal registers.
3.2.2 Origins of ser + PtcP
The origins of Old Spanish ser + PtcP have received much less interest in research
than the origins of haber + PtcP. This is probably due to the fact that ser + PtcP is the
successor to the Latin construction esse + PtcP which in turn is often considered to
be a compound tense. Since many authors consider Old Spanish ser + PtcP to be
an anterior construction similar to haber + PtcP, they assume a constancy of the
function of esse + PtcP in both Latin and Old Spanish. For instance, for Aranovich
(2003) Old Spanish ser + PtcP is part of the perfect auxiliary system (Aranovich
2003:11).
A closer look at the situation in Latin casts doubts on this premise. Latin esse
+ PtcP arguably expressed an aspectual rather than a temporal function and can be
characterised as a resultative construction. Its resultative meaning arises compositionally through the combination of the copula verb esse and participles ending
in -to. The perfectivity of the participle leads to a stative interpretation of the situation. Due to the affinity between stativity and lack of control, the subject referent
of which the situation is predicated is conceptualised as being affected by the resultant state of the situation. Furthermore, since perfectivity often leads to a temporal
interpretation, esse + PtcP can be used to pragmatically implicate the event causing the resultant state. Although the conventionalisation of this implicature may
eventually lead to the grammaticalisation of esse to an anterior auxiliary, there are
no indications that this process might already have happened in Latin.
Traditional Latin grammarians describe esse + PtcP in Latin as the perfectum
of passives and deponent verbs (Khner & Stegmann 1962:163164; Leumann
1977:507). As shown at the beginning of this chapter, the Latin distinction
between infectum and perfectum forms is primarily aspectual. This is apparent in
Khner & Stegmanns (1962) definition of the function of esse + PtcP. Thus, esse
+ PtcP serves to express the temporal forms of completed action [i.e. perfectum,
MR] in the passive voice; these forms refer to the state resulting from the completed action (Khner & Stegmann 1962:163164, transl. MR). Like the synthetic
perfectum forms generated with the v-stem, the primary function of esse + PtcP
is aspectual in nature. The possible temporal interpretation of esse + PtcP is only
secondary. A completed situation can be used to pragmatically implicate temporal
anteriority.
Khner and Stegmanns (1962) analysis of the meaning of esse + PtcP in Latin
fits the description of resultative constructions established in 3.1. Resultatives
express a resultant state that holds at reference time. This function leads to restrictions regarding the type of auxiliated verbs a resultative can appear with. In fact,
resultatives are only compatible with verbs that either express a complex situation
involving a resultant state, or that may be coerced into such a reading.
Latin participles ending in -to are verbal adjectives (Ernout 1945:344; Palmer
1954:280, 327; Leumann 1977:611; Vincent 1982:81). Verbal adjectives are words
that behave like adjectives with respect to morphology and external syntax, but
are regularly derived from verbs (Haspelmath 1994:152). In contrast to adjectives (e.g. dignus worthy) and active participles (e.g. obediens obedient), forms
ending in -to like captus captured or ntus born semantically entail a previous
event. Consequently, they can be characterised as expressing the resultant state
of a complex situation involving a transition. This is evident in (a) the selectional
restrictions of the -to- suffix, and (b) absolute constructions. Latin participles ending in -to can only be formed from active transitive verbs and deponent verbs since
only these verb types express complex situations. Moreover, in all attested periods
of Latin, -to- participles were used in absolute constructions as in the following
example:
(58) hac confirmata
opinione [] delegit

this confirm.ptcp.f.sg impression charge.pst.pfv.3sg
When this impression was confirmed, he charged [Caesar, De bello
Gallico, apud Bauer (2000:290, bold marking and ann. MR)]
The absolute construction hac confirmata opinione conveys the resultant state of
the verb confirmare confirm, which is a transitive verb whose event structure is
complex, involving both an event and a resultant state. Note that as in the resultative uses of Canadian French tre + PtcP discussed in Sankoff and Thibault (1977),
in absolute constructions reference time is posterior to event time.
As indicated by the common denomination perfective passive participle
(PPP) for Latin verbal adjectives ending in -to, there is a crucial affinity between
the stativity of participles and the lack of control of the referent a participle is predicated of. This state of affairs has come to be known under the label of the passivity of the perfect (Kuryowicz 1964:5689; Comrie 1976:86; 1981; DeLancey
1981, 1982; Haspelmath 1994; Di Giovine 1996:236). Jacob (1998) summarises the
argument as follows:
It is plausible that primarily, the result of a process is marked on the patient. If this
resultant state is expressed by a verbal adjective, the referent noun will usually
express the patient of the process; if the adjective is used in a predication, the
patient will occupy the subject position. This causes the well-known asymmetry
regarding the participle of the modern Indo-European languages: the original
Indo-European verbal adjective ending in -to becomes the perfect participle
which receives an active interpretation with one-place-verbs, but a passive
interpretation (with the patient at subject position) with two-place-verbs.
(Jacob 1998:110, transl. MR)
Results of processes are marked on patients because states imply that the referent argument of which they are predicated does not have control over the situation. However, as evident from Jacobs description, this does not necessarily
entail that esse + PtcP expresses passive voice. In principle, the esse + PtcP construction is independent from grammatical voice, but receives an active or passive interpretation depending on the auxiliated verb. It is therefore imprecise to
simply say that esse + PtcP expresses the perfectum of passive forms. Although
Leumann (1977:612613) coincides with Khner & Stegmann in stating that esse
+ PtcP serves to express the perfectum and thus a state attained through a prior
action (Leumann 1977:508), he does not claim that esse + PtcP always conveys
passive voice. Rather, esse + PtcP can be used in both active and passive voice
(1977:612613). The passivity of the perfect is not a grammatical, but a semantic
notion. As a result, perfect participles (and consequently, esse + PtcP constructions) are marked for the semantic feature of lack of control, rather than for the
grammatical feature of passive voice. Since this feature follows from the intrinsic
function of the -to-participle, i.e. the expression of a resultant state, Haspelmath
(1994:159) proposes proposes that this type of participle be termed the resultative
participle rather than the passive participle.
It is also misleading to characterise esse + PtcP as a passive because the diathetic distinction between active and passive in Modern Indo-European languages
is relatively recent. Proto-Indo-European only distinguished between active and
middle voice; the distinct classification of passive and active voice came later (Tichy
2000:8790).13 Consequently, it is more fitting to speak of an likeness between
the Indo-European perfect and the middle voice than of the perfect and passivity.
There is a striking similarity of the perfect and middle endings in ancient IndoEuropean languages (Kulikov 1999:30). As successors to the system of middle
voice, Latin passival forms retain the reflexive nature of the middle (Khner &
Stegmann 1962:104). First, the -to-participles of transitive verbs like congregari
gather can be translated with both a modern passive form be gathered and an
active reflexive form gather. Second, deponent verbs like potior empower oneself
display passival morphology, but express a reflexive meaning.
In reflexives, the agent and the patient of a situation are co-referential (e.g.
Knig & Gast 2008:7). The subject referent causes an event whose resultant state
in turn affects the subject referent. In its deponent form lavor, the active transitive verb lavare wash expressed the reflexive I wash myself (Rodrguez Molina
2010:972). Although deponent verbs sometimes involve the reflexive pronouns se
or sibi, this example demonstrates that the use of these pronouns is redundant, due
to deponent verbs being inherently reflexive (Cennamo 1998:80).
Both -to-participles formed from transitive verbs and deponent verbs thus
imply that the subject referent is affected by a resultant state. In the words of
Cennamo (1998), in middle constructions,
. Throughout this monograph, the term middle is used for constructions that are syntactically active but semantically passive. Note that many studies on older Indo-European
languages prefer the term mediopassive in order to describe the same phenomenon.
the subject, [+ animate], is affected by the verbal activity, either in that it is both
the Instigator and the Beneficiary of the verbal activity (core middle), [] or in
that it is involved in some way (non-canonical middle).
(Cennamo 1998:79)
This affectedness is most apparent in prototypical deponents like mori die and
transitive verbs like captare capture, in which the subject viz. object referent has a
patient role. The respective referents expressed in these argument configurations
clearly lack control over the situation. Note that according to Cennamo, the reflexivity of middle constructions is correlated to the animacy of the subject: subjects
of middle constructions are typically [+animate].
The stativity of resultative participles formed from transitive verbs and deponent verbs, in turn, conditions their affinity to the esse + PtcP construction. Since
copula verbs have a stative predicational function (cf. Section 3.1), it can be
assumed that the resultative meaning of esse + PtcP arises compositionally.
Perfectivity is not only correlated to lack of control in the Indo-European languages, but also to intransitivity. For instance, in Vedic Sanskrit, transitive uses of
verbs marked for imperfective aspect are about 6 times as common as the intransitive. Contrastingly, verbs marked for perfective aspect occur more frequently in
the intransitive (Kulikov 1999:28). Middle voice typically decreases the valency of
the predicate. As a result, the transitivity of the verb is neutralised in esse + PtcP
constructions: resultative constructions are always intransitive (Leiss 1992:164).
The inherent intransitivity of esse + PtcP contrasts with the transitive origin of
habre + PtcP.
While syntagms with prototypical deponent verbs like mortuus est or natus
est are themselves prototypical for the Late Latin esse + PtcP construction, it has
often been observed that esse gradually started auxiliating other verbs that express
a complex situation, but whose resultant state is less apparent:
(59) praeteritus est
dies

go.ptcp.m.sg be.prs.3sg day
The day has gone [Plinius, Epistolae, apud Cennamo (1998:93, bold
marking MR)]
(60) optati sumus
ire

ask.ptcp.m.pl be.prs.1pl go
We have asked to go [Egeria, Aetheriae peregrinatio ad loca sancta, apud
Cennamo (2009:333, bold marking MR)]
This process is known as deponentisation (Norberg 1944:152170; Flobert 1975;

Cennamo 1998:9294; 2009:333; Cennamo, Eythorsson & Bardal to appear).
Latin speakers started using originally active verbs with deponent morphology,
i.e. with the -R-ending. While in Classical Latin there is only a small set of verbs
behaving this way, by the 7th8th century practically all verbs can occur in the
deponent form, in free alternation with the active (Cennamo 1998:92, cf. references herein).14 Since deponent verbs can form resultative participles, the spread
of the -R-form was accompanied by a spread of the resultative participle. Thus,
-to-participles of stative verbs and verbs of change of location are only attested in
later stages of Latin (Leumann 1977:613).
These processes appear to have led to a consolidation of the resultative function of esse + PtcP. Examples like (60) appear to have a resultative meaning despite
the fact that the verb optare choose, ask does not imply that a resultant state
holds for the subject. Rather, the subject referent is portrayed as an experiencer.
Tokens like those in (60) resemble habre + PtcP tokens like episcopum invitatum
habes (see Example (46)), in that the responsibility of the subject referent for the
event is highlighted. Over time, the esse + PtcP construction spread to other verbs
expressing complex situations. Many scholars agree that the spread of esse + PtcP
to verbs expressing change of location was a crucial prerequisite for the genesis of
the BE + PtcP construction in modern Romance languages (Tekavcic 1972:231;
Vincent 1982:86; Tuttle 1986; Cennamo 1998:93; Penny 2002:166; Mackenzie
2006; Romani 2006:253255; Rodrguez Molina 2010:10231024).
A last indication for a resultative interpretation of esse + PtcP are examples
where the construction appears to be used with the function of a synthetic preterite. Consider the following example from the Latin Vulgate:
(61) surrexit=que
Balaam et reversus est in

stand.up.pst.pfv.3sg=and Balaam and return.ptcp.m.sg be.prs.3sg to
locum suum
place his
And Balaam stood up and returned to his place [Vulgate, Numbers 24:25,
apud BIBLIA]
. According to Cennamos (1998, 1999, 2005, 2008, 2009) work on the development of
esse + PtcP, the process of deponentisation is a result of the dissolution of the notion of voice
in Late Latin. Verbs in the R-form started appearing in active transitive clauses (Cennamo
1998:94). Cennamo considers this an indicator of the loss of the original middle function
of the deponent, and consequently, the growing uncertainty with regard to the use of voice
distinctions in Latin. Note that this observation fits Bauers (2000) hypothesis of the spread of
transitivity and thus, displacement of active/stative coding in Latin. As argued above, the distinction between active verbs and deponents is a reflex of the PIE coding system that is based
on the opposition between events and states. This semantic distinction is increasingly overridden by a syntactic distinction: all verbs are increasingly considered to be transitive. Rather
than being semantically defined as an agent, the subject increasingly gets to be defined as a
syntactical notion (the first argument of the transitive verb). If the referentiality of the subject
is no longer a defining criterion for the question of whether an active verb or a deponent verb
should be used, deponents can indeed be used in active transitive sentences.
Because of the high dynamicity of the situation, in (61) reversus est does
not express the resultant state of the event of returning. However, it also cannot
be taken to express an anterior, since reversus est is temporally posterior to the
instance when Balaam stands up. It thus appears that in these examples, esse itself
conveys the change of state that the subject undergoes, with the participle serving
as a modifier of this change of state. Significantly, (61) exemplifies what Mackenzie
(2006:136) calls the inceptive function of copula constructions: the esse + PtcP
token in this example serves to advance the narrative plot and is thus best translated with a simple preterite (see 3.1). In the discussion of the envelope of variation
between Old Spanish haber + PtcP and ser + PtcP in 5.2.2, it is demonstrated that
examples like (61) can also be found in the Old Spanish texts.
The brief survey of the function and development of esse + PtcP in Latin has
shown that, in order to give a precise characterisation of esse + PtcP, it is necessary
to keep temporal and aspectual notions apart. Rather than expressing a past situation with current relevance, Latin esse + PtcP expressed the state resulting from a
complex event. This meaning is formed compositionally by the combination of the
copula verb esse and a participle ending in -to which expresses the resultant state.
Although transitive verbs and deponent verbs appear in the esse + PtcP construction, the construction does not show the same type of passivity as, say, Modern
Spanish ser + PtcP. Since stative relations imply a lack of control, (resultant) states
predicated of an argument necessarily entail that the referent of that argument
lacks control over the situation. Once esse auxiliates participles formed from deponent verbs, an ambivalent interpretation of the subject referent developed. The
subject referent is origin and telos of the complex situation at the same time. In this
configuration, esse + PtcP expresses a reflexive rather than passive meaning that
goes back to the archaic system of middle voice.
3.2.3 Differences between habre + PtcP and esse + PtcP
The account of the development of habre + PtcP and esse + PtcP from its beginnings in Latin up to Old Spanish developed in this section can be summarised as
follows. Neither esse + PtcP nor habre + PtcP had a clear-cut temporal function
in Latin. Esse + PtcP was primarily used to express the resultant state of a complex situation applying to its (animate) subject argument. In line with the assumption that the aspectual distinction between infectum and perfectum was the most
important feature of the Latin verbal system, esse + PtcP expressed the perfectum
of deponent verbs and transitive verbs. This function closely corresponds to the
definition of resultative constructions established in 3.1. Moreover, it has been
deemed imprecise to characterise esse + PtcP as a construction expressing passive
voice. Rather, due to its stativity esse + PtcP implies a lack of control of the subject
referent over the situation expressed by the participle. The stativity of esse + PtcP
also accounts for the intransitive construal of esse + PtcP. In Late Latin the use of
esse + PtcP appears to have expanded to other verbs due to the deponentisation
of these verbs. However, rather than adopting a temporal function, these newer
syntagms have been interpreted as having a resultative function.
By contrast, the newer form habre + PtcP developed a temporal function.
The oldest tokens of habre + PtcP have been shown to exercise a deontic function
in their expression of how obligation or debt affects a subject. In line with Detges
(2001) analysis, at some point between Late Latin and Old Spanish the affected
subject was reanalysed as the agent of the past event in habre + PtcP constructions, i.e. resultative II. Due to the contiguity between result and event in complex
situations, resultative II habre + PtcP was grammaticalised to an anterior in Old
Spanish. According to Rodrguez Molinas (2010) detailed analysis, this led to an
increase in the number of [animate] subjects and auxiliated verbs especially
intransitives as well as the use of haber + PtcP with stative and modal verbs. It
also resulted in the expansion of haber + PtcP into passival and anticausative contexts previously reserved for esse + PtcP, the appearance of non-canonical objects
in transitive uses, and a greater paradigmatic integration.
This description of the development of esse + PtcP and habre + PtcP illustrates how even though the two constructions followed very different paths in
their respective development, they display many similarities as to their grammatical functions. In particular, the subject referents of both esse + PtcP and habre
+ PtcP are affected by the event expressed by the auxiliated verb. It must however be emphasised that esse + PtcP and habre + PtcP express different types of
affectedness.
In its most prototypical use with deponent verbs like mori, only esse + PtcP
expresses the type of resultant state that directly follows from the event expressed
by the participle and that can straightforwardly be predicated of the subject argument. By contrast, in its original use of habre + PtcP with transitive verbs such as
collocare put, the resultant state of that event is predicated of the object argument.
According to the analyses reviewed in this chapter, there is a second type of
resultant state deriving from a situation. This is the parameter of the deontic
affectedness of the subject referent. As observed by Jacob (1994, 1996), in habre
+ PtcP constructions the subject referent is taken to assume a moral responsibility for the situation. Likewise, it has been shown that less prototypical esse + PtcP
constructions like locutus est s/he has spoken convey this type of affectedness of
the subject referent. However, in contrast to habre + PtcP, this type of resultativity
is only secondary in esse + PtcP constructions, due to the difference in transitivity of the two constructions. Since habre + PtcP has two arguments, it can also
mark two different relations of the arguments towards the situation; the patient
argument is affected by the resultant state of the event, while the agent argument is
affected more generally by the pure existence of the event. Esse + PtcP, on the other
hand, only has one argument. Consequently, only one of these relations towards
the situation can be expressed. In its prototypical use derived from the system of
middle voice, the esse + PtcP construction marks the resultant state of the event on
the subject argument.
The difference described in the last paragraph thus relates closely to the difference between the two original full verbs esse and habre. This has already been
noted in Benveniste (1966) and for Gothic, in Leiss (1992: Chapter 4). In the words
of Benveniste,
On arrive ainsi dfinir la situation respective de tre et de avoir daprs la nature
du rapport institu entre les termes nominaux de la construction: tre prsume
une relation intrinsque, avoir une relation extrinsque. Ce quils ont de pareil
et ce qui les distingue apparat dans la symtrie de leur fonction dauxiliaire et
dans la non-symtrie de leur fonction de verbe libre. La construction transitive
de avoir le spare de tre. Mais cette construction est toute formelle, elle ne classe
pas avoir dans les verbs transitifs.
(Benveniste 1966:200)
Benveniste thus accepts that the difference in transitivity commonly assumed for
HAVE and BE is indeed a derived difference. HAVE is more apt to be used in
syntactically transitive constructions because it expresses an extrinsic relation
between its arguments. Additionally, while BE expresses a state that affects its subject argument, while HAVE expresses a state that affects its object argument. In
Leisss (1992:172173) terms, HAVE is construed cataphorically, while BE is construed anaphorically. The difference in the functions of esse + PtcP and habre +
PtcP in Latin is thus a result of the different lexical origins of the two constructions.
3.3 Summary
In this chapter, it has been proposed that the opposition between Old Spanish
ser + PtcP and haber + PtcP be analysed as one between two different constructional types, i.e. a copula + PtcP construction with a resultative function, and an
auxiliary + PtcP construction with an anterior function. A series of distributional
parameters in favour of either a resultative interpretation or an anterior interpretation have been identified and outlined. If the phenomenon described by the term
Old Spanish auxiliary selection indeed reflects constructional gradience between
a resultative and an anterior construction, these distributional parameters should
have predictive power for the distribution of Old Spanish ser + PtcP and haber +
PtcP. This assumption is explored in Chapter 6.
The discussion of the origins of Old Spanish ser + PtcP and haber + PtcP has
given preliminary evidence for the constructional hypothesis. Since ser + PtcP
and haber + PtcP originate (a) in different usage contexts, and (b) at very different
points of time, it is evident that the two constructions cannot have been direct
competitors in Latin. Esse + PtcP and habre + PtcP are in fact not allomorphs.
In order to be able to use the term auxiliary selection to describe the alternation
between ser + PtcP and haber + PtcP, it is necessary to employ a broad definition
of auxiliary. In line with Heines (1993) terminology introduced in Chapter 1.1,
an auxiliary can have either a temporal or an aspectual function: haber can be
characterised as a temporal auxiliary signifying anteriority, whereas ser is as an
aspectual auxiliary signifying stativity. Due to the contiguity of the concepts of
tense and aspect, a speaker can to a certain degree choose between the two auxiliaries. It is in this sense that the term auxiliary selection is used in the remainder
of this study.
chapter 4
A model of linguistic disappearances

This chapter proposes an account of linguistic disappearances that aims to predict the directionality and speed of the process by which Spanish ser + PtcP was
lost. Thus, Section 4.1 deals with the issue of gradience and gradualness. Variation
organised in gradients is the result of the gradual diffusion of one variant through
the language system, to the disadvantage of a second variant. In 4.2 and 4.3, it is
argued that it is important to distinguish between diffusion leading to an increase
in type frequency (i.e. actualisation), and diffusion leading to an increase in token
frequency (i.e. social conventionalisation).
These considerations concerning the interplay between gradience and gradualness motivate the model of linguistic disappearances presented in this chapter.
In 4.4, a gradual diffusion process is posited to always entail the replacement of
previous means of expression in a usage context. Consequently, many changes
in a language may be modelled as processes in which the functional domain of a
linguistic variantfor instance, a type of constructionis taken over by a second
linguistic variant or another type of construction.
Replacement processes do not affect a replaced construction instantaneously.
On the one hand, there is a delay between the intrusion of an expanding construction into a usage context and the resulting disappearance of replaced constructions in this usage context. This effect is discussed under the label of remanence.
On the other hand, high usage frequency of specific syntagms of a disappearing
construction can lead to the emancipation of these syntagms from the construction and for that reason, their conservation. This conserving effect is thus related
to paradigmaticity and creates irregularity in the investigated diachronic process. Given that conservation due to entrenchment always implies an emancipation of the remaining syntagms from the original construction, it is argued that
conservation can lead to reanalyses of the function of these conserved syntagms.
Remanence and conservation effects are discussed in Section 4.5.
In 4.6, persistence is postulated to have a conserving effect in language change.
Over time, speakers choices of the less productive variant increasingly rely on the
occurrence of formally and functionally related structures in the previous co-text.
The findings presented in this chapter are summarised in 4.7.
4.1 Gradience and gradualness

Some of the approaches to the development of Spanish auxiliary selection that
were reviewed in 2.2 propose that Soraces (2000) Auxiliary Selection Hierarchy
predicts the longevity of a verb in the ser + PtcP construction. In order to explain
this assumption, it is necessary to elaborate on the relationship between gradience and gradualness in language change.
Functionalist, and especially usage-based theories of language assume
that the way speakers use a language directly influences the structure of that language. These theories emphasise the relevance of intrapersonal and interpersonal
variation and thus claim that variation is an organisational principle of linguistic structure. Languages are not functional because they are systematic but they
are used systematically in order to fulfil certain functions. Variation is necessary
because new situations require new functions. As a result, variation is both the
reason why languages are functional and why they change. Due to this correlation, languages that do not change anymore are no longer functional (Coseriu
1974:2324). This idea is crucial to the concept of emergentism (Hopper 1987;
Langacker 1988; Bates & Goodman 1997; MacWhinney 1998; Bates & Goodman
1999; Bybee & Hopper 2001b; Croft 2001; Tomasello 2003; MacWhinney 2005;
OGrady 2005; MacWhinney 2006). In Hoppers (1987) words,
The notion of Emergent Grammar is meant to suggest that structure, or
regularity, comes out of discourse and is shaped by discourse as much as it shapes
discourse in an on-going process. Grammar is hence not to be understood as
a pre-requisite for discourse, a prior possession attributable in identical form
to both speaker and hearer. Its forms are not fixed templates but are negotiable
in face-to-face interaction in ways that reflect the individual speakers past
experience of these forms, and their assessment of the present context, including
especially their interlocutors, whose experiences and assessments may be quite
different. Moreover, the term Emergent Grammar points to a grammar which is
not abstractly formulated and abstractly represented, but always anchored in the
specific concrete form of an utterance.
(Hopper 1987:142)
Emergentism thus endorses the idea of linguistic structure being grounded in discourse and shaped by the interaction between its speakers, as well as the language
events experienced by these speakers. Speakers closely adapt their use of linguistic
structures to the ongoing discourse. Because of these customary acts of creativity, it is common to find great variation with regard to the use of these linguistic
structures. As a result, rather than being clearly delimited, grammatical categories
are characterised by a continual movement towards structure, a postponement or
deferral of structure, a view of structure as always provisional, always negotiable,
and in fact as epiphenomenal (Hopper 1987:142).
Chapter 4. A model of linguistic disappearances
As evident in this last quote, emergentism does not deny the existence of structures in language. However, it promotes doubts as to the structuralist assumption
that these structures need to be stable in order to be systematic. In recent years,
more and more variationist research has come to the conclusion that many linguistic phenomena display structured variation. Some researchers try to capture
this systematicity using the term gradience. Although gradience is used in a
number of different ways (cf. Traugott & Trousdale 2010b for an overview), its
most typical acceptations refer to the fact that (a) grammatical categories are fuzzy
with respect to their delimitation to other grammatical categories (Denison 2006;
Aarts 2007:124163; Croft 2007; Bybee 2010:2), and (b) category membership
is organised prototypically, essentially meaning that certain lexical elements are
more likely to appear in a particular grammatical category than others (Denison
2001; Aarts 2007:97123).
Aarts (2004, 2007) tries to establish a sharp division between the first type of
gradience (intersective gradience), and the second type (subsective gradience).
In his terms,
[Subsective gradience] involves a single particular class of linguistic elements,
or a particular construction-type, whereas [intersective gradience] involves two
classes of elements or construction-types. [Subsective gradience] allows for a
particular element x from category to be closer to the prototype of than some
other element y from the same category, and recognizes a core and periphery
within the form classes of language. By contrast, [intersective gradience] involves
two categories and , and obtains where there exists a set of elements
characterized by a subset of -like properties and a subset of -like properties.
(Aarts 2007:79)
However, Traugott and Trousdale (2010b) doubt the validity of that division. In
particular, the two types of gradience can be conceptualised in terms of each other
because intersective gradience is not the outcome of an intersection of categories,
but rather of an intersection of properties associated with particular categories
(Traugott & Trousdale 2010b:29). Since the organisation of category membership
is clearly a property of a category, intersective gradience can be abstracted in terms
of subsective gradience.
It is helpful to illustrate this problem using the Auxiliary Selection Hierarchy
introduced in 2.1. The ASH can be said to model both subsective and intersective
gradience with regard to auxiliary selection. On the one hand, some verbs (e.g.
verbs referring to a change of location) fit BE + PtcP better than HAVE + PtcP.
In Aarts terms, it could be stated that BE + PtcP displays subsective gradience
regarding the auxiliated verbs. On the other hand, BE + PtcP and HAVE + PtcP
overlap with regard to the use of certain verbs, particularly those which have a
stative interpretation. This means that there is intersective gradience between BE

+ PtcP and HAVE + PtcP. Note, however, that in order to state this intersective
gradience, it is necessary to refer to the organisation of category membership of
BE + PtcP and HAVE + PtcP. In particular, BE + PtcP and HAVE + PtcP display
intersective gradience because (a) both categories display subsective gradience,
and (b) their domains of subsective gradience overlap. Ultimately, this means that
the intersective gradience between BE + PtcP and HAVE + PtcP depends on the
subsective gradience of either category.
It is therefore necessary to follow Traugott and Trousdale (2010b) in collapsing Aarts (2007) distinction between intersective and subsective gradience in
favour of subsective gradience. In the remainder of this study, this term is abbreviated as gradience, just as it is in the definition below.1
(62) Gradience refers to the fact that a construction displays structured variation
regarding the use of lexical elements, with a cline from less to more typical
elements.
Functionalist approaches to language change often assume that language change is

gradual, in that a macro-change such as the replacement of BE + PtcP by HAVE +
PtcP consists of a series of micro-changes (cf., e.g. Givn 1975; Lichtenberk 1991;
Hopper & Traugott 2003:104106). Consider Traugott and Trousdales (2010b)
definition of gradualness, reproduced in (63).
(63) Gradualness refers to the fact that most change involves (a series of)
micro-changes(Traugott & Trousdale 2010b:23)
Gradience and gradualness are inextricably intertwined. When speakers begin to

employ a grammatical category in a novel context, gradience is created. In the
novel context, the use of the category is less stable and, indeed, less typical than in
older usage contexts. Thus, synchronic variation is systematic because it depends
on gradual diachronic changes, a notion described as orderly heterogeneity by
Weinreich et al. (1968). This notion is generally accepted in variationist approaches
to syntactic change (see Pintzuk 2003:516519). In Bolingers (1980:297) words,
The historical fact needs to be seen in its synchronic frame: the forms are in
transition, and exhibit all the refractoriness of their uncertain destiny; they are
settled in some parts of their usage, unsettled in others.
In order to be able to formulate precise predictions following from the interplay

between gradience and gradualness, it is necessary to spell out the specific nature
of the diachronic processes. Fundamentally, this means dealing with processes of
. In Traugott and Trousdales (2010) terms, distributional gradience.
change that lead to the expansion of contexts in which a particular construction

is used. Following Traugott and Trousdale (2010b), the most important historical
processes responsible for gradience are grammaticalisation and actualisation.
These processes and their interplay are described in turn.
The concept of grammaticalisation occupies a central position in functionalist
theories on language change. Hopper and Traugott (2003) define grammaticalisation as that subset of linguistic changes whereby a lexical item or construction in
certain uses takes on grammatical characteristics, or through which a grammatical
item becomes more grammatical (Hopper & Traugott 2003:2).
Although it is still controversial how grammaticalisation works in detail,
standard approaches to grammaticalisation agree that the first step involves
a certain linguistic element or group of linguistic elements being subject to
reanalysis (Lehmann 1995; Hopper & Traugott 2003). Using pragmatic inferencing, a group of language users interpret this element to have a grammatical
meaning that stands in a metonymical or metaphorical relation to its original
meaning. Since there is no immediate change in the structure of the reanalysed construction, reanalysis is covert (Langacker 1977). Consider Hopper and
Traugotts (2003:50) analysis of the English construction try and + verb. In sentences such as Ill try and contact her, try and + verb has been reanalysed as
an auxiliary + verb construction. A syntactic rebracketing has taken place. As
illustrated in (64), try and is no longer considered a syntagm consisting of a verb
and a conjunction, but a single auxiliary. As a result of the reanalysis, the new
auxiliary acquires a modal function. It signals the agents inability to achieve
the complement verb and speakers lack of confidence in the agents success
(Hopper & Traugott 2003:50).
(64) [Try]verb [and]conjunction [contact]verb -> [Try and]auxiliary [contact]verb
According to the classical grammaticalisation model proposed in Lehmann

(1995, 2002), reanalysis typically leads to the use of the linguistic element that is
more autonomous from language users decisions (cf., Lehmann 2002:108109).
Lehmann (2009:109) measures the autonomy of a grammaticalising element with
three parameters: weight (a property which renders it distinct from the members of its class and endows it with prominence in the syntagms), cohesion (the
extent that a sign systematically contracts certain relations with other signs), and
variability (a momentary mobility or shiftability with respect to other signs).
Specifically, grammaticalisation is typically correlated to phenomena such as phonetic erosion, increased syntagmatic dependence, and fixed word order.
Significantly, grammaticalisation involves the expansion of the grammaticalising construction into other contexts of use. In Lehmanns model, this fact
is captured indirectly by the parameter of obligatoriness, corresponding to the
aradigmatic axis of variability. During grammaticalisation, the use of a construcp

tion becomes obligatory in more contexts. Lehmann adduces the example of the
development of articles in Romance languages. In Latin, definite nouns are not
obligatorily preceded by ille, and indefinite nouns are not obligatorily preceded
by unus. However, the grammaticalisation of these elements as determiners leads
to their nearly obligatory use with nouns in the modern Romance languages
(Lehmann 2002:125). This obligatorification process (Lehmann 2002:124) thus
involves a dropping of selectional restrictions and results in a rise in usage frequency, followed by a greater system relevance of the grammaticalising construction (Lehmann 2002:127). Since grammaticalisation involves the gradual
expansion of a grammaticalising construction into new contexts of use, it can be
argued to lead to synchronic gradience.
Many researchers argue that grammaticalisation is not the only process by
which a construction gradually expands. Thus, a second type of expansion process
has recently received great attention in previous research and has been described
under a variety of labels, including actualisation (Timberlake 1977; Andersen
2001b, 2001a; Bergs & Stein 2001; Fanego 2004; de Smet 2012), analogical transfer (Lehmann 2002), analogisation (Traugott & Trousdale 2010b), analogy
(generalisation) (Hopper & Traugott 2003:5868), and regularisation (Bybee
2010:25). Henceforth, the term actualisation is employed and used according to
the definition in (65).
(65) Actualisation refers to the process by which a linguistic construction, on the
basis of similarity relations, expands into other usage contexts.
As evident both in the terminology and the definition in (65), it is necessary to

clarify the concept of analogy in order to explain actualisation. Analogy is a
domain-general mechanism specific to human cognition that relates two concepts or elements on the basis of their formal or functional similarity (Anttila
1977; Gentner 2001; Gentner, et al. 2001; Anttila 2003; Aschenberg 2005; Itkonen
2005; Wanner 2006; Blevins & Blevins 2009a, 2009b). In the words of Blevins and
Blevins (2009b),
The human mind is an inveterate pattern-seeker. Once found, patterns are
classified, related to other patterns, and used to predict yet further patterns and
correlations. Although these tasks are performed automatically, they are far from
trivial. The analogical reasoning that underlies them requires the discovery of
structural similarities between perceptually dissimilar elements. Similarities may
be highly abstract, involving functional and causal relationships. And while the
recognition of analogical relations may seem like a passive process, it is in fact an
aggressive process, driven by a search for predictability.
(Blevins & Blevins 2009b:1)
Analogy has been proven to have an effect on both phonological and morphological language change already in the work of the Neogrammarians (Hock
2003:443444). On the one hand, analogy has been deemed responsible for levelling processes in morphological paradigms. Consider the paradigmatic opposition between [s] and [r] in Latin nouns described in Hock (1991:179190) and
Albright (2005). Whereas in the nominative a noun like honos honour ends in[s],
this ending is rhoticised to [r] in the genitive, dative and accusative case, creating
honoris, honori, honorem. However, in pre-classical Latin the morphological paradigm was levelled. In analogy to other cases of the paradigm, the suffix [s] in the
nominative case was replaced by [r], creating the new nominative form honor.
On the other hand, researchers invoke the concept of analogy for cases in
which a grammatical category expands into new contexts of use. It has been argued
that the process by which a linguistic innovation is generalised in a language is not
entirely aleatory, but can, in fact, be predicted by similarities between the original usage contexts of that category and possible expansion contexts. The classical theory of actualisation (Timberlake 1977; Harris & Campbell 1995; Andersen
2001b, 2001c, 2001a; Fanego 2004) analyses these similarity relations in terms of
markedness, suggesting that less marked usage contexts are affected earlier by
actualisation. However, de Smet (2012) contends that this approach runs the danger of circularity because in many of these approaches the markedness of a usage
context is defined relative to the change. Thus, these approaches consider a usage
context is to be marked in virtue of its being first affected by actualisation, and
argue at the same time that actualisation first affects marked usage contexts.
This problem is avoided in newer approaches to actualisation, which put more
emphasis on the role of analogy (Hopper & Traugott 2003; Bybee & Eddington
2006; Torres Cacoullos & Walker 2009; de Smet 2012). This approach is made
most explicit in de Smet (2012). De Smet claims that actualisation has a sneaky
quality in that it typically first affects those usage contexts most similar to the
original usage context of the expanding grammatical category. This similarity
can be either functional (i.e. related to syntax and semantics) or structural (i.e.
related to morphology and phonology). Thus, the course of actualisation can to
some degree be predicted from (a) the original usage context of the expanding
construction, and (b) the potential of a usage context to be subject to the actualisation process, which is determined by the number of similarities between old
and new usage contexts.
Consider de Smets example of the English noun fun. He claims that fun was
reanalysed as an adjective when used in a predicative position, as in (66). Over
time, this adjectival function of fun was strengthened. De Smet distinguishes
between predicate adjectival uses, as in (67), and attributive adjectival uses, as
in (68).
(66) Thats not work, thats fun, declared Dolly.

(de Smet 2012:622, italics in the original)
(67) It was rather fun playing at being a bachelor again.
(68) Besides skiing, its the funnest thing I do.
De Smet claims that fun expands first into the usage context of predicate adjectives, and later into the usage context of attributive adjectives. This is because the
usage contexts in (66) and (67) are more similar to each other than the usage contexts in (66) and (68). The degree of formal resemblance between a usage context
and the context in which fun was reanalysed as an adjective thus determines the
course of the actualisation of fun.
The overall picture of language change emerging from this concept of actualisation is one in which the expansion of a construction or category in a language is gradual, beginning first with usage contexts that are most similar to the
original usage contexts and spanning out to those that are least similar. A consequential effect of the spread of a category to a usage context is that the actual
range of those usage contexts serving as potential expansion ground increases.
In other words, the more ground a category covers, the more usage contexts
become eligible for the expansion process. Actualisation is a self-reinforcing
process.
From a synchronic perspective, the diachronic gradualness of the change
leads to gradience. As a result of differences in the degree of their similarity to
the original usage context of the expanding construction, certain usage contexts
are more ideal for the expanding construction, and some usage contexts are less
ideal. At a synchronic point in time, more similar usage contexts will display a
greater degree of gradience than less similar usage contexts. The degree of gradience between the expanding and the receding construction in a usage context is
thus indicative of the similarity of the usage context to the original usage context
of the expanding construction.
Up to now, it has been argued that diachronic gradualness is instantiated
by two processes: grammaticalisation and actualisation. These processes are
notoriously difficult to distinguish. Thus, it has been claimed that grammaticalisation necessarily entails expansion on the basis of actualisation. For instance,
Himmelmann (2004) defines grammaticalisation as a process of context expansion on the level of type frequency (host-class expansion), syntax (syntactic
context expansion), and semantics/pragmatics (semantic-pragmatic context
expansion). This definition thus disposes of reanalysis as a relevant concept for
grammaticalisation in favour of the idea that the change in the function of the
grammaticalising element is a result of its expansion into new contexts of use.

Lehmann (2002), however, explicitly warns against entirely reducing grammaticalisation to context expansion:
While there is no doubt that expansion occurs and is virtually indistinguishable
from increasing obligatoriness, it does not seem advisable to isolate it as a criterion
of grammaticalization, because expansion occurs also in analogical transfer. If a
conjunction today introduces only indirect speech, but tomorrow also introduces
clauses depending on verba sentiendi, this may be either a phenomenon of
grammaticalization or one of analogical transfer.
(Lehmann 2002:126)
Lehmann distinguishes between actualisation (analogical transfer) and grammaticalisation because according to his approach only the latter necessarily introduces changes in the function of the linguistic element. Therefore, Lehmann posits
that whereas grammaticalisation creates grammar, actualisation does not.
In this respect, the relationship between grammaticalisation and actualisation
can be characterised as a unidirectional implication in which grammaticalisation
necessarily entails actualisation, but not vice versa. More specifically, the gradual
expansion of a construction can always be described in terms of actualisation,
yet only sometimes in terms of grammaticalisation. This study does not intend to
resolve this question, but is rather interested in the effect of actualisation on constructions that were previously used in the contexts affected by the actualisation
process. Consequently, it does not describe the entire grammaticalisation of haber
+ PtcP (see 3.2.1 for a summary), but rather models a part of this process, i.e. the
expansion of haber + PtcP to intransitive usage contexts. Consequently, the important point to be taken from this section is that the expansion of haber + PtcP is
expected to rely on similarity relations between usage contexts. The gradual nature
of this actualisation process in turn motivates the synchronic gradience of Spanish
auxiliary selection at different points in time.
4.2 Actualisation and diffusion
In the last section, the terms gradience and gradualness were defined and the
diachronic process of actualisation was determined to be crucial for an understanding of the interplay between these two concepts. At this point it becomes
necessary to distinguish between the cognitive and social dimensions of language
change. Actualisation, as is understood by de Smet (2012), is the process by which
a linguistic innovation spreads throughout a linguistic system, rising thereafter in
syntactic productivity. Syntactic productivity, however, does not refer to the absolute frequency of use of a construction or category. Instead, it has to be defined
in relation to other grammatical categories or constructions. For example, when

HAVE + PtcP began appearing in intransitive contexts, its syntactic productivity
rose in relation to other auxiliary + participle constructions and tense-indicating
categories. In other words, the actualisation of HAVE + PtcP should be measured
in terms of relative frequencies, not in terms of absolute frequencies. Therefore,
the crucial question for studies of actualisation is not How often does a construction appear in the corpus?, but In how many usage contexts does a construction
appear in the corpus?.
Specifically, the first question can be said to refer to token frequency, and the
second question to type frequency. The distinction between these two frequency
concepts is a function of the assumed degree of abstractness. Since a token is a
single occurrence of any linguistic element, token frequency can be referred to
as the number of occurences of a type in a corpus. A type, on the other hand, is
an abstraction over a series of tokens and thus, type frequency may refer to the
number of (sub)types of a more general type in a corpus. Bybee (2007b:910)
gives a more detailed explanation of the contrast between token and type frequency with the addition of helpful examples:
Token frequency counts the number of times a unit appears in running text. Any
specific unit, such as particular consonant [s], a syllable [ba], a word dog or the,
a phrase take a break, or even a sentence such as Your toast popped up can have a
token frequency. Type frequency is a very different sort of count. Only patterns of
language have type frequency, because this refers to how many distinct items are
represented by the pattern. Type frequency may apply to phonotactic sequences;
it would be the count of how many words of the language begin with [sp] versus
how many begin with [sf]. It may apply to morphological patterns, such as stem
+ affix combinations. For instance, the English past tense pattern exemplified
by know, knew; blow, blew has a lower type frequency than the regular pattern
of adding the -ed suffix. Syntactic patterns or constructions also have type
frequencies: the ditransitive pattern in English, exemplified by He gave me the
change, is used with only a small set of verbs, while the alternate pattern He gave
the change to me is possible with a large class of verbs.
Actualisation is described here as the gradual process by which a construction

enters new contexts of use, leading to an increase in type frequency. An increase in
type frequency typically involves an increase in token frequency. The main goal of
the concept of actualisation, however, is to measure the increase in type frequency,
not the increase in token frequency.
As a result, actualisation theory can only make predictions about the probability for a context to be affected by the actualisation process. When analysing diachronic data, this amounts to measuring the point in time at which a
usage context was affected. As previously stated, there is a tendency for usage
c ontexts similar to the original usage contexts of the expanding construction to

be affected earlier than usage contexts that are dissimilar to these original usage
contexts. Each appearance of the expanding construction in a new usage context
is an innovation that diffuses through the speaker society. Whereas actualisation
theory can to some degree predict the succession of these micro-innovations, it
cannot predict the speed with which each of these micro-innovations is taken
over by the speakers of the language.2 Micro-innovations typically affect prominent lexical members of the affected grammatical category first and then continue to affect other lexical items, leading to an increase of the innovations token
frequency.
Extensive research with regard to this idea has been carried out in sociolinguistic studies. Especially in the Labovian sociolinguistics (Labov 1966, 1984, 1994,
2001, 2010), it has been investigated how innovations spread in a linguistic community and increase in token frequency. Language change does not solely rely on
cognitive, idiolectal processes without intersubjective affirmation such as reanalysis, but also social conventionalisation processes (Croft 2000:78). Although due
to the complexity of social relations, it is nearly impossible to exhaustively predict
these processes, sociolinguistic research has discovered certain regularities. In
particular, it has frequently been observed that diffusion processes proceed in an
s-shaped pattern (Weinreich, Labov & Herzog 1968; Wang & Cheng 1970; Chen
1972; Bailey 1973:77; Altmann 1983; Kroch 1989; Labov 1994:6567, among
many others), with (a) an initial phase in which the change is very slow, (b) a
fast increase or decrease in short time, and (c) a last phase in which the change
again becomes slower. This sigmoid function is correlated to more general social
processes, in that changes in a society are initially restricted to a small, delimited
group of individuals. A society can be conceptualised as group of people organised
in a network structure. This means that the spread of changes within this network
structure follows an exponential curve. A change has to accumulate for some time
to cross an initial threshold, but then gets diffused rapidly (Valente 1996; Nettle
1999; Ke, Gong & Wang 2008). In Cunha et al.s (2011:61) words, in some systems, the popularity of the most common items tends to increase faster than the
popularity of the less common ones. It generates a further spread of the forms that
achieve a certain prestige.
. As a matter of fact, grammaticalisation theory faces the same problem. Grammaticalisation refers to the process by which linguistic elements become more grammatical, and thus
more productive. Although grammaticalisation implies both an increase in type and token
frequency, the focus of most grammaticalisation studies lies on the increase in type frequency
(but cf. Hoffmann 2004).
However, to the degree that the change spreads, groups of individuals with a
more conservative attitude will oppose the change. These groups somewhat delay
the completion of the final stage of the process. Consequently, the shape of a diffusion curve results from the division of a society into persons who more readily
adapt a change, and persons who do not. Rogers (1983:11) places these groups
into the categories of early adopters and late adopters of a change. As Labovs
research has shown, in Western societies this division is often correlated to age
and gender; both older persons and men tend to behave more conservatively. The
correspondences between processes by which changes like linguistic innovations
spread throughout a society are due to the fact that many social systems are similar
with regard to these societal divisions.
In line with these assumptions, the speed with which an innovation gets diffused depends on the characteristics of the speaker society rather than the characteristics of the linguistic innovation. Consider, for instance, judicial texts, which
fulfil a conservative, system-stabilising, function in societies. This is mirrored in
the traditional conservativism of judicial language. Linguistic innovations take
longer to spread in this discourse tradition because the speaker group associated
with the discourse tradition is more resistant to change. In this case, the sigmoid
curve representing the spread of the linguistic innovation in that speaker group
will be flatter than in other speaker groups.
Crucially, however, this difference in the speed with which a linguistic innovation spreads will be constant between the two speaker groups. A priori, there
is no reason to assume that a conservative speaker group should accept a certain
linguistic innovation faster than another linguistic innovation.
4.3 Interim summary: Two types of diffusion
Sections 4.1 and 4.2 have illustrated a distinction between two types of diffusion.
Since this distinction is complex, it should be briefly reviewed before elaborating
the model of linguistic disappearances proposed in this study. The first diffusion
type, actualisation, refers to the diffusion of the use of a construction or category
in a linguistic system. Over time, the construction increases in type frequency, and
thus syntactic productivity. This rise in type frequency is the result of a process of
successive innovations in the use of the construction and can to some degree be
predicted by the similarity between the original usage context of the construction
and the usage context to which the construction spreads.
Actualisation does however not make conclusive predictions about how innovations spread in a speaker group, i.e. the rise in token frequency due to social
conventionalisation. This second type of diffusion has been shown to be quite
regular in that the spread of innovations in a speaker group usually follows an

s-curved pattern. Since the speed with which an innovation spreads in a speaker
group is determined by the composition of the speaker group, there is no reason
to assume that different linguistic innovations will spread at different speeds in the
same speaker group.
Having dealt with the distinction between these two types of diffusion, the
model of linguistic disappearances can now be put forth.
4.4 Why and how do linguistic elements disappear?
The main focus of research on language change is commonly on success stories.
A great majority of studies on language change try to determine the causes and
pathways of the emergence of new linguistic material. The notions of grammaticalisation and actualisation discussed in 4.1 are examples of this approach to language change.
As of yet, a thorough, systematic account of what exactly happens when a
linguistic element disappears is non-existent. In the following sections, an explicit
model of linguistic disappearances is formulated.
Regarding the causes of linguistic disappearances, researchers have discussed two possibilities. The first idea is that systemic pressure can lead to the
disappearance of a linguistic category. For instance, Petr (2010) claims that the
Old English auxiliary weoran become disappeared because (a) this auxiliary
was associated with a specific narrative configuration in Old English texts, and
(b) this specific narrative configuration became less frequent over time. The second possibility for why a grammatical construction gets lost is that the competition between it and other constructions is simply too strong, and the opposing
construction wins out.
The two approaches coincide with regard to one point. In essence, linguistic disappearances are argued to be reactive. Linguistic elements disappear either
because the context they are used in disappears, or because other types of expression emerge. It can be argued that the disappearance process observed by Petr
(2010) is indeed also caused by competition to an emergent type of expression,
namely the usage context that displaces the usage context in which weoran was
typically used. In other words, the disappearance of weoran is an indirect result
of a competition between different means of expression. This means that in both
approaches, the emergent categories stand in some type of relation to the disappearing element. The two approaches to linguistic disappearances differ with
regard to how this relation is modelled: either indirect (in the case of the first
approach) or direct (in the case of the second approach).
Here, an account of linguistic disappearances that follows the second of the

two approaches is presented. If a construction comes to be used in a new context,
it becomes a competitor of the types of expression that already exist in that context, thus causing the creation of an opposition between these expression types.
Within the more global usage context, the intruding construction A is used in
those micro-contexts that most resemble the locus of reanalysis, whereas older
means of expression are restricted to the remaining micro-contexts.
In terms of this model, processes by which the type frequency of a construction A increases necessarily lead to a decrease of the type frequency of other constructions. In Martinets (1952, 1955) words, actualisation works as a push-chain
mechanism. If construction A is generalised to all of the micro-contexts within
the target usage context, a previously existing construction B might very well vanish entirely. This appears to have been the case regarding Spanish auxiliary selection, where HAVE + PtcP came to replace BE + PtcP in most of its original usage
contexts.
If the disappearance of linguistic categories is a reaction to the emergence
of other linguistic categories, the distinction between the two types of diffusion
processes summarised in 4.3 should be also relevant for disappearance processes.
The process in which construction B declines in type frequency as a direct result
of the intrusion of construction A is termed replacement. It is defined in other
words in (69).
(69) Replacement refers to the process that results from the gradual intrusion
of a linguistic category or construction A into the usage contexts of a
construction B and the ensuing decrease in type frequency of construction B.
The decline in token frequency is in principle independent from replacement.

Rather, it appears to depends on the second type of diffusion, i.e. token-based
social conventionalisation. The replacement of construction B by construction
A in a certain usage context is a linguistic innovation that is not automatically
adapted by the entire speaker society. The diffusion of a replacement process in a
usage context in itself follows the typical path of social conventionalisation mapped
in 4.2. In the usage context affected by the actualisation process, the decrease in
token frequency of the replaced construction B follows a sigmoid curve typical for
social conventionalisation processes.
4.5 Remanence and conservation
Replacement processes are gradual in nature and thus do not cause the construction being replaced to instantaneously disappear. On the contrary, the
replaced construction can sometimes display remarkable longevity. This section

deals with two historical processes that explain this longevity: remanence and
conservation.
4.5.1 Remanence
As mentioned the description of actualisation in 4.2, actualisation is item-based.
In the actualisation of Old Spanish haber + PtcP, haber + PtcP begins expanding
to a certain verb group by virtue of first expanding to one specific member of that
verb group and from there spreading to the other members of the verb group. Consequently, replacement processes take some time to be carried out to completion.
Since linguistic categories are organised prototypically, less prototypical members
of the category will be affected first by the actualisation process. This will cause a
delay between the point at which speakers begin to replace the construction B in a
usage context by construction A, and the point at which construction B disappears
completely from that usage context. As indicated in definition (70), this type of
phenomenon is termed remanence:
(70) Remanence refers to the temporary persistence of a replaced construction
in a usage context due to the item-specificity of actualisation processes.
Thus, the expansion of haber + PtcP to usage contexts previously typical for ser +
PtcP should not only affect certain verb classes before other verb classes, but also
be gradual within these verb classes. The change should spread first to those verbs
which are least prototypical of the affected verb class, only then spreading to more
prototypical verbs.
As described above, actualisation leading to increasing type frequency is followed by social conventionalisation leading to increasing token frequency. This
means that each time the expanding construction haber + PtcP progresses to a
new verb previously associated to ser + PtcP, this innovation has to be accepted
and diffused in the speaker community. The diffusion of the use of an expanding
construction within a certain usage context should therefore take the form of an
s-curve characteristic for social conventionalisation.
As argued in 4.2, the speed with which a linguistic innovation diffuses in a
speaker group does not depend on the kind of linguistic innovation, but on the
composition of the speaker group. In a well-defined social context, this speed
should be constant for all linguistic innovations. Consequently, it should be possible to predict the date of the disappearance of construction B in a usage context from (a) the time at which speakers started replacing construction B by
construction A in that usage context, and (b) the speed with which that speaker
group adapts linguistic innovations. Parameter (a) is a function of the actualisation process because some usage contexts are affected earlier by that process than
thers. Parameter (b) is a function of the composition of the speaker group. As

o
previously noted, some speaker groups behave more conservatively or progressively than others.
Figure 4.1 schematically illustrates actualisation and the resulting remanence
effect in a hypothetical instance of language change.
Proportion construction B
100%
80%
60%
Context A
Context B
Context C
40%
20%
0%
1
Time
Figure 4.1 The remanence effect in language change
The three curves in the figure illustrate the development of the usage frequency
of a disappearing construction B in the three usage contexts A, B, and C representing verb classes. It is evident that these three usage contexts differ with regard to the
time period at which they are affected by the replacement process. The construction starts being replaced in usage context A at the time mark 1, in usage context
B approximately at the time mark 2, and in usage context C approximately at the
time mark 4. In line with actualisation theory, these usage contexts should be situated on a cline of similarity with the original usage context of a construction A that
is replacing construction B. Thus, usage context A is most similar to the original
usage context of construction A, whereas usage context C is least similar.
The decline of the usage frequency of construction B follows the same s-curve
in each of these usage contexts. The speed of the social conventionalisation of the
replacement of B is not affected by the usage contexts itself. Therefore, the differences in the dates at which the three usage contexts are affected by the replacement
process translate in a linear fashion into differences in the dates of disappearance
of the use of construction B. In usage context A, the use of the construction is last
documented between the time mark 3 and 4, in usage context B, between the time
mark 4 and 5, and so on. This is a remanence effect. Due to the item-specificity of
actualisation processes, there is a delay between the date at which the replacement
process starts affecting a usage context, and the date of its full completion.
4.5.2 Conservation
Longevity due to remanence must be distinguished from longevity due to conservation. In the following, the concept of conservation in usage-based linguistics is
discussed in opposition to remanence.
Actualisation leads to a rise in type frequency followed by a rise in token
frequency. However, usage frequency can also work in the opposite direction of
language change. As already pointed out in Section 2.2, Aranovich (2003) assumes
that in the development of Spanish auxiliary selection, the high absolute frequency
of certain verbs led to the conservation of ser-selection with these verbs. It will
be argued in this section that frequency effects are indeed a crucial factor in the
conservation of linguistic elements.
Usage-based linguistics assumes high token frequency to result in a stronger
cognitive representation of a specific linguistic item because that item is repeatedly
accessed. Utterances are not always produced compositionally, but rather formed
from pre-packaged building blocks, i.e. chunks (Newell 1990:185193; Ellis
1996; Bybee 2010:3356). Therefore, these authors claim that a stronger cognitive
representation of a frequent linguistic element leads to cognitive chunking. The
item is increasingly treated as non-compositional and thus accessed holistically.
It undergoes a process by which it is stored and assembled by the language user
as a whole, rather than creatively assembled on the spot (de Smet & Cuyckens
2007:188).
The holistic access to the element leads to several advantages in the processing
of this element. Thus, both the recognition and production of the chunked element are facilitated. Arguably, this entrenchment effect (as termed by Langacker
1987:59) is cognitively economical, since frequent items do not need to undergo
online processing (Langacker 1987:5760; Croft 2001:28).
In order to model the relationship between usage frequency and entrenchment, many usage-based approaches follow exemplar theory, a model of perception and categorisation developed in psychology. Although exemplar models were
first used in phonetic and phonological studies such as Lacerda (1995), Johnson
(1997), or Pierrehumbert (2001, 2002), they have recently also been applied to
grammar (see Bybee 2010: Chapter 2). Exemplar theory assumes that categories
are represented in the mind as clusters, often called clouds, of specific tokens of
that category that have been experienced by the speaker. Each token has a rich
memory representation wherein a great variety of factors associated with that specific language event are stored. These factors include the situational context, syntactic context, prosody, and so on. In the category cluster, highly similar tokens
are stored rather close to each other, whereas dissimilar tokens are stored far away
from each other.
Exemplar theory thus assumes that category formation is gradient. If the

speaker encounters a new token, s/he classifies it according to its similarity to
already existing tokens. This means that a token can belong to several categories
at once, depending on its similarity to token clusters in these categories. Significantly, the productivity of a category, and therefore the question of whether a
linguistic element belongs to one category or another, is a function of the frequency with which a speaker refers to a category in order to categorise a token.
Because of this assumption, Construction Grammar can be characterised as a
usage-based approach (Croft & Cruse 2004; Fried & stman 2004; BlumenthalDram 2012:610), which dictates that grammatical constructions evolve out of
entrenchment processes (Goldberg 1995, 2006; Bybee & Torres Cacoullos 2009).
The degree of similarity between the mental representations of two tokens is said
to correspond to the strength of the link between them. Consequently, two tokens
that are heard at the same time receive a similar representation, particularly in
terms of situational context. If this process is repeated with two similar tokens,
usage frequency then leads to a strengthening of the link between the mental representations of these tokens and eventually, the formation of a new category. It is
in this way that usage frequency leads to chunking and entrenchment.
There is solid evidence for chunking and entrenchment processes from studies on language acquisition that show how many aspects of early language are formulaic and item-based (see Behrens 2009). Although there is an ongoing debate
about how exactly children learn to generalise from these specific chunks, formal
similarity is generally agreed to play a role in these generalisation processes. For
instance, Abbot-Smith & Behrens (2006) demonstrate that the previous acquisition of the formally similar anterior construction sein be + PtcP facilitates the
acquisition of the complex German passive construction sein + PtcP by Germanspeaking children. Children seem to abstract from highly frequent chunks in the
acquisition of grammatical categories. This means that grammatical categories are
organised prototypically, as assumed by Goldberg (2006).
The skewed distribution of grammatical categories can have an influence on
language change. Cognitive chunking necessarily leads to the loss of analysability
of complex linguistic items (Bybee & Hopper 2001a; Bybee 2006, 2007a, 2010).
Thus, the more a sequence of morphemes or words is used together, the stronger
the sequence will become as a unit and the less associated it will be to its component parts (Bybee 2010:48). Studies on formulaic language reach similar conclusions. Consider Wray & Perkins (2000) definition of a formulaic sequence:
a sequence, continuous or discontinous, of words or other meaning elements,
which is, or appears to be, prefabricated: that is, stored and retrieved whole from
memory at the time of use, rather than being subject to generation or analysis by
the language grammar.
(Wray & Perkins 2000:1)
Growing formulaicity thus corresponds to a loss of analysability. By entrenchment, highly frequent syntagms grow more and more autonomous from the construction of which they are instantiations. This autonomy (Bybee 2006:715) or
emancipation effect of frequency can lead to the complete dissociation between
the entrenched syntagm and the mother construction.
Importantly, the declining analysability of highly frequent syntagms leads to
their conservation in language change. It has often been noticed that when a construction is subject to a grammatical change, highly frequent syntagms belonging
to that construction are less affected by that change than other syntagms belonging
to the construction because of their greater autonomy from the mother construction (Greenberg 1966:6869; Ellis 2002:166). Consider the following quote from
Bybee (2010):
frequent forms resist regularizing or other morphological change with the
wellknown result that irregular inflectional forms tend to be of high frequency.
Assuming that regularization occurs when an irregular form is not accessed and
instead the regular process is used, it is less likely that high-frequency inflected
forms would be subject to regularization.
(Bybee 2010:25)
Bybee assumes entrenchment to counteract actualisation (in her terms, regularization). In the case of a replacement process, syntagms belonging to the replaced
construction that are used with a high absolute token frequency will take longer
to be replaced with syntagms belonging to the expanding construction (Bybee &
Thompson 2007; Diessel 2007).
Poplack (2001) provides a good example for this type of process. She shows
that frequency of use is of crucial relevance to the usage of subjunctive mood in
Canadian French. The indicative in Canadian French is currently replacing the
subjunctive in the expression of irrealis modality. However, from the perspective
of the token frequency of sentences involving subjunctive morphology, it appears
that the subjunctive is still widely used. According to Poplacks data, the subjunctive is used in 77 per cent of the cases where a subjunctive-selecting matrix verb is
involved (Poplack 2001:411). However, there is a discrepancy between the token
and type frequencies of the subjunctive. The subjunctive is most widely used with
a small number of highly frequent verbs, such as falloir must, shall, vouloir want,
and aimer like, love (Poplack 2001:412). Thus,
although the token frequency of the standard subjunctive variant is elevated,
virtually all its uses are concentrated among a handful of highly favoring matrix
verbs collocated with a small cohort of frequent and irregular embedded verbs.
Outside of these few contexts, in which its use has become ritualized, selection of
the subjunctive is very rare.
(Poplack 2001:414)
In this study, the term conservation is used to describe this process, which is
formally defined in (71).
(71) Conservation refers to the process by which the life span of a construction
that is being replaced is prolonged in specific contexts. This process is due
to high token frequency and the subsequent loss of analysability of specific
syntagms.
Conservation must be strictly distinguished from remanence because only conservation can be said to genuinely preserve the disappearing construction. Once the
productivity of a construction is high enough to lead to its expansion into a usage
context, the actualisation process is expected to not stop until all elements within
the usage context are affected by the change. Likewise, the decrease in usage frequency of a replaced construction in the affected context is supposed to not differ
for different usage contexts. The speed at which a construction disappears, however, is affected by conservation. The use of highly frequent instantiations of the
disappearing construction decreases slower than the use of less frequent instantiations. Consequently, conservation leads to skewed distributions of token and type
frequency, as illustrated in Poplacks study of the Canadian French subjunctive. In
contrast to remanence, conservation leads to irregularity. Figure 4.2 schematically
illustrates the effect of conservation in a hypothetical instance of language change.
Proportion construction B
100%
80%
60%
Context A
Context B
40%
20%
0%
1
Time
Figure 4.2 The conserving effect in language change
The curves in Figure 4.2 show the disgression of the usage frequency of the
replaced construction B in different usage contexts. Context A represents verbs
with a low token frequency, whereas context B represents verbs with a high token
frequency. Entrenchment effects are thus more likely to occur in context B than in
context A. This leads to a slower speed in the decrease of the token frequency of
the construction B in context B than in context A.
Figure 4.2 thus exhibits the remarkable longevity of highly frequent syntagms
in specific discourse contexts. Consider, for instance, the ser + PtcP token from
the beginning of the 20th century in (72). It seems unlikely that remanence can
account for such longevity of the disappearing construction ser + PtcP.
(72) Todo el afn de su existencia era ido

all the desire of his existence be.pst.ipfv.3sg go.ptcp.m.sg

en humo
in smoke
All of his reasons to exist had evaporated [Motivos de proteo,
apudCORDE]
Altogether, conserving effects in the sense of Bybee & Hopper (2001a, 2007a) and
Bybee (2003, 2006, 2010) always refer to specific syntagms. The global disappearance process due to the actualisation of the competing construction is stalled in
specific instances. The paradigmatic ties of these syntagms to the original construction are weakened. Since the conserved syntagms are analysable to a lesser
degree, the actualisation process affects them to a lesser degree. Consequently,
although a replaced construction can survive as a grammatical form until very
late, it loses its function. Speakers become increasingly indecisive as to the way the
construction is used, causing the original paradigm of the replaced construction
to become fractured and highly irregular. Conservation and irregularisation are
intimately connected.
Importantly, the loss of function of the conserved syntagms might lead to the
functional renovation of the disappearing construction, causing the construction
to reaffirm itself in its contexts of use and even create new paradigmatic relations.
This paradoxical effect results from the analogical nature of language change. The
dislodgement of a construction from a certain context of use is a result of its similarity to the expanding construction. The increasing productivity of the expanding
construction in those contexts previously reserved for the disappearing construction actually emphasises this similarity between them. In addition, occurences of
the disappearing construction in these contexts lose their paradigmatic ties to the
original construction.
However, due to the similarities between the expanding and the disappearing constructions, the expanding construction provides a functional model for
the disappearing construction. Therefore, actualisation raises the probability for a
reanalysis of the disappearing variant in terms of the expanding variants function.
It is only then that the two constructions can be considered allomorphs.
The attainment of allomorphy between the two constructions is thus correlated to a change of the grammatical properties of the more restricted variant.
In particular, the latter variant should adopt the grammatical properties of the
dominant v ariant. A comparison between defining grammatical properties of the
two variants should thus enable the assessment of whether a reanalysis of the disappearing construction regarding the function of the dominant construction has
taken place.
Whereas the diffusion of the use of a construction is ultimately the result
of social factors, i.e. social conventionalisation, the attainment of free variation
implies the creation of a new paradigmatic link. Consequently, the opposition of
the two variants is more likely to be influenced by factors that are caused by the
more abstract system of paradigmatic links itself. From this point on, the development of the two variants in question is much less likely to be predicted from its
constructional origins and instead, must be evaluated on the basis of its paradigmatic links to each other.
The model of linguistic disappearances that results from the considerations of
this section is summarised in Figure 4.3.
Y(y)
---->
X(x)
?(y)
---->
X(x)
X(y)
---->
X(x)
Figure 4.3 Schematic summary of the model of linguistic disappearances
The schema represents constructions as form-function pairs in which the

forms are represented by lowercase letters and functions are represented by capitals. The boxes represent the specific context of use first connected to construction Y(y). The expansion of construction X(x) into the context of use leads to a
decrease in usage frequency of Y(y) and conserving effects, which further lead
to the detachment of y-forms from the function Y. Speakers compensate for this
loss of function by adopting function X for y-forms. The end result is allomorphy
between x and y and eventually, the loss of y.
4.6 Persistence as conservation
Entrenchment is not the only cognitive mechanism referring to activation that
usage-based linguistics assumes to be relevant to language use. Significantly, the
effect of language experience on language use also has a temporal dimension.
More recent usage events exercise a greater influence on language use than less
recent usage events. One way of modelling this state of affairs is the concept of
persistence (Szmrecsanyi 2005, 2006). Persistence refers to the notion of production priming in psycholinguistics and repetitiveness in discourse analysis
(Szmrecsanyi 2005:116), which has been shown to be important at the lexical
(Neely 1977, 1991; Hoey 2004, 2005), phonological (Baddeley 1966; Griffin 2002)
and syntactic levels (Gries 2005; Travis 2007; Holmes & Balukas 2011). These
approaches assume that the recent use of a linguistic element raises the probability
of the use of a formally or functionally similar element in the following discourse.
Persistence or priming due to recency thus influences the decision of a speaker as
to which expression s/he will select in a given communicative situation. Szmrecsanyi (2005:116117) defines persistence as follows:
(73) If a speaker is confronted with the choice of two linguistic variants, this
choice may be affected by whether or not one of the variants appears in the
preceding co-text. Persistence refers to the speakers tendency to choose
one of the variants over the other if the first variant has been used in the
preceding co-text.
In his analysis of well-known alternations like the English future markers be going
to and will, Smzrecsanyi (2005) shows that the use of one variant in the previous co-text significantly raises the probability of the speakers selecting that variant in a later co-text. Moreover, he demonstrates that this effect crucially depends
on the textual distance between the priming element and the primed element
(Szmrecsanyi 2005:119120). Persistence effects thus decay as the temporal distance to the original stimulus increases because the activation of the mental representation of that stimulus fades. In other words, speakers forget the original
stimulus.
The assumption of persistence effects has far-reaching consequences for
quantitative analyses of alternations in language since they may, in fact, neutralise system-internal factors governing the speakers choice of one variant or the
other. Choosing not to account for persistence effects in a quantitative study of
variation may truly distort the results.
For this reason, the present study treats recency as an indicator of persistence
effects in the historical texts and includes recency as a predictor in the statistical
models to a certain extent. Auxiliary selection can be predicted by persistence. BEselection is more likely if a BE + PtcP tokens occurs in the preceding co-text, and
HAVE-selection is more likely if a HAVE + PtcP token occurs in the preceding
co-text.
Smzrecsanyi makes the assumption that the effect of persistence on language
use is analogous to the effect of usage frequency on language use. Accordingly, he
compares persistence to entrenchment:
Along somewhat different lines, persistence may be thought of as a type of shortterm entrenchment []. It is true that entrenchment is understood as being a
mechanism operating over longer intervals of time, possibly a speakers lifetime
in contrast, persistence is a phenomenon that probably dissipates after a few
minutes. Yet, persistence as well is due to linguistic patterns, or representations

thereof, being activated through use; in this way, it may make sense to refer
to persistence as micro-entrenchment, and to entrenchment as macropersistence.(Szmrecsanyi 2005:141)
Although frequency of use and persistence depend on different p

arameters
(repetition vs. recency), both cognitive processes cause entrenchment by which the
cognitive representation of a linguistic element is strengthened, if only temporarily.
Smzrecsanyis characterisation of persistence as micro-entrenchment has
interesting consequences for usage-based diachronic studies of language change.
If there is truth in the fact that both frequency of use and persistence lead to
entrenchment processes, they should have the same effect in language change,
which is conservation. The remainder of this chapter explores this idea.3
In order to explain the relationship between persistence and conservation, it is necessary to more precisely define these entrenchment processes.
Blumenthal-Dram (2012:7685) analyses entrenchment in terms of gestalt psychology and reaches the conclusion that entrenchment should be modelled as a
part-whole relationship. In her analysis, entrenchment means that the whole takes
precedence over the component parts (Blumenthal-Dram 2012:76). From this
perspective, entrenchment is not simply the result of high token frequency, but
rather of a specific configuration of the token frequencies of the whole and its component parts. A multimorphemic item is entrenched if the token frequency of the
whole is higher than the token frequencies of the respective component parts (also
cf. Hay 2001, 2002, 2003; as well as the discussion in Bybee 2010:4648). Hay (2001)
showed in a dictionary study that words which have a higher token frequency than
their component parts (e.g. inaudible audible) are less likely to be semantically
transparent than words with a higher lower frequency than their component parts
(e.g. invulnerable vulnerable). Blumenthal-Dram (2012) provides more concrete
evidence for this effect in a series of neurolinguistic fMRI studies. A semantically
intransparent word such as government, which is more frequent than its component part govern, has a relatively higher level of entrenchment than a word such as
kissable, which is less frequent than its component part kiss.
Arguably, this definition of entrenchment can also be applied to higher-order
grammatical constructions. The productivity of a grammatical category is often
evaluated through measuring its type frequency, i.e. the number of linguistic
expressions that can be counted as instantiations of that category (Bardal 2008).
For instance, the present study gauges the productivity of the ser + PtcP construc-
. A less explicit formulation of these ideas can be found in Rosemeyer (to appear-a).
tion in Old Spanish as a function of the verbs the construction can be used with
to form syntagms types such as es ido is gone or es muerto is died. The more syntagms instantiating ser + PtcP, the higher the type-token ratio of the construction,
and the greater its productivity. The decrease in the productivity of ser + PtcP in
later stages of the replacement process of ser by haber, as evinced by the decrease
in its type frequency, thus leads to a lower type-token ratio demonstrating the
greater invariability of its use.
From this perspective, the ser + PtcP construction in later stages of the change
can be argued to be more entrenched at a lower level of abstract representation
than the ser + PtcP construction in earlier stages of the change. Whereas the use
of a construction with a high type-token ratio, such as the transitive construction in Modern English, is entrenched at a very high level of abstraction, the use
of a construction with a low type-token ratio, such as a Classical Spanish ser +
PtcP, is entrenched at a lower level of abstraction. This difference in the types of
entrenchment of both productive and unproductive constructions is correlated to
the transparency of these constructions; for the productive transitive construction, pattern abstraction should be cognitively easier than for the inproductive
Early Modern ser + PtcP construction. Using the examples adduced in the last
paragraph, the entrenchment level of the Old Spanish ser + PtcP construction can
be compared to a word such as kissable, whereas the entrenchment level of Early
Modern ser + PtcP can be compared to a word such as government. Between Old
Spanish and Early Modern Spanish, the difference in the token frequencies of the
entire ser + PtcP construction and the ser + PtcP syntagms that constitute the
construction decreases.
Note that effectively, this analysis suggests that on the level of abstract grammatical constructions, there can be different causes for entrenchment. On the
one hand, a high type-token frequency leads to entrenchment at a high level of
abstraction wherein the frequent use of a construction strengthens its cognitive
representation and facilitates pattern abstraction by the language user. Consequently, entrenchment at this level of abstraction does not lead to formulaicity,
but rather causes a more flexible use of the construction. On the other hand, a low
type-token frequency leads to entrenchment at a low level of abstraction: the use
of the entire construction is determined to a greater degree by the syntagms that
constitute the construction.
This account of entrenchment shares important features with Bardals (2008)
account of productivity. Bardal (2008:3440) claims that productivity can be
caused by both high type frequency and semantic coherence. Using data from
Ragnarsdottir, Simonsen and Plunkett (1999), she suggests that in Icelandic pasttense formation, both the semantically incoherent class of regular verbs and the
small group of semantically coherent but irregular verbs display syntactic produc-
tivity (Bardal 2008:4043). Thus, due to the prominence of the semantic coherence
of the class of irregular verbs, children sometimes use this verb class as a model
when forming past tenses with other verbs. This observation relates directly to the
assumption from the last section that entrenchment and the resulting conserving
effect can lead to a reanalysis of the function of the entrenched linguistic item.
Here it is assumed that at this low level of constructional abstractness,
entrenchment explains the conserving effect of persistence. In order to fully
explore this suggestion, Blumenthal-Drams (2012) analysis must be returned to.
Blumenthal-Dram proposes that if entrenchment can be understood in terms of
part-whole relationship, this should take effect on priming mechanisms. Gestalt
psychology shows that holistic gestalt patterns are more likely to be subject to
pattern completion processes by the perceiver. If a pattern is stored as a whole
and thereby very prominent, parts of this gestalt will probably activate the entire
gestalt. This idea can be envisioned by considering how an incomplete circle is still
almost always perceived as a circle (Blumenthal-Dram 2012:76). Such association processes are less likely for less prominent patterns. Applying this observation to entrenchment in language, Blumenthal-Dram demonstrates in a series of
masked visual priming tests that higher entrenchment is correlated with stronger
neural and behavioural priming, i.e. quicker response times and weaker neural
activity (Blumenthal-Dram 2012:106). For example, a word such as inaudible is
more likely to be primed by its constituent part audible than invulnerable by vulnerable because inaudible is more entrenched than invulnerable.
A parallel process can be assumed to operate at the higher constructional level.
A disappearing construction declines in type frequency. The lower type-token
ratio of the construction to some degree makes the construction more predictable
from its members. If in the later stages of the change, the ser + PtcP construction
only consists of a very small set of lower-level, specific ser + PtcP constructions,
such as es ido has gone, es muerto has died, it can be argued that the construction
is primed to a greater degree by these lower-level constructions than in the earlier
stages of the changes, where the ser + PtcP construction exerts a higher level of
productivity. An increase in the entrenchment of the construction at a low level
of abstraction coincides with a greater potential to be activated by recency. This
means that persistence has the potential to work as a conserving effect in language
change and in this way, stall the process by which a construction disappears from
use to some extent.
If this conception of persistence as a conserving frequency effect in process
of language change is correct, it should yield measurable results. In particular,
late texts displaying variation between the two constructions would display text
passages of massed use of the disappearing variant.
As noted above, the entrenchment processes caused by frequency of use
and persistence rely on different mechanisms, namely repetition and recency.
ersistence implies that a specific linguistic element is analysed as part of a conP

structional paradigm; otherwise, the linguistic element could not lead to the activation of the construction and the selection of this construction over another
competing construction. Entrenchment, on the other hand, implies that within a
specific usage context, one linguistic element is selected.
For this reason, the conserving effects of persistence and frequency can be
argued to differ in a crucial point. Whereas conservation due to frequency of use
is correlated to an increase in formulaicity, conservation due to persistence is not.
On the contrary, the account of the conserving effect of persistence developed
in this section suggests that persistence effects temporarily strengthen the productivity of a construction. This assumption can be explained using Interactive
Activation Models developed in cognitive science (Rumelhart & McClelland
1982, 1986; Harris 1998). Interactive Activation Models assume that the input
of a element that stands in a hyponymic relationship to a higher order element
not only activates that higher-order element, but also other elements dependent
on the higher-order element, i.e. cohyponyms of the input element. As noted by
Blumenthal-Dram (2012:77), this model can easily be adapted to language. Upon
perceiving an instantiation of a construction, not only is the abstract construction
itself activated, but also other possible instantiations of the construction. Recent
activation thus makes members of the construction more easily accessible and in
this respect, can be argued to temporarily boost the range of application of the
primed construction. Such top-down activation processes are caused by persistence, but not by frequency of use.
The scenario developed in the last paragraph leads to the following prediction: persistence conserves the use of the ser + PtcP both on the level of form and
the level of function. Recency of ser + PtcP tokens should lead to a higher level of
activation of constructional features of ser + PtcP that are seldom encountered in
language use. This means that in a context characterised by recency of use of ser
+ PtcP, the speaker would be expected to use ser + PtcP in a more conservative
way. Conservation due to persistence is thus expected to not lead to the longevity
of specific entrenched syntagms, but rather to affect the abstract representation of
the disappearing linguistic category. Whereas entrenchment offers the possibility
of functional change, persistence might temporarily restore the function of a disappearing category.
4.7 Summary
In this chapter, a model of linguistic disappearances was proposed, followed by its
predictions for the development of Spanish auxiliary selection. The actualisation
of construction A leads to the intrusion of that construction into usage contexts
associated with construction B. As a result, a paradigmatic opposition between

these two constructions is established. The directionality of the actualisation process is determined by similarity relations in which more similar usage contexts are
affected earlier than less similar usage contexts.
Another result of the actualisation process is that the replaced construction
decreases in both type and token frequency. The necessity to distinguish between
decreases in type frequency due to actualisation, and token frequency due to
social conventionalisation has been established. Because actualisation processes
are item-specific, they affect less typical members of a category earlier than more
prominent members of the category. Consequently, the use of the replaced construction B persists in that category viz. usage context until the replacement process is completed. This effect was termed remanence.
In addition, it was argued that high token frequency or more specifically, a
low type-token frequency, can lead to the emancipation (growing autonomy) of
highly frequent syntagms from the disappearing construction and thus a slower
decrease in usage frequency of the disappearing construction. This effect was
called conservation.
Lastly, it was claimed that persistence is a conservative factor in language
change. Over time, the use of the disappearing construction increasingly relies
on persisting effects. On contrast to conservation resulting from frequency of use,
conservation due to persistence should not lead to an increase in formulaicity, but
rather have the opposite effect. Thus, persistence should lead to an increase in the
global productivity of the construction.
Applying these results to the example of Spanish auxiliary selection, they lead
to three predictions:
1. Since actualisation operates on the basis of the similarity between usage contexts, usage contexts of ser + PtcP that are similar to the original usage contexts of haber + PtcP are affected earlier by the actualisation of haber + PtcP
than others. These contexts are also the first contexts in which the use of ser
+ PtcP disappears. It appears that predicates at the lower end of the Auxiliary
Selection Hierarchy are most similar to the original usage context of HAVE +
PtcP (predicates appearing in transitive sentences). The synchronic gradience
with regard to auxiliary selection captured in the ASH is expected to mirror
the gradualness of the actualisation process by which HAVE + PtcP expanded
into the domain of intransitive verbs.
2. Highly frequent ser + PtcP syntagms resist the actualisation process longer
than less frequent ser + PtcP syntagms and the spread of haber + PtcP is slowed
down in these usage contexts. Conservation implies emancipation. Highly
frequent ser + PtcP syntagms are conserved precisely because they cease to
partake in the ser + PtcP paradigm. Consequently, conservation is necessarily

accompanied by functional change; conserved ser + PtcP syntagms are subject
to processes of paradigmatic atrophy, and run a high risk of being reanalysed
in terms of the function of the construction that is replacing them.
3. The productivity of ser + PtcP increasingly relies on persistence effects. Since
over time, ser + PtcP is used less and less, the productivity of ser + PtcP, due
to cumulative activation, decreases. This process is correlated to an increase
in the productivity of ser + PtcP, due to temporary activation. The members
of the construction prime the entire construction to a greater degree than in
earlier stages of the change. The discussion of the conserving effect of persistence has also led to the expectation that later ser + PtcP tokens are used more
conservatively if they have been previously triggered by a persisting ser + PtcP
token.
Note that in contrast to Mateus (2009) approach, the idea that actualisation
depends on similarity relations offers an actual explanation for the correlation
between the gradience modelled in the ASH and the gradual expansion of haber +
PtcP. As noted in 2.2, Mateu takes the amount of variable auxiliary selection behaviour of a predicate class to in itself be an explanation of the point in time at which
that predicate class is affected by the expansion of haber + PtcP. This approach
is problematic because in the same way in which gradience causes gradualness,
gradualness causes gradience. The concept of similarity is in principle independent from the interplay between gradience and gradualness. Consequently, the
notion of similarity escapes the circularity between gradience and gradualness in
the description of the expansion of haber + PtcP.
chapter 5
Methodology and corpus

Diachronic studies of the interplay of innovation and diffusion in the development of phenomena like Spanish auxiliary selection have to rely on quantitative data. Crucially, the label frequency effect describes a complex interaction
between various factors operating on the same phenomenon. With qualitative
methodology, it is then increasingly difficult to disentangle the amount to which
each of these factors influences the dependent variable. For instance, Aranovichs
(2003) Semantic Displacement Hypothesis assumes that those verbs that form the
core of the ser + PtcP constructionfor instance, morir die and volver return
are the last to lose ser-selection (cf. 2.2). While those verbs are prone to ser-selection because of their lexical semantics, they are also very frequent verbs. In the
last chapter, it was argued that usage frequency has a conserving effect. Consequently, if morir and volver appear in the ser + PtcP construction until very late,
this finding can be a result of either of the two factors. If only singular examples are
analysed, it is very difficult to tease the two effects apart. By contrast, quantitative
methodology allows disentangling these effects. Since this study investigates the
interplay between several factors in their influence on the development of Spanish
auxiliary selection, a quantitative approach is adopted.
In particular, this study employs the variationist method developed in sociolinguistics (Labov 1966; Sankoff 1978, 1982; Labov 1984; Tagliamonte 2006).
Multivariate regression models are used to show how different variables influence whether the author selects haber or ser, and to which extent these variables
converge. Crucially, these models also allow tracing the temporal development of
the influence of several factors on auxiliary selection. Moreover, the introduction
of random effects into these models permits controlling for variation resulting
from nested variables.
The price to pay for these advantages is a greater dependence on methodological premises. These premises are discussed in Section 5.1. Like all quantitative approaches to language, variationist linguistics assumes that usage
preferences of speakers provide evidence for their grammars. However, is text
frequency really an indicator of usage frequency? Although the answer to this
question given here is yes, several problems in the extraction of representative

quantitative h
istorical data are discussed. Thus, problems of dating, authenticity, discourse traditions and more general textual organisation have to be taken
into account. Section 5.2 focuses on the question of data selection. Conducting a
quantitative analysis of a linguistic phenomenon always presupposes a previous
qualitative analysis of that phenomenon. More precisely, the envelope of variation has to be defined (Tagliamonte 2006:86; Walker 2010:5). Thus, selecting
linguistic variables for study involves considerations on different levels, ranging from descriptive linguistic concerns to practical concerns of reliable coding
(Wolfram 1993:209). Since decisions with regard to data selection exert a fundamental influence on later statistical analyses, these decisions will be motivated
in detail.
In Section 5.3, the statistical methods used in the remainder of the study are
introduced. Section 5.4 gives a brief summary of this chapter.
5.1 Quantitative data in historical linguistics
Historical linguistic data are always fragmented and unrepresentative of the language of a certain period. In the words of William Labov,
Historical documents survive by chance, not by design, and the selection that
is available is the product of an unpredictable series of historical accidents. The
linguistic forms in such documents are often distinct from the vernacular of
the writers, and instead reflect efforts to capture a normative dialect that never
was any speakers native language. As a result, many documents are riddled
with the effects of hypercorrection, dialect mixture, and scribal error [].
Historical linguistics can then be thought of as the art of making the best use of
bad data.
(Labov 1994:11)
Indeed, despite all of these problems many studies in historical linguistics have
shown that it is possible to provide accurate descriptions and coherent explanations of phenomena of language change. Due to the lack of introspective data,
historical linguistics quite early developed sophisticated quantitative methods
of evaluating linguistic data. If a study like Fries (1940) compares the frequency
of use of word order patterns (OV vs. VO) in English over a period of 500 years,
this method is based the assumption that changing usage frequencies reflect a
change in the speakers grammar. Even though simple counting generalises
over the great variety of text genres, ideolectal styles, dialect mixture etc.,
many of the results from quantitative diachronic linguistics have proven to be
astonishingly stable.
Chapter 5. Methodology and corpus
Some of the problems identified by Labov such as hypercorrection and scribal

errors are probably negligible if the number of investigated tokens is high enough.
However, there is a more fundamental problem with historical, and particularly
medieval, texts that poses a serious threat for quantitative analyses of historical
language data. This is the question of the comparability of historical data. There
are three aspects of this problem that require discussion. First, usage frequencies
show structured variation with regard to the discourse tradition or genre of the
text. However, discourse traditions are historical objects: the norms and modes
of text production can change over time. Second, intertextuality in the form of
copying was very common especially in the Middle Ages. Third, many diachronic
studies face the problem of unreliable dating.
5.1.1 Usage frequencies and discourse traditions
Crucially, language use follows different rules in different discourse traditions
(in the sense of Schlieben-Lange 1983).1 In variationist terms, the usage frequencies of a linguistic phenomenon differ between discourse traditions. In principle,
quantitative methodology provides two solutions to this problem. First, one may
generalise over a population of tokens from different discourse genres. While this
method allows capturing the range of variation of a linguistic phenomenon in
many different contexts, it carries the danger of overgeneralisation because it may
blur the way a linguistic phenomenon works in specific contexts. Second, different studies may be undertaken for different discourse traditions. The distribution
and function of a linguistic phenomenon in one discourse tradition is evaluated and then compared to other discourse traditions. This method only allows
for more restricted conclusions. However, these conclusions will provide a much
more homogeneous picture of the function of a phenomenon. Moreover, it does
not presuppose a huge data set. For these reasons, this study chooses the second
approach, focusing on the development of auxiliary selection within the discourse
tradition of historiographical texts.
This approach presupposes the identification of discourse traditions and
thus the reconstruction of the speakers concept of [textual] norms (Wilhelm
2001:469, transl. MR). The identification procedure is often based on text
function, as well as situational and medium-specific factors (Gansel & Jrgens
2007:52). Another approach is Douglas Bibers bottom-up calculation of typical clusters of linguistic features that he then interprets as different text genres
. The term discourse tradition is usually taken to refer to historical conventionalised

patterns of text production (Wilhelm 2001:467; Aschenberg 2003:5).
(Biber 2000; Biber & Finegan 2004 [1987]). Although these categorisations are
necessarily idealised, linguistic research usually accepts typical categories like
historiographical prose.
However, as is well known in research on literary genres, these parameters
may change over time. This may affect even very basic parameters like text function, as famously shown in Foucaults work on medical discourse (Foucault 2005).
Consequently, if in a quantitative historical study focusing on one literary genre
a language change is observed, this change may in principle always just reflect a
change in the literary norms of the genre. While there is no easy solution to this
problem, it can to some extent be remedied by the comparison between several
discourse traditions. If the same effect is found in several discourse traditions, this
indicates that the change is indeed a change in the authors grammar.
There is another problem regarding discourse tradition that is specific to studies on frequency effects. It has been stated that the usage frequency of linguistic
phenomena depends on discourse tradition. Consequently, frequency effects may
also depend on discourse tradition. As an example, consider the conserving effect
of frequency (cf. 4.5.2). Entrenchment and conservation result from high usage
frequency. Since however usage frequencies differ with respect to discourse traditions, the entrenchment of a linguistic form in specific contexts may differ from its
global entrenchment. Consequently, it is important to work with usage frequencies
that are related to the investigated discourse tradition. This problem also concerns
phonetic reduction as discussed in Bybee (2002, 2007c, 2010:3738). Phonetic
reduction is a further frequency effect resulting from chunking: highly frequent
words are produced faster and with more ease of articulation. Consequently, they
are more prone to phonetic reduction. In theory, this reduction could depend on
the global frequency of the word. One would then expect reduced forms of a globally frequent word in contexts where this word is relatively infrequent. By contrast,
Bybees work shows that phonetic reduction works in context. For instance, with
respect to English /t, d/ deletion, Bybee demonstrates that words that occur more
often in the context for change, change more rapidly than those that occur less
often in that context (Bybee 2007c:235). Exemplar theory assumes that the cognitive representation of linguistic experience contains information on the contexts
in which linguistic items have been experienced. It follows that frequency effects
are context-sensitive.
5.1.2 Usage frequencies and copying
Quantitative historical studies that work on medieval texts face a second problem.
This is the accumulative episteme (Jacob 2001) of medieval writing. The concept of authorship was very different in the Middle Ages than in the m
odern era.
This problem is evident in the works created in the taller historiogrfico alfons
(Alfonses historiographical workshop, Cataln 1997), as demonstrated in
Fernndez-Ordoez (19931994, 1999, 2000, 2001a, 2001b). First, many different anonymous authors collaborated in the production of works like the Estoria
de Espanna and the General Estoria. Consequently, idiolectal differences have
been found in what appears to be one and the same book (Fernndez-Ordez
1999). Second, the material for the Alfonsine works was taken from a multitude of
sources. Fernndez-Ordoez shows that the Estoria de Espanna and the General
Estoria were compiled from works by classical Latin authors like Lucan, Ovid and
Pliny the Elder, religious texts like the bible or the texts by Eusebius of Cesarea,
as well as French and Arabian literature and epic poems in Romance (FernndezOrdez 2004:390). Although the close collaboration of the writers undoubtedly
also created unifying tendencies (e.g. through stylistic prescripts), the works created in the Alfonsine workshop have to be characterised as very heterogeneous
with regard to the language used. According to Burke (2004), this method of text
production is indeed a defining property of medieval literacy. In his discussion
about Hermann the Germans term of assimilatio (Hermanns translation of the
Aristotelian mimesis), Burke claims that
the term assimilatio implies some variety of connectivity between two entities
and that it is not imperative to view the two in terms of original and copy. If
Hermanns understanding of assimilatio can be taken as typical for the thirteenth
century and later, it would mean that critics would necessarily have to interpret
those works from the period which we deem literary in a way different from
that which is customary in modern explanations.
(Burke 2004:97)
Crucially, the praxis of copying from other authors continued in later stages of the
Spanish middle ages, but also well into the 17th century. Many of the later historiographical texts explicitly adopt the model of the Alfonsine chronicles and copy
from them in order to demonstrate the continuing importance of a state of affairs
due to its recurrence in different constellations, or for embellishment (von Hoegen
2000:30). Although this observation provides an argument for treating these texts
as belonging to the same discourse tradition, discourse traditions will interfere
substantially with quantitative counts. In many cases, the tokens encountered in
the quantitative study cannot be regarded as the respective authors invention
but are mutually interdependent. On the basis of this argument, it could be argued
that quantitative analyses of medieval texts are impossible to conduct (Jacob
2001:156).
However, from the vantage point of usage-based linguistics this problem is
but superficial. As shown in the discussion on conservation (Section 4.5), one of
the key tenets of UBL is that linguistic productivity is not entirely free but directly
conditioned by previous utterances. The experience with language shapes language production, such that competence and performance cannot be divided.
The concept of entrenchment takes a central position in this theoretical stance.
Entrenchment refers to the constancy of form due to repeated use: effectively,
speakers copy forms they have heard or read frequently before. In principle, this
mechanism is independent from the modality of language. Entrenchment also
takes place in text production. Poststructuralist studies on intertextuality such as
Barthes (1967) and Foucault (1988 [1969]; 2002 [1969]) show that the division
line between innovation and copy in textual production is not at all clearly
delineated. Any text is made of multiple writings, drawn from many cultures and
entering into mutual relations of dialogue, parody, contestation (Barthes 1967).
Poststructuralist thinking thus assumes texts to always be determined by preceding texts. This idea has been formulated most clearly in Foucaults Archeology of
Knowledge. Consider the following quote:
Lastly, enunciative analysis presupposes that one takes phenomena of recurrence
into account. Every statement involves a field of antecedent elements in relation
to which it is situated, but which it is able to reorganize and redistribute according
to new relations.
(Foucault 2002 [1969]:140)
This idea of intertextuality is also inherent to the concept of discourse tradition:

at least before the advent of the Renaissance, all of the Spanish historiographical
texts in some way or the other refer to the Alfonsinse chronicles. Whereas some of
these references are implicit (e.g. the topic and narrative style of the texts), other
references take explicit form (copies). From this point of view, copied passages
are overt manifestations of the more general principle of intertextuality within
a certain discourse tradition. Although copying in texts probably involves more
deliberate decision-making than copying in online speech production, the two
mechanisms are very similar.
Note that Foucault does not talk about texts but enunciations. The poststructuralist concept of intertextuality can be applied to language in general. In line
with the core assumptions of UBL, language users never produce utterances out of
context but rely heavily on their language experiences in similar contexts. Rather
than the exception, copying due to the entrenchment and persistence is the norm
in language production.
The assumption of a relationship between entrenchment and copying in texts
leads to testable predictions. It can be hypothesised that in the process of copying, writers are more likely to use innovative forms for syntagms that are less
entrenched due to its lower usage frequency. Morphosyntactic constancy is more
likely for highly frequent, entrenched syntagms. Highly entrenched syntagms
are perceived as typical of the style of the original text and can serve as overt
r eferences. As a result, while copying necessarily distorts quantitative data, it is not

entirely aleatory. Arguably, the role of frequency in copying mechanisms appears
to be comparable to its role in spoken language.
Discourse traditions like medieval Spanish historiographical texts that rely on
extensive copying from previous text models should therefore not automatically
be disregarded as sources of linguistic data. The description of the mechanisms of
copying as described here indicates, however, that these discourse traditions have
to be characterised as very conservative. Although writers do innovate the text
passages they copy or refer to, they probably do it to only a limited extent. Data
from Spanish historiographical texts is thus expected to mirror a language state
that does not correspond entirely to spoken language, but which is still similar
enough in order to be written and understood. Language changes arrive in textual
production with delay. As a result, the analysis of language changes on the basis of
this data has to assume that these changes took place at an earlier point in time.
However unclear the exact dating of changes, this assumption still allows for generalisations with regard to the relative chronology of changes.
In summary, this section has pointed out various problems with quantitative
methods in diachronic linguistics related to discourse traditions, as well as the
tradition of extensive copying in the Middle Ages. Although these problems pose
a threat for all quantitative analyses of language data, it has been argued that they
should not be taken to rule out quantitative analyses. The effect of discourse traditions and their change in time on linguistic data can to some degree be controlled
by comparing this data to other discourse traditions. While it impossible to control
for copying and the heterogeneity of many of the analysed texts, it has been argued
that intertextuality follows similar mechanisms as more spontaneous language
production. Consequently, although copying leads to considerable conservatism
in texts, the data gathered from these texts are not incomparable to each other.
The discussion in this chapter suggests that the concept of discourse traditions
is not an opposing but an enabling concept for the study of frequency effects in
language change. Frequency effects are always context-dependent in that they can
be said to only operate within certain domains of stable parameters of language
production. Consequently, any study on frequency effects in language change
needs to pay close attention to the question of discourse traditions.
5.1.3 Dating the texts
Many texts used as data in historical linguistics have been transmitted via later
copies of the original manuscripts. While the originals were lost, some copies were
not. However, many copiers modernised the texts they copied. Consequently, in
many cases it is very difficult, if not impossible, to decide how to date the language
found in some texts. This issue is problematic for diachronic studies on language
change that propose a succession of subsequent changes in a language. Uncertainties about the dating of the texts that are used in diachronic argumentations can
thus seriously distort the results from these studies.
Old Spanish auxiliary selection serves as an excellent example of the relevance
of this problem. As shown in 2.2, several studies on Old Spanish auxiliary selection (in particular, Aranovich 2003; Mateu 2009) rely on the data collected by
Benzing (1931). However, there are serious doubts about the representativeness
of these data. As Javier Rodrguez Molina (2006b) shows, many of the editions
used in Benzings study are compiled from manuscripts that are considerably
younger than the original texts. Grammatical phenomena that are being affected
by changes in progress are especially liable to be changed in copied manuscripts
(Rodrguez Molina 2006b:2627). This lack of authenticity may well distort the
results of the studies based on Benzings data. Rodrguez Molina claims that in
these studies, 50per cent of the examples [of haber-selection before 1250, MR] are
not very reliable or unreliable, and the other 50 per cent come from non-original
sources, which is why we can also question their reliability and representativeness
(Rodrguez Molina 2006b:45, transl. MR).
In her article about the problem of the authenticity of linguistic data taken
from Spanish historiographical texts, Fernndez-Ordoez (2006) proposes a way
to deal with this problem. After surveying 58 monographs on Spanish historical
grammar, she shows that many of these monographs are based on data extracted
from problematic sources like the Primera crnica general, the Historia troyana,
the Crnica abreviada by Juan Manuel, or the Crnica de 1344. While the problems
with the Primera crnica general can be handled by only using those parts that can
be regarded as authentic, the latter three texts are in their entirety based on copies
of the original manuscripts that were created more than half a century later.
Fernndez-Ordoez (2006) establishes a canon of editions of historiographical texts that are based on original manuscripts, or manuscripts copied from the
original manuscript less than 50 years after the composition of the original text.
This careful selection of texts to a great extent avoids the dating problem. Therefore, this study makes use of Fernndez-Ordoezs canon of historiographical
texts in order to gather the most authentic data possible.
5.2 Data selection
This section is dedicated to the description of the process of data selection. First,
the source of the data is described. Second, the question of how the envelope of
variation was determined is addressed.
5.2.1 A corpus of historiographical texts

The discussion in 5.1 has shown the great importance of the concept of discourse
traditions in diachronic studies of language change. In order to guarantee the
comparability of the data and allow the study of frequency effects, the analyses
presented in this study are based on data from historiographical texts. However, as mentioned in 5.1, there is no clear and uniform way of characterising
discourse traditions. This problem has serious repercussions for the question of
which source texts should become part of the corpus. In addition, discourse traditions change over time. While historiographical writing can be argued to form
a relatively homogeneous discourse tradition in the Spanish Middle Ages, the
introduction of humanism in Spain had profound influences on writing habits
(Lapesa 1981:265290). It is the aim of this section to motivate the selection of
texts as belonging to one and the same discourse tradition by addressing these
problems.
The homogeneity of the discourse tradition of historiographical texts in
the Spanish late Middle Ages is primarily a result of the enormous influence of
Alfonsine writing. Alfonse X was the creator of the starting point of all of Spanish medieval historiography (Fernndez-Ordez 19931994, transl. MR) in that
his historiographical writing was a constant point of reference for later Spanish
historians (also see the papers in Martin 2000). On the one hand, this refers to the
content of the chronicles. A work like the Estoria de Espanna spawned a whole
series of historiographical texts on the history of Castile until the end of the 15th
century (von Hoegen 2000:60). Indeed, as the result of the Alfonsine influence
even non-Castilian writers like the Aragonese Fernndez de Heredia focused on
the history of Castile in their works.
On the other hand, many historiographical texts follow Alfonses X ideas
about the duty of the historian. In his prologue to the General Estoria I, Alfonse
explains his perspective on the reason and purpose of his historiographical work:
since all men have an interest in the past and future, historians document past
events without disguising nothing about those who were bad as well about those
who were good (GEI: fol. 1r, apud Snchez-Prieto Borja 2002, transl. MR).2 He
also points out that the aim of historiographical writing is to provide a model
for the actions of today. Historians investigate the past in order to enable the
actions of good men to be an example and inspire men to do well (GEI: fol. 1r,
. Original quote: E dixieron la verdat de todas las cosas, e non quisieron nada encobrir tan
bien de los que fueron buenos como de los que fueron malos.
apud S nchez-Prieto Borja 2002, transl. MR).3 Alfonse thus accepts the classical
Ciceronian topos of Historia Magistra Vitae (see Koselleck 1979:4041): he uses
history as a collection of educational and instructive examples.
The prescripts of factuality and moral exemplarity continue to be relevant
in later Spanish historiographical writing. For instance, in the preamble to the
14thcentury Roman de Troie [RDT], the anonymous writer goes to great lengths
to prove that not Homer but a certain Dayres was the one who really wrote the
history of Troy (RDT, apud Parker 1977:1).4 The historians Lpez de Ayala and
Hernando del Pulgar even consider their work to be a direct continuation of the
(Alfonsine) chronicles of Castile (von Hoegen 2000:110, 155156).
It has to be pointed out that, as almost all Spanish literary genres, historiographical writing changes underwent profound changes after the introduction of
humanism in Spain. Inspired by the translations of works by Dante, Petrarca and
Boccaccio, Spanish writers increasingly adopted Latin syntactic patterns, Latin
rhetorics, and Latin vocabulary (Lapesa 1981:267271). Moreover, after 1492 the
thematic variety of historiographical texts increased notably. Von Hoegen (2000)
observes a decrease of the interest in universal histories to the advantage of contemporary history already in the 15th century. This development coincides with
an increasing interest in biographical writing (von Hoegen 2000:6667). Works
like Pulgars Claros varones and Crnica de los reyes de Castilla put special emphasis on the actors of historical events. As von Hoegen notes, this trend is directly
related to the profound changes that took place in the Spanish society in the late
Middle Ages and in particular to the rise of humanism. Consider, for instance, that
the introduction of humanism in Spain coincides with the rise of the picaresque
novel. Picaresque novels like the Lazarillo de Tormes put special emphasis on the
protagonist. This change in discourse traditions leads to a greater frequency of
use of a certain grammatical pattern: the use of the first person in written texts.
Asimilar increase in the overall use of the first person can be observed in historiographical texts.
In order to justify a comparison between linguistic patterns between these
texts, a broader definition of historiographical texts has to be employed.
Although this definition is without doubt abbreviatory (as is well known since
White 1973), basically all texts were classified as historiographical that narrate
past events in a roughly chronological fashion from an observers perspective with
the purpose of giving a factual account of these events. This definition has the
. Original quote: E esto fizieron porque de los fechos de los buenos tomassen los omnes
exemplo pora fazer bien.
. Original quote: aquel que uerdadera ment escriuio la estoria de Troye.
advantage of being in line with the medieval understanding of historiography

(Goetz 1985:172), and indeed, many modern approaches to the study of history
(e.g. Opgenoorth 1969:26).
In the selection process of these texts, this study relied to great extent on the
canon of Old Spanish historiographical texts established by Fernndez-Ordoez
(2006). The editions used thus either rely on original manuscripts, or manuscripts
that have been copied from the original manuscript less than 50 years after its
composition. In the case of texts like the second volume of the Alfonsine Estoria de Espanna or the Gran Conquista de Ultramar in which some text passages
fulfil these prerequisites, while others do not, only authentic text passages were
included. A detailed list of these texts can be found in the appendix. As apparent
in the list, most of the 41 investigated texts are based on editions from the CORDE.
By contrast, this is not true for the Gran Conquista de Ultramar (GCU) from the
13th, and the Roman de Troie (RDT) from the 14th century. This study follows
Rodrguez Molina (2010) in using the version of the GCU from the Archivo
Digital de Manuscritos y Textos Expaoles (Admyte 1992). Although the RDT is
one of the few Spanish texts from the 14th century whose original manuscript is
preserved (Fernndez-Ordez 2006), there is not yet a digital version of this text.
For this study, the first 133 pages of the edition of the RDT by Parker (1977) were
read, and the 54 haber + PtcP and ser + PtcP tokens falling into the envelope of
variation found on these pages were digitalised manually.
5.2.2 Determining the envelope of variation
Each variationist study faces the problem of determining the envelope of variation. Since language change always entails variation (cf. 4.1), variationist studies
typically deal with linguistic elements with gradient categoriality. This leads to the
question of which elements to count. Since the later statistical analysis of the given
phenomenon rests on these decisions, it is of crucial importance to establish clear
criteria regarding which tokens can be counted as instantiations of a linguistic
category.
Conducting a quantitative analysis of auxiliary selection in Spanish thus presupposes the identification of the contexts in which both ser + PtcP and haber
+ PtcP are applicable. This entails accounting for (a) the range of grammatical
functions of ser + PtcP and haber + PtcP, and (b) the range of auxiliated verbs that
can occur with ser + PtcP and haber + PtcP. In the following discussion of these
problems, it is shown that because of the multivalency of ser + PtcP and haber +
PtcP, it is extremely difficult to reach a conclusive definition of the envelope of
variation between the two constructions. Consequently, the envelope of variation
is defined ex negativo.
5.2.2.1 The multivalency of ser + PtcP and haber + PtcP

In Section 2.2 it was already mentioned that in Old Spanish texts, the grammatical
function of ser + PtcP is not always easy to determine. For instance, in his discussion of the multivalency of the combination ser + past participle in Old Spanish
(Pountain 1985:338), Christopher Pountain delimits four functions of ser + PtcP:
the action passive (74), the perfect of intransitive and reflexive verbs (75) and
(76), the resultant state passive (77) and a copula + predicative adjective construction (78).
(74) Noventa e nueve aos avi
Abraham cuando estas

ninety and nine years have.pst.ipfv.3sg Abraham when these

ciudades fueron destruidas
cities be.pst.pfv.3pl destroy.ptcp.f.pl
Abraham was ninety-nine years old when these cities were destroyed [GEI,
apud CORDE]
(75) El rey desque=l
esto=l
dixieron
e

the king when=pro.dat this=pro.dat say.pst.pfv.3pl and

non pareci
Moisn, e de como cuedava
not appear.pst.ipfv.3sg Moses, and of when see.pst.ipfv.3sg

que ido
se
era
de la tierra
that go.ptcp.m.sg pro.refl be.pst.ipfv.3sg from the land

a furto
at secret
When the delivered the message to the king and Moses did not appear, and
when he saw that he had secretly gone from the land [GEI, 1906]
(76) et aun non pudo
seer sabido
quantos y

and still not can.pst.pfv.3sg be know.ptcp.m.sg how.many there

eran iuntados
be.pst.ipfv.3pl gather.ptcp.m.pl
And still it was unknown how many had gathered there [RDT, 5214]
(77) Escripto
es
que Esu, por un pobre
manjar, la

write.ptcp.m.sg be.prs.3sg that Esau for a miserable morsel the

primogenitura a Jacob fuera
dar
birthright
to Jacob be.pst.ipfv.sbjv.3sg give
It is written that Esau, for a miserable morsel, gave the birthright to
Jacob [Libro de poemas o Rimado de Palacio, apud Pountain (1985:338,
ann.MR)]
(78) Si ms non la onrrase

if more not her honour.pst.ipfv.sbjv.3sg

seri desmesurado
be.prs.cond.3sg lacking.in.respect.ptcp.m.sg
If he did not do her more honour he would be lacking in respect
[Milagros de nuestra seora, apud Pountain (1985:339, ann. MR)]
The four functions given by Pountain can be cross-categorised with regard to two
criteria: eventivity and voice. First, only action passives and anteriors of intransitive and reflexive verbs are argued to express events. Example (75) is unambiguous
regarding this criterion due to the manner adverbial a furto secretly that can only
apply to the eventive part of the situation. By contrast, the two latter functional
classes express states: resultant state passives express the state resulting from an
event (in (77), the event of writing has led to the existence of some written words),
while copula + predicative adjective constructions express a simple state (in (78),
due to the participle desmesurado with a lexicalised adjectival function). Second,
the contrast in voice is important since it distinguishes action passives from anteriors of intransitive and reflexive verbs. Since resultant state passives and copula
+ predicative adjective constructions express states, the notion of voice does not
apply here. The cross-categorisation proposed here is summarised in the following
table:
Table 5.1 Categorisation of the four functions of ser + PtcP according
to eventivity andvoice
Eventivity
Active voice
Action passive (74)
[+]
[]
Anterior of intransitive and reflexive verbs (75)(76)
[+]
[+]
Resultant state passive (77)
[]
(not relevant)
Copula + predicative adjective construction (78)
[]
(not relevant)
Since Old Spanish intransitive haber + PtcP constructions cannot be used as

action passives, resultant state passives, and copula + predicative adjective constructions, many approaches to Old Spanish auxiliary selection assume that the
relevant domain of variation between haber + PtcP and ser + PtcP can be characterised as containing those contexts in which the situation is conceptualised as
[+eventive] and [+active voice].
However, both eventivity and voice are problematic concepts in Old Spanish.
With regard to eventivity, it was suggested in Section 3.1 that an event and state
resulting from that event stand in a metonymical relationship. In predicates
expressing complex situations (i.e. involving a transition in their event template),

an event entails a resultant state, and the resultant state entails the event. A priori,
this contiguity makes it impossible to exclude either reading. When a speaker
expresses a complex situation predicate, it is often difficult to decide whether an
eventive or a stative reading is intended. Regarding voice, Section 3.2.2 has shown
that it is misleading to apply the label of the passive to Latin forms such as -toparticiples of transitive verbs or deponent verbs. As argued in Cennamo (2008),
in Latin the unity of the voice system got lost. Thus, a perfect passive form such
as amatus sum [] out of context could be ambiguous among a passive [], an
active [] and a present predicative construction (Cennamo 2008:121). The loss
of the voice system is related to the process of deponentisation also discussed
in 3.2.2. The consequences of these developments are still visible in Old Spanish,
where action passives do not always appear with the explicit prepositional markers
de or por that in Modern Spanish indicate the agent of the event.
For this reason, a closer look at the data shows that Pountains (1985) delimitation of the four functions of ser + PtcP in Old Spanish is to a great degree idealised.
It is often almost impossible to decide whether the criteria of [+eventive] and
[+active voice] apply to a given token of ser + PtcP. In other words, the interpretation of an Old Spanish ser + PtcP token as an action passive, anterior, resultant
state passive, or copula + predicate adjective construction is gradient. Moreover,
there are ser + PtcP tokens that escape Pountains typology of the functions of ser
+ PtcP, since they are both [+eventive] and [+active voice], but cannot be argued
to refer to a situation in a past-of-past context.
Consider the following array of ser + PtcP tokens:
(79) Faran con su cavallo e sos carros e sos cavalleros

Pharao with his horse and his chariots and his riders
entr
en la mar, e Nuestro Seor Dios
enter.pst.pfv.3sg in the sea and our
lord god
torn=ge=le
esse mar desuso, e all
turn.pst.pfv.3sg=pro.refl=pro.dat this sea futile and there

son muertos todos
be.prs.3pl die.ptcp.m.pl all
The Pharao went into the sea with his horse and his chariots and his
riders, and our lord God turned the sea against him, and there all of them
{havedied/have been killed} [GEI, 4655]
(80) Este Hostius [] sostuvo
los romanos en este lugar que

this Hostius
hold.pst.pfv.3sg the Romans in this place that

era
lugar peligroso. E luego que l fue
be.pst.ipfv.3sg place dangerous and after that he be.pst.pfv.3sg

muerto,
la batalla de los romanos se
comen
die.ptcp.m.sg the fight of the Romans pro.refl begin.pst.pfv.3sg
a baxar
to sink
This Hostius held the Romans position at this place which was a very
dangerous place. And when he {had died/had been killed/was dead}, the
Romans began to lose their will to fight [DTL, 4717]
(81) quando el conde supo
que era muerto

when the count know.pst.pfv.3sg that be.pst.ipfv.3sg die.ptcp.m.sg

don aluaro plugo=le
mucho de coraon
don lvaro be.happy.pst.pfv.3sg=pro.dat very of heart
When the count learned that Don lvaro {had died/had been killed/was
dead}, he was very happy [CSA, 4685]
(82) E agora ya
vos vedes
que es

and now already you see.prs.2pl that be.prs.3sg

muerto
Ebtor
die.ptcp.m.sg Hector
And now you see that Hector {has died/?has been killed/is dead}
[SUM, 4703]
(83) lo cargaron
de golpes en la cavea, qu=l

him litter.pst.pfv.3sg of hits in the head that=he

ava=se
alado
la barreta, e en los
have.pst.ipfv.3sg=pro.refl raise.ptcp.m.sg the helmet and in the

muslos, que fue
luego
muerto
thighs that be.pst.pfv.3sg afterwards die.ptcp.m.sg
They gave him many hits on the head, since he had raised his helmet, and
on the thighs, so that he then {?had died/?had been killed/?was dead/died}
[IBF, 3857]
(84) tantost que=las sirpientes fueron
en=la agua salada de=la

as.soon that=the serpents go.pst.pfv.3pl in=the water salty of=the

mar fueron
afogadas
sea be.pst.pfv.3pl drown.ptcp.f.pl
As soon as the serpents went into the salty water of the sea they
{?had drowned/?were drowned/drowned } [CRO1, 5246]
(85) no podra
traer a esta pleitesa a su muger e

not can.prs.cond.3sg bring to this surrender to his wife and

otros porque sus fijos don Lope e don Juan, que
also because his sons Don Lope and Don Juan who

eran ya
creidos,
lo aquexavan
be.pst.ipfv.3pl already grow.ptcp.m.pl him beset.pst.ipfv.3pl
He could not force his wife to surrender (and) also because his sons Don
Lope and Don Juan, who already {had grown up/were grown-up}, beset
him [IBF, apud CORDE]
These examples demonstrate that in the absence of clear formal indicators, it is

very difficult to decide which of Pountains four functions to attribute to a given
ser + PtcP token. The ser + PtcP tokens in (79) and (80) can be interpreted both as
anteriors and action passives. This is due to the polysemy of morir in Old Spanish,
which was used both intransitively in the acceptation die, and transitively in the
acceptation kill.
Examples (81) and (82) display ambiguity between an anterior and a resultant
state reading. Since morir is a telic achievement verb, both the event component
and the resultant state of morir can be highlighted. In contrast to Example (75),
in (81) no adverbial modification is present that could disambiguate these two
options. Examples like (81) and (82) are crucial to the assumption that Old Spanish
ser + PtcP has to be analysed as a resultative construction.
A similar problem arises with the tokens in (83) and (84). In these examples,
ser + PtcP expresses situations that are arguably conceptualised in active voice.
This is most evident in (84), where the event of drowning cannot be conceptualised as being directly caused by another entity.5 Since in all of these examples
the situation expressed by ser + PtcP is embedded in a narrative chain of events
(in this case, entering the water dying), the respective situation also appears to
be conceptualised as an event and not as a state. According to the criteria established above, this feature combination licences an interpretation of these ser +
PtcP tokens as anteriors.
However, note that in (83) and (84), the high dynamicity of the narrative context points towards an eventive interpretation while at the same time, it appears
counterintuitive to assume an anterior interpretation with future reference. The
most probable interpretation appears to be one in which the auxiliary ser itself
expresses a change of state meaning become and is thus used with an inceptive
function (see 3.1). Consequently, the best paraphrase of ser + PtcP in those examples appears to involve a simple preterit. These tokens can be regarded as successors
. Schmidt-Riese (1998:50) categorises examples such as El soldado se ahog The soldier

drowned as expressing middle voice. In such examples, the subject bears a patient role.
However, due to the use of the reflexive pronoun these examples do not express passive, but
active voice.
to the Latin Example (61) discussed in 3.2.2 and thus once again s uggest a continuity of function between Latin esse + PtcP and (Old) Spanish ser + PtcP.
Lastly, as illustrated in Example (85) from Early Modern Spanish, the borders
between resultant state passives and copula + predicative adjective constructions
are gradient. While in Example (78) the participle desmesurado has a lexicalised
adjectival function, this question is much less easier to decide in (85). This is due
to the fact that lexicalisation processes are gradual. Although especially in Classical Spanish (i.e. after 1525), there are many examples of crecido that can best be
translated as tall, typically both readings are possible.
It is pivotal that although all of the examples in (79)(85) are ambiguous
between the four readings proposed by Pountain (1985), they do not seem to
exclude an anterior reading. Consequently, these types of examples appear to fall
in the envelope of variation between haber + PtcP and ser + PtcP.
Quantitative studies of auxiliary selection in Spanish that have recognised the
ambiguity of many ser + PtcP tokens take two approaches to this problem. On the
one hand, studies like Romani (2006) only work with those cases of ser + PtcP that
they, by some criterion or other, classify as anteriors. On the other hand, studies
like Mackenzie (2006) and Rodrguez Molina (2010) propose a unified interpretation of ser + PtcP, thus including at least the ambiguous cases in their analyses.
In her study of compound tenses in Old and Early Modern Spanish, Romani
(2006) discusses the ambiguity of some ser + PtcP tokens in Old Spanish with
respect to their interpretation as action passives, anteriors, and resultant state passives. She presents a quantitative analysis of the number of ser + PtcP tokens that
she regards as ambiguous. While in her counts around 30 per cent of the examples
from the 12th and 13th century are ambiguous, later examples appear to display
less ambiguity, with only around 15 per cent of ambiguous examples in the 14th
and 15th centuries (Romani 2006:281). She defines only the unambiguous examples as being pertinent to the envelope of variation between haber + PtcP and ser +
PtcP, as evident in the numbers in the table on page 325. While thus a rather large
proportion of tokens is excluded from the analysis, this procedure allows Romani
to only compare ser + PtcP and haber + PtcP tokens that from her point of view
are similar in function.
Rodrguez Molina (2010:11211127) criticises Romani for this deliberate
elimination of data points. The interpretation of examples from older stages of a
language necessarily relies on the knowledge about grammatical categories from
its modern stages. However, as seen in 4.1, gradience is a synchronic symptom of
diachronic gradualness. Consequently, to not take into account the contiguity of
the different functions of ser + PtcP may lead to giving away crucial information
about the genesis and historical trajectory of that construction. In this case, the
application of a grammatical term developed in the study of modern languages
on Old Spanish imposes an analysis that a priori is not justified. For instance, the
discussion of the ambiguous cases in (79)(85) has already shown an influence of
adverbial modification in form of temporal and manner adverbials, as well as the
lexicalisation of the participle to play a role in the interpretation of Old Spanish
ser + PtcP.
In line with these considerations, Rodrguez Molina (2006a, 2010) categorises the first three of Pountains (1985) functions of the ser + PtcP construction as
subtypes of a more generalresultativeconstruction. Under his analysis, even
apparently unambiguous examples of action passives with ser + PtcP could be seen
to have a resultative function (Rodrguez Molina 2010:1124). While a modern
speaker of Spanish would with all probability interpret an example like (86) as
anaction passive, it is also possible to interpret it as a resultant state passive.6
(86) Oy nos partiremos dexadas seredes

today pro.refl leave.fut.1pl and abandon.ptcp.f.pl be.fut.2pl
de nos
from us
Today we will leave and you will be left by us [Estoria de Espanna, apud
Rodrguez Molina (2010:1126, transl. MR)]
Rodrguez Molinas discussion of the Romanis methodology illustrates that it is

highly problematic to categorise historical data according to introspective interpretations. Romanis (2006) selection of anterior tokens of ser + PtcP might turn
out to distort her results. Rodrguez Molina concludes that only in the presence of
an formal element supporting our analysis we can irrefutably assure that we have
found an example of a compound tense and verify that reanalysis and semantic
change are at work (Rodrguez Molina 2010:1127, transl. MR).
For this reason, the best way to analyse the development of ser + PtcP in Old
Spanish would probably be to extract all ser + PtcP tokens and subject them to
a quantitative analysis in which formal parameters serve to delimit the distinct
grammatical functions of the construction. Only after this elaborate analysis, a
conclusive identification of the envelope of variation between haber + PtcP and ser
+ PtcP would be possible.
Although this study cannot deliver such an analysis (but cf. Snchez Marco &
Evert 2011), Rodrguez Molinas argument can also be taken to motivate a different, small-scale approach to the question of data selection. In the light of the
contingency of the functions identified by Pountain (1985), the domain of analysis
. Note that in terms of Mackenzies (2006) analysis, this example represents an inceptive
change of state context (see Chapter 3.1).
is expanded to include all tokens of ser + PtcP which could possibly be interpreted
as anteriors, i.e. which can be interpreted as [+eventive, +active voice]. This means
that the criterion for data selection is not the precise definition of the grammatical functions of these tokens, but rather the possibility of an anterior interpretation; the grammatical functions of selected ser + PtcP tokens are similar enough to
haber + PtcP to fall into the envelope of variation.
Consequently, all ser + PtcP tokens with clear formal indicators for an action
passive reading or a copula + predicative adjective reading were excluded. Regarding action passives, this amounts to those ser + PtcP tokens with the prepositional
phrases de + NP and por + NP indicating the agent of the event, as in (87), and
cases where the context very clearly favoured an action passive reading (88).
(87) ava
la hueste en su coran concibido
asy

have.pst.ipfv.3sg the army in its heart contrive.ptcp.m.sg so

grant rebellin qual non poda
ser menguada
o
great rebellion which not can.pst.ipfv.3sg be dwindle.ptcp.f.sg or

refrenada
por ninguna fuera
hinder.ptcp.f.sg by no
force
The army had thus contrived a great rebellion in its heart that could not be
cut back nor hindered by any force [DTL, apud CORDE]
(88) por o
fueron
despues a tiempo mudadas
las

for where be.pst.pfv.3pl later at time move.ptcp.f.pl the

maneras del sennorio de Roma. & los Regnos todos
habits of.the empire of Rome and the kingdoms all

ayuntados
en uno
gather.ptcp.m.pl in one
Which is why the ways of the Roman Empire changed over time, and all of
the kingdoms were united [EDEI, apud CORDE]
Regarding copula + predicative adjective constructions, only one formal property was identified that with certainty excludes an eventive reading, i.e. the
presence of a prepositional phrase de + NP, indicating the entity the state is
predicated of (89).7
. It is interesting to note that these examples are from Pre-Classical or Classical Spanish
texts. The increasing formal disambiguation of stative and eventive uses of participles points
to the existence of lexicalisation processes in that domain.
(89) pero como son

tan crescidos
de cuerpo y

but because be.prs.3pl so grow.ptcp.m.pl of body and

andan
desnudos, desde lexos parescen
gigantes
go.prs.3pl naked from far.away appear.prs.3pl giants
But since their bodies are so big and they walk naked, from far away they
look like giants [NAU, apud CORDE]
No formal indicators were found that with certainty disambiguate between an

anterior and a resultant state passive reading of ser + PtcP tokens with auxiliated
verbs whose meanings imply a transition. However, there were a small number of
cases like (90) and (91) which could be identified as resultant state passives, since
the context excludes an eventive reading. Note that the stativity of these examples
hinges on the verb forms used in the discourse context. Thus, (90) is interpreted as
a resultant state passive precisely because the ser + PtcP construction era assentada
is temporally co-extensive with the situation denoted by previous verbal phrase
era de muyt grant renombra.
(90) la qual iudat en aquel tiempo era
de muyt grant

the which city in that time be.pst.ipfv.3sg of very big

renombra [] & era assentada
en una montanya
fame
and be.pst.ipfv.3sg sit.ptcp.f.sg on a mountain

erca del Rio que es
nombrado
duero
near of.the river that be.prs.3sg name.ptcp.m.sg Duero
That city was very renowned in that time () and it was located on a
mountain near the river that is called Duero [CRO1, apud CORDE]
(91) el alegria del vencimiento passado
fue
tan

the happiness of.the victory
happen.ptcp.m.sg be.pst.pfv.3sg so

desygual y creida
unequal and grow.ptcp.f.sg
The happiness about the past victory was so unequal and great
[TCAF, apud CORDE]
The discussion of the multivalency of ser + PtcP in Old Spanish has shown that
the main problems regarding the analysis of tokens of the construction concern
eventivity and voice. By contrast, an analysis of Old Spanish haber + PtcP always
has to take into account the problem of transitivity. As elaborated in Chapter 3.2.1,
Old Spanish haber + PtcP tokens are typically ambiguous with regard to transitivity. This ambiguity of Old Spanish haber + PtcP is due to its origin as a transitive
construction.
Thus, in many cases it is difficult to decide whether an Old Spanish haber +
PtcP token is transitive or intransitive. This concerns tokens expressing Detges
(2001) resultative I function, as in (92), but also haber + PtcP tokens formed
from predicates expressing manner of motion with an adverbial complement such
as (93), and tokens involving a dative argument (94).
(92) o si fuesse

alguno que oviesse
el

or if be.pst.pfv.sbjv.3sg there someone that have.pst.ipfv.sbjv.3sg the

pie quebrado
o la mano
foot break.ptcp.m.sg or the hand
Or if there was someone who had a broken foot or hand
[GEI, apud CORDE]
(93) E agora yo he corrido
e andado
toda

and now I have.prs.1sg run.ptcp.m.sg and walk.ptcp.m.sg all

la su costa
the its coastline
And now I have run and walked along the whole coastline
[VIC, apud CORDE]
(94) E desque lleg
a su suegro

and after arrive.pst.pfv.3sg to his brother-in-law

cont=l todas estas cosas que=l
tell.pst.pfv.3sg=pro.dat all these things that=pro.dat

avin acaecido
en el mont Sina
have.pst.ipfv.3.pl happen.ptcp.m.sg in the mountain Sinai
And when he reached his brother-in-law, he told him about all the things
that had happened to him on Mount Sinai [GEI, apud CORDE]
These contexts can be classified as bridging contexts that are similar to the original
transitive usage contexts of haber + PtcP. Traditionally, a sentence is seen as syntactically transitive if the syntactic configuration involves an element that can be
interpreted as a direct object. Such elements are el pie o la mano in (92), or toda
la su costa in (93). A commutation test demonstrates that these elements indeed
occupy the syntactic position of a direct object. In the examples, both elements
can be replaced by the pronoun lo he/it. Syntactic transitivity however has to be
distinguished from semantic transitivity. In the terms of Hopper and Thompson,
transitivity expresses a global property of an entire clause, such that an activity
is carried-over or transferred from an agent to a patient (Hopper & Thompson
1980:251). Semantic transitivity in this sense is a gradient property of sentences.
Syntactically transitive sentences can be semantically less transitive than syntactically intransitive sentences (Hopper & Thompson 1980:254).
The sentences in (92) and (93) are syntactically transitive. However, semantically they rather behave like intransitive sentences. In the resultative I c onstruction
in (92), the argument coded as the direct object in fact refers to the referent of
which the event of breaking is predicated. By contrast, in Detges terms, the subject
referent is affected by the present state in a non-specified manner (see 3.2.1).
Although in (93), transitive syntax is used, the sentence can also be characterised
as conveying a low semantic transitivity. In the movement event expressed by correr, no activity is transferred from an agent to a patient.
Although Example (94) is not syntactically transitive, it has a biactantial configuration, with the nominative subject estas cosas and the dative argument incorporated in quel(e). Due to its dativity, the thematic role of quel(e) is similar to the
thematic role of the subject in resultative I constructions in that the context does
not specify what exactly happened to the referent and what results these events
had on him. However, it is clear that he has been affected in some manner by the
events. Consequently, there is a semantic proximity between this type of examples
and resultative I constructions.
In all of the three Old Spanish usage contexts exemplified by (92)(94), selection of haber over ser is categorical or almost categorical. In line with (a) the observation of Rodrguez Molina (2010) that the first intransitive contexts affected by
the expansion of haber + PtcP are those which can in certain configurations be
interpreted as transitive contexts (see 3.2.1), and (b) the expectation that actualisation first affects usage contexts that are similar to the locus of reanalysis of the
grammaticalising or expanding grammatical construction, it can be argued that
these usage contexts were affected by the expansion of haber + PtcP very early.
However, this does not necessarily mean that haber + PtcP was replacing ser + PtcP
in these contexts. With the exception of contexts involving dative arguments, there
is no evidence that ser + PtcP was ever productive in the contexts exemplified by
(92)(94). Consequently, it is unlikely that these usage contexts fall into the envelope of variation between Old Spanish haber + PtcP and ser + PtcP. In the following,
these usage contexts are excluded from the analysis of Spanish auxiliary selection.
5.2.2.2 Verbs displaying variable behaviour
As mentioned in Chapter 2.1, previous research has shown Old Spanish auxiliary selection to crucially depend on the type of verb forming the participle. First,
haber is categorically selected in transitive sentences, and thus appears most frequently with verbs that are prone to a transitive meaning (e.g. pensar think, abrir
open, or golpear hit). Second, selection of haber is near-categorical with unergative activity verbs like fablar talk.8 In order to confine the analysis to the envelope
of variation, these verbs were excluded from data selection.
. As illustrated in Chapter 6, there are sporadic exceptions to these generalisations. Some

activity verbs like yantar eat can appear in the ser + PtcP construction.
Due to the lack of a POS-tagged corpus and the rather elaborate data coding
procedures, a selection of the verbs that fall into the envelope of variation had
to be made. In line with the theory of Spanish auxiliary selection developed in
Chapters 3 and 4, both the semantics of a participle and the absolute frequency of
the corresponding verb lemma are expected to influence Spanish auxiliary selection. Consequently, the selection of verbs was guided (a) by the semantic classes of
intransitive verbs that have been identified in the literature as determining auxiliary selection, and (b) the frequencies of use of the verbs.
Chapter 2 has identified one of the goals of this study to be the application
of Soraces (2000) Auxiliary Selection Hierarchy to the subject of Old Spanish
auxiliary selection. Therefore, the verbs were selected according to the semantic
classes identified by Sorace and her collaborators. Since reflexivity has also been
identified as a relevant factor in Old Spanish auxiliary selection, additionally a
series of verbs prone to reflexive meanings were included. This class includes
positional verbs like alzar rise and verbs of change of state like corromper deteriorate. The verb classes and corresponding verbs that were selected are summarised in Table 5.2.9
Table 5.2 Verbs selected according to semantic verb classes and frequency
Change of location
alzar rise, avenir come, andar go, ayuntar gather, cabalgar mount,
caer fall, collapse, caminar go, walk, correr run, escapar escape, exir
leave, huir flee, ir go, go away, partir leave, pasar pass by, end,
sentar sit down, tornar return, become, venir come, volver return,
become
Change of state
a. change of condition
ahogar drown, espantar get scared, finar die, end, hundir sink,
maravillar get surprised, morir die, nacer be born, perecer perish,
quebrar break
b. appearance
acaecer happen, aparecer appear, cuntir happen
c. indefinite change in a particular direction
corromper deteriorate, crecer grow, descender descend, menguar
decrease, subir go up, ascend
Continuation of a
pre-existing state
durar last, fincar stay, remain, quedar stay, remain, sobrar remain
Existence of state
arrepentir repent, holgar be pleased, morar live at a place, yacer lie
. The table only partially illustrates the polysemies of the verbs. Verbs like volver return,
become actually appear in various semantic classes. Here, only the most frequent acceptation
is used as a classification criterion.
All of these verbs have either been documented in the corpus as appearing
at least once in the ser + PtcP construction, or have been claimed to do so in the
literature reviewed in 2.2.10
The parameter of frequency of use of the verbs is orthogonal to the semantic
classification, and represented in this table by bold font and underscores. This
parameter refers to global verb lemma frequency extracted from the Corpus del
Espaol (Davies 2002) (cf. 7.3 for a more precise definition of this measurement).
Both frequent and less frequent examples of each verb class were included. In
the table, the rank of each verb lemma with respect to its mean global usage
frequency (across the whole investigated time period) compared to the usage
frequencies of all other verb lemmata is indicated. Verbs that are printed in bold
belong to the top third of the rank scale, verbs that are underscored belong to
the middle of the rank scale, and verbs without marks belong to the last third of
the scale.
Table 5.2 reveals striking asymmetries in the average usage frequency of verbs
of the different semantic classes. Verbs of change of location and verbs of change of
state appear to be used more often in the texts than verbs from other verb classes.
It appears that this effect is due to the analysed discourse tradition. Although the
CDE subsumes texts from many different text genres, most ancient texts that have
survived until today are narrative texts like historiographical texts or romances.
The longevity of ser-selection of verbs of change of location and change of state
may thus be correlated to its generally higher frequency of use in these discourse
traditions. This observation once again demonstrates the importance of measuring frequency in context and will have crucial importance for the analysis of auxiliary selection proposed in Chapter 7.
5.2.3 Queries
Since the CORDE is not POS-tagged, the relevant tokens had to be identified manually. This was done by searching for the participles. In these queries, the great
orthographic variation in the historical texts was taken into account. This especially concerns the alternations between b,v,u, z,sz,sc,, f,ff,h, i,y,j,u, r,rr,
. In the database, cuntir happen, durar last, morar live at a place, and yacer lie are only
documented in the haber + PtcP construction. In the case of cuntir, morar and yacer, this may
be a result of their very low usage frequency (in the corpus of historiographical texts, only
one relevant token of cuntir, twelve tokens of morar, and seven tokens of yacer were found).
Since this however is not the case for durar (86 cases), the absence of ser-selection of durar is
surprising and appears to be significant.
s,ss, and n,nn. Moreover, the query syntax in CORDE is sensitive to capitalisation. Therefore, additional queries for capitalised participles were conducted.
Lastly, some verbs starting with a (e.g. ayuntar) sometimes occur without the initial a, but in the same acceptation. A complete list of the queries can be found
in the appendix. Although it is improbable that this procedure yielded all of the
tokens that could possibly be found in the texts (for instance, some tokens were
found in Fernndez de Heredias Gran crnica de Espaa in which the participle
was orthographically divided, e.g. na ido for nacido), in this fashion the vast
majority of the relevant tokens was extracted.
After the extraction, the relevant ser/haber + PtcP tokens had to be identified. Consequently, all cases in which neither ser nor haber was present (such as
absolute and predicative adjective constructions) were excluded. Moreover, in
accordance with the criteria established in 5.2.2, tokens that could be identified
with certainty as action passives, resultant state passives, or copula + predicative
adjective constructions were excluded.
5.2.4 Randomisation
In the case of verbs that appear infrequently in the haber + PtcP and ser + PtcP
constructions, all tokens were extracted. However, this was not possible with very
frequent verbs. The upper limit of tokens collected per verb and century to was
set to 50 because this quantity still allows for more complex statistical models like
regression models. Since CORDE does not offer an automatic randomisation procedure for queries in single books, the randomisation was done manually by randomly selecting tokens from each section of a book.
5.2.5 Quantitative survey of the data
The extraction and randomisation procedures described in the last sections yielded
a total of 4135 haber/ser + PtcP tokens from historiographical texts between 1270
and 1699. Table 5.3 illustrates the number of tokens of haber + PtcP and ser + PtcP
extracted from each text per century.
Due to the limited amount of source texts, there are great discrepancies
regarding the number of tokens across centuries. In particular, although the data
from the 13th century spans only 29 years (1270 to 1299), it includes nearly as
many tokens as the data from the 14th century, which spans 100 years. Although
these discrepancies might present a problem for a descriptive statistical analysis
of auxiliary selection, they do not for an inferential statistical analysis. Inferential
statistical analyses like regression modelling allow controlling for skewed distributions. The statistical methodology used in this study is described in the next
section.
Table 5.3 Numbers of tokens from each text per century

Century
Title [abbreviation]
13th
Estoria de Espanna I [EDEI]
113
Estoria de Espanna II [EDEII]
14th
15th
Gran Conquista de Ultramar [GCU]
190
General Estoria I [GEI]
122
General Estoria IV [GEIV]
149
TOTAL
592
Gran crnica de Espaa, I [CRO1]
347
Gran crnica de Espaa, III [CRO2]
111
Crnica de Sancho IV [CSA]
30
Roman de Troie [RDT]
54
Sumas de la historia troyana de Leomarte [SUM]
119
TOTAL
661
Atalaya cornicas [ATA]
54
Compilacin de las batallas campales [CBC]
25
Crnica del rey don Pedro [CDP]
97
Crnica de los Reyes Catlicos (Hernando del Pulgar) [CRCP]
69
Crnica del rey don Rodrigo [CRR]

Claros varones de Castilla [CVC]
Taduccin de las Dcadas de Tito Livio [DTL]
191
3
136
Crnica de Enrique IV de Castilla (Annimo) [ENRC]
52
Crnica de Enrique IV (Enrquez del Castillo) [ENRE]
53
Guerra de Jugurtha de Caio Salustio Crispo [GJU]

Istoria de las bienandanzas e fortunas [IBF]
30
131
Hechos del Maestre de Alcntara don Alonso de Monroy [MAE]
13
Repertorio de prncipes de Espaa [REP]
48
Historia del gran Tamorln [TAM]
44
Traduccin de la Cornica de Aragn de fray Gauberto [TCAF]
30
El victorial [VIC]
TOTAL
16th
18
Anales de la corona de Aragn. Primera parte [ANA]

Crnica burlesca del emperador Carlos V [CBE]
Crnica del Emperador Carlos V [CEC]
78
1054
184
16
186
Historia verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva Espaa [CNE]
79
Guerras civiles de Granada. 1 parte [GCG]
53
(Continued)
Table 5.3 (Continued)

Century
Title [abbreviation]
Las guerras civiles peruanas [GCP]
127
Historia de las Indias [HDI]
192
Los Naufragios [NAU]
39
Quinquenarios [QUI]
63
Traduccin de la Crnica de Aragn de Lucio Marineo Siculo [TCAL]

TOTAL
17th
Historia de los movimientos, separacin y guerra de Catalua [HCA]

Historia y descripcin de la antigueedad y descendencia [HDC]
Historia de Felipe II, rey de Espaa [HFE]
Historia general de los hechos de los castellanos [HHC]
34
973
13
54
116
81
Historia de la vida y hechos del Emperador Carlos V [HVH]
188
Historia del Nuevo Mundo [NUE]
146
Desagravios de los indios y reglas precisamente necesarias [DES]
13
Conquistas de las Islas Filipinas [CON]
244
TOTAL
855
5.3 Statistical methods

The great quantity of tokens in the dataset gathered in the manner described until
now allows for elaborate statistical analyses. Since these statistical analyses will be
employed throughout the remainder of this study, a brief introduction to inferential statistics will be given in this chapter. This description does not aim at completeness but rather gives an overview about the benefits, as well as the limitations,
of such types of statistical modelling.
This study follows traditional statistical terminology in strictly distinguishing between descriptive and inferential statistical analyses (see
Bortz& Schuster 2010:34). Descriptive statistical analyses give an overview
of (numerical) data that can be useful to illustrate distributions. At many points
of this study, tables are used to illustrate the percentages of use of Spanish haber
+ PtcP and ser + PtcP in different usage contexts. However, such summaries of
numerical distributions only refer to a part of the entire population of haber
+ PtcP and ser + PtcP tokens because it is impossible to document each haber
+ PtcP and ser + PtcP token used until today in Spanish. The crucial difference between descriptive and inferential statistical analyses lies in the fact that
in contrast to descriptive statistical analyses, inferential statistics licenses the
assumption that trends found in a sample also apply to the global population
(Bortz & Schuster 2010:3). If a result from a s tatistical analysis is statistically
significant, it is safe to assume that it holds not only for the investigated population of tokens, but also other tokens.
Most of the variables employed in the descriptive and inferential statistical approaches used in this study are binary, i.e. they are modelled as having only two values. For instance, control is modelled as a binary viz. dummy
variable because subject referents either control an event or not. Notably, the
dependent variable, i.e. auxiliary selection, is also binary. Thus, the auxiliary
found in any token in the database is either haber or ser. This allows to easily
apply inferential statistics and thus to evaluate the influence of a binary predictor variable (e.g. control) on the binary dependent variable (haber or ser).
Put simply, the frequencies of occurrence of tokens that are [+ser, +control],
[+ser, control], [ser, +control], and [ser, control] are put into a relationship to each other. If control were to be expected not to have an influence on
auxiliary selection, the relation of these frequencies would be expected to be
roughly similar. Statistical tests like the chi-square test and the Fisher-Yates test
compare the observed distribution to the expected distribution (Fisher 1922;
Pedersen 1996; Stefanowitsch & Gries 2003:218; Gries 2009a, 2009b). If the
deviation is big enough, these tests will indicate statistical significance for the
result, contradicting the zero hypothesis that the predictor variable does not
have an effect on auxiliary selection. In other words, they transform frequencies
into probabilities.
However, inferential statistics based on contingency scales have mayor disadvantages. First, they cannot compare the influence of several variables on a
dependent variable. For instance, it is difficult to use a Fisher-Yates test in order
to evaluate subject referentiality or the aspectual semantics of the auxiliated
verb are better predictors of auxiliary selection. Since, as shown in Chapter 2,
both of these factors have been claimed to be responsible for auxiliary selection, an evaluation of the two theories would ideally be capable to compare
the degree to which either factor explains auxiliary selection in Spanish. Second, many possible predictors of auxiliary selection may in fact be correlated.
For instance, animacy of the subject and control correlate positively: prototypical agentive subjects are [+animate]. It would be possible to test separately
the influence of the parameters [animacy] and [control] on auxiliary selection
using a Fisher-Yates test. H
owever, in this fashion the interdependency between
the two parameters would be neglected. Such a procedure could overestimate
the influence of one of the parameters, and thus lead to distorted results.
For these reasons, this study predominantly employs generalised linear mixedeffect regression modelling using the function lmer in the statistical p
rogramR
(Baayen 2008: Chapter 7; Pinheiro et al. 2009).11 The use of multivariate regression models (in particular, VARBRUL) is common in variationist approaches
to language. Multivariate regression models evaluate the degree of variance of a
dependent variable explained by several predictor variables. Consequently, using
regression models means accepting the premise that several factors may influence
a given phenomenon in language. Factors influencing language usually rather
exert a probabilistic than categorical influence on the authors decision to use one
or the other grammatical category. Usage contexts that have a categorical influence
on the dependent variable should not be included in a multivariate model because
the corresponding variable will distort the result of the model. For this reason, it
is important to reach a sound delimitation of the envelope of variation (see 5.2.2).
The decision-making processes of speakers can best be modelled with generalised linear mixed-effect regression models because these models can be set to
assume a binomial distribution. Binomial distributions capture the likelihood of
whether an event occurs or not. For instance, the event of rolling the dice is usually assumed to have a binomial distribution in that there is a certain likelihood
that the dice shows the number six, the number five, and so on (Bortz & Schuster
2010:6365). It is assumed that the probability of the dice showing the number six
is equal in each event of throwing the dice, and that these events are independent
of each other. A binomial distribution then may describe the likelihood of the
occurrence of x events of the dice showing the number six in n events of throwing
the dice, where x = 0, 1, , n (Bortz & Schuster 2010:63).
Generalised linear mixed-effect regression models are a subcategory of generalised linear models (GLM). GLMs allow calculating the degrees of correlation of
several predictor variables with a categorical dependent variable. The algorithm of
GLMs works iteratively. GLMs estimate the maximum likelihood of the influence
of a predictor variable by calculating a number of possible scenarios of the interplay of all of the predictor variables. In Baayens (2008:195) words, they make the
models predicted values most similar to the observed values (for mathematical
details, cf. Crawley 2007: Chapter 13). As a result, they yield the size of an effect
(i.e. the degree of variance of the dependent variable predicted by the predictor
variable, and whether the two variables correlate positively, or negatively) and the
statistical significance of the effect (the p value).
At some points in this study, interactions of variables are used as predictor
variables. In statistics, interactions measure the joint influence of two predictor
variables on a dependent variable where this influence is partly independent of
. All statistical analyses presented in this study were conducting using R, version 2.13.2
(2011-09-30), 64-bit.
the contribution of either single variable. Throughout the study, a moderator

approach to the analysis of interaction effects is taken, assuming that the effect
of an independent variable on a dependent variable differs depending on the value
of a third variable, commonly called a moderator variable (Jaccard 2001:12; cf.
also Baayen 2008:251). The dependent variable whose effect is moderated by the
moderator variable is called the focal predictor variable. Crucially, which of the
two variables forming an interaction term is the moderator variable and which
is the focal predictor variable depends on the researchers interest. Consider Jaccards example of voting behaviour (Jaccard 2001:12). Voting behaviour can be
modelled as a function of (a) ideology and (b) gender. In such a study, the decision
to vote is the dependent variable, and ideology and gender, as well as the interaction between the variables, are predictor variables. A regression model suggests
a significant influence of the interaction between ideology and gender on voting behaviour. This interaction between ideology and gender can be interpreted
in two ways. On the one hand, the researcher may be interested in whether the
effect on ideology on voting behaviour differs between women and men. In this
approach, ideology is the focal predictor variable, and gender the moderator variable. On the other hand, one could ask whether the influence of gender on voting
behaviour differs between persons following different ideologies. In this approach,
gender is the focal predictor variable, and ideology the moderator variable. If a
regression model predicting voting behaviour from (a) ideology, (b) gender, and
(c) the interaction between the two variables was conducted, it could be used to
answer both questions because they are mutually dependent.
It has to be kept in mind that the inclusion of interaction terms changes the
interpretation of the main effects (i.e. the simple terms from which the interaction term is formed) in a regression model, which are consequently interpreted as
conditional effects. This issue receives further attention in Chapter 7, where the
use of interactions terms becomes important.
The regression models used in this study are evaluated using three measurements: The C index of concordance, Somers Dxy, and the Akaike Information Criterion (AIC). Both the C index of concordance and Somers Dxy measure
the degree of variance explained by the regression model, i.e. the concordance
between the predicated probabilities and observed responses (Baayen 2008:204).
The values of C and Somers Dxy lie between 0 and 1. The closer they are to 1, the
more variance is explained by the model. By contrast, AIC measures model fit
and thus, the amount of information entropy. The lower the AIC, the less complex
the statistical model is. The AIC can be used to determine the trade-off between
accuracy and complexity of a statistical model: when comparing two models with
statistically indistinguishable values for C and Somers Dxy, the model with the
lower AIC can be characterised as the better model (Crawley 2007:353354).
Ideally, each data point analysed in a regression analysis should be independent of each other data point in the dataset. However, both in experimental and
corpus-based studies to language this premise is usually not fulfilled. In the data
gathered from historiographical texts, there are parameters that apply to a set of
tokens alike. Instances of those parameters are the author of the book the token
was taken from, the authors dialectal origin, the selected verbs, etc. While these
parameters probably have some effect on auxiliary selection, they do not fall
within the main research interest of this study. Moreover, the factor levels of these
variables have been randomly selected out of a greater population (for instance,
there are only so many Old Spanish authors whose works have been conserved)
and are thus not informative (Crawley 2007:627628). However, excluding these
parameters from the regression models could skew the statistical modelling.
In order to cope with these problems, this study relies on the use of mixedeffects regression models. The function lmer in R (R Development Core Team
2013) allows including both fixed and random variables into the model formula,
and calculating their interplay. While for fixed effects variables, the slope of the
regression line (and consequently, the mean of the variable) is calculated, for random effects variables the intercept for the respective distribution (i.e. the variance
of the variable) is calculated. To give a practical example, even within one and the
same time period, some authors use haber + PtcP and ser + PtcP in a more modern
way than others. Consequently, the intercept of the distribution of ser-selection
would be expected to be lower for these authors than for less modern authors of
the same time period. Modelling the variable author as a random effect variable allows accounting for these differences, while at the same time the effect of
a fixed effect variable like control, on auxiliary selection can be evaluated. Mixed
effects regression modelling therefore allows for much finer statistical analyses
than GLMs with only fixed effects.
5.4 Summary
In this chapter, the methodological premises of quantitative approaches to language change have been discussed. Crucially, this study relies on variationist
methodology that allows drawing statistical conclusions out of indirect evidence.
Variationist methodology however presupposes a series of premises that have to
be considered in subsequent applications. In particular, it has been shown that
a priori there is no easy way to define the envelope of variation between haber +
PtcP and ser + PtcP. There are no intangible syntactic criteria for the distinction
between ser + PtcP as an anterior, a resultant state passive, an action passive, and
a copula + predicative adjective construction. Consequently, a broader definition
of the ser + PtcP construction was adopted that licenses the inclusion of all ser +
PtcP tokens that do not exclude an eventive reading or active voice. Most of the
ser + PtcP tokens included in this study are ambiguous between an anterior and a
resultative interpretation. The closer examination of the interplay between these
two grammatical functions of ser + PtcP in Chapter 6 provides further arguments
for this choice of the envelope of variation.
It was also argued that the concept of discourse traditions is of crucial importance for historical usage-based linguistics. A chronology of language changes
should only be established for each discourse tradition at a time because otherwise, comparability of the data is not warranted. Moreover, frequency effects in
written texts crucially depend on the discourse traditions of these texts since cognitive mechanisms like entrenchment mirror the language experience of language
users within these contexts. Global frequency measures cannot be expected to be
the same in for every discourse tradition in a corpus. In order to achieve homogeneity in the corpus, the data collection was therefore restricted to historiographical texts spanning from the mid-13th to the end of the 17th century.
Lastly, the statistical methods that will be used in the remainder of this study
were introduced. Regression models allow comparing the influence of several
variables on a dependent variable. Crucially, to generalise statistically over populations of tokens is a relatively objective method of analysing linguistic data. This
approach avoids drawing conclusions from the observation of singular and possibly idiosyncratic tokens. Moreover, generalised linear mixed-effect regression
models allow measuring indirect variables like frequency of use and thus identify
factors that are often underestimated in models of language change.
chapter 6
Auxiliary selection in Old Spanish

The overview of the functions and development of habre + PtcP and esse + PtcP
between Latin and Old Spanish in the last chapters has led to the hypothesis that
while Old Spanish haber + PtcP can be characterised as an emerging anterior,
ser + PtcP inherited the resultative function of Latin esse + PtcP. The quantitative
analysis of the corpus of historiographical texts from Old Spanish in this chapter
adduces arguments for the reality of this distinction. Section 3.1 has established
a series of parameters that relate to the difference between anteriors and resultatives, namely modification of event properties, persistence of resultant state at
reference time, and backgrounding/foregrounding discourse function. This chapter provides evidence that these parameters apply to the distinction between Old
Spanish haber + PtcP and ser + PtcP. This finding supports the hypothesis that in
most cases, Old Spanish haber + PtcP and ser + PtcP are constructions of different types. Since perfectivity interacts with transitivity, the interpretation of ser +
PtcP as a resultative construction is also concordant with the observation that ser
+ PtcP tokens consistently display low semantic transitivity, while haber + PtcP
is associated with high semantic transitivity. Whereas the first cluster of differences mirrors universal semantic features of resultatives and anteriors, a second
cluster of differences between Old Spanish haber + PtcP and ser + PtcP result from
the different historical trajectories of the constructions. In particular, the inherent
reflexive function of the middle voice in Latin is to some degree continued in the
Old Spanish ser + PtcP construction.
This chapter delivers a quantitative analysis of the data of the historiographical corpus for Old Spanish. The analysis supports the predictions from the previous section in that (a) the differences in the domains of use of haber + PtcP and
ser + PtcP support an analysis of haber + PtcP as an anterior, but ser + PtcP as a
resultative construction, and (b) the opposition between haber + PtcP and ser +
PtcP is rather stable in Old Spanish historiographical texts. The process by which
ser + PtcP was eventually replaced with haber + PtcP had not yet gathered force in
Old Spanish texts.
The chapter is structured as follows. First, a periodisation of the data is established in order to define the range of the time period termed as Old Spanish
(6.1). Then, the statistical make-up of each of the different variables belonging
to these parameter clusters is described (6.2). After a descriptive analysis of the

distribution of auxiliary selection according to these variables in the corpus (6.3),
the joint influence of these parameters is measured using inferential statistics, i.e.
a generalised linear mixed-effect regression model (6.4). Section 6.5 gives a brief
summary of the findings of this chapter.
6.1 Periodisation
Proposals of an identification of chronological stages in the historical development of a language usually oscillate between language-external and languageinternal justifications. As summarised by Marcos Marn (1995), some traditional
approaches to the periodisation of Spanish base their proposals on periods of
political or social history, others on literary developments. The relative success
of these proposals is due to the nature of evidence for diachronic language studies because it is often difficult to tell apart change in a language from changes
in specific discourse traditions (also cf. Section 5.1.1). Since discourse traditions
are historical objects, political and social historical changes often have a profound
influence on linguistic phenomena. In the words of Lapesa (1988), to relate the
creation and evolution of linguistic forms to the general historical context often
reveals the cause of their creation or the reason of their development (Lapesa
1988:1785, transl. MR).
However, this correlation is not absolute. The development of specific linguistic phenomena need not match the pace of history. Consequently, many modern
studies of the periodisation of the history of Spanish claim that such a periodisation should be based on language-internal criteria (Eberenz 1991; Marcos Marn
1995; Martnez Alcalde & Quilis Mern 1996; Quilis Mern 1999). For instance,
Eberenz (1991) claims that a periodisation of Spanish should be based on essential parameters of language, in particular, phonetics, morphology and syntax.
While in theory it is important to tell apart linguistic factors in a strict sense
and broader cultural and social factors, Lapesas quote has shown that this can
be quite difficult in practice. Unsurprisingly, the periodisations proposed by the
proponents of the first and the proponents of the second solution overlap to a
great extent. Regarding the time period investigated in this study (12701699),
usually two or three subdivisions are proposed. The period between 1250 and 1400
is taken to reflect Old/Medieval Spanish. The 15th century is sometimes argued
to correspond to a period of transition between Old and Classical Spanish, while
Classical Spanish is situated between 1500 and 1700.
On the basis of the available data regarding the development of auxiliary selection in Spanish, this study employs a division of Spanish language history between
Chapter 6. Auxiliary selection in Old Spanish
1270 and 1699 into three periods: Old Spanish (12001424), Pre-Classical
Spanish (14251524), and Classical Spanish (15251699). Throughout the
study, the last two macro periods are summarised under the label of Early Modern
Spanish. Figure 6.1 summarises the development of auxiliary selection as mirrored in the data from the historiographical texts. Each point in the plot illustrates
the ratio of ser-selection against haber-selection in one of the nine time periods.
Development of auxiliary selection
Proportion ser + PtcP
100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
9
1
69
9
50
16
64
9
00
16
59
9
50
15
54
9
00
15
1
50
44
14
49
9
00
14
39
50
34
13
1
00
13
12
70
29
0%
Figure 6.1 Development of the mean percentage of use of ser + PtcP in the corpus of
historiographical texts
The graph demonstrates that the percentage of use of ser + PtcP was relatively
stable in the 13th and 14th century. The 15th century marks a phase of transition
between this first period and the 16th and 17th century, which are characterised
by very little use of ser + PtcP. This result is in line with Lapesas (1987:2324)
observation that the spread of haber + PtcP gathered speed only in Early M
odern
Spanish. This first survey of the development of auxiliary selection suggests a
period of quick change in the Spanish compound tense auxiliary system between
the mid-15th and the early 16th century.
The changes in the Spanish auxiliary selection system thus appear to follow
an s-shaped curve, with changes in the speed of the decrease of ser-selection: an
initial phase in which the change is very slow (13th and 14th century), then a
fast decrease in short time (15th century), and a last phase in which the change
becomes slower (16th and 17th century). This observation corresponds neatly
to the assumption that linguistic changes proceed in an s-shaped pattern due to
social conventionalisation processes (cf. 4.2), and is therefore indicative of the fact
that the data gathered for this study is indeed representative.
Although such a visual survey of the data can be very instructive, conclusions
reached from visual surveys can be misleading. In the words of Gries and Hilpert
(2008), this strategy of periodisation
invites the problem of subjectivity: on the one hand, without clear operation
alisations of when to assume a quantitatively different stage that may reflect
something qualitatively interesting, different researchers may arrive at different
groupings even for the same data set; and, on the other hand, results from
different studies are likely to vary erratically such that they become difficult to
compare, and overall progress becomes difficult to assess.
(Gries & Hilpert 2008:60)
For this reason, this study employs the variability-based neighbour clustering
(VNC) method developed in Gries and Hilpert (2008) and Hilpert and Gries
(2009). VNC offers a data-driven method to statistically identify qualitatively different temporal stages in the development of a given linguistic phenomenon. This
is achieved by a modified hierarchical agglomerative clustering method. The algorithm quantifies the dissimilarity of all data points (representing points in time)
with regard to a specific variable. In this case, this variable is the number of ser +
PtcP tokens in comparison to the number of haber + PtcP tokens at each point in
time. It then recursively merges those two data points adjacent in time that are
most similar to another into a new data point, until the last two data points have
been merged. The result is a hierarchically organised tree of clustered data points
that allows the identification of temporal stages in a diachronic process (Gries &
Hilpert 2008:6465).
In order to reach an objective, data-driven, periodisation of Spanish auxiliary
selection, VNC was applied to the corpus of historiographical texts. The corpus
was subdivided into nine periods spanning 50 years. For each of those periods, the
mean percentage of ser-selection over haber-selection was calculated. VNC used
these two variables to calculate the dendrogram plotted in Figure 6.2. Note that the
dates represent the entire time period (e.g. 1325 stands for 13001349).
In Figure 6.2, the line with breakpoints in the background plots the amount
of ser-selection at each of the nine time periods per million words, parallel to
Figure6.1. The dendrogram in the foreground illustrates the clustering proposed
by VNC on the basis of this data.
The dendrogram confirms the result from the visual survey of the data. It
suggests three temporal clusters whose distance measured in summed standard
deviation are greatest: a first cluster spanning from the 13th century until 1424, a
second cluster spanning from 1425 until 1524, and a third cluster spanning from
1525 until the end of the 17th century. VCN judges the time period between 1425
and 1524 in which ser-selection declines rapidly to rather be similar to the time
20
Distance in summed standard deviations

40
60
80
14 19 25 30 36 41 46 52 57 63 68 73 79 84 90 95
Percentage of use of ser + PtcP
1275
1325
1375
1425
1475
Time
1525
1575
1625
1675
Figure 6.2 Variability-based neighbour clustering (VNC) for the percentage of use of ser +
PtcP with respect to haber + PtcP in the corpus of historiographical texts
period from the 13th century until 1425. Consequently, this study assumes three
temporal stages in the development of Spanish auxiliary selection in historiographical texts that are relatively homogeneous in itself: Old Spanish (12701424),
Pre-Classical Spanish (14251524), and Classical Spanish (15251699). From a
quantitative point of view, there is a relative stability of use of ser + PtcP in Old
Spanish. By contrast, in the 15th century the frequency of ser + PtcP declines
rapidly in favour of haber + PtcP, leading to a low frequency of ser-selection in
Classical Spanish, i.e. the 16th and 17th century, where the change is completed.
In order to synchronically analyse the opposition between haber + PtcP and ser +
PtcP at the beginning of the investigated time period, the analyses conducted in
the rest of this chapter focus on Old Spanish.
6.2 Measurements
The multivariate analysis proposed in this chapter evaluates the influence of the
following parameter clusters on Old Spanish auxiliary selection: date of occurrence, auxiliated verbs, subject referentiality, locative, manner and intention
expressions, temporal adverbial modification and number marking, modality,
temporal-aspectual morphology and persistence effects. These parameters directly
relate to the contrast between resultative and anterior constructions. This section
describes the statistical make-up of each of the different variables used in the eventual regression model.
6.2.1 Date of occurrence
Each token was annotated for its date of occurrence. For the statistical analysis, the
variable [TIME] was centred at the mean of its distribution. It is important to centre time variables because this yields parameters that are directly and intrinsically
interpretable, and it ensures that the values of TIME associated with the intercept
[] fall within TIMEs observed range (Singer & Willett 2003:181).
6.2.2 Auxiliated verbs
As argued in Chapter 3.1, the assumption of a functional difference between Old
Spanish haber + PtcP and ser + PtcP has important implications for the question of
semantic predictors of auxiliary selection. In principle, only semantic parameters
regarding auxiliated verbs that are relevant to the distinction between resultatives
and anteriors should influence Old Spanish auxiliary selection with intransitive
verbs. Since this distinction is aspectual, only semantic parameters referring to
aspect are expected to be of relevance.
The comparison of Legendre and Soraces (2003) and Mateus (2009) parameterisation of auxiliary selection in 2.2 has shown that Legendre & Sorace model the
Auxiliary Selection Hierarchy in terms of five semantic parameters: (i) directed
change, (ii) telicity (boundedness of the situation named by the verb, i.e. the
existence of a terminal point of the situation), (iii) control (control of the subject referent over the situation), (iv) movement leading to a change in location,
and (v) stativity. In his model, Mateu (2009) uses only a subset of these parameters: (i) the semantic functions become vs. be, (ii) terminal coincidence relation vs. central coincidence relation, and (iii) the agentive do function (Mateu
2009:189). The respective parameters (iiii) of the two models appear to capture
the same semantic generalisations.
In order to determine whether Old Spanish auxiliary selection can best be
accounted for by the greater range of parameters offered by Legendre and Sorace
(2003) or the reduced version in Mateu (2009), each token was annotated separately for the parameters (iv). In the following, the exact criteria used for this
annotation are described.
Directed change [DIR] refers to whether or not the event template of the
verb involves a BECOME operator. Whereas prototypical verbs of change of location like venir come or irse go away always imply a change of state component in
their semantic event template, stative verbs like yacer lie or quedar stay typically
do not. However, a token-by-token annotation is necessary because there are verbs
that only sometimes imply a change of state component. For instance, the verb
(a)sentar can both be used as a telic motion verb sit down, settle, as in (95), and a
stative verb sit, as in (96):
(95) E en tiempo d=este Tare eran
ya
las yentes

and in time of=that Tare be.pst.ipfv.3pl already the people

assentadas
por las tierras

sit.down.ptcp.f.pl at the lands
And at the time of that Tare the people had already settled at the lands
[GEI, 4442]
(96) Otro ssi quando entramos
en aquel cielo falle

Other if when go.in.pst.pfv.1pl in that heaven find.pst.pfv.1sg

y
un omne que seye assentado
en una siella &
there a man that be.pst.ipfv.3sg sit.ptcp.m.sg in a chair and

demostrauan=le
las almas de todos los omnes
show.pst.ipfv.3.pl=pro.dat the souls of all the men

que murien
that die.pst.ipfv.3pl
When we came to that heaven I also encountered a man who was sitting
in a chair and they showed him the souls of the people who had died
[EDEI,4440]
Whereas (95) was coded as [+DIR], (96) was coded as [DIR]. This problem
becomes more urgent when psych-verbs are considered. Four verbs that frequently refer to psychic situations were included: (ar)repentir regret, espantar get frightened, holgar be glad, and maravillar be amazed. Situations of
regret and joy are typically characterised as states (Kailuweit 2005:269276).
Therefore, they were coded as [DIR] in the data. However, it is more difficult
to reach a conclusion for situations of fright and amazement. Such situations
both express the event of entering a mental state and the mental state itself
(Kailuweit 2005:285), as illustrated in Example (97) from the corpus of historiographical texts.
(97) por la qual maravilla de la su ardideza ellos

by the which wonder of the his courage they

son
maravillados
be.prs.3pl be.amazed.ptcp.m.pl
They were amazed by his amazing courage [DTL, 3593]
Whereas in the case of situations of fright this ambiguity follows from c ausativity
(it is possible to frighten someone on purpose), it is inherent to situations of surprisal (Kailuweit 2005:285). In none of the haber/ser + PtcP tokens with maravillar in
the data, durative adverbial modification was documented. Rather, tokens of this
type typically co-occur either with temporal clauses of the when-type that indicate
the temporal point at which the surprisal took place or clauses that motivate the
event, as in (97). For this reason, tokens of this type were treated as achievements
and assigned the value [+DIR].
The semantic approaches reviewed in 2.2 differ in their definitions of telicity
[TE]. Aranovich (2003) employs Dowtys (1991:568) term of incremental theme
as a Proto-Patient-entailment. In transitive verbs, the patient argument often fulfils the function of measuring out (Tenny 1987, 1992) the event. For instance, in
the sentence eating an apple, the object apple serves as a measure of when the event
of eating is over (Levin & Rappaport Hovav 2005:94). It thus specifies the point
of culmination of the event. However, as noted by Aranovich (2003:10), telicity
and incremental theme are two distinct notions. Importantly, sentences involving
degree achievements such as cool always have an incremental theme: the property
expressed by these verbs (in the case of cool, coolness) is placed on an open scale.
The position of that property on the scale measures out the progress of the event.
However, sentences with degree achievements are not always telic. Since in the
following example it is unclear to what degree the temperature of the soup has
changed, the situation cannot be telic:
(98) The soup cooled for three minutes.
(Levin & Rappaport Hovav 2005:96)
In Legendre and Soraces (2003) and Mateus (2009) approaches, the parameter of
telicity appears to refer to this contrast between degree achievements like cool and
inherently telic achievements like die. The situation of dying semantically entails
a telos. In contrast to degree achievements, this semantic entailment cannot be
cancelled for such predicates, as evinced by the contrast between (99) and (100).
(99) The soup cooled, but was not (yet) cold.
(100)
#The
knight died, but was not (yet) dead.
However, it is important to not reduce telicity to this type of inherent telicity

because this would lead to problems regarding the definition of change of location
predicates. Although verbs like Spanish ir go are semantically atelic, in practice

they are mostly used with a telic (accomplishment) reading through the addition
of directional locative adverbials, as in (101). In the atelic reading, ir is interpreted
as a leaving event, as in (102).1 Both in Modern and Old Spanish, the latter reading
typically coincides with the use of the reflexive pronoun se.
(101) tornaron=se
los sos que eran ydos

return.pst.pfv.3pl=pro.refl the his that be.pst.ipfv.3.pl go.ptcp.m.pl
a egipto
to Egypt
His people who had gone to Egypt returned [GEIV, 1877]
(102) fuxieran
con ellos & se
eran

flee.pst.ipfv.3pl with them and pro.refl be.pst.ipfv.3.pl

ydos
pora egypto
go.ptcp.m.pl towards Egypt
They had fled with them and gone away, towards Egypt [GEIV, 1868]
These examples demonstrate that telicity cannot be defined on the basis of the verb
alone, but that the whole verb phrase needs to be considered in order to determine telicity. This assumption is in line with results from many studies on telicity
(Verkuyl 1972; Platzack 1979; Krifka 1989a; Verkuyl 1989; Krifka 1998; Verkuyl
1999). Consequently, tokens like (101) were annotated as [+TE], whereas tokens
like (102) were annotated as [TE].
In addition to the variables [DIR] and [TE], each token was coded with regard
to whether or not the situation described by the verb involved a movement situation. As exposed in 2.1, the Auxiliary Selection Hierarchy predicts verbs expressing telic movement situations to favour BE-selection more than telic change of
state situations. Again, the coding of the variable movement leading to a change
in location [MO] followed a strict token-by-token strategy. This coding strategy
allows capturing the difference between genuine motional verb meanings as in
(101) and (102), and abstract motional verb meanings like in the following tokens:
(103) des que fue passado
aquel dia

after that be.pst.pfv.3sg pass.ptcp.m.sg that day

& uino
la noche
and come.pst.pfv.3sg the night
After that day had passed and the night came [EDEI, 4990]
. Imperfective preterit forms like fuxieran in (102) or murien in (96) often had a pluperfect
function in Old Spanish.
(104) Los de carthago tanto eran

ya
caydos
en

those of Carthago so.much be.pst.ipfv.3.pl already fall.ptcp.m.pl in

grand desmayamiento
great fatigue
The Carthaginians were already very tired [EDEI, 2645]
(105) por la muerte de Don Iohan Nuez, eran

for the death of don Johan Nuez be.pst.ipfv.3.pl

tornados
a el muchos lugares de behetrias
return.ptcp.m.pl to him many places of Behetrias
Because of Don Johan Nuez death, many Behetrian cities had again
sworn allegiance to him [the king, MR] [CDP, 1334]
In (103)(105), a verb that typically involves a motional semantics is used in a nonmotional reading. Consequently, all of these tokens were annotated as [MO].2
Due to the envelope of variation selected in this study, stativity [ST] was
not coded as a separate parameter in the data. As described in 5.2.2, only tokens
formed from verbs that refer to the verb classes characterised as unaccusative
were included in the data. Since the coding of a token as [DIR] necessarily entails
that the verb meaning expressed in the token is stative, the semantic parameter
[ST] was superfluous.
Legendre and Sorace (2003) and Mateu (2009) treat control [CON] as a
verb-semantic parameter because some verb meanings appear to categorically
imply a controlled or uncontrolled subject referent. For instance, it is usually
assumed that states necessarily imply an uncontrolled subject referent. However,
there is evidence that the correlations between agentivity/control and aspect are
not categorical. In Dowtys (1979:184) categorisation of verb meanings, with the
exception of true statives like be a hero almost all types of predicates can involve
a controlled subject referent. Likewise, tokens referring to the prolongation of a
pre-existing state like (106) can be interpreted as involving a controlled subject
referent:
. Note that in Example (103), a ser + PtcP token carrying perfective past tense morphology
is coordinated with the simple perfective past tense construction uino came in the subordinate clause. This example can thus be regarded as qualitative evidence for the assumption that
like the simple perfective past, ser + PtcP constructions are often used to advance the narration. The statistical analysis provided in this chapter will give additional quantitative evidence
for this assumption.
(106) los que

avan fincado
en las tiendas

those who have.pst.ipfv.3pl stay.ptcp.m.sg in the tents

levantaron
sus pendones
raise.pst.pfv.3pl their banners
Those who had stayed in the tents raised their banners [DTL, 1401]
In (106), the subject referents have control over the situation: the warriors chose
to remain within the tents. Similar observations apply to other verb classes. Consequently, the variable control [CON] was assigned on a token-by-token basis.
6.2.3 Reflexivity
Given that reflexivity was expected to influence auxiliary selection, each token was
coded according to whether or not the reflexive pronoun se is present. The result
is a binary variable reflexive pronoun [PRO].
6.2.4 Subject referentiality
Since according to Aranovich (2003), auxiliary selection depends on the protorole properties of the subject, subject referentiality is a crucial concept for that
approach. Subject referents that have control over a situation are typically animate
and human. In addition, Dowty (1991:573) argues that sentience with respect to
the event or state expressed by the verb is a proto-agent property. Consequently,
Aranovich (2003) takes sentience to favour haber-selection. Trivially, non-animate
referents are usually considered to also be non-sentient. According to these
hypotheses it would be expected that the typical subject referent of haber + PtcP
is a sentient human being that has control over the situation expressed by the auxiliated verb. By contrast, subject referents of ser + PtcP are rather atypical in that
they do not have control over the situation expressed by the auxiliated verb, and
are more often inanimate than the subject referents of haber + PtcP.
The historical perspective on Old Spanish auxiliary selection established in
Section 3.2 leads to different predictions. On the one hand, it was argued that as
the successor to the system of middle voice, Latin esse + PtcP has a reflexive function. It was noted that the subject referents of middle constructions are typically
animate since they are conceptualised as the source of the event from which they
are in turn affected. However, this does not always entail that they also have control over the situation. In a typical deponent verb like mori, the death of the subject
referent is the direct result of processes taking place within the subject referents
body. However, the subject referent does not control these processes. On the other
hand, the discussion has shown that subject referentiality is an important factor
in the temporalisation of haber + PtcP. Thus, haber + PtcP typically has a deontic
function; the subject referent has the semantic role of beneficiary or experiencer. If
Jacobs observation is correct, the subject referent of haber + PtcP need not always
have control over the situation.
In order to evaluate the predictions by these two approaches, the corpus of
historiographical texts was annotated for the kind of subject referent, adopting
the annotation parameters from Zaenen et al. (2004). Besides control, this study
essentially assumes three semantic features in order to characterise subject referents: [animacy], [human] and [org]. The combinatorial possibilities of
these three semantic parameters allow the establishment of four types of subject
referents: humans, animals/plants, abstract/inanimate, and organisations. These
are summarised in the variable [SUBTYPE]. The following table summarises
the parameterisation for the four types of subject referents and gives examples:
Table 6.1 Parameterisation of subject referent types [SUBTYPE]
Category label
Examples
Animacy
Human
Org
Humans
el rrey the king, nimas souls, doce mil

hombres twelve thousand men, iuno
Juno
Animals and plants
vna sierpe Rauiosa an angry snake,

aquel rvol derecho that upright tree
Abstract and
inanimate subjects
lo que that what, la batalla the fight,

el fuego the fire, las reliquias the relics,
estas islas those islands
Organisations
el ejrcito the army, la barca the boat,

la ciudad de Albarracn the city of
Albarracn
6.2.5 Locative, manner, intention expressions

In order to test the influence of these expressions on Old Spanish auxiliary selection, the corpus of historiographical texts was annotated for expressions referring to manner, location, or the reason of the situation expressed by the auxiliated
verb. This study follows Maienborns (2003:88) wide definition of manner expressions, including manner adverbials (e.g. a gran prisa rapidly, a furto secretly, bien
well), comitatives (e.g. con so hermano lucio with his brother Lucio), instrumentals (e.g. en carracas, e en naos, e en galeas in carracks, ships, and galleys), and
participles (e.g. andando por los montes going over the mountains, bien basteidas
de armas well equipped with weapons) within this category. The binary variable
[MANNER] refers to whether or not such a manner expression is present in the
co-text of an auxiliary + PtcP token.
Mittwoch (2008) argues that the resultative interpretation of a sentence is

ruled out in the presence of locative adverbials when the locative meaning is not
inherent to the verb meaning of the participle (see 3.1). Consequently, each token
was coded according to the presence of an adverbial that expresses the stative location of an event (e.g. en Granada in Granada, en el reino in the kingdom). Locative adverbial modification is operationalised as the binary variable [LOC].
In 3.1, it was argued that likewise, adverbials expressing the subject referents intention, like a descabear in (107), exclude a resultative interpretation.
The p
resence/absence of such an expression in a token was coded as the binary
variable [INTENT].
(107) que era ydo
a valladolid a descabear algunos

who be.pst.ipfv.3sg go.ptcp.m.sg to Valladolid to behead some

grandes de castilla
noblemen of Castilla
Who had gone to Valladolid to behead some Castilian noblemen
[ATA, 2025]
6.2.6 Temporal adverbial modification and number marking

Since resultative constructions express that the resultant state of an event holds at
reference time, a resultative interpretation is impossible in the context of temporal
adverbials expressing that the situation is bounded (e.g. adverbials that express
bounded duration, as in (108), or adverbials that express iteration, as in (109)).
By contrast, a resultative interpretation is more likely in the context of a temporal
adverbial expressing that the situation is not bounded, as in (110).
(108) aquel dia fueron muertos
todos los troyanos pues

that day be.pst.pfv.3pl die.ptcp.m.pl all the Trojans because

que el sennor perdieron
that the master lose.pst.pfv.3pl
That day all Trojans died because they (had) lost their master [RDT, 5761]
(109) asy que ellos fueron
maravillados
de tal

so that they be.pst.pfv.3pl be.astonished.ptcp.m.pl of such
engenio dnde era
nuevamente nascido
en el
ingenuity where be.pst.ipfv.3sg again
be.born.ptcp.m.sg in the
coraon del
dicho Bruto
heart of.the say.ptcp.m.sg Brutus
So that they were astonished that Brutus could again have been that clever
[DTL, 953]
(110) debedes
saber que la ysla de colcas estaua estone

must.imp.pl know that the island of Colcas be.pst.ipfv.3pl then

syn
rrey Ca
era
estone finado
& non
without king because be.pst.ipfv.3sg then end.ptcp.m.sg and not

quedara
d=el heredero
stay.pst.ipfv.sbjv.3sg of=him heir
You have to know that the island of Colcas was without king at that
time, because the line was finished and there was no heir to the throne
[SUM,3332]
The temporal adverbial expressions found in the corpus of historiographical texts

were annotated as the categorical variable [TEMP] according to whether a temporal adverbial is present, and whether such an adverbial expresses unbounded
or bounded duration. Temporal clauses such as antes que all llegasen before they
arrived there were not included in this classification.
Likewise, it was also claimed that like temporal adverbials expressing the repetition of a situation, plural number marking excludes a resultative interpretation
of a token. A token like (111) effectively expresses that the event of growing has
taken place several times for several subject entities:
(111) los pueblos de=los romanos o ytalianos qui a=manera de mies

the villages of=the Romans or Italians that in=the.way of seed

auien cresido
have.pst.ipfv.3pl grow.ptcp.m.sg
The Roman or Italian villages that had grown like seeds [CRO1, 5355]
Since pluralisation presupposes boundedness, a token with plural number marking can only be interpreted as having a resultative meaning if the events are conceptualised as a single macro-event (see 3.1).
A categorical variable [NUMBER] referring to number marking on the auxiliary was created, receiving the three values Singular, Plural, and Unspecified.
The value Unspecified refers to tokens with progressive or infinitival morphology.
6.2.7 Modality
The irrealis effect predicts that haber + PtcP is favoured over ser + PtcP when
the situation is conceptualised as hypothetical (see 3.1). For the sake of this study,
an auxiliary + PtcP token was marked as [+IRREALIS] if it appeared (i) in a past
counterfactual context (either in the main clause, as in (112) or in the conditional
clause, as in (113)), (ii) with past subjunctive morphology in a subordinate clause
governed by a modal verb (114), (iii) in conditional mood (115), (iv) or in future
subjunctive contexts (116).
(112) Mas sin

falla amos alli fueran muertos
o

but without doubt both there be.pst.ipfv.sbjv.3pl die.ptcp.m.pl or

uno d=ellos si los suyos y
non llegaran
one of=them if the their there not arrive.pst.ipfv.sbjv.3pl
But without doubt both of them or one of them had died there if their
followers had not come to help [RDT, 5767]
(113) E fuera
all el tribuno forado,
si

and be.pst.ipfv.sbjv.3sg there the tribune take.prisoner.ptcp.m.sg if

todo el ayuntamiento non fuera
fieramente
all the city.council not be.pst.ipfv.sbjv.3sg fiercely

tornado
contra el cnsul por
el dicho
tribuno
e
turn.ptcp.m.sg against the consul by the say.ptcp.m.sg tribune and

que el pueblo non fuesse corrido
al
that the village not be.pst.ipfv.sbjv.3sg run.ptcp.m.sg to.the

mercado de todas las partes de la cibdat
market from all the parts of the city
And the tribune would have been taken prisoner there if he had not fiercely
turned the whole city council against the consul, and if the people from the
village had not run to the market from all places of the city [DTL, 3282]
(114) como quiere
que el rey aurie
quessido

like want.prs.3sg that the king have.prs.cond.3sg want.ptcp.m.sg

que don Iohan huuiesse
ydo
en su companna,
that Don Johan have.pst.ipfv.sbjv.3sg go.ptcp.m.sg in his company

don Iohan no quiso
Don Johan not want.pst.pfv.sbjv.3sg
Although the king would have wanted Don Johan to have come with him,
Don Johan did not want to [CRO2, 5532]
(115) ayna serien
todos affogados. &
pereidos.

soon be.prs.cond.3pl all drown.ptcp.m.pl and perish.ptcp.m.pl
They would have soon all drowned and perished [GCU, 3877]
(116) E si escapar queredes
de dos cosas fazed
la una: de

and if escape want.prs.2sg of two things do.imp.sg the one of

no venir a la batalla fasta que todos los christianos
not come to the battle until that all the Christians

sean muertos
be.prs.sbjv.3pl die.ptcp.m.pl
And if you want to escape do one of two things: do not come to the battle
until all the Christians are dead [CRR, 4726]
In addition, each token was annotated for whether or not it expresses negative
modality. The binary variable [NEG] was marked as TRUE when either a negating
participle such as no no or a negative subject referent such as nadie nobody was
present.
6.2.8 Temporal-aspectual morphology
In 3.1, it was hypothesised that due to the different grammatical functions of resultative and anterior constructions, the two construction types also fulfil different
textual functions in narrative texts. Resultative constructions deliver information
relevant for the progression of the narrative. Resultant states are often logically
necessary for a following event to occur. By contrast, situations expressed by anteriors often belong to the background of the narration and are thus less likely to
causally condition the situation at reference time.
In order to evaluate this assumption, special attention was given to the
temporal-aspectual morphology on the auxiliary of the ser + PtcP and haber + PtcP
tokens. As argued in 3.1, temporal-aspectual morphology not only expresses temporal relations, but serves to mark foreground and background relations in narrative
texts. The categorical variable [AUX_TEMP] refers to the types of temporal-aspectual marking on the auxiliary. [AUX_TEMP] has the levels Present, Future,
Imperfective past tense morphology, and Perfective past tense morphology.3
6.2.9 Persistence
In 4.6, Szmrecsanyis (2005, 2006) concept of persistence was introduced. In
the case in which two grammatical variants for the same or an adjacent semantic
concept are possible, the choice of one of these variants is often governed by the
immediate preceding co-text. The recent use of variant A leads to a higher probability of variant A over variant B in the given token.4
. When a token showed progressive or infinitival morphology on the auxiliary, [AUX_

TEMP] was classified as Present. This was necessary because otherwise, the coding would
have lead to collinearity of the variable [AUX_TEMP] with [AUX_NUMBER], where progressives and infinitives received the value Unspecified.
. According to Szmrecsanyi, persistence can be triggered by the appearance of exactly the
same variant (-persistence), but also by a linguistic patterns that only shares one ore more
syntactic, morphological, or lexical properties with one of the alternating variables variants
(-persistence) (Szmrecsanyi 2005:117). For instance, in the alternation between English going
to- future and will- future, the occurrence of going to is not only triggered by the occurrence
of that exact variant in the previous co-text, but also by go as a full verb. Due to the restricted
co-text available for each token in this study, -persistence was not included as a variable.
Szmrecsanyis (2005, 2006) work shows that persistence effects crucially hinge
on temporal distance because the effect of the original stimulus decays over time.
Consequently, this study models persistence as a categorical variable uniting the
factors of the presence/absence of a persisting token and, in the case of the presence of such a token, the distance between the token and the auxiliary + PtcP
construction. The variables [PERSIST_SER] and [PERSIST_HABER] received the
value 0 if no persistence-triggering ser + PtcP viz. haber + PtcP token was present in the preceding co-text. If such a token was present, the respective variable
received a value of either 1 or 2. The value was chosen according to the distribution of the distance in words of the closest ser + PtcP viz. haber + PtcP token with
temporal function in the co-text preceding the auxiliary. These distributions are
summarised in Table 6.2.
Table 6.2 Statistical make-up of the variables [PERSIST_SER] and [PERSIST_HABER]
0
PERSIST_SER
No persisting ser + PtcP token
27188 words
126 words
PERSIST_HABER
No persisting haber + PtcP token
20189 words
119 words
Szmrecsanyis (2005, 2006) analysis of the influence of persistence on alternations predicts that a higher score for the variable [PERSIST_SER] leads to a higher
probability of the selection of ser over haber. By contrast, a higher score for the
variable [PERSIST_HABER] is expected to favour the selection of haber over ser.
6.3 Descriptive quantitative analysis

Table 6.3 summarises the distribution of auxiliary selection in the corpus of Old
Spanish historiographical texts for each of the variables established in the last
section.
The descriptive quantitative analysis of the data shows a series of contrasts in
the distribution of haber + PtcP and ser + PtcP. These contrasts are described in
the remainder of this section.
The variable [TIME] demonstrates that between the 13th and the early 15th
century, no decrease in ser-selection can be observed.
Regarding parameters that concern the semantics of the auxiliated verb, the
descriptive analysis coincides with Legendre and Sorace (2003) analysis. Ser +
PtcP is relatively more frequent in contexts that imply a transition [+DIR], are
telic [+TE], and involve a motional semantics [+MO] than in contexts marked

Table 6.3 Descriptive analysis of Old Spanish auxiliary selection
PARAMETER
CLUSTER
VARIABLE
DATE OF OCCURRENCE
Date of occurrence [TIME]
AUXILIATED VERBS
LEVEL
Haber + PtcP
Ser + PtcP
SUM
12701299
13001349
13501399
14001424
TOTAL
96
3
107
55
261
16.2
3.6
18.5
19.9
17.1
496
81
470
222
1269
83.8
96.4
81.5
80.1
82.9
592
84
577
277
1530
Directed Change [DIR]
False
True
TOTAL
117
144
261
71.8
10.5
17.1
46
1223
1269
28.2
89.5
82.9
163
1367
1530
Telicity [TE]
False
True
TOTAL
176
85
261
36.3
8.1
17.1
309
960
1269
63.7
91.9
82.9
485
1045
1530
Movement leading to a change

in location [MO]
False
True
TOTAL
162
99
261
20.0
13.8
17.1
650
619
1269
80.0
86.2
82.9
812
718
1530
Control [CON]
False
True
TOTAL
103
158
261
14.2
19.7
17.1
624
645
1269
85.8
80.3
82.9
727
803
1530
REFLEXIVITY
Reflexive pronoun [PRO]
False
True
TOTAL
242
19
261
16.7
24.7
17.1
1211
58
1269
83.3
75.3
82.9
1453
77
1530
SUBJECT REFERENTIALITY
Type of subject referent [SUBTYPE]
Human
Abstract/inanimate
Animals/plants
Organisation
TOTAL
178
61
6
16
261
15.5
23.2
30.0
16.3
17.1
971
202
14
82
1269
84.5
76.8
70.0
83.7
82.9
1149
263
20
98
1530
LOCATIVE, MANNER,
INTENTION EXPRESSIONS
Manner adverbials [MANNER]
False
True
TOTAL
228
33
261
16.3
24.8
17.1
1169
100
1269
83.7
75.2
82.9
1397
133
1530

Stative locative adverbial [LOC]
False
True
TOTAL
202
59
261
15.0
32.2
17.1
1145
124
1269
85.0
67.8
82.9
1347
183
1530
Expression of subject referent

intention [INTENT]
False
True
TOTAL
247
14
261
16.9
21.5
17.1
1218
51
1269
83.1
78.5
82.9
1465
65
1530

[TEMP]
None
Bounded
Unbounded
TOTAL
190
66
5
261
14.1
45.2
12.2
17.1
1153
80
36
1269
85.9
54.8
87.8
82.9
1343
146
41
1530
Number morphology on the auxiliary

[NUMBER]
Singular
Plural
Unspecified
TOTAL
162
97
2
261
19.7
14.3
6.7
17.1
662
579
28
1269
80.3
85.7
93.3
82.9
824
676
30
1530
Irrealis modality [IRREALIS]
False
True
TOTAL
242
19
261
16.6
25.0
17.1
1212
57
1269
83.4
75.0
82.9
1454
76
1530
Negative modality [NEG]
False
True
TOTAL
246
15
261
16.8
21.4
17.1
1214
55
1269
83.2
78.6
82.9
1460
70
1530
TEMPORAL-ASPECTUAL
MORPHOLOGY ON AUXILIARY
Temporal-aspectual morphology
on the auxiliary [AUX_TEMP]
Present
Future
Imperfective past
Perfective past
TOTAL
24
1
211
25
261
10.3
3.6
23.8
6.5
17.1
209
27
676
357
1269
89.7
96.4
76.2
93.5
82.9
233
28
887
382
1530
PERSISTENCE
Presence/distance of persisting ser +

PtcP token [PERSIST_SER]
0
1
2
TOTAL
187
59
15
261
17.9
16.3
11.8
17.1
855
302
112
1269
82.1
83.7
88.2
82.9
1042
361
127
1530
Presence/distance of persisting haber +

PtcP token [PERSIST_HABER]
0
1
2
TOTAL
105
116
40
261
13.4
20.0
23.8
17.1
676
465
128
1269
86.6
80.0
76.2
82.9
781
581
168
1530
TEMPORAL ADVERBIAL
MODIFICATION AND NUMBER
MARKING
MODALIT Y
as [DIR], [TE], and [MO]. By contrast, haber + PtcP is relatively more frequent with subject referents that have been characterised as having control over
the event. The effect appears to be strongest for [DIR], and much weaker for [MO]
and [CON].
Regarding reflexivity, it is important to observe that the use of reflexive pronouns appears to have been rather infrequent in Old Spanish: only 77 of 1530
tokens involve a reflexive pronoun. Although in terms of absolute frequency there
are more ser + PtcP tokens involving a reflexive pronoun than haber + PtcP tokens,
haber + PtcP is relatively more frequent in contexts with a reflexive pronoun
[+PRO] than in contexts without a reflexive pronoun [PRO].
In the domain of subject referentiality, a contrast between human and nonhuman referents can be discerned. Subject referents that are non-human have a
higher relative frequency with haber + PtcP than with ser + PtcP.
Regarding locative, manner, and motivation expressions, it can be observed
that manner expressions, stative locative adverbials, as well as expressions referring to the subject referents intention co-occur relatively more frequently with
haber + PtcP than ser + PtcP.
With regard to temporal adverbial modification and number marking, only
temporal adverbial modification appears to correspond to the predictions. Ser +
PtcP is relatively less frequent in the context of bounded temporal adverbials and
slightly more frequent in the context of unbounded temporal adverbials. Both
unspecified number marking on the auxiliary (i.e. infinitives and gerunds) and
plural number morphology slightly favour ser-selection.
Regarding modality, the relative usage frequency of haber + PtcP is elevated in
contexts marked as [+IRREALIS] and [+NEG].
With regard to tense, an interesting effect can be observed. Taking present
tense as the reference level, ser + PtcP is relatively less frequent with imperfective
past tense marking on the auxiliary than haber + PtcP, but more frequent with
perfective past tense marking.
Lastly, the descriptive analysis demonstrates the existence of persistence
effects. Ser is more often selected as an auxiliary if a persistence-triggering element
ser + PtcP is present in the preceding co-text and haber is more often selected as an
auxiliary if a persistence-triggering element haber + PtcP is present in the preceding co-text. A smaller textual distance between the persistence-triggering element
and the auxiliary further increases these differences.
It has to be pointed out that many of the results from this descriptive analysis may in fact be epiphenomenal. For instance, the multivariate analysis in the
next section demonstrates that the elevated rates of ser-selection for [MO] indeed
result from the parameter [DIR] to which it is correlated. Since [DIR] accounts for
more of the variance in the data, the influence of [MO] on Old Spanish auxiliary
s election is negligible. This example demonstrates the need for a multivariate analysis. Only the comparison of the amount of variance explained by each variable
allows judging which variable indeed has a significant influence on Old Spanish
auxiliary selection.
6.4 Multivariate analysis

A multivariate inferential analysis of Old Spanish auxiliary selection was conducted. This section describes and discusses the measurements used in the statistical model, the model selection process, and the results.
6.4.1 Measurements
MODEL1, the generalised linear mixed-effect regression model presented in this
chapter, aims at describing Old Spanish auxiliary selection. Consequently, the
dependent variable is the binary variable [SER], describing whether the auxiliary
+ PtcP token is a ser + PtcP token [+SER], or a haber + PtcP token [SER]. The
model thus assumes a binomial distribution and works as a logistic regression.
The dataset that was used for the regression analysis is the Old Spanish section of
the corpus of historiographical texts (dates of occurrence between 1270 and 1424,
n=1530). The probability of the choice of ser over haber is determined according
to the fixed effects variables whose statistical make-up has been described in 6.2.
The influence of these fixed or main effects is controlled by the inclusion of
two random effects variables. These are (a) the verb from which the participle is
formed, and (b) the author of the source text. The variable [VERB] was included
in order to control to verb-specific variation in auxiliary selection that does not
derive from its typical semantics. The variable [AUTHOR] was included to control for idiosyncrasies that are due to the authors writing style or dialect. The two
variables clearly fit the definition of random variables in that both the verbs with
their different meanings and the authors are part of a larger population that could
not be included in this study. Controlling for these random variables thus allows
evaluating which fixed effects apply to the whole population of haber + PtcP and
ser + PtcP tokens and consequently characterise the use of the two constructions.
Due to this procedure, MODEL1 explains a much higher degree of variance than
comparable conventional logistic regression models.
The statistical analysis with random effects demonstrates that a series of
effects that have been observed in the descriptive analysis are indeed epiphenomenal; they derive of the typical difference in the types of auxiliated verbs selected
by haber + PtcP and ser + PtcP.
6.4.2 Model selection

These fixed effect and random effects variables were tested in a backward elimination process that is summarised in Table 6.4 below. In a first generalised linear
mixed-effect regression model, MODEL1 , all of the fixed-effect variables were
included. While many of the variables gave statistically significant results, others did not. The influence of the random-effects variables was tested by gradual
exclusion of each fixed-effect variable and comparison of the resulting model with
the predecessor model with likelihood ratio tests (the function anova() in R).5
As proposed by Gries (2009b:252273), in each step of the evaluation the variable with the highest p-value (i.e. the lowest significance value) was stripped from
the model, and the resulting model was compared to the predecessor model. The
variable was dropped from the eventual model if ANOVA did not judge it to have
explanatory power for the dependent variable.
In addition to the evaluation of these model versions with the procedure using
ANOVA, each of the models was evaluated for model fit (AIC) and the degree
of variance explained (C index of concordance, Somers Dxy). Both models reach
very good values for these measures.6 The difference in the degree of variance
explained by MODEL1 and MODEL1 does not reach statistical significance.
Given that at the AIC is lower for MODEL1 , Occams razor forces to conclude
that MODEL1 accounts best for the data.
. ANOVA allows comparing the degree of variance explained by two regression models.
ANOVA is used in the gradual stripping procedure as follows. The baseline model is reduced
by the parameter that has least statistical significance. ANOVA is used to compare the baseline
model and the reduced model. If ANOVA judges that the baseline model does not explain
significantly more variance than the reduced model, Occams razor predicts that the reduced
model fits the data better. The reduced model then becomes the new baseline model, and the
procedure if repeated. If ANOVA judges otherwise, the variable that was left out in the reduced
model should not be left out. Consequently, the procedure is repeated with the original baseline model, but the variable that is second to the first variable in statistical significance. This
procedure is repeated for all variables in the model. See Baayen (2008:253254) and Gries
(2009b: 252273) for more information on these downstripping procedures.
. As a matter of fact, the extremely good result of the models for these measures is somewhat puzzling. However, generalised linear mixed-effect regression models appear to generally score high for these measures. For instance, Baayens (2008:281) generalised linear
mixed-effect regression model of Bresnan et al.s (2007) data on the dative alternation in
English reaches a Somers Dxy of 0.92 and a C of 0.96. The very good score of MODEL1 crucially depends on the inclusion of random effects. Thus, a simple generalised linear regression
model without random effects predicting ser-selection from just VERB (the random effect
included in MODEL1) already reaches a Somers Dxy of 0.77 and a C of 0.89.
Table 6.4 Generalised linear mixed-effect regression model of auxiliary selection in the Old Spanish section of the corpus of
historiographical texts (MODEL1 )
PARAMETER
CLUSTER
VARIABLE
LEVEL
MODEL1
MODEL1
OR
OR
(Intercept)
1.022
0.987
2.881
0.227
DATE OF OCCURRENCE
0.993
0.344
AUXILIATED VERBS
Directed change [DIR]
6.244
0.016
5.735
0.015
Telicity [TE]
2.273
0.031
2.335
0.022
Movement leading to change in location [MO]
0.753
0.546
Control [CON]
0.627
0.244
REFLEXIVIT Y
0.226
0.000
SUBJECT REFERENTIALITY
Type of subject referent [SUBTYPE]
LOCATIVE, MANNER,
INTENTION EXPRESSIONS
TEMPORAL ADVERBIAL
MODIFICATION AND
NUMBER MARKING
Human
0.472
0.017
***
0.222
0.000
***
RL
Abstract/inanimate
1.400
0.399
Animals/plants
0.647
0.244
Organisation
0.806
0.586
0.735
0.322
0.557
0.053
0.593
0.081
Expression of subject referent intention [INTENT]
0.481
0.079
0.467
0.068

[TEMP]
None
RL
Bounded
0.388
0.003
**
0.410
0.004
**
Unbounded
3.315
0.227
3.460
0.218
1.537
0.039
1.075
0.940
Number morphology on the auxiliary Singular

[NUMBER]
Plural
Unspecified
RL
1.563
0.034
1.121
0.905
(Continued)

Table 6.4 Generalised linear mixed-effect regression model of auxiliary selection in the Old Spanish section of the corpus of
historiographical texts (MODEL1 ) (Continued)
PARAMETER
CLUSTER
VARIABLE
MODALITY
TEMPORAL-ASPECTUAL
MORPHOLOGY ON
AUXILIARY
PERSISTENCE
MODEL1
OR
0.457
0.049
0.834
0.679
Temporal-aspectual morphology on
the auxiliary [AUX_TEMP]
Presence/distance of persisting
ser + PtcP token [PERSIST_SER]
Presence/distance of persisting haber
+ PtcP token [PERSIST_HABER]
MODEL EVALUATION
LEVEL
Present
RL
Future
3.668
0.523
Imperfective past
0.275
0.001
Perfective past
1.072
0.890
0 (no persistence)
RL
1 (large distance)
0.973
0.908
2 (small distance)
2.206
0.041
0 (no persistence)
RL
1 (large distance)
0.675
0.068
2 (small distance)
0.624
0.148
MODEL1
***
OR
0.422
0.023
3.367
0.542
0.262
0.000
1.059
0.909
***
RL
*
0.986
0.951
2.158
0.045
0.669
0.059
0.612
0.126
RL
.
C index of concordance
0.94
0.94
Somers Dxy
0.88
0.87
AIC
863.7
853.7
1530
1530
6.4.3 Results
This section describes the results reached by MODEL1. For each variable in each
model, Table 6.4 reports two numbers: odds ratios (OR) and p-values (p). Whereas
p-values serve to identify the statistical significance of a variable, ORs gauge the
magnitude and direction of its effect on the dependent variable. ORs are centred
around the value one, with a minimal value of zero and a maximal value of .
An odds ratio over one indicates that a positive value for the corresponding variable (in the case of categorical variables) or a one-unit increase (in the case of
numerical variables) increases the odds of a positive value on the dependent variable (in this case, ser-selection). An odds ratio under one indicates the opposite
(i.e. increased odds of haber-selection). The further the distance of an odds ratio
value to the value one, the greater the influence of the corresponding variable on
the dependent variable.
The date of occurrence of a token does not have significant influence on auxiliary selection in Old Spanish. This result supports the periodisation assumed in
6.1. In Old Spanish historiographical texts, ser-selection remains stable over time.
The variables describing the semantics of the auxiliated verbs are the best predictors of auxiliary selection in Old Spanish historiographical texts. The presence
of a template in the event structure [+DIR] and telicity [+TE] significantly favour
ser-selection. By contrast, if the subject referent controls the event, the odds of serselection are significantly lower. Crucially however, the effect of [DIR] is quantitatively much larger than the other two effects. The odds of selecting ser are almost
six times as large for a token marked as [+DIR] than for a token marked as [DIR].
By contrast, the odds of selection of ser are only over twice as large for a token
marked as [+TE] than for a token marked as [TE].
Whether the event can be categorised as an event of movement leading to a
change in location [MO] does not have a significant effect on Old Spanish auxiliary selection. By contrast, whether or not the subject referent controls the event
[CON] influences auxiliary selection. Control of the subject referent over the
event significantly increases the odds of haber-selection, with a ratio of about 2
to1. Given that the variable for control only gained statistical significance after the
variable for movement was removed from the regression analysis, movement and
control appear to be correlated to some degree in the data.
Reflexivity is almost as good a predictor of Old Spanish auxiliary selection
as the presence of a transition in the semantic representation of the situation.
According to MODEL1 , the odds for ser + PtcP tokens to occur with the reflexive
pronoun se are over four times lower than the odds for haber + PtcP to appear with
a reflexive pronoun. This effect is highly significant.
Subject referentiality does not have a significant influence on auxiliary selection in Old Spanish historiographical texts. In comparison to the reference level
human subject referents, subject referents referring to abstract or inanimate entities, animals or plants, or organisations are neither more likely to occur with ser +
PtcP nor haber + PtcP.
None of the variables referring to locative, manner, and intention adverbials reaches statistical significance. However, as predicted, both the presence of
manner adverbials, stative locative adverbials and expression of the intention of a
subject referent result in a lower likelihood of ser-selection. The latter two effects
reach marginal statistical significance and might turn out to be significant if a
larger data set is examined. The analysis of the entire dataset in Chapter 7.3.2 will
confirm this suspicion.
Both of the variables referring to temporal adverbial modification and number
marking are judged to have a significant influence on ser-selection. In comparison to sentences without temporal adverbial modification, sentences with temporal
adverbials expressing bounded duration show a significantly lower likelihood of serselection (about 1 to 2). Regarding number morphology on the auxiliary, the model
proposes a contrast between singular, plural, and unspecified number morphology.
Plural number marking contexts significantly raise the likelihood of ser-selection.
Whereas negative modality does not significantly influence Old Spanish auxiliary selection, the model judges irrealis modality to significantly favour haberselection over ser-selection. It thus reproduces Stolovas (2006) results with regard
to irrealis modality, but not negative modality.
In comparison to the reference level (present tense morphology on the auxiliary), only one type of temporal-aspectual morphology on the auxiliary reaches
statistical significance. After [DIR] and [PRO], imperfective past tense morphology is the third best predictor of Old Spanish auxiliary selection. Thus, the odds of
ser-selection are very low (almost 1 to 4) when the auxiliary carries imperfective
past tense morphology.
The model judges persistence to play an important role for auxiliary selection
in Old Spanish historiographical texts. In accordance with the descriptive statistical results, ser-selection is more likely when a ser + PtcP token with a temporal
function is present in the immediate preceding discourse context. By contrast,
ser-selection is less likely when an haber + PtcP token with a temporal function
is present in the immediate preceding discourse context. This effect however only
reaches statistical significance for recent ser + PtcP tokens, and only when the
textual distance to the recent ser + PtcP token is low.
6.4.4 Discussion
The results from MODEL1 indicate a functional contrast between ser + PtcP and
haber + PtcP in Old Spanish historiographical texts. Only haber + PtcP can be
argued to have a clear temporal function. Ser + PtcP is usually not used as an
anterior, but with a resultative, i.e. aspectual, function.
6.4.4.1 Verb semantics and subject referentiality
The sensitivity of auxiliary selection to the verb-semantic parameters [DIR] and
[TE] indicates that event complexity is the most important predictor of Old
Spanish auxiliary selection. As predicted by Soraces (2000) Auxiliary Selection
Hierarchy, within the envelope of variation chosen in this study, haber-selection is
most likely for predicates expressing non-complex situations.
Since [MO] does not have a significant influence on Old Spanish auxiliary
selection, this finding confirms Mateus (2009) purely aspectual parameterisation
of the ASH, and thus collapsing the predicate classes change of state and change of
location. As proposed in Mateu (2009), the combinatorial possibilities involving
[DIR] and [TE] lead to the three predicate classes [+DIR,+TE], [+DIR,TE], and
[DIR,TE]. Summarising auxiliary selection in Old Spanish historiographical
texts according to these three predicate classes yields the distribution illustrated
in Table 6.5.
Table 6.5 Auxiliary selection in Old Spanish according to the combinatorial possibilities
of the parameters directed change [DIR] and telicity [TE]
PREDICATE
CLASS
EXAMPLE
[+DIR, +TE]
Haber + PtcP Ser + PtcP

N
fueron muertos, Example (108)
85
8.1
960 91.9 1045
[+DIR, TE]
se eran ydos pora egypto, Example (102)
59
18.3
[DIR, TE]
los que avan fincado, Example (106)
117
71.8
261
17.1
TOTAL
SUM
N
263 81.7
322
46 28.2
163
1269 82.9 1530
Table 6.5 clearly demonstrates the gradience in auxiliary selection assumed

in the Auxiliary Selection Hierarchy. Haber-selection is most frequent with stative
predicates [DIR,TE], less frequent with predicates that refer to atelic change of
state or location predicates [+DIR,TE], and least frequent with predicates that
refer to telic change of state or location predicates [+DIR,+TE].
Both the presence of a transition in a predicates event template and inherent or compositional telicity semantically entail the persistence of a result state at
reference time. The fact that these contexts trigger ser-selection is indicative of the
typical resultative function of Old Spanish ser + PtcP.
Notably, the regression model suggests that the influence of [DIR] is much
greater than the influence of [TE]. Ser-selection is only around 10 per cent less
frequent for predicates marked as [+DIR, -TE] than predicates marked as [+DIR,
+TE]. The greater importance of the variable [DIR] is due to the fact that ser +
PtcP tokens formed from degree achievement predicates (the verb class of indefinite change into a particular direction) can always be interpreted as having a
resultative meaning:
(117) En aquella sazon que el Rio era crescido

In that season that the river be.pst.ipfv.3sg grow.ptcp.m.sg
At that time when the river carried a lot of water [GCU, 1575]
(118) quando aquello sopieron.
& que ydos

when that know.pst.pfv.3pl and that go.ptcp.m.pl

eran
los de lacedemonia
be.pst.ipfv.3pl the of Lacedaemonia
When they learned about this, and that the Lacedaemons were gone
[GEIV, 1878]
Even though (117) and (118) express atelic situations, they are not incompatible
with a resultative interpretation. Degree achievement verbs have been characterised as having a scalar semantics (Hay, Kennedy & Levin 1999; Kennedy &
Levin 2008). According to these studies, the scalarity of such predicates derives
from the scalarity of the implied adjective. In the case of growing, the result of
growing, i.e. to be big, is a scalar adjective. Consequently, the adjectival core
[] of a degree achievement measures the amount that an object changes along
a scalar dimension as a result of participating in an event (Kennedy & Levin
2008:173). Although this scale is not closed in the case of verbs like crecer, their
event template does involve a transition to a resultant state. As a result, whether
or not the predicate implies a transition is a better predictor of the resultative
reading of a token than telicity. The fact that these predictions are carried out
by the Old Spanish data supports the hypothesis that ser + PtcP has a resultative
function.
This finding is correlated to the question of where in the Auxiliary Selection
Hierarchy most variable auxiliary selection is situated. Recall that it was proposed in Chapter 2.1 with Sorace (2000) that variable auxiliary selection is more
common with verbs that are aspectually underspecified. As shown in Table6.5,
verbs referring to stative predicates [DIR,TE] are indeed less categorical with
respect to auxiliary selection than verbs expressing complex situations. Since
the predicates expressed by these verbs do not involve a transition, the resultative interpretation of the tokens appears to be conditioned by the schema ser
+ PtcP itself. In 2.1, processes in which the event structure of a verb phrase
is altered by other elements in the sentence were called template augmenta-
tion (Rappaport Hovav & Levin 1998). When a verb expressing a non-complex
situation is used in the ser + PtcP construction, it is often re-interpreted as
expressing a resultant state. Consider the contrast between examples like (119)
and (120).
(119) fueron
puestos
por los campos en la ordenana

be.pst.pfv.3pl assemble.ptcp.m.pl in the fields in the order

primera. E tena
la delantera Tran [], ca
este
first
and have.pst.ipfv.3sg the command Tran
because this

Tran ava quedado
en el real
Tran have.pst.ipfv.3sg stay.ptcp.m.sg in the royal.headquarters
por guarda
as guard
They assembled in the fields in the first formation. And Tran [] had
the command, because this Tran had stayed at the royal headquarters as a
guard [CRR, 1379]
(120) ascondet
uuos
y
tres dias fasta que sean

hide.imp.sg pro.refl there three days until that be.pst.sbjv.3pl

tornados
todos los que fueron
tras uos. & este
return.ptcp.m.pl all those that go.pst.pfv.3pl after you and this

roydo todo quedado
noise all quieten.ptcp.m.sg
Hide there for three days until those who pursue you have turned back, and
the noise has quietened [EDEII, apud CORDE]7
This effect was already noted in Mackenzie (2006:145). In its most common lexical acceptation, quedar can best be translated with stay. In Example (119), the
pre-existing state of being at the royal headquartes applies to the subject referent
Tran. The haber + PtcP token ava quedado expresses that at some point Tran
chose to stay at that location. Consequently, a change of location or state is denied.
However, other meanings are possible. In (120), quedar receives the change
of state meaning had quietened, had ended. In Old Spanish, quedar is systematically ambiguous between at least these two related meanings (silence is conceptu-
. The second part of Alfonse X Estoria de Espanna is only partially delivered in reliable
manuscripts. According to Fernndez-Ordoez (2006), only the first 50 chapters of the Estoria
de Espanna II can be argued to contain authentic linguistic data. This token falls into the
relevant part of the Estoria de Espanna II. Mackenzie (2006:150) supplies a similar example
which is from the Libro de Alexandre, a 13th century text judged as unreliable by FernndezOrdoez.
ally similar to immobility). This ambiguity can be resolved by auxiliary selection.

Ser + PtcP requires a participle that can have a resultative meaning. By contrast,
this restriction does not hold for haber + PtcP. As a result, the type of meaning of
quedar shifts depending on the appearance in the haber + PtcP or ser + PtcP construction. In tokens of ava quedado, quedar typically expresses the prolongation
of a pre-existing state stay. By contrast, in (120) quedar is construed as having
a complex situation structure referring to the fact that the noise ceases. In other
words, sea(n) quedado expresses the resultant state of being quiet, a meaning not
documented in haber quedado tokens. The use of the ser in Example (120) leads to
a resultative interpretation of the situation.
This observation also accounts for tokens like (121) and (122) where verbs
that are usually characterised as unergatives appear in the ser + PtcP construction:
(121) Dormieron
sendos poccos cuando

sleep.pst.pfv.3pl half few when

fueron cenados
be.pst.pfv.3pl have.dinner.ptcp.m.sgpl
Half of the few men went to sleep when they had eaten [Vida de San
Millan, apud Benzing (1931:411, bold marking and transl. MR)]
(122) e quando fueredes iantado

and when be.fut.sbjv.2pl have.breakfast.ptcp.m.sg
And when you will have had breakfast [Poema de mio Cid, apud Benzing
(1931:412, bold marking and transl. MR)]
In (121) and (122), fuemos enados viz. fueredes iantados do not express the actions
of having had dinner/breakfast, but its result: to be satiated. In (121), this interpretation is clearly licenced by the context. Being satiated is the prerequisite for the
mens going to sleep.8 When verbs like enar and yantar appear in the ser + PtcP
construction, the hearer or reader infers a resultant state that could come about by
the events expressed by these verbs. However, this resultant state is not part of the
verbs lexical meaning.9
The existence of template augmentation processes in Old Spanish gives further evidence for the interpretation of Old Spanish ser + PtcP as a resultative
construction. The resultative interpretation of the tokens in (120)(122) does
not derive from the semantics of the auxiliated verbs themselves, but is rather
a part of the grammatical meaning of the ser + PtcP construction. As argued
. Strictly speaking, the adverbial sendos has the distributive meaning one of each one.
. The fact that the construction cntus sum is attested in Latin (Leumann 1977:613) points
to a continuity of function between esse + PtcP and ser + PtcP.
by Sorace (2000), stative predicates are aspectually underspecified and therefore

especially susceptible to template augmentation processes and consequently,
haber-selection.
MODEL1 shows that whereas verb-semantic parameters have a crucial
influence on Old Spanish auxiliary selection, no significant systematic differences in the subject referentiality of haber + PtcP and ser + PtcP tokens can
be
documented. This result is unexpected from Aranovichs (2003) ProtoRole approach to Old Spanish auxiliary selection. Aranovich assumes that the
subject referents of haber + PtcP tokens typically have control over the situation expressed by the participle, are sentient and exist independently of the
situation (cf. 2.1). Although control is indeed recognised as a parameter that
favours haber-selection, sentience and existence independent of event are not:
abstract subject referents do not occur more often in the ser + PtcP than in the
haber + PtcP construction. Although the distinction between Proto-Agent and
Proto-Patient entailments may be relevant when including transitive haber +
PtcP tokens into the dataset, it is of only l imited relevance within the domain of
intransitive auxiliary selection.
6.4.4.2 Reflexivity
The significant contrast between haber + PtcP and ser + PtcP with regard to the
co-occurrence with the reflexive pronoun se is evidence for a functional difference
between the two constructions. Table 6.3 has demonstrated that the use of the
reflexive pronoun is not very widespread in the Old Spanish section of the corpus
of historiographical texts. The statistical modelling shows that in addition, the use
of reflexive pronouns is more likely with haber + PtcP tokens than with ser + PtcP
tokens. Both with verbs of change of location (123) and anticausatives (124), ser +
PtcP tokens very frequently occur without a reflexive pronoun:
(123) [L]uego commo troylos de ally fue partido
Later when Troylos from there be.pst.pfv.3sg leave.ptcp.m.sg
When Troylos was gone away [SUM, 4501]
(124) E al juntar que hizieron
fueron quebradas

and at.the meet that make.pst.pfv.3pl be.pst.pfv.3pl break.ptcp.f.pl

muchas lanas e falsados
muchos buenos escudos
many lances and break.ptcp.m.pl many good shields
And when they [the knights] clashed, many lances broke and many good
shields were made useless [CRR, 3376]
Mackenzie (2006:137138) adduces similar data for Old Spanish, Old Italian, and
Old French and argues that the omission of the reflexive pronoun is evidence for a
resultative interpretation of BE + PtcP in these languages. Resultative constructions

in modern examples from these languages usually exclude the reflexive pronoun,
as in the following examples from Spanish.
(125) Me
haba levantado
del asiento.

pro.refl have.pst.ipfv.3sg get.up.ptcp.m.sg from.the chair
I had got out of my chair.
(Mackenzie 2006:138, bold marking and transl. MR)
(126) Estaba levantado del asiento.

be.pst.ipfv.3sg stand.up.ptcp.m.sg from.the chair
I was out of my chair. (Mackenzie 2006:138, bold marking and transl. MR)
In 3.2.2, it was argued that Latin esse + PtcP, as a successor of an originally more
productive system of middle voice, has a reflexive function. The fact that many
Old Spanish ser + PtcP tokens display a reflexive meaning without the presence
of a reflexive pronoun points towards a continuity of use between Latin esse +
PtcP and Old Spanish ser + PtcP. The subject referents of change of location verbs
and anticausatives share that they are necessarily affected by the resultant state of
events involving a transition. For this reason, like other verbs expressing a change
of state or a change of location, these verbs are likely to appear in the resultative
construction ser + PtcP.
It is interesting to look at the precise distribution of the use of reflexive pronouns for ser + PtcP and haber + PtcP summarised in Table 6.6:
Table 6.6 Auxiliary selection in Old Spanish historiographical texts according to
(a)presence/absence of a reflexive pronoun and (b) predicate classes
Haber + PtcP
PREDICATE CLASS
[PRO]
Ser + PtcP
[+PRO]
[PRO]
SUM
[+PRO]
74
87.1
11
12.9
931
97.0
29
3.0
1045
[+DIR,TE]
52
88.1
11.9
234
89.0
29
11.0
322
[DIR,TE]
116
99.1
0.9
46
100.0
0.0
163
TOTAL
242
92.7
19
7.3
1211
95.4
58
4.6
1530
[+DIR,+TE]
The table demonstrates that for haber + PtcP and ser + PtcP, different predicate types tend to involve a reflexive pronoun. For ser + PtcP, there is a relative predominance of the use of reflexive pronouns in verb phrases marked as
[+DIR,TE]. Typically, the reflexive pronoun is used with predicates expressing an
atelic movement situation: 37 of 58 ser + PtcP tokens involving a reflexive pronoun
are formed from the verbs that typically express such a meaning: partir leave
(18tokens) ir go (15 tokens), escapar escape (2 tokens), and huir flee (2tokens).
Atoken like (127) can thus be characterised as a typical ser + PtcP token involving
a reflexive pronoun.
(127) apres que los spartos se
fueron partidos

after that the Spartans pro.refl be.pst.pfv.3pl go.away.ptcp.m.pl
When the Spartans were gone [CRO1, 5623]
In (127), the reflexive pronoun appears to emphasise the fact that the resultant
state implied by the movement event has been reached. At reference time, the
Spartans are indeed at a different location. Likewise, the contrast between the
modern Spanish Examples (128) and (129) can be characterised as a contrast
between an event reading and a resultant state reading.
(128) El seor fue
a vivir a la playa cada vez que

the mister go.pst.pfv.3sg to live to the beach each time time

necesit
mejorar su salud
need.pst.pfv.3sg improve his health
The man went to live at the beach each time when he needed to improve
his health
(Bogard 2006:768, transl. MR, bold marking in the original)
(129) ?*El seor se
fue
a vivir a la playa cada

the mister pro.refl go.pst.pfv.3sg to live to the beach each

vez que necesit
mejorar su salud
time that need.pst.pfv.3sg improve his health
The man was gone to live at the beach each time when he needed to
improve his health
(Bogard 2006:768, transl. MR, bold marking in the original)
Bogard (2006:768771) characterises se in these contexts as an aspectual marker

expressing the completion of the situation. Since the iterative adverbial cada vez
is incompatible with this reading, he judges Example (129) as ungrammatical. He
(2006:771) notes that in Old Spanish, the great majority of tokens with the reflexive pronoun in aspectual function appears with intransitive movement verbs such
as ir go. The use of reflexive pronouns with ser + PtcP thus appears to follow that
general trend.
By contrast, the use of haber + PtcP tokens involving a reflexive pronoun is
distributed more equally. As for ser + PtcP, a series of haber + PtcP tokens involving a reflexive pronoun belong to the verb class [+DIR,TE]. All of these seven
tokens are formed from either the verbs partir leave or ir go, as in (130). Note
that in this example the coordination of the haber + PtcP token with the simple
imperfective preterit estaua indicates that the resultant state of being away holds
at reference time.10
(130) caraotoman se
auja partido
de arzinga

Caraotoman pro.refl have.pst.ipfv.3sg leave.ptcp.m.sg from Arzinga

& estaua
en=l camjno que ellos aujan
and be.pst.ipfv.3sg in=the track that they have.pst.ipfv.3pl
de leuar
of take
Caraotoman had left Arzinga and was on the track that they had to take
[TAM, 4520]
However, most of the 19 haber + PtcP tokens involving a reflexive pronoun belong
to the verb class [+DIR,+TE]. With predicates marked as [+DIR,+TE], the pronoun se appears to indeed express genuine reflexivity, as in (131) or (132).
(131) un gran exambre de abellas de miel se
hauian

a great flock of bees of honey pro.refl have.pst.ipfv.3pl

assentado
en un grant arbol
sit.down.ptcp.m.sg on a great tree
A great flock of honey bees had sat down on a great tree [CRO1, 5682]
(132) Y estonce acogieron=se
a el los otros

and then take.refuge.pst.pfv.3pl=pro.refl to him the other

romanos que escaparan
de la batalla en que
Romans that escape.pst.ipfv.sbjv.3pl from the battle in that

murieran los otros Cipiones sos tios. que se
die.pst.ipfv.sbjv.3pl the others Scipiones their uncles that pro.refl
. Quasi-reflexive constructions like in Example (130) have been taken to lead to an interpretation of the subject as an experiencer (Schmidt-Riese 1998). Schmidt-Riese claims that
the difference between morir die and morirse die + pro.refl) in Spanish 16th century texts
is one of perspective: in examples involving morirse, an inside or personal view on the situation is expressed (Schmidt-Riese 1998:52). This interpretation appears to apply in (130), and
is clearly correlated to its resultativity. Thus, highlighting the affectedness of the subject referent also means highlighting the resultant state of the event. Consequently, tokens like (130)
resemble the original usage contexts of haber + PtcP which according to Jacobs analysis, also
involve an experiencer subject (cf. 3.2.1). The affinity between these contexts explains the early
expansion of haber + PtcP to quasi-reflexives.

auien alado
en las fortalezas de las uillas
have.pst.ipfv.3pl rise.ptcp.m.sg in the fortresses of the towns
And then the others Romans took refuge at his home, who had escaped
from the battle in which the other Scipiones had died, their uncles, who had
risen in the fortresses of the towns [EDEI, 4872]
Whereas in (130) the reflexive pronoun emphasises the resultant state of the situation, in (131) and (132) the pronoun is an argument of the verb phrase. In reflexive
constructions, the reflexive pronoun assumes the syntactic role of direct object, but
is co-referential with the overtly expressed subject. As noted by Dixon & A
ikhenvald
(2000:11), this is a transitive configuration. Reflexives are less prototypical intransitives than, for instance, verbs expressing a change of location like ir, where the
reflexive pronoun cannot be argued to occupy the syntactic slot of direct object.
Overall, haber-selection is least frequent in the predicate class [+DIR, +TE].
MODEL1 judges the presence of a reflexive pronoun to favour haber-selection precisely because haber + PtcP tokens involving a reflexive pronoun occur relatively
often in this predicate class. Given that the origins of haber + PtcP lie in its use
with transitive verbs (see 3.2.1), it seems likely that in the expansion of the use of
haber + PtcP to intransitive verbs, verbs that are prone to a reflexive meaning were
affected earlier. In his analysis of the development of auxiliary selection in Medieval Italian dialects, Loporcaro (2011:7882) reaches a similar conclusion: contexts involving reflexive constructions are affected earlier by the spread of avere.
This finding illustrates the importance of taking into account genuinely syntactic parameters, and especially transitivity, when discussing the development of
Spanish auxiliary selection. Consequently, Loporcaro is correct when asserting
that regarding auxiliary selection, syntax and semantics interact, and [] it is not
possible to reduce the former to the latter (Loporcaro 2011:79). Both syntactic
aspects related to transitivity such as reflexivity, and semantic aspects such as the
type of auxiliated verb contribute to the similarity of a usage context to the original
transitive usage contexts of haber + PtcP, and thus to the course of actualisation of
haber + PtcP.
This observation is also important because it has been claimed that both in
Germanic and Romance Indo-European languages, the development of middle
voice and reflexivity are intricately intertwined. Cennamo et al. (to appear) demonstrate that whereas in older stages of the Indo-European languages the morpheme -R and its successors express the function of the middle, this function was
gradually taken over by the new reflexive construction. Cennamo et al. note that
in early stages of Latin, the use of the reflexive pronoun se was mainly restricted
to predicates that can be characterised as [+DIR,+TE], such as scindere crack, and
rumpere break. However, in Late Latin the reflexive pronoun can also be found
with predicates like minuere decrease that can be characterised as [+DIR,TE].

The expansion of the use of the reflexive pronoun is correlated to the drift from
active-stative argument coding towards nominative-accusative argument coding
(see2.2.4). The authors argue that the rise of the reflexive construction led to the
gradual extinction of the middle construction.
In the light of these assumptions, the contrast between the use of Old Spanish
ser + PtcP and haber + PtcP with reflexive pronouns suggests that the rise of use
of haber + PtcP in the verb class [+DIR,+TE] was intimately connected to the
possibility to express reflexivity using the pronoun se. In his quantitative analysis of the development of the reflexive pronoun in Spanish, Bogard (2006:776)
finds that between the 12th and 16th century, the reflexive pronoun rose significantly in usage frequency. Using massive data from the Corpus del Espaol, Davies
(2005:436437) reaches the same result. Consequently, it appears that the spread
of haber + PtcP to intransitive predicates marked as [+DIR] is correlated to the
increase of the usage frequency of the reflexive pronoun se. Further evidence for
this assumption is gathered in Chapter 7.
6.4.4.3 Adverbials expressing manner, location, or intention
In Section 3.1, it was argued that the patterns of adverbial modification of anteriors
and resultatives differ systematically. Adverbials referring to the manner and location of an event, as well as adverbials explaining the subject referents intention,
are incompatible with resultative constructions. This effect is due to the stativity of
resultative constructions. Since stative predicates do not introduce a Davidsonian
event variable, they cannot be modified for manner, location, or intention.
The fact that MODEL1 judges all of these parameters to favour haberselection over ser-selection to some degree supports the assumption that many
Old Spanish ser + PtcP tokens have a resultative function. Although these effects
do not reach statistical significance in MODEL1, the further statistical analyses
presented in Chapter 7 will demonstrate the importance of manner, location and
intention adverbials for auxiliary selection.
6.4.4.4 Temporal adverbial modification, number morphology, modality
The resultative reading of a linguistic element necessarily entails that the resultant
state of a complex situation holds at reference time. According to the literature
reviewed in Section 3.1, this property leads to three restrictions of the use of resultative constructions: (a) resultatives are incompatible with temporal adverbials
classified as bounded, whereas a resultative reading is favoured in the context of
temporal adverbials classified as unbounded, (b) a resultative reading is impossible in sentences with irrealis modality, and (c) a resultative reading is excluded
when a plurality of events is assumed.
With regard to (a) and (b), the results of MODEL1 meet these expectations. First, ser-selection is more likely in the presence of adverbials that express
unbounded duration, and significantly less likely in the presence of adverbials that
express bounded duration or iteration. Likewise, MODEL1 replicates Stolovas
(2006) analysis to the degree that haber + PtcP tokens are significantly more likely
to appear in irrealis contexts than ser + PtcP tokens. In contrast to Stolovas findings, MODEL1 does not judge negative modality to significantly influence Old
Spanish auxiliary selection.
As predicted by Sankoff and Thibault (1977), ser + PtcP tokens that display
irrealis modality often have to be interpreted as an anterior. A ser + PtcP token
such as (133) clearly has an anterior function:
(133) Qu pensades
vos que fuera
ya
what think.prs.2sg you that be.pst.ipfv.sbjv.3sg already

acaescido
en el tienpo passado
si aquella conpaa
happen.ptcp.m.sg in the time pass.ptcp.m.sg if that group

de pastores [] e aquel pueblo de gentes extraas e
of shepherds and that nation of peoples strange and

fugitivas ovieran seydas
comenadas
fugitives have.pst.ipfv.sbjv.3pl be.ptcp.f.pl begin.ptcp.f.pl

a demandar?

to demand
What do you think would have happened before if this group of shepherds
and this nation of strange people on the run had begun to demand
[DTL,2819]
It is interesting to compare this type of ser + PtcP tokens to negated ser + PtcP
tokens. Consider the following two examples:
(134) diziendo que aun no era uenida
la ora de

say.prog that yet not be.pst.ipfv.3sg come.ptcp.f.sg the hour of

su muerte
his death
And he said that the hour of his death had not yet come [EDEI, 2377]
(135) no fue
bien cado
cuando la cabea le

not be.pst.pfv.3sg well fall.ptcp.m.sg when the head pro.dat

ava
cortado Orpas
have.pst.ipfv.3sg cut.ptcp.m.sg Orpas
Even before he had fallen to the floor [lit. he had not fallen down properly]
Orpas had already cut off his head [CRR, 2681]
The negative modality of the ser + PtcP tokens in (134) and (135) does not necessarily lead to an eventive interpretation. Rather than blocking the stative interpretation of ser + PtcP, these tokens express a negated resultant state. In (134), the
subject referent claims that the present time is not the time of his death. The interpretation of Example (135) is more difficult since the resultant state of thesituation of falling is indeed predicated of the subject. The negation refers to the quality
of that resultant state: The subject referent is not yet properly lying on the floor
when being killed. However, in both cases the negation does not refer to the event
as such.
This brief qualitative discussion of Old Spanish ser + PtcP tokens with irrealis
and negative modality confirms Sankoff & Thibaults (1977) analysis of Canadian
French tre + PtcP in these contexts. While irrealis modality favours an interpretation of BE + PtcP as eventive, negative modality does not. The fact that MODEL1
judges irrealis modality to have a significantly positive influence on haber-
selection thus supports the assumption that whereas Old Spanish haber + PtcP has
an anterior function, ser + PtcP has a resultative function.
The results from MODEL1 contradict assumption (c). As summarised in 3.1,
Mittwoch (2008) argues that plurality excludes a resultative meaning since pluralisation presupposes boundedness. However, speakers may conceptualise the
various events implied by the use of a plural subject referent as a single macroevent. This mechanism may be responsible for the fact that in Old Spanish, ser +
PtcP is not more likely to be marked for singular number morphology than haber
+ PtcP. Contrary to expectation, ser + PtcP tokens are more likely to occur with
plural number morphology than haber + PtcP. Although it is difficult to motivate
this effect, a possible explanation makes reference to reciprocity. Not only do Old
Spanish ser + PtcP tokens often have an inherently reflexive meaning, but also a
reciprocal meaning. Crucially, reciprocity is correlated to number. For instance,
Lichtenberk (2000) stresses in his discussion of Austronesian reciprocals that
There is one notion that underlies the great majority (though not all) of the
functions [of reciprocal elements, MR]: plurality of relations. There is plurality
of relations in an overall situation (event, state, etc.) if what can be considered
to be basically one and the same relation holds more than once either between
one or more participants and the event/state they are involved in, or between the
relevant entities.
(Lichtenberk 2000:3334)
In the light of this affinity between reciprocals and plural number morphology, the
higher probability of ser + PtcP to occur with plural number morphology may be
a result of its reciprocity. A look at the six verbs with the highest relative frequency
of plural morphology on the auxiliary illustrated in Table 6.7 provides some
evidence for this assumption.
Table 6.7 The six verbs with the highest relative frequency of plural morphology in Old
Spanish historiographical texts
SINGULAR
PLURAL
UNSPECIFIED
SUM
volver return
16.7
83.3
0.0
ayuntar gather
18
15.8
94
82.5
1.8
114
exir leave
25.0
75.0
0.0
ahogar drown
21.4
10
71.4
7.1
14
avenir agree
30.8
18
69.2
0.0
26
menguar dwindle
31.2
11
68.8
0.0
16
Both with regard to the absolute and relative frequency with which the auxiliary is marked for plural number morphology, the verbs ayuntar and avenir rank
high on this list. Situations of gathering (136) or agreeing (137) are reciprocal situations. In order to be at the same location with someone, the other person has to
also be at that location. Likewise, agreeing with somebody implies that that person
agrees, as well.
(136) Nin des que el mundo fue
non fueron

not after that the world be.pst.pfv.3sg not be.pst.pfv.3pl

ayuntadas
en un logar tamannas compannas cuemo aquellas
gather.ptcp.f.pl in one place that.big companies like these
Never had such big armies gathered at one place [EDEI, 3407]
(137) E el conde don Enrrique e el maestre don Fadrique [],

and the count Don Enrique and the master Don Fadrique

despues que fueron acordados
e abenidos
after that be.pst.pfv.3pl agree.ptcp.m.pl and reconcile.ptcp.m.pl

vinieron=se
para Albuquerque
come.pst.pfv.3pl=pro.refl towards Albuquerque
And Count Don Enrique and Master Don Fadrique [], when they were
agreed and reconciled, they went towards Albuquerque [CDP, 2957]
Ayuntar and avenir are among the verbs most bound to the ser + PtcP construction. 113 out of 114 tokens of ayuntar, as well as 25 out of 26 tokens of avenir in
the Old Spanish corpus occur in the ser + PtcP construction. These considerations
might account for the positive effect of plural morphology on ser-selection found
by MODEL1.
6.4.4.5 Temporal morphology

As summarised in 3.1, Sankoff and Thibault (1977) observe that when Canadian
French tre + PtcP is used in a subordinate clause with temporal meaning, an interpretational contrast arises depending on whether or not the verb in the main clause
has the same temporal-aspectual morphology as tre. When the two verbs agree in
temporal-aspectual morphology, tre + PtcP is interpreted as a resultative construction. When they do not, tre + PtcP is interpreted as an anterior construction.
It was argued that this contrast derives from the different foreground/background relations imposed by anterior and resultative constructions. Although in
Examples (137) and (138) the event expressed by ser + PtcP is temporally anterior
to reference time (i.e. the time of the situation expressed by the main clause), the
resultant state of that event necessarily still holds at reference time. In (137), the
subject referents reconciliation is a necessary condition for their leaving together.
Consequently, the subordinate clause supplies information that is relevant for the
progression of the narration.
(138) Luego que fue muerto
el Rey don Pelayo;

after that be.pst.pfv.3sg die.ptcp.m.sg the king Don Pelayo

Alaron
los altos omnes a Phaphila su hijo Rey.
raise.pst.pfv.3pl the high men to Phaphila his son king
When king Don Pelayo was dead, the noblemen elected his son Phaphila
king [EDEII, 4644]
Notably, there is an intimate connection between the use of haber + PtcP and ser +
PtcP in narrative contexts like (137) and (138), and the use of perfective past tense
morphology. Table 6.8 compares the distribution of tense morphology for haber/
ser + PtcP tokens between subordinate temporal clauses expressing anteriority and
main clauses or other subordinate clauses. Examples are given in italics. In addition, it subdivides the class of auxiliary + PtcP tokens in subordinate temporal
clauses according to whether or not the auxiliary agrees in temporal morphology
with the main verb.
When haber + PtcP or ser + PtcP are used in subordinate temporal clauses
expressing anteriority, in the great majority of cases the auxiliary is marked for
past tense morphology (imperfective or perfective). In main clauses or other types
of subordinate clauses, imperfective past tense morphology is about twice as frequent as perfective past tense morphology. However, this distribution is reversed
in temporal subordinate clauses expressing anteriority where the tense morphology of the auxiliary corresponds to the tense morphology of the main verb. In
these contexts, perfective past tense morphology is vastly more common than
imperfective past tense morphology. Almost half of all auxiliary + PtcP tokens
with perfective past tense morphology in the Old Spanish section of the corpus
Table 6.8 Distribution of tense morphology for Old Spanish haber/ser + PtcP tokens in
subordinate temporal clauses that situate the situation expressed by the main clause verb
after the situation expressed by haber/ser + PtcP in the subordinate clause
TENSE MORPHOLOGY
MAIN CLAUSE OR TEMPORAL SUBORDINATE SUM

OTHER TYPE OF
CLAUSE EXPRESSING
SUBORDINATE
ANTERIORITY
CLAUSE
TenseAux + PtcP TenseAux + PtcP =
TenseMain verb
TenseMain verb
N
Present
he cantado I have sung or
soy venido I have come
227
97.4
0.9
1.7
233
Future
habr cantado I will have
sung or ser venido I will
havecome
22
78.6
14.3
7.1
28
Imperfective past
haba cantado I had sung or
era venido I had come
829
93.5
42
4.7
16
1.8
887
Perfective past
hube cantado I had sung or
fui venido I had come
190
49.7
14
3.7
178
46.6
382
TOTAL
1268
62
200
1530
occur in these contexts. An example like (138) is thus rather typical for tokens with
perfective past tense morphology.
It was argued that in narrative contexts of this type, the auxiliary + PtcP token
typically supplies information relevant for the progression of the narration. The
close relationship between perfective past tense morphology and these narrative
configurations suggests that this discourse function is above all related to perfective
past tense morphology. In addition, the narration-progressing function of haber
+ PtcP and ser + PtcP tokens with perfective past tense morphology is not limited
to temporal subordinate clauses (as in Example (103)), but is also found where the
token appears in a main clause. Consider Example (84), repeated as (139):
(139) tantost que=las sirpientes fueron
en=la agua salada de=la

as.soon that=the serpents go.pst.pfv.3pl in=the water salty of=the

mar fueron afogadas
sea be.pst.pfv.3pl drown.ptcp.f.pl
As soon as the serpents went into the salty water of the sea they drowned
[CRO1, 5246]
As already noted in the earlier discussion of this example in 5.2.2, the ser +
PtcP token appears to have the same function as a simple perfective preterit tense.
The distinction between imperfective and perfective preterits in the Romance languages is not merely of aspectual nature (see 3.1). The distinction between perfective and imperfective preterits serves the function of Reliefgebung. While the
French imperfective preterit serves as a backgrounding tense, the perfective preterit is a foregrounding tense (Weinrich 2001 [1964]: 117). Whereas the imperfective preterit supplies information that is not genuinely interesting to the hearer (it
is not unheard-of ), the perfective preterit drives forward the narration as such
(Weinrich 2001 [1964]: 118).
The foregrounding function of perfective past tense morphology is evident in
Example (139). Thus, the death of the serpents is an important event in the narration. In the later co-text, the gases emitted by the dead bodies of the animals are
told to have infected the air and consequently brought a plague over the city of
Rome. Crucially, as proposed by Weinrich (2001 [1964]: 116), the French pass
antrieur (i.e. the compound past form in which the auxiliary bears perfective past
tense morphology) and the simple perfective preterit have the same narrationprogressing function. The narration-progressing function of ser + PtcP and haber
+ PtcP tokens with perfective past tense morphology explains why it has been frequently observed that tokens of this type have an emphatic (Yllera 1980:280) or
current relevance (Octavio de Toledo y Huerta & Rodrguez Molina 2008:299)
function.
In summary, the positive effect of imperfective past tense morphology on
the selection of haber over ser favours the assumption that haber + PtcP fulfils
a backgrounding textual function, while ser + PtcP fulfils a foregrounding textual function. These different narrative functions are in turn directly related to
their different grammatical functions. Resultatives are typically used to supply information that is relevant for the progression of a narration since they
give information about resultant states (cf. 3.1). A subject referents actions are
directly enabled by a certain state that applies to him/her. By contrast, anteriors
are used to express events that are less likely to have directly caused a situation
at reference time. In the vein of the theory of the grammaticalisation of anteriors developed by Jacob (1994, 1995, 1996, 1998, 2001), anteriors express events
that are of pragmatic relevance to a subject referent (see 3.2.1). For instance,
they express an obligation of the subject referent, and can thus be taken to give
information as to the subject referents motivation for a certain action. However, it is less likely that these events are prerequisites for following events in
a causal sense. The differences between haber + PtcP and ser + PtcP regarding
temporal-aspectual morphology and subordination patterns are a reflex of
these different narrative functions. Consequently, the analysis delivered in this

section can be taken as further evidence for the assumption that whereas Old
Spanish haber + PtcP already has an anterior function, ser + PtcP has a resultative function.
6.4.4.6 Persistence
The regression analysis also shows how recency influences Old Spanish auxiliary selection. The writers decision for ser + PtcP over haber + PtcP sometimes
depends on whether or not a ser + PtcP token falling into the envelope of variation is present in the immediate preceding co-text. This effect gets stronger with
decreasing textual distance between the persistence-triggering ser + PtcP token
and the token in question. This finding supports a usage-based approach to the
study of Old Spanish auxiliary selection.
6.5 Summary
In the Sections 6.1 6.4, the distribution of haber + PtcP and ser + PtcP in Old
Spanish historiographical texts has been described using descriptive and inferential statistical methodology. The variability-based neighbour clustering (VNC)
analysis supports the division of the corpus of historiographical texts into three
periods: Old Spanish (12701424), Pre-Classical Spanish (14251524), and Classical Spanish (15251699). Whereas the Old Spanish section of the corpus displays
a relative stability of ser-selection in time, Pre-Classical and Classical Spanish texts
display a strong tendency for ser + PtcP to be replaced by haber + PtcP. Likewise,
the generalised linear mixed-effect regression model (MODEL1 ) has shown the
date of occurrence of a token to not have a significant effect on Old Spanish auxiliary selection.
The results illustrate a series of semantic and morphosyntactic parameters that
exercise a significant influence on the distribution of haber + PtcP and ser + PtcP
in Old Spanish historiographical texts. It was argued that these parameters relate
to the difference between anterior and resultative constructions. Consequently,
these results support the assumption that whereas Old Spanish haber + PtcP had
already acquired a temporal function, many ser + PtcP tokens display a resultative
function.
Thus, the distribution of Old Spanish ser + PtcP and haber + PtcP can be
explained by four central differences between resultative and anterior constructions: transitivity, reference to event vs. reference to resultant state, persistence of
resultant state, and discourse function. These are discussed in turn.
6.5.1 Transitivity
Transitivity is the best global predictor of Old Spanish auxiliary selection. Due to
the differences in their origins, haber + PtcP is prototypically used with transitive
predicates, whereas ser + PtcP is prototypically used with intransitive predicates.
Although only intransitive auxiliary + PtcP tokens are investigated in this study,
reflexes of the dominance of the parameter of transitivity are found in the auxiliation of intransitive predicates.
First, the semantic parameter of subject control has been shown to favour the
selection of haber + PtcP over ser + PtcP. The question of whether or not the subject referent controls the event is intimately related to the argument structure of
a sentence, as indicated by the prominent role of control as a Proto-Agent entailment in Dowtys (1991) theory of argument selection. The results from MODEL1
demonstrate that control also influences intransitive auxiliary selection.
Second, the analysis highlights the importance of reflexivity and reciprocity
for Old Spanish auxiliary selection. Due to its origin as a middle construction,
ser + PtcP carries vestiges of a reflexive/reciprocal function. The reflexive function of ser + PtcP explains two effects found by MODEL1: (i) the probability to
occur with a reflexive pronoun is significantly lower for ser + PtcP tokens than
for haber + PtcP tokens, and (ii) ser + PtcP tokens are significantly more likely
to display plural number morphology on the auxiliary than haber + PtcP tokens.
It was shown that verbs which partake in the causative alternation start being
used earlier in the haber + PtcP construction than more prototypical intransitive verbs precisely because of the transitive origin of haber + PtcP. Since haber
+ PtcP does not have a reflexive/reciprocal function, the expansion of haber +
PtcP to predicates marked as [+DIR, +TE] appears to have been enabled by the
use of the reflexive pronoun. Consequently, it was hypothesised that the expansion of haber + PtcP was intimately connected to the expansion of the use of
the reflexive pronoun. Further evidence for this assumption will be gathered in
Chapter 7.
6.5.2 Reference to event vs. reference to resultant state
Whereas resultative constructions express the resultant state and entail the event
causing the resultant state, anteriors express the event and entail the resultant state.
Consequently, predicates whose event template involves a transition (marked as
[+DIR]) are much more likely to be auxiliated with ser than with haber. The analysis suggests that predicates expressing a change of location do not occur more
often with ser + PtcP than predicates expressing other types of change of state. This
observation supports Mateus (2009) purely aspectual definition of the verb classes
of the Auxiliary Selection Hierarchy when dealing with Old Spanish. In the ser +
PtcP construction, predicates whose event template does not involve a transition
are often coerced into a resultative interpretation by template augmentation. As
a result, variable auxiliary selection behaviour of verbs is more common in the
middle of the Auxiliary Selection Hierarchy than at its upper edge. Although the
presence of a transition in the event template is the best verb-semantic predictor
of Old Spanish intransitive auxiliary selection, this effect becomes stronger when
the predicate is telic. Predicates marked as [+DIR,+TE] appear most frequently in
the ser + PtcP construction. As evinced by the possibility of a resultative reading
of degree achievement verbs, telicity is not a necessary prerequisite for a resultative
interpretation of a situation. However, it emphasises the reference to the resultant
state, thus favouring ser-selection.
The difference between resultatives and anteriors with regard to which part
of a (complex) situation is expressed also explains the marginally significant positive influence of expressions of subject intention and stative locative adverbials on
haber + PtcP. Since in its resultative use, ser + PtcP does not introduce a Davidsonian event variable, these types of adverbial modification are often incompatible
with ser + PtcP.
6.5.3 Persistence of resultant state
A resultative interpretation requires that the resultant state holds at reference time.
For this reason, the use of ser + PtcP is significantly less likely in the context of
temporal adverbials expressing bounded duration than haber + PtcP. By contrast,
temporal adverbials expressing unbounded duration favour ser-selection. Haberselection is significantly more likely in contexts involving irrealis modality because
these contexts do not justify the assumption that the resultant state triggered by
the event holds at reference time.
6.5.4 Discourse function
Resultative constructions are used in narrative texts to advance the narration,
whereas anteriors are used to supply background information. For this reason, haber + PtcP occurs significantly more often with imperfective past tense
morphology than ser + PtcP: in Romance languages, imperfective past tense
morphology is typically used to supply background information. This background information may however have pragmatic relevance for the subject referent and explain the motivation for his/her action. By contrast, perfective past
tense morphology is used to supply information important for the progression
of the narration. This narration-progressing function of perfective past tense
morphology is apparent in the emphatic function of ser + PtcP and haber +
PtcP tokens with perfective past tense morphology and their typical a ssociation
with pre-posed temporal subordinate clauses. Whereas Old Spanish haber +

PtcP expresses a subject-centred relevance, Old Spanish ser + PtcP expresses a
situation-centred relevance.
6.5.5 General summary
In summary, the findings of this chapter can be taken to support the constructional
approach to Old Spanish auxiliary selection proposed in Chapter 3. Note, however, that this finding does not invalidate earlier traditional syntactic and semantic
approaches to auxiliary selection (cf. 2.1). In line with the syntactic approach to
auxiliary selection, the parameter of subject control favours haber-selection. In line
with the semantic approach to auxiliary selection, the verb-semantic parameters
relating to the existence of a template in the logical structure of the predicate, as
well as telicity, favour ser-selection. Due to the close correlation between event
semantics and subject referentiality, both approaches have explanatory potential
for Old Spanish auxiliary selection. However, since they restrict their analysis to
the influence of the type of auxiliated verbs on Old Spanish auxiliary selection,
neither of the two approaches can explain all of the variation. By contrast, analysing the opposition between ser + PtcP and haber + PtcP as a contrast between two
construction types with different functions can explain not only its distribution
regarding auxiliated verbs, but also the other distributional differences reported in
this chapter. Although the constructional approach to Old Spanish auxiliary selection does not invalidate the other approaches, it is applicable in cases in which
the other approaches do not offer explanations. In addition, the statistical analysis
weighs the importance of the distributional criteria and thus allows to model the
process by which a speaker decides for either ser or haber.
Before concluding this chapter, a last point needs addressing. Both the VNC
analysis and the multivariate analysis have shown that no significant decrease of
ser-selection over time takes place in the Old Spanish section of the corpus of
historiographical texts. By contrast, Rodrguez Molinas (2010) findings show that
the usage frequency of haber + PtcP was already increasing in Old Spanish. How
do these findings fit each other?
In Chapter 4, it was argued that the expansion of a construction into the usage
context of another construction (actualisation) presupposes a functional similarity between these two constructions. In the envelope of variation chosen in this
study, however, haber + PtcP and ser + PtcP have been shown to be still rather
dissimilar with regard to their grammatical function. For this reason, there are
only few contexts in which haber + PtcP expanded at the expense of ser + PtcP
already in Old Spanish. The analyses conducted in this chapter suggest that in Old
Spanish, replacement processes can be assumed in usage contexts involving stative
predicates and usage contexts where a reflexive pronoun is used. These contexts
are similar to the original (transitive) usage contexts of haber + PtcP. However, the
expansion of haber + PtcP into these contexts is not strong enough to lead to a
significant increase in its usage frequency.
It appears that the increase of the usage frequency of haber + PtcP in Old
Spanish rather concerns usage contexts that do not fall into the envelope of variation between haber + PtcP and ser + PtcP chosen in this study. Several of these
contexts were already identified in the discussions of qualitative data in 3.2 and
5.2.2: (i) absolute transitives, (ii) the pseudo-transitive constructions which Detges (2001) calls resultative I constructions, (iii) tokens formed from predicates
expressing manner of motion with a locative adverbial complement in the form of
a direct object, and (iv) tokens involving a dative argument. These contexts display
a near-categorical degree of haber-selection already in Old Spanish. Trivially, a
quantitative expansion of haber + PtcP in these contexts in Old Spanish would
have no influence on the account of the development of auxiliary selection in Old
Spanish presented in this chapter because these contexts were not included in the
study.
The results from this chapter suggest a fifth expansion context of haber + PtcP
in Old Spanish that only indirectly influences the distribution of auxiliary selection in intransitive contexts. Whereas Old Spanish ser + PtcP constructions have
a narration-advancing function in narratives, Old Spanish haber + PtcP constructions rather supply background information. In this respect, ser + PtcP is rather
similar to non-periphrastic perfective preterits like cant s/he sang, and haber +
PtcP is rather similar to non-periphrastic imperfective preterits like cantaba s/he
sang. For this reason, it stands to reason that the expansion of the usage frequency
of haber + PtcP in Old Spanish was not at the expense of ser + PtcP, but rather at
the expense of imperfective preterits of the type cantaba. There are at least two
arguments favouring this point of view.
First, several quantitative studies on the development of English or Spanish
anterior constructions show that an increase of the use of these constructions typically involves a decrease of the use of simple preterits (e.g. Elsness 1996; Copple
2009b, 2009a). Copple (2009b) compares the frequency of use of the Spanish present perfect, i.e. anteriors with present tense morphology, with the frequency of use of
simple preterits with imperfective and perfective past tense morphology. Although
she does not include data for the 13th and 14th century, she (2009b: 76) shows that
26 per cent of the 15th century tokens are present perfects, whereas 74 per cent
are preterits. The relative usage frequency of present perfects rises constantly until
reaching 56 per cent in the 20th century. It stands to reason that a similar trend can
be found for anteriors with past tense morphology: the rise in usage frequency of
the anterior construction haber + PtcP may be at the expense of the use of preterits.
A second indicator for the analysis proposed here comes from a study that
compares auxiliary selection in a bible translation from the mid-13th century to
bible translations from the beginning of the 15th century (Rosemeyer 2012). The
quantitative study demonstrates that on the one hand, no significant trends of
replacement ser > haber can be documented between the two time stages. On the
other hand, there is a great affinity of haber + PtcP constructions to imperfective past tense morphology. In particular, there is a high probability that when
a translator uses an haber + PtcP token to translate a token from the bible, other
translators use an imperfective preterit. By contrast, ser + PtcP tokens in a passage
from one bible translation often are phrased with perfective preterits in other bible
translations. This finding thus supports the assumption of a similarity in function
between (a) haber + PtcP and imperfective preterits, and (b) ser + PtcP and perfective preterits.
These observations suggests that the increase in usage frequency of haber +
PtcP in Old Spanish was not at the expense of ser + PtcP, but rather of imperfective
preterits. In summary, Old Spanish auxiliary selection can be characterised as the
authors choice between two functionally well delimited constructions that were
diachronically stable. However, the stability of this alternation got lost in the 15th
century. Haber + PtcP started intruding into the usage contexts of ser + PtcP. This
development is described in the next chapter.
chapter 7
Gradualness and conservation in the

loss of ser + PtcP
The last chapter has described the differences in the distribution of haber
+ PtcP and ser + PtcP in Old Spanish in terms of the functional difference
between anterior and resultative constructions. This model of Old Spanish
auxiliary selection serves as a baseline for the further analysis in this chapter.
The relative stability of auxiliary selection between 1270 and 1424 was lost in
the time between 1425 and 1699 by the expansion of haber + PtcP into contexts
of use formerly associated with ser + PtcP. Regardless of their typical semantics, more and more verbs began selecting haber + PtcP after the beginning of
the 15th century. Thus, not only stative predicates referring to the existence of a
state (140) or the prolongation of a pre-existing state (141), but also predicates
classified as degree achievements (142), appearance (143), telic change of state
(144), and telic change of location (145) began appearing more regularly in the
haber + PtcP construction. The following examples are from 15th century texts
after 1425:
(140) ans como Magus e Agreses hovieron
folgado

so how Magus and Agreses have.pst.pfv.3pl rest.ptcp.m.sg

ya
quanto
already how.much
When Magus and Agreses had rested a while [CRR, 1781]
(141) Sali
de las galeas con algunos pocos que con l

leave.pst.pfv.3sg from the galleys with some few that with him

avan quedado
have.pst.ipfv.3pl stay.ptcp.m.sg
He left the galleys with a few men that had stayed with him [VIC, 2606]
(142) aqueste oso que ava crescido
mucho

that bear that have.pst.ipfv.3sg grow.ptcp.m.sg much
That bear that had grown much [CRR, 1590]
(143) conto como

auia acaesido
&

tell.pst.pfv.3sg how have.pst.ipfv.3sg happen.ptcp.m.sg and

fallaron=lo
verdad
find.pst.pfv.3pl=it truth
He told them what had happened and they found that it was true
[ATA, 2837]
(144) la mucha de su gente que all haba perecido

the much of his men that there have.pst.ipfv.3sg perish.ptcp.m.sg

en las escaramuzas habidas
con los guipuzes
in the skirmishes have.ptcp.f.pl with the Gipuzkoans
The many men of his who had died there, in the skirmishes with the
Gipuzkoans [CRCP, 3886]
(145) mosn Aymn e los yngleses non avan
cavalgaduras

Mosen Aymn and the English not have.pst.ipfv.3pl horses

como avan benido
por mar
because have.pst.ipfv.3pl come.ptcp.m.sg by sea
Mosen Aymn and the English did not have horses because they had come
by the sea [REP, 2451]
This chapter aims at examining the role of gradualness and conservation in the
development of Spanish auxiliary selection. The model of linguistic disappearances established in Chapter 4 leads to three hypotheses regarding the development of auxiliary selection in Spanish:
1. Certain predicate classes are affected by the actualisation of haber + PtcP
later than others. The order in which these predicate classes are affected by
the actualisation process depends on their similarity to the original usage
context of haber + PtcP. Each time haber + PtcP starts being used with a new
predicate type, this represents an innovation in its use. Since these linguistic innovations take time to spread through the verb class expressing these
predicates, ser-selection survives longer in these verb classes a remanence
effect.
2. Frequency effects slow down the speed of the expansion of haber + PtcP. Due
to entrenchment, highly frequent ser + PtcP syntagms are conserved. The conservation of highly frequent ser + PtcP syntagms in turn leads to an emancipation of these syntagms from the mother construction. To the extent that these
syntagms lose their original function, conservation causes paradigmatic atrophy and raises the probability of reanalyses of the function of the conserved
syntagms.
Chapter 7. Gradualness and conservation in the loss of ser + PtcP
3. In diachrony, persistence also has a conserving effect. Because of the entrenchment of the ser + PtcP construction at a low level of abstraction (the ser + PtcP
construction contains fewer members than earlier), members of the construction activate the construction to a greater degree than in earlier stages of the
change where the ser + PtcP is entrenched at a higher level of abstraction.
Consequently, the use of ser + PtcP is expected to increasingly rely on persistence effects. Persistence is also expected to counteract the functional changes
resulting from conservation. As a top-down activation mechanism, persistence leads to the activation of the entire constructional paradigm of the ser +
PtcP construction. Late ser + PtcP tokens should therefore increase in productivity if a ser + PtcP token is present in the preceding co-text. In the given situation of language change, this means that these tokens should be used more
conservatively, i.e. in a function in which ser + PtcP has become infrequent.
This chapter is structured as follows. Section 7.1 discusses the statistical methodology used in this chapter. Since remanence and conservation result from different types of historical processes, it is necessary to also employ different statistical
methodology when evaluating them. Discrete-time hazard analysis (Singer &
Willett 1993, 2003) is used in order to demonstrate remanence effects in the development of auxiliary selection. Although to some degree, this type of analysis can
be extended to also measure conservation, it cannot capture the changes in the
distribution of auxiliary selection that accompany conservation. These changes
are analysed using generalised linear mixed-effects modelling. This methodology
allows evaluating the three hypotheses concerning remanence effects (7.2), frequency effects (7.3) and the role of persistence in diachrony (7.4). As usual, the
chapter ends with a summary of its findings (7.5).
7.1 Methodological approach

In Chapter 4, a strict division between remanence and conservation was proposed. If the actualisation of haber + PtcP first affected those usage contexts
of the less productive construction ser + PtcP that are most similar to its own
original usage contexts, usage contexts firmly associated with Old Spanish serselection should resist the actualisation of haber + PtcP longer than other usage
contexts of ser + PtcP. Although this diachronic process leads to synchronic gradience, it cannot be said to actually conserve ser + PtcP. The speed of actualisation of haber+ PtcP does not slow down for the contexts of use that are typical
for ser + PtcP.
By contrast, the assumption of conservation effects implies differences in the

speed of the replacement of ser + PtcP with haber + PtcP for different verbs. Due
to the growing autonomy of highly frequent ser + PtcP syntagms from the ser +
PtcP construction, these syntagms are less affected by the actualisation of haber +
PtcP. As a result, the replacement of ser + PtcP by haber + PtcP is slower in these
usage contexts. In statistical terms, even though two contexts of use of ser + PtcP
may have displayed a comparative degree of ser-selection at earlier points of the
diachronic process, after a certain point the functions for these processes start to
diverge.
As a result of this difference between remanence and conservation, different
statistical methodology has to be employed to model these processes. Conservation effects can be demonstrated by investigating the rate of change of a type of
tokens. In 7.3.2, the speed with which ser-selection declined in different contexts
is measured using generalised linear mixed-effect regression analyses involving
interaction terms between variables referring to context types and a variable referring to time.
By contrast, the proper dependent variable in the study of actualisation and
remanence is the date of disappearance of a type of tokens. In other words, it is
necessary to model the probability for writers to stop using a verb in the ser +
PtcP construction over time. The appropriate way to do so is to employ discretetime hazard models. Mortality research, the sociological field where discrete-time
hazard modelling was developed, provides good illustrations of the type of generalisations captured by discrete-time hazard models. Everyone dies, and crucially,
life expectancy can be assumed to be relatively homogeneous for a population:
everyone experiences the same process of cellular degeneration that eventually
leads to death. However, at a synchronic point in time, some people run a higher
hazard of dying. In particular, the relative hazard of a person to experience death
depends on her/his age. At a point in time, the risk of death is higher for an older
person than for a younger person because the process of cellular degeneration has
been affecting her/him for a longer time. In other words, discrete-time hazard
models assume that the shape of the hazard function is similar across groups, but
that its relative level differs (Singer & Willett 2003:361). It is easy to see the analogy between mortality research and the remanence effect proposed in this study.
In the same way in which younger persons usually die at a later point in time,
contexts that were affected later by an actualisation process will display usage of
the replaced construction until a later point in time.
Discrete-time hazard modelling relies on two measurements: discrete-time
hazard and survival probability. In Singer and Willetts (2003) terms, discretetime hazard is the conditional probability that individual i will experience the event
in time period j, given that he or she did not experience it in any earlier time period
(Singer & Willett 2003:330, italics in the original). The discrete-time hazard model
of the development of Spanish auxiliary selection thus measures the conditional
probability for a verb to stop appearing in the ser + PtcP construction in a certain time period. The hazard rate (tj) is calculated as indicated in formula (146)
below (Singer & Willett 2003:332). In the formula, n events refers to the number
of verbs which experience the transition from ser-selection to categorical haberselection in a time period j, whereas n at risk refers to the number of verbs at risk
in the same time period.
= n events in the time period j
(146) h(tj)
n at risk in the time period j
In the discrete-time hazard analysis proposed in this chapter, the replacement

of ser by haber for a verb is modelled as a single non-repeatable event. Once the
event the transition to categorical haber-selection is observed in one of the
time periods, the verb concerned is no longer part of the population at risk at a
later time period. Some verbs however might never experience the transition to
haber-selection and therefore remain a part of the population at risk until the
last time period. Consequently, hazard rates change over time. A hazard rate in a
given time period is independent from the hazard rates of the preceding or following time periods. Hazard functions thus display the unique risk associated
with each time period (Singer & Willett 2003:341). This is what distinguishes
hazard rate from survival probability. According to Singer & Willett, the survival
probability is defined as the probability that individual i [in this case, the verb,
MR] will survive past time period j (Singer & Willett 2003:334). Statistically, the
survival probability (tj) is calculated as in (147). In the formula, the variable n
refers to the number of verbs, whereas j once again refers to the time period.
= n who have not experienced the event by the end of time period j
(147) S(tj)
n in the data
Survival probability thus is a cumulative measurement. The survival probability of

a verb in a time period partly depends on the survival probability of ser-selection
for that verb in each earlier time period. As a result, survival functions yield much
smoother plots of developments than hazard functions.
Unsurprisingly, hazard rate and survival probability are correlated. If there
is a high probability of the loss of ser-selection in a specific time period, the
survival probability of ser-selection in that time period will usually be low. If the
hazard of losing ser-selection in a specific time period is low, the survival probability of ser-selection in that time period will usually be high (Singer & Willett
2003:344).
How are these two measurements calculated? In a first step, the chronology
of event occurrence is recorded for each verb in the sample using a sequence of
binary viz. dummy variables (Singer & Willett 2003:326329).1 This event history table contains the last dates of occurrence of each verb in the ser + PtcP
construction in each of the nine time periods: 12701299, 13001349, 13501399,
14001449, 14501499, 15001549, 15501599, 16001649, and 16501699. In
each of the time periods this dummy will take the value TRUE if the verb did
not experience the transition from ser-selection to categorical haber-selection.2 If
the verb has experienced the transition to haber-selection at one time point, the
dummy takes the value EVENT at the time point when the event occurred and is
excluded from the population at risk for subsequent time periods (FALSE).
Table 7.1 illustrates the coding of three verbs in the event history table.3 The
table illustrates that the last ser + PtcP token of each of these verbs is documented
in a different time period: 13501399, 14001449, and 15501599. The time periods preceding the event are marked as TRUE. In the time periods after the event,
the verb is censored and thus marked as FALSE. It is excluded from the calculation of the hazard rates in these subsequent time periods.
Table 7.1 Coding of three verbs in the event history table
Verb
1270 1300 1350

1299 1349 1399
andar
aparecer
1500
1549
1550
1599
1600
1649
TRUE TRUE EVENT FALSE
FALSE FALSE
FALSE
FALSE FALSE
TRUE TRUE TRUE
EVENT
FALSE FALSE
FALSE
FALSE FALSE
TRUE
TRUE
EVENT FALSE FALSE
arrepentir TRUE TRUE TRUE
1400
1449
1450
1499
TRUE
1650
1699
However, determining the last dates of occurrence of verbs in the ser + PtcP
construction presupposes dealing with a crucial methodological issue. This problem concerns the nature of the events measured in this study (and also the studies
by Aranovich 2003; Mateu 2009). Whereas death events are irreversible, this does
. In statistics, the term dummy variable is used to refer to binary variables.

. In the last time period (16501699), it was decided to always assign the value EVENT to
the dummy variable if a ser + PtcP token with the respective verb was found. This reflects the
observation that after the beginning of the 18th century, ser-selection is virtually inexistent
in the texts, as well as the fact that there is a steep decline of the frequency of ser-selection
between the first and the second half of the 17th century.
. The entire event history table is listed in the appendix.
not necessarily apply to the date of last occurrence of a verb in the ser + PtcP construction. In some cases, a verb that apparently had ceased to be used with ser +
PtcP at one point in time is documented with ser + PtcP at a later point in time. For
instance, ser + PtcP tokens of the verb ahogar drown are documented in the time
periods between 1270 and 1299, 13501399, and 14501699.
There are two possibilities of explaining this observation. On the one hand,
the later cases might be errors or anachronisms. For instance, although ser +
PtcP was in general no longer used with this verb, the syntagm ser ahogado
entered the text because of a scribal error, or an unabridged copy from an older
text. On the other hand, the problem might result from missing data. Especially in the 14th century, there is a lack of reliable data. In the corpus of historiographical texts, verbs like alzar rise, arrepentir regret, caer fall, huir flee,
quebrar break, sentar sit and many more are not documented in the ser + PtcP
construction in the first half of the 14th century. Since especially the verbs cited
here are still used quite frequently in the ser + PtcP construction in later time
periods, it was decided to share the tacit assumption by Aranovich (2003) and
Mateu (2009) that the second explanation applies in more cases. Ser-selection is
thus taken to have existed for the verb also in those time periods in which the
verb is not documented in the ser + PtcP construction. This assumption is an
important premise of the discrete-time hazard model presented in the f ollowing
sections.
The event history table provides the necessary measurements to in a second
step calculate the hazard rates and survival probabilities for the 43 verbs in this
study over time. Having established the event history table, actualisation processes
and remanence effects in the development of Spanish auxiliary selection can be
discussed.
7.2 Remanence
As discussed in Chapter 4.1, the actualisation of a construction A leads to an
expansion of that construction into the contexts of use of another construction B.
It first affects those usage domains of construction B most similar to the prototypical usage domains of construction A.
Although it was argued that Old Spanish haber + PtcP and ser + PtcP fulfil
different functions, these functions are conceptually contiguous. Anteriors can
express that a resultant state holds at reference time. Likewise, due to the resultevent metonymy, resultatives can be reinterpreted as anteriors if the result of an
event is expressed to pragmatically implicate the event itself (see 3.1).
Due to this conceptual proximity between the anterior haber + PtcP and the
resultative construction ser + PtcP, haber + PtcP was able to intrude into usage
contexts that were affine to the use of ser + PtcP. The periodisation analysis in
Chapter 6 has shown that in historiographical texts, this development only gained
momentum after 1425. However, already in Old Spanish, stative predicates were
already much more frequent in the haber + PtcP construction than in the ser +
PtcP construction. In line with Sorace (2000), verbs expressing stative predicates
typically display variable auxiliary selection. In addition, haber + PtcP appears to
be more frequent than ser + PtcP with reflexive pronouns. Consequently, these
contexts provide a second usage domain especially susceptible to the expansion
of haber + PtcP.
The assumption that actualisation depends on the similarities between usage
contexts leads to testable predictions regarding the directionality of the expansion of Spanish haber + PtcP into other intransitive usage contexts. The analysis
of Old Spanish auxiliary selection has shown that Old Spanish ser + PtcP typically
occurs with predicates marked as [+DIR,+TE]. Within the envelope of variation
chosen in this study, these predicates are least similar to the original usage context of haber + PtcP. Recall the event structure templates for Vendlers verb classes
assumed in 2.2 (Table 2.3). The parameter [DIR] divides activities like talk and
states like stay from achievements like die and accomplishments like go to London.
Only the latter two predicate types involve a transition, i.e. a BECOME operator
in their event template. As summarised in 3.2.1, it stands to reason that activities
were among the first intransitive predicates to appear in the haber + PtcP construction. Due to the greater similarity between the event structure templates of
activities and states, stative predicates were next to be affected by the spread of
haber + PtcP, followed by predicates involving a transition in their event structure
template. Telicity has been argued to emphasise this transition and consequently, a
resultative interpretation. For this reason, telic usage contexts are even less similar
to the original intransitive usage context of haber + PtcP and expected to resist
the replacement of ser by haber longest. Aranovichs (2003) original Semantic
Displacement Hypothesis can thus be reformulated in the following manner:
(148) Revised Semantic Displacement Hypothesis: In the diachronic expansion
of haber + PtcP, the more often a verb expresses a meaning marked as
[+DIR] and especially [+DIR,+TE], the longer the verb appears in the
ser + PtcP construction.
The remainder of this section is dedicated to the empirical evaluation of the

Revised Semantic Displacement Hypothesis. Discrete-time hazard modelling
is used for both a descriptive analysis of remanence (7.2.1), and a multivariate
inferential analysis (7.2.2).
7.2.1 Descriptive analysis

The following plot displays the development of the hazard rates and survival probabilities of ser-selection for all verbs.
Estimated hazard rate
Estimated survival probability
0.2
12
70
13 12
00 99
13 13
50 49
14 13
00 99
14 14
50 49
15 14
00 99
15 15
50 49
16 15
00 99
16 16
50 49
1
69
9
0.0
0.6
0.4
0.2
0.0
13 12
00 99
13 13
50 49
14 13
00 99
14 14
50 49
15 14
00 99
15 15
50 4
16 1 9
00 59
9
16 16
50 49
1
69
9
0.4
Estimated survival probability
0.6
0.8
70
0.8
1.0
12
Estimated hazard rate
1.0
Figure 7.1 Hazard rates and estimated survival probability of verbs in the ser + PtcP
construction over time
The two plots united in Figure 7.1 are illustrative of the general development
of Spanish auxiliary selection and thus to some degree mirror the results from the
analysis of the development of the token frequencies of Spanish auxiliary selection
presented in 6.1. With regard to the hazard rate, it appears that the hazard for a
verb to stop being used in the ser + PtcP construction starts to slowly increase in
the 14th century. However, it only transcends 10 per cent by 1425. After a temporary decline of the hazard rate in the early 16th century, it rapidly increases after
1525. These results fit the development of the survival probability of ser-selection
in that after the first half of the 15th century, the survival probability of ser + PtcP
types decreases rapidly.
Before continuing, the dip of the hazard rate curve between 1500 and 1549
needs to be addressed. In contrast to the time periods preceding and succeeding that period, only one verb (perecer perish) is attested for the last time in
the ser + PtcP construction between 1500 and 1549. It is difficult to account for
this observation. Note that this section of the corpus of historiographical texts
differs from other time periods in that the number of tokens is relatively small
(281 tokens, whereas the mean number of tokens per period is 459 tokens).
However, this observation cannot account for the sudden decrease in the hazard
rates because rather than too few ser + PtcP tokens, too many ser + PtcP tokens
are attested in that period. A different solution would be to attribute the dip to
dialect variation. A majority of the tokens from the first half of the 16th century
is from Andalusian Spanish. The time period is represented by Juan de Molinas
translation of the Crnica de Aragn by Lucio Marineo Siculo, Bartolom de las
Casas Historia de las indias, lvar Nez Cabeza de Vacas Los naufragios, and
Francs de Zigas Crnica burlesca del emperador Carlos V. Both B
artolom
de las Casas and lvar Nez Cabeza de Vaca were born in Andalucia, whereas
Juan de Molina was Aragonese and Francs de Ziga Castilian. Given that most
of the tokens from that period (231 of 281 tokens) represent the language of the
former two authors, and that the early 16th century is the only time period
where this is the case, it is possible that the dip in the curve is caused by the
numerical preponderance of tokens from Andalucian. Recall that in Rodrguez
Molinas (2010) study, the expansion of haber + PtcP to intransitive predicates
was argued to be an innovation from Northern regions of the Iberian peninsula
(see 3.2.1).
Discrete-time hazard modelling also allows illustrating the development of
the hazard rates and survival probabilities of subgroups of verbs. The Revised
Semantic Displacement Hypothesis predicts that remanence effects can be modelled using a three-way classification of the predicates analysed in this study: predicates referring to a telic change of state/location [+DIR,+TE], atelic change
of state/location [+DIR,TE], and states [DIR,TE]. Each verb was grouped
according to the predicate class most frequently expressed by that verb. To give
examples, finar end, die was most frequently classified as [+DIR,+TE], escapar
escape was most frequently classified as [+DIR,TE], and arrepentir repent was
most frequently classified as [DIR,TE].
Figure 7.2 gives the hazard rates and survival probabilities for these three
verb groups. It thus illustrates the actualisation of haber + PtcP, and the resulting
remanence effects. The following description of the results concentrates on the
development of the survival probabilities of ser-selection for each verb group,
illustrated in the lower graph, because as a cumulative measurement, survival
probability illustrates the change better.4
. However, note that in general, the hazard rate for verbs typically expressing a predicate
categorised as [DIR,TE] is rather high. By contrast, for verbs typically expressing a predicate categorised as [+DIR, TE], the hazard rate usually is somewhat lower. For verbs typically
expressing a predicate categorised as [+DIR,+TE], the hazard rate usually is lowest.
Hazard by verb group

1.0
Hazard rate
0.8
0.6
[+DIR, +TE]
[+DIR, TE]
[DIR, TE]
0.4
0.2
00 9
15 15
50 49
16 159
00 9
16 164
50 9
1
69
9
49
50
15
44
00
14
39
14
13
50
34
00
13
12
70
29
0.0
Survival probability by verb group

1.0
Survival probability
0.8
0.6
0.4
[+DIR, +TE]
[+DIR, TE]
[DIR, TE]
0.2
12
70
13 129
00 9
13 134
50 9
14 13
00 99
14 14
50 49
15 149
00 9
15 154
50 9
16 159
00 9
16 164
50 9
1
69
9
0.0
Figure 7.2 Hazard rates and estimated survival probability for verbs in the ser + PtcP
construction over time by verb groups according to predicate class
1. The descriptive discrete-time hazard analysis confirms the result from the
model of Old Spanish auxiliary selection in that stative predicates appear
to have been affected by the actualisation of haber + PtcP as early as in Old
Spanish. Already in the first investigated time period (12701299), the survival
probability of stative predicates is much lower than the survival probability

of predicates marked as [+DIR,+TE] or [+DIR,TE]. The spread of haber +
PtcP to verbs expressing stative predicates appears to have gathered force only
in the second half of the 14th century. The decline of the frequency of serselection for stative verbs proceeds with a similar speed as for the other two
verb groups. Since verbs with a stative meaning are less frequent in the ser +
PtcP construction, they however generally run a higher hazard of losing serselection. Therefore, these verbs lose ser-selection earliest.
2. By contrast, verbs that typically have a meaning classified as [+DIR,TE] such
as escapar escape appear in the ser + PtcP construction until a later point in
time. In the last time period (16501699), verbs belonging to this verb class still
have a survival probability of around 8 per cent in the ser + PtcP construction.
This is due to the fact that these verbs are affected later by the actualisation of
haber + PtcP than stative verbs. The spread of haber + PtcP to the verb group
[+DIR,TE] started to accelerate only at the beginning of the 15th century.
3. An even greater longevity of ser-selection is documented for verbs that typically
express predicates marked as [+DIR,+TE]. In the last time period (16501699),
there is still a 19 per cent probability for these verbs to continue appearing in
the ser + PtcP construction. Figure 7.2 indicates that this state of affairs results
from the late point in time at which haber + PtcP starts expanding into this
usage context. Only after the first half of the 16th century haber + PtcP demonstrates a significant tendency to spread to predicates marked as [+DIR,+TE].
These findings clearly illustrate the process of actualisation of haber + PtcP and the
resulting remanence effects in the development of auxiliary selection in Spanish.
Due to their (dis)similarity to the original usage context of haber + PtcP, the three
verb groups corresponding to the three preferred predicate classes [DIR,TE],
[+DIR,TE] and [+DIR,+TE] are affected by the actualisation of haber + PtcP at
different points in time. This delay in the actualisation of dissimilar contexts leads to
remanence effects. Within the different verb groups, the item-specific actualisation
of haber+ PtcP, as well as the subsequent social conventionalisation, proceeds at the
same speed. Therefore, the differences in the time points at which the actualisation
of haber + PtcP started affecting the verb groups translate in a linear fashion into
differences in the time points at which the change was completed within each verb
group. Thus, verbs expressing stative predicates were the first to lose ser-selection,
followed by verbs expressing atelic change of location or change of state predicates,
and only then verbs expressing telic change of location or change of state predicates.
These descriptive results seem to concur with the data gathered by Benzing
(1931) and thus support Mateus (2009) assumption that the Auxiliary Selection
Hierarchy can serve as a model of the development of Spanish auxiliary s election.
The vertical position of a predicate class on Mateus version of the Auxiliary Selection Hierarchy predicts the longevity of ser-selection for that predicate class. The
higher the position of a predicate class on the Auxiliary Selection Hierarchy,
the longer one can find ser + PtcP tokens formed from verbs expressing these
predicates.
7.2.2 Multivariate analysis
Although the hazard rates and survival probabilities of verbs in the ser + PtcP construction are excellent tools for the visualisation of remanence effects, the analysis
cannot make a claim about whether the differences between the different verb
groups are statistically significant, and thus possibly representative of a greater
population of verbs. In addition, it is desirable to also model the influence of the
parameters of movement leading to a change in location [MO] and control [CON]
because such a model can serve to compare the original Semantic Displacement
Hypothesis to the Revised Semantic Displacement Hypothesis.
Importantly, discrete-time hazard analysis not only allows for descriptive,
but also inferential statistics. In line with Singer and Willetts analysis, it can be
argued that the probability for a verbi to stop appearing in the ser + PtcP construction in a time periodj is equivalent to its hazard rate in that time period (tj)
(Singer & Willett 2003:381382). This means that logistic regression modelling
can be employed to evaluate the probability of a disappearance event as a function
of various verb-specific parameters.
In fitting, evaluating, and interpreting the discrete-time hazard model, the
recommendations by Singer and Willett (2003:384406) were followed. The
event history table was transformed into a verb-period type of data set.5 In this
data set, each verb has multiple records one for each measurement occasion
(Singer& Willett 2003:17). Table 7.2 illustrates the first lines of the transformed
data set. It shows that the verb acaecer happen, occur is documented in the ser +
PtcP construction until the time period 16001649. In all earlier time periods, the
binary variable EVENT receives the value FALSE. Given that the verb is censored
in the last time period (16501699), it does not receive a value for EVENT in that
time period. Therefore for acaecer the table stops with the line in which the value
for Time is 8 (i.e. the time period 16001649). The table also demonstrates that
93 per cent of the acaecer-tokens carry a meaning classified as [+DIR].
. The technical term for this type of data set is person-period data set because in event
history analysis, typically the life course of persons is investigated. The term was changed for
this study to avoid confusion.
Table 7.2 Example of the verb-period coding of the data

Verb
Time (period)
Event
Per cent [+DIR]
acaecer
FALSE
93
acaecer
FALSE
93
acaecer
FALSE
93
acaecer
FALSE
93
acaecer
FALSE
93
acaecer
FALSE
93
acaecer
FALSE
93
acaecer
EVENT
93
The verb-period data set allows the use of logistic regression modelling. The
variable [EVENT] serves as a dependent variable and refers to the parameter of
event occurrence within a given time period. As in MODEL1, a binomial distribution was assumed. In other words, the model calculates the probability of a disappearance event for each verb. Measurements such as the percentage with which a
verb is used to express a predicate marked as [+DIR] are then used to predict event
occurrence. In the following sections, these measurements are described.
7.2.2.1 Measurements
The regression analysis involved measurements relating to time, the semantic
parameters, and interactions between the semantic parameters. First, a variable
[PERIOD], referring to the respective 50-year time period, was created. Second,
the four verb-semantic parameters were coded as the variables [DIRverb], [TEverb],
[MOverb], and [CONverb]. These variables refer to the percentages with which a
verb appears in contexts marked as [+DIR], [+TE], [+MO], and [+CON] in the
corpus of historiographical texts. Third, interaction terms between the variables
referring to verb-semantic parameters were included. This is because Figure 7.2
demonstrates a quantitative difference in the longevity of ser-selection between
verbs expressing predicates only marked as [+DIR] and verbs expressing predicates marked as [+DIR,+TE]. Thus, the joint influence of two variables may transcend the influence of each variable on its own. Statistically, this state of affairs can
be modelled using interaction terms.6
. See Section 5.3 for an introduction to interaction terms in regression modelling.
Both the time variable and the variables referring to the verb-semantic parameters are numerical, but scaled differently (there are nine time periods, whereas
percentages are scaled from 0 to 100). In order to make the influence of these
variables on the dependent variable comparable, all of the predictor variables were
standardised as z-scores.7
7.2.2.2 Model selection
In a first step, only the variable [PERIOD], i.e. the variable modelling time, was
included in order to establish an unconditional growth model measuring the
development of the probability of event occurrence over time. In Table 7.3, this
first model is summarised as MODEL2 . In a second step, the variables referring to the verb-semantic parameters and their interactions were included. This
procedure yielded MODEL2 . Fitting MODEL2 was the third step. As with
MODEL1, a gradual backward fitting process was employed in order to reach a
parsimonious model. Backward fitting processes are slightly more complex for
models that include interaction terms because it is desirable to use hierarchically
well-formulated models in regression analyses. According to Jaccard (2001:15),
a hierarchically well-formulated (HWF) model is one in which all lower order
components of the higher order interaction term are included in the model. This
means that in backward fitting processes of regression models involving interaction terms, a simple main predictor can only be removed from the model after any
interaction term involving that main predictor has been removed. Following this
strategy in the backward fitting process yielded MODEL2 .8
As expected, the inclusion of the verb-semantic predictors improves the
baseline model MODEL2 . MODEL2 scores higher for the C index of concordance and Somers Dxy, and lower for the Akaike Information Criterion (AIC).
A comparison of model fit with ANOVA suggests that MODEL2 fits the data
significantly better than MODEL2 (p < .001***). Due to the exclusion of some
parameters, the fitted MODEL2 scores lower than MODEL2 regarding the C
index of concordance and Somers Dxy. Comparing the model fit of MODEL2
and MODEL2 with ANOVA does however not lead to a significant difference.
MODEL2 thus achieves the same model fit as MODEL2 with fewer predictors and thus, degrees of freedom (as indicated by the lower AIC). Consequently,
MODEL2 was selected as the best model version.
(x m )
where z is the resulting z-score, x the vector of
sd
raw scores, m the mean of x, and sd the standard deviation of x (Bortz & Schuster 2010:3536).
. Using the established formula z =
. Significance codes: *** = p < .001, ** = p < .01, * = p < .05, . = p < .1, = p > .1.

Table 7.3 Generalised linear regression model measuring the probability of the occurrence of an event of disappearance of ser-selection
byverb-semantic predictors (MODEL2 )
PARAMETER
CLUSTER
VARIABLE
MODEL2
***
0.142
0.011
***
16.294
Directed change [DIRverb]

Telicity [TEverb]
0.148
0.000
***
0.000
***
13.448
0.000
***
0.013
0.003
**
0.009
0.000
***
0.611
0.245
0.779
0.467
Change in location [MOverb]
0.479
0.942
2.426
0.034
Control [CONverb]
0.730
0.282
[DIRverb] [TEverb]
0.205
0.013
0.206
0.006
**
[DIRverb] [MOverb]
0.057
0.024
0.101
0.015
[DIRverb] [CONverb]
1.694
0.715
[TEverb] [MOverb]
3.008
0.591
[TEverb] [CONverb]
0.501
0.736
[MOverb] [CONverb]
0.992
0.992
(Intercept)
0.077
0.000
DATE
OF OCC.
Period [PERIOD]
5.296
0.000
VERB
SEMANTICS:
MAIN EFFECTS
MODEL
EVALUATION
MODEL2
OR
VERB
SEMANTICS:
INTERACTION
EFFECTS
MODEL2
OR
OR
C index of concord.
0.85
0.92
Somers dxy
0.71
0.83
0.82
AIC
159.8
149.6
143.3
258
258
258
0.91
7.2.2.3 Results
The results of MODEL2 can be summarised in three main conclusions. First,
time is a very strong predictor of whether or not a verb loses ser-selection. The
hazard of loss of ser-selection significantly increases over time. Second, verbs that
frequently occur with a meaning entailing the presence of a transition in the event
template, i.e. marked as [+DIR], have a significantly lower hazard of losing serselection than verbs that do not frequently express such a meaning. This effect is
very strong: the odds for these verbs to lose ser-selection are over 100 times lower
1
= 111.1 than for verbs that usually express a meaning marked as [DIR].
0.009
Third, the interaction terms [DIRverb TEverb] and [DIRverb MOverb] suggest that
the odds of losing ser-selection decrease even stronger if a verb is not only frequently marked as [+DIR], but also as [+TE] or [+MO]. In addition to the effect by
[DIR], the odds of losing ser-selection decrease by another five times for verbs in
the group [DIRverb TEverb], and another ten times for verbs in the group [DIRverb
MOverb]. Note that the apparent positive influence of the [MO] as a main effect is
more than counteracted by the interaction effect. Although atelic degree achievement verbs like crecer grow are less likely to stop being used in the ser + PtcP
construction than stative verbs like quedar stay, they are more likely to do so than
telic change of state verbs like morir die and telic or atelic change of location verbs
like venir come or descender descend.
7.2.2.4 Discussion
The results from MODEL2 clearly confirm the conclusions drawn from the
descriptive analysis and provide some additional details. The loss of ser-selection
in Spanish can be modelled using Mateus (2009) version of the Auxiliary Selection Hierarchy. Predicates marked as [DIR,TE] are the first to lose ser-selection,
followed by predicates marked as [+DIR,TE], and lastly predicates marked as
[+DIR,+TE]. Although all of these predicate classes are affected by the change in
the same way, the differences in the prototypicality of ser-selection for the predicates lead to a greater longevity of ser-selection of verbs frequently expressing a
transition in their event template. While telicity adds to this remanence effect, it
cannot be regarded as a significant parameter on its own.
Interestingly, MODEL2 suggests a certain relevance of the parameter of movement leading to a change in location [MO] in the diachronic development of
Spanish auxiliary selection. There is a relatively low probability that writers stop
using verbs typically marked as [+DIR,+MO], such as ir go, or venir come in the
ser + PtcP construction. Recall that in the multivariate analysis of Old S panish auxiliary selection, the variable [MO] did not reach statistical significance, s uggesting
that in Old Spanish, a writer is not more likely to select ser when expressing a
change of location. Old Spanish writers appear not to consider these usage contexts as similar to the original usage contexts of haber + PtcP. In its straightforward
application, the model of linguistic disappearances established in Chapter 4 would
not predict that verbs frequently expressing a change of location meaning appear
in the ser + PtcP until a later point in time than other verbs that express a complex
situation. For this reason, this finding cannot be characterised as a remanence
effect.
In appears that the longevity of ser-selection with predicates marked as
[+DIR,+MO] is due to a conserving effect. Verbs that often express a meaning falling into the category [+DIR,+MO] are among the verbs used most frequently in
the corpus of historiographical texts. Consequently, the spread of haber-selection
is slower for these verbs than for less frequent verbs. Further evidence for this
assumption will be adduced in 7.3.
The results regarding the parameter of control of the subject referent over
the situation [CON] represent the opposite case. Even though control was found
to significantly favour selection of haber + PtcP in Old Spanish, this tendency
does not appear to influence the directionality of the actualisation of haber + PtcP.
This finding may be due to the greater variability of the parameter of control. In
6.2.2, it was argued that from the perspective of the typical semantics of a verb, the
parameter of control is less bound to the verb type than the other verb-semantic
parameters investigated in this study. For instance, quedar can appear both with
a verb meaning such as stay, categorised as [+CON], and a verb meaning such as
remain, categorised as [CON]. Thus, the semantic parameter of control rather
characterises the subject referent of a situation than the predicate itself. Since the
parameter of control characterises a verb to a lesser degree than the aspectual
parameters [DIR] and [TE], it is also is worse indicator of its diachronic trajectory
with regard to auxiliary selection.
This finding also puts into perspective the findings for Old Spanish. The fact
that control does not significantly influence the course of actualisation of haber
+ PtcP indicates that within the envelope of variation chosen in this study, the
aspectual parameters are more important. Subject control is however an important parameter in Aranovichs (2003) original Semantic Displacement Hypothesis.
Following that hypothesis, it would be expected that predicates marked as [CON]
lose ser-selection later than predicates marked as [+CON]. The analysis proposed
here contradicts that hypothesis in that the best predictors of the actualisation of
haber + PtcP and the ensuing remanence effects are those parameters that relate
more closely to verb semantics. Consequently, it appears that the Revised Semantic Displacement Hypothesis accounts better for the historical facts than the
original Semantic Displacement Hypothesis. In terms of actualisation theory, this

means that within the domain of intransitive verbs the similarity between the typical usage contexts of haber + PtcP and ser + PtcP depends above all on semantic
parameters relating to aspect.
In summary, MODEL2 suggests that the semantic parameters directed change
[DIR] and telicity [TE] not only explain much of the variability regarding Old
Spanish auxiliary selection, but also the longevity of ser-selection with certain
verbs. At the beginning of the 15th century, haber + PtcP increasingly intrudes
into intransitive syntactic contexts. This process affected each of the predicate
classes at approximately the same speed. However, already in Old Spanish there
is a cline of ser-selection according to the type of predicate, ranging from the
predicate type [+DIR,+TE] over the predicate type [+DIR,TE] to [DIR,TE].
The higher degree of ser-selection of predicates that have a higher position on the
Auxiliary Selection Hierarchy leads to a lower probability of these verbs to stop
occurring in the ser + PtcP construction. Aspectual semantics appears to be the
best indicator for this remanence effect. By contrast, the parameter of control
[CON] does not appear to influence the longevity of ser-selection. This finding
militates against the original formulation of Aranovichs (2003) Semantic Displacement Hypothesis.
There are two more important characteristics of this process. First, the actualisation process leads to ordered variation, or gradience. Since the decline of the frequency of ser-selection occurs at a similar rate for each predicate class, predicates
that are lower on the Auxiliary Selection Hierarchy at no point in time appear
significantly more often in the ser + PtcP construction than predicates that are
higher on the Auxiliary Selection Hierarchy. The gradient auxiliary selection in
Old Spanish translates into an ordered process of loss of ser-selection. This process
in turn replicates the Old Spanish situation, albeit with overall lower frequencies
of ser-selection, at each point in time. This observation confirms the emergentist
assumption that synchrony cannot be explained without diachrony because gradience and gradualness are inextricably intertwined.
Second, the analysis illustrates the co-dependence between the grammatical change that affects a single verb, and the grammatical change that affects the
entire Spanish auxiliary selection system. Thus, the historical process by which
the ser + PtcP construction was lost can be described as the cumulative loss of
ser-selection for the verbs investigated in this study. According to Traugott and
Trousdales (2010b) concept of gradualness in language change (see Chapter 4),
macro-changes consist of a series of micro-changes. The loss of ser-selection in
Early Modern Spanish can thus be characterised as a gradual phenomenon, affecting different usage contexts at different points in time.
7.3 Frequency effects

In this section, frequency effects in the development of Spanish auxiliary selection are described. First, it is shown that a high absolute usage frequency of a verb
leads to a greater longevity of ser-selection for that verb (7.3.1). In a second step,
the functional changes that accompany these conservation processes are identified
(7.3.2).
7.3.1 Longevity of ser-selection due to conservation
The discussion of the findings from the discrete-time hazard analysis proposed in
the last section has suggested that this statistical model not only measures remanence, but also conservation. In particular, it is likely that the longevity of serselection with verbs that frequently express a meaning classified as [+DIR,+MO]
is a remanence effect because these predicates do not occur significantly more
often in the ser + PtcP construction in Old Spanish. Consequently, the influence
of the parameter movement leading to a change in location [MO] on auxiliary
selection appears to have increased over time. Such a divergent development,
however, implies a conservation effect.
In this section, a more direct approach is proposed. The discrete-time hazard analysis developed in the last section lends itself easily to the analysis of frequency effects because the basic units of analysis are not individual auxiliary +
PtcP tokens, but the verbs themselves. Each verb was annotated for a frequency
value [FREQ]. Since the corpora used for this study are not POS-tagged, these
values had to be taken from another source. In particular, frequency values for the
verbs were extracted from Mark Davies Corpus del espaol (Davies 2002). [FREQ]
is a rather crude measure, indicating the mean usage frequency of a verb lemma
per million words over the whole time frame investigated in this study (13th
17th century).
There are three fundamental disadvantages of this frequency measure that
need to be addressed before entering the presentation of the statistical analysis. First, the frequency measure relies on the data in the CDE. Since however
many of the editions used by the CDE are not reliable, [FREQ] cannot be said to
be an exact measure. Second, the frequency measure does not take into account
changes in the usage frequencies of verb lemmata. For instance, the verb tornar return was used very frequently in Old Spanish, but came to be replaced by
volver return in Early Modern Spanish (see Rosemeyer 2013). [FREQ] is only
an indirect measurement of the decline of usage frequency of tornar. Since tornar is very frequent in Old Spanish, but very infrequent in Early Modern Spanish, tornar receives an intermediary frequency rank. Although it would be more
accurate to include the changes in usage frequency in the statistical analysis (as
in Rosemeyer 2013), the discrete-time hazard model proposed in this chapter

does not allow for such an analysis. Third, the [FREQ]-measure does not take
into account differences in the discourse genres. If, as argued in 4.5.2, frequency
effects crucially depend on discourse genres, this might be an important problem
for the statistical analysis.
Although these three characteristics of the frequency measure [FREQ] arguably distort the results of the extented discrete-time hazard analysis, these distortions are not strong enough to invalidate the results. With regard to the problem
of the editions used in the CDE, it is unlikely that the frequency with which a verb
is used in the texts will differ substantially between reliable and unreliable editions. Although verbs like tornar form an exception to this generalisation, there
is a remarkable constancy in the morphosyntactic form of verbs between Old and
Early Modern Spanish. Verbs like ir, morir, venir, or nacer are very frequent in Old
Spanish, and indeed continue to be frequent in Modern Spanish. This observation
also puts into perspective the second problem: since the mean verb lemma frequency value indirectly also measures changes in usage frequency, it can to some
degree account for these changes.
Although [FREQ] does not take into account differences in discourse traditions, the measurement appears to also be representative for the usage frequencies
of verbs in data used for this study. [FREQ] is highly correlated to the frequency
with which a verb appears in haber + PtcP and ser + PtcP constructions. Table7.4
compares (a) the verb lemma frequency taken from Marc Davies CDE, and (b) a
frequency measure for the verbs appearing in haber + PtcP and ser + PtcP constructions in the texts used in this study. This second frequency measure is an
approximate measure because, due to the great number of tokens in the corpus
of historiographical texts, haber + PtcP and ser + PtcP tokens formed from very
frequent verbs were randomised (see Chapter 5.2.4). In these cases, an approximation method was used in order to calculate the overall token number of haber +
PtcP and ser + PtcP tokens formed from these verbs in the corpus. This approximation method has the formula n of tokens = overall n of tokens encountered
n of reviewed tokens
using a search string /
.
n of randomly selected tokens
The table first shows great divergences in the absolute mean verb lemma
frequencies in the CdE corpus and the frequency of use of the same verb as a
participles in the haber + PtcP and ser + PtcP constructions. This is not surprising, given that the first frequency measure encompasses not only the second
frequency measure, but also other usage contexts, in particular, non-periphrastic
verb constructions. Second, the table demonstrates a correlation between the
two frequency measures. The verbs which have a high mean verb lemma frequency in the CdE also occur very frequently in the haber + PtcP and ser + PtcP
Table 7.4 Mean verb lemma frequencies and frequency in haber + PtcP and ser + PtcP
constructions for the most frequent verbs in the study
Verb
Mean verb
lemma frequency,
words per million
(CdE)
Relative
frequency
rank (CdE)
Mean verb frequency

in haber/ser + PtcP
constructions, words
per million
(historiograph. texts)
Relative
frequency rank
(historiograph.
texts)
ir go
2227.5
150.2
venir come
2005.8
249.5
morir die
1047.4
246.4
pasar pass
872.7
134.1
quedar stay
684.5
103.2
c onstructions in the corpus of historiographical texts. A U-test over the whole

data set (43 verbs) shows that the two frequency measures are indeed highly correlated (W = 645, ptwo-sided< .001***).9
The strong correlation between verb lemma frequency in the CdE and the
frequency of use of a verb in the haber + PtcP and ser + PtcP constructions
suggests that the frequencies extracted from the CdE represent a licit measurement in the investigation of conserving effects in the corpus of historiographical texts.
Now that the frequency measure has been introduced, the analysis can go on
to demonstrate the longevity of ser-selection with frequent verbs. After a descriptive quantitative analysis (7.3.1.1), the discrete-time hazard model from 7.2.2 is
extended by the parameter of frequency (7.3.1.2).
7.3.1.1 Descriptive analysis
This section provides preliminary evidence for the assumption that (a) conserving
effects affect the development of Spanish auxiliary selection, and (b) that in the
historiographical texts, there is a correlation between verb semantics and usage
frequency.
The influence of conservation on the development of auxiliary selection can
be shown both from a synchronic and a diachronic perspective. Thus, it is interesting to consider the usage frequencies of ser + PtcP tokens in the last time period
. The U-test was chosen because the frequency measures are not normally distributed (see
Gries 2009a: 209210).
investigated in this study, the second half of the 17th century (16501699). In
the data from this time period (n = 390), only 13 ser + PtcP tokens were found.
Table7.5 summarises the distribution of these ser + PtcP tokens regarding (a) the
verbs from which the participles are formed, and (b) the mean lemma frequency
of these verbs.
Table 7.5 Mean verb lemma frequency and frequency rank of the five verbs a ppearing
inthe ser + PtcP construction in the second half of the 17th century section of the
corpusof historiographical texts
Verb
Translation Date of last Absolute token Per cent

Mean verb
Relative
occurrence frequency with
serlemma frequency frequency
with ser +
ser + PtcP
selection
(words per
rank
PtcP
million)
ahogar drown
1698
100.0
19.8
35
morir
die
1698
17.1
1047.4
nacer
be born
1698
10.0
285.1
11
venir
come
1698
4.1
2005.8
ir
go
1698
2.0
2227.5
The table demonstrates that the distribution of ser + PtcP tokens in the second half of the 17th century is heavily skewed. First, all of the ser + PtcP tokens
are formed from verbs that are regularly marked as [+DIR]. In 7.2, it was shown
that ser-selection survives longer with these verbs. Second, 10 of the 13 ser +
PtcP tokens in this time period are formed from one of the three verbs that are
most frequent in the corpus of historiographical texts, i.e. morir, venir, or ir. A
high verb lemma frequency suggests that there also is a high token frequency
both of haber + PtcP and ser + PtcP tokens formed from these verbs. The high
token frequency of ser + PtcP tokens formed from these verbs in turn leads to a
conservation effect.
A second way to describe the conservation effect is to measure the correlation between the date of last occurrence with ser + PtcP and the mean verb
lemma frequency for the 43 verbs investigated in this study. For Figure 7.3,
the mean verb lemma frequency [FREQ] of the 43 verbs was dichotomised at
the mean of the distribution, i.e. 276.9 words per million. This yields two verb
groups with either a HIGH mean frequency (i.e. a frequency greater than 276.9
words per million) or a LOW mean frequency (i.e. a frequency lower than 276.9
words per million). The boxplot in Figure 7.3 shows that the mean date of last
occurrence in the ser + PtcP construction lies around 1625 for high-frequency
verbs, and around 1550 for low-frequency verbs. However, the great length of
the whiskers in the boxplot also suggests that there is a lot of variability. A U-test
over the data shows that the difference between high and low frequency narrowly misses statistical significance (W = 225, ptwo-sided = .056). Although more
elaborate statistical analyses are necessary to conclusively demonstrate the existence of a conserving effect due to frequency in Spanish auxiliary selection, the
distribution summarised in Figure 7.3 can be considered preliminary evidence
for this assumption.
Last appearance with ser
1700
1650
1600
1550
1500
1450
1400
1350
HIGH
LOW
Verb lemma frequency
Figure 7.3 Date of last appearance of a verb in the ser + PtcP construction as a function of its
mean verb lemma frequency
Third, the conserving effect can also be demonstrated using the discrete-time
hazard analysis proposed in the last section. In Figure 7.4, the hazard rates and
survival probabilities of ser-selection with verbs with a low mean verb lemma
frequency are plotted against the hazard rates and survival probabilities of ser-
selection with verbs with a high mean verb lemma frequency. Note that the lines
were smoothed using the function loess().
Until the beginning of the 15th century, verbs with high and low usage frequencies display a parallel development regarding auxiliary selection. They are
affected by the ongoing change in exactly the same way, as demonstrated by the
parallel lines representing the hazard of disappearing from the ser + PtcP construction and the probability of continued use in the ser + PtcP construction. After
the first half of the 15th century, this situation changes. First, low-frequency verbs
start having a consistently higher hazard of disappearing from the ser + PtcP construction. Second, the lines representing the survival probability in the ser + PtcP
construction start to diverge. Low-frequency verbs become increasingly less likely
to survive in the ser + PtcP construction than high-frequency verbs. This means
Hazard rate by verb lemma frequency

1.0
Hazard rate
0.8
0.6
LOW frequency
HIGH frequency
0.4
0.2
9
69
9
64
16
50
9
59
16
00
9
50
54
00
15
49
50
15
44
14
14
00
39
9
13
50
34
00
13
12
70
29
0.0
Survival probability by verb lemma frequency

1.0
Survival probability
0.8
0.6
LOW frequency
HIGH frequency
0.4
0.2
13
12
70
1
29
00 9
1
13 34
50 9
1
14 39
00 9
1
14 44
50 9
1
15 49
00 9
1
15 54
50 9
1
16 59
00 9
1
16 64
50 9
1
69
9
0.0
Figure 7.4 Hazard rates and estimated survival probability for verbs in the ser + PtcP
construction over time by verb lemma frequency
that the replacement process affects high-frequency verbs to a lesser degree than
low-frequency verbs.10 Figure 7.4 thus suggests a conserving effect in the development of Spanish auxiliary selection.
In the previous descriptive analyses in this section, the usage frequency of
a verb lemma has been used as a predictor variable for the development of the
auxiliary selection of that verb. However, it is important to also account for the
distribution of the frequency variable itself. Not only do the verbs selected for this
study differ in usage frequency, but there are systematic correlations between the
usage frequency of verbs and their typical meaning.
The descriptive survey of the verbs selected for this study in Chapter 5.2.2
(Table 5.2) showed that in the corpus of historiographical texts, change of location
and change of state verbs have a higher mean usage frequency than other verb
groups. In order to statistically confirm this assumption, a linear regression analysis was conducted that measures the correlation between the percentages with
which a verb appears in a context marked as [+DIR], [+TE], [+MO], and [+CON],
as well as interactions between these measurements (predictor variables), and its
mean verb lemma frequency [FREQ] (dependent variable). The dependent variable [FREQ] was centered at the mean of the distribution. A model evaluation
process yielded the statistical model described in Table 7.6.11
Table 7.6 Linear regression analysis measuring the correlation between semantic
predictors and mean verb lemma frequency [FREQ]
PARAMETER CLUSTER
VERB SEMANTICS:
MAIN EFFECTS
VARIABLE
COEFF.
Intercept
165.244
0.128
Per cent [+MO]

Per cent [+CON]
18.377
0.700
0.033
0.812
0.165
0.071
VERB SEMANTICS:
Per cent [+MO] Per cent [+CON]
INTERACTION EFFECTS
MODEL EVALUATION
R2 = 0.165
Sigma = 454.283
n = 43
. The figure also demonstrates that already in Old Spanish, highly frequent verbs appear
more often in the ser + PtcP construction than less frequent verbs. This finding can be
explained by the correlation between usage frequency and a change of location semantics.
Change of location verbs are also marked as [+DIR] (i.e. a change of location necessarily also
implies a change of state). The correlation between usage frequency and ser-selection in Old
Spanish is thus epiphenomenal and can be reduced to the contrast between verb meanings
marked as [+DIR] and [DIR].
The analysis suggests that the parameter movement leading to a change in

location [MO] is significantly correlated to mean verb lemma frequency. For each
percentage point, the model estimates an increase in the mean verb lemma frequency per million by 18.377. No such correlation is found for the other verbsemantic predictors [DIR], [TE], and [CON].12
Arguably, the finding that verbs with a motional semantics are among the
most frequent verb lemmata presents an obstacle regarding the frequency-based
analysis presented here. If verb semantics and verb lemma frequency are correlated, the descriptive analysis cannot be conclusive. The fact that there are more
late ser + PtcP tokens formed from highly frequent verb lemmata than ser + PtcP
tokens formed from less frequent verb lemmata could effectively be a result of
their semantic features.
In order to disentangle the parameters of motional semantics and frequency,
the discrete-time hazard analysis proposed in the last section (MODEL2 ) was
extended, including the new frequency measure. This model is described and discussed in the next section.
7.3.1.2 Multivariate analysis
In this section, it is shown that the descriptive results from the last section reach
statistical significance. This means that there is a high probability that these conservation effects also apply to verbs not investigated in this study.
7.3.1.2.1 Model selection. The discrete-time hazard analysis proposed in 7.2
specifies the influence of time, verb semantics, and the interaction between verbsemantic parameters on the longevity of ser-selection for the verbs in the corpus of
historiographical texts. In order to give direct evidence for frequency effects in the
development of Spanish auxiliary selection, MODEL2 was extended by the variable [FREQ], the mean verb lemma frequency of a verb. Like the other predictor
variables, [FREQ] was z-standardised in order to ensure comparability of its influence to the influence of the other predictor variables. The results of the resulting
MODEL2 are given in Table 7.7. For ease of comparison, the results of MODEL2
are repeated in the left column.13
. Note, however, that the variance explained by the model is very low. The residual variation (sigma) is calculated as 454.3 words per million. Although the regression model does
not reach a high degree of explained variance, this is not particularly surprising the usage
frequency of a verb is expected to depend on many factors, only one of which might be its
semantics.
Table 7.7 Generalised linear regression model measuring the probability of the
occurrence of an event of disappearance of ser-selection for a verb (MODEL2 )
PARAMETER
CLUSTER
VARIABLE
(Intercept)
MODEL 2
MODEL 2
OR
0.148
0.000
***
OR
0.131
0.000
***
DATE OF OCC.
Period [PERIOD]
13.448
0.000
***
18.268
0.000
***
VERB
SEMANTICS:
MAIN
EFFECTS
Directed change
[DIRverb]
0.009
0.000
***
0.005
0.000
***
Telicity [TEverb]
0.779
0.467
0.826
0.585
Change in
location [MOverb]
2.426
0.034
3.755
0.005
**
VERB
SEMANTICS:
INTERACTION
EFFECTS
DIRverb TEverb
0.206
0.006
**
0.191
0.006
**
DIRverb MOverb
0.101
0.015
0.069
0.007
**
FREQUENCY
Mean verb lemma

frequency [FREQ]
0.498
0.014
MODEL
EVALUATION
0.91
0.92
Somers dxy
0.82
0.85
AIC
143.3
138.29
258
258
As indicated by the section on model evaluation, MODEL2 reaches higher

scores for the C index of concordance and Somers Dxy, than MODEL2 . Thus,
MODEL2 explains more variance than MODEL2 . For this reason, ANOVA
judges MODEL2 to be significantly better than MODEL2 (p < .01**). At the
same time, the AIC is lower for MODEL2 than for MODEL2 : MODEL2
reaches a better model fit. The statistical evaluation of the two models thus justifies the inclusion of the variable [FREQ].
7.3.1.2.2 Results. The main differences between MODEL2 and MODEL2
concern the variables [FREQ] and [MOverb]. The model judges the probability of
the loss of ser-selection to be significantly lower for verbs with a higher mean lemma frequency than for verbs with a lower mean lemma frequency. The assumption
of conserving effects gains further support by the fact that the inclusion of the
variable [FREQ] leads to a change regarding the variable [MOverb]. In particular,
it strengthens the effect strength and p-value of the interaction between [DIRverb]
and [MOverb].
7.3.1.2.3 Discussion. The extension of the discrete-time hazard analysis for the
parameter of mean verb lemma frequency provides strong evidence for an influence of conserving effects on the development of auxiliary selection in Spanish.
MODEL2 demonstrates remanence and conserving effects, as well as their interaction, in this development. Verbs that are frequent in the ser + PtcP construction
lose ser-selection later than verbs that are less frequent in the ser + PtcP construction. The parameter of event complexity thus acquires crucial importance for a
description of the gradual disappearance of ser + PtcP. Conserving effects modify
this situation. Thus, MODEL2 suggests that throughout all of the investigated
verb classes, verbs with the highest overall usage frequency lose ser-selection later
than other verbs. There are more ser + PtcP tokens formed from verbs with a high
usage frequency. These tokens emancipate from the original ser + PtcP paradigm,
and are thus less affected by the replacement process.
Although in this analysis verb lemma frequency is used as an indicator of
this conserving effect, the crucial parameter is thus the absolute number of ser +
PtcP tokens formed from a verb. Even if ser-selection is relatively uncommon for
a highly frequent verb, in absolute numbers there may be more ser + PtcP tokens
formed from this verb than from a less frequent verb that more commonly selects
ser as an auxiliary. Whereas remanence effects result from actualisation and thus,
high type frequency, conserving effects result from high token frequency.
In addition, the analysis illustrates the need to take into account genre-specific distributions when analysing frequency effects. As illustrated in Table 7.5, the
three verbs with the highest usage frequency in the CDE are ir go, venir come and
morir die. While ir and venir might have had a relatively high usage frequency in
spoken language or other discourse traditions, this is rather unlikely for morir. The
fact that according to the CDE, morir is used frequently, results from the composition of the CDE. Most of the older Spanish texts that have been conserved until
today belong to narrative discourse traditions. Consequently, narrative texts form
a large section of both the CDE and the CORDE. Due to the violent descriptions
of fighting in many narrative, and, in particular, historiographical texts, morir
has a high usage frequency in these texts. An analysis like the one proposed in
this section thus has to be handled with caution. It cannot be guaranteed that its
results can be generalised to other Spanish discourse traditions, or even spoken
language. It is possible that in spoken language, Early Modern Spanish language
users retained ser-selection longer for other verbs than the authors of the historiographical texts. Since frequency effects result from the experience of a language
user with language within a certain domain of language use, they mainly affect this
specific discursive formation. The speaker of course has the choice to transfer her/
his linguistic behaviour to other discourse domains. Such a frequency effect would
however be indirect and challenging to measure (but see Rosemeyer to appear-b).
7.3.2 Changes in the distribution of auxiliary selection

A second way to assess the influence of frequency effects on the development
of Spanish auxiliary selection involves measuring changes in the distribution of
auxiliary selection. The model of the disappearance of ser + PtcP established in
Chapter 4 leads to the following three predictions:
1. Frequently recurring ser + PtcP syntagms are subject to entrenchment and
conservation processes. This assumption not only suggests that highly frequent verbs occur in the ser + PtcP construction longer than less frequent
verbs, but also an increasing paradigmatic atrophy of these ser + PtcP tokens.
Since the conservation of frequent ser + PtcP syntagms implies the severing of
the paradigmatic link to the mother construction ser + PtcP, the paradigmatic
variability of these remaining ser + PtcP syntagms declines. Thus, ser should
over time display a more invariant morphology.
2. The gradual severing of the paradigmatic link between specific ser + PtcP
syntagms and the mother construction ser + PtcP offers the possibility of a
functional change of these remaining ser + PtcP tokens. Due to the growing
uncertainty of the authors regarding the grammatical function of ser + PtcP,
the conserved ser + PtcP syntagms may come to be used in novel contexts. In
particular, the rise of syntactic productivity of haber + PtcP might over time
lead to a reanalysis of the originally resultative ser + PtcP in terms of an anterior construction.
3. Persistence has a conserving effect in language change. Over time, the productivity of the disappearing ser + PtcP construction increasingly depends on
persistence. Due to the entrenchment of the ser + PtcP construction at a low
level of abstraction in Early Modern Spanish, it is more likely to be primed by
recent members of the construction than in Old Spanish.
In order to evaluate these predictions, this chapter analyses the totality (1270
1699) of the corpus of historiographical texts. Section 7.3.2.1 establishes the
variables that are assumed as relevant for the analysis. 7.3.2.2 describes the
quantitative distribution of haber + PtcP and ser + PtcP according to these variables in Early Modern Spanish (i.e. Pre-Classical and Classical Spanish). 7.3.2.3
presents MODEL3, a multivariate diachronic analysis of these data.
The analyses presented in this section use MODEL1 (see Chapter 6.4) as a baseline model. Consequently, the variables whose relevance for Old Spanish auxiliary
selection was evaluated are also used as predictors in the analysis of the entire
dataset. These variables and their influence on Old Spanish auxiliary selection are
repeated in Table 7.8. In addition, the table summarises the influence of these variables on Old Spanish auxiliary selection according to MODEL1 , with the significance levels given in brackets.
Table 7.8 Summary of the parameterisation of Old Spanish auxiliary selection
and the results of MODEL1
PARAMETER
CLUSTER
VARIABLE
INFLUENCE ON OLD SPANISH

AUXILIARY SELECTION
(MODEL1 )
DATE OF
OCCURRENCE
No significant influence
AUXILIATED
VERBS
Favours ser + PtcP (*)
Telicity [TE]
Favours ser + PtcP (*)
Movement leading to a change

in location [MO]
Control [CON]
Favours haber + PtcP (**)
REFLEXIVITY
Favours haber + PtcP (***)
SUBJECT
REFERENTIALITY

[SUBTYPE]
LOCATIVE,
MANNER,
INTENTION
EXPRESSIONS
Favours haber + PtcP (.)
Expression of subject referent

intention [INTENT]
Favours haber + PtcP (.)
TEMPORAL
ADVERBIAL
MODIFICATION
AND NUMBER
MARKING
Temporal adverbial
modification [TEMP]
Bounded temporal adverbials

favour haber + PtcP (**)
Number morphology on the

auxiliary [NUMBER]
Plural number morphology favours

ser + PtcP (*)
MODALITY
Favours haber + PtcP (*)
TEMPORALASPECTUAL
MORPHOLOGY
Temporal-aspectual
morphology on the auxiliary
[AUX_TEMP]
Imperfective past tense

morphology favours haber +
PtcP (***)
PERSISTENCE
Presence/distance of
persisting ser + PtcP token
[PERSIST_SER]
Presence of ser + PtcP within a

small distance of words favours
ser + PtcP (*)
Presence/distance of
persisting haber + PtcP
token [PERSIST_HABER]
7.3.2.2 Descriptive analysis

This section gives a synchronic overview of auxiliary selection in Early Modern
Spanish. Table 7.9 applies the parameterisation of auxiliary selection established for
Old Spanish to the Early Modern Spanish data (14251699, N = 2605). Note that as
in the descriptive analysis of Old Spanish auxiliary selection, the numerical variable
date of occurrence [TIME] was modelled as a categorical variable for Table 7.9.
Table 7.9 Descriptive analysis of Early Modern Spanish auxiliary selection
PARAMETER
CLUSTER
VARIABLE
DATE OF
OCCURRENCE
Date of
occurrence
[TIME]
LEVEL
14241449
92
28.5
231 71.5
323
14501499
187
41.2
267 58.8
454
15001549
224
79.7
57 20.3
281
15501599
511
73.8
181 26.2
692
16001649
375
83.0
77 17.0
452
16501699
390
96.8
13 03.2
403
TOTAL
AUXILIATED
VERBS
REFLEXIVITY
Haber + PtcP Ser + PtcP SUM

N
1779
68.3
826 31.7
2605
Directed
change
[DIR]
False
260
92.9
20 07.1
280
True
1519
65.3
806 34.7
2325
TOTAL
1779
68.3
826 31.7
2605
Telicity
[TE]
False
768
81.9
170 18.1
938
True
1011
60.6
656 39.4
1667
TOTAL
1779
68.3
826 31.7
2605
Movement
leading to a
change in
location [MO]
False
868
66.0
448 34.0
1316
True
911
70.7
378 29.3
1289
1779
68.3
826 31.7
2605
Control [CON]
False
739
61.5
463 38.5
1202
True
1040
74.1
363 25.9
1403
TOTAL
1779
68.3
826 31.7
2605
False
1292
61.3
816 38.7
2108
True
487
98.0
10 02.0
497
TOTAL
1779
68.3
826 31.7
2605
Human
1264
65.3
673 34.7
1937
333
76.7
101 23.3
434
32
80.0
8 20.0
40
150
77.3
44 22.7
194
1779
68.3
826 31.7
2605
Reflexive
pronoun
[PRO]
SUBJECT
Type of
REFERENTIALITY subject
referent
[SUBTYPE]
TOTAL
Abstract/inanimate
Animals/plants
Organisation
TOTAL
(Continued)
PARAMETER
CLUSTER
VARIABLE
LOCATIVE,
MANNER,
INTENTION
EXPRESSIONS
Manner
adverbials
[MANNER]
TEMPORAL
ADVERBIAL
MODIFICATION
AND NUMBER
MARKING
MODALITY
TEMPORALASPECTUAL
MORPHOLOGY
ON
THE AUXILIARY
PERSISTENCE
LEVEL
False
True
TOTAL
Stative locative
False
adverbial [LOC] True
Haber + PtcP Ser + PtcP SUM

N
1505
66.3
764 33.7
N
2269
274
81.5
62 18.5
336
1779
68.3
826 31.7
2605
1568
67.5
755 32.5
2323
211
74.8
71 25.2
282
TOTAL
1779
68.3
826 31.7
2605
Expression of
subject referent
intention
[INTENT]
False
1679
67.8
798 32.3
2477
True
100
78.1
28 21.9
128
TOTAL
1779
68.3
826 31.7
2605
Temporal
adverbial
modification
[TEMP]
None
1467
66.9
726 33.1
2193
259
77.3
76 22.7
335
53
68.8
24 31.2
77
TOTAL
1779
68.3
826 31.7
2605
Number
morphology
on the auxiliary
[NUMBER]
Singular
747
62.5
449 37.5
1196
Plural
723
71.7
285 28.3
1008
309
77.1
92 22.9
401
TOTAL
1779
68.3
826 31.7
2605
Irrealis
modality
[IRREALIS]
False
1714
68.6
785 31.4
2499
True
65
61.3
41 38.7
106
TOTAL
1779
68.3
826 31.7
2605
Negative
modality [NEG]
False
1670
68.0
785 32.0
2455
True
109
72.7
41 27.3
150
TOTAL
1779
68.3
826 31.7
2605
Present
554
73.3
202 26.7
756
16.7
5 83.3
1196
76.3
371 23.7
1567
28
10.1
248 89.9
276
TOTAL
1779
68.3
826 31.7
2605
Presence/
distance of
persisting ser
+ PtcP token
[PERSIST_SER]
0 (no persistence)
1654
71.1
671 28.9
2325
1 (large distance)
91
42.9
121 57.1
212
Presence/
distance of
persisting haber
+ PtcP token
[PERSIST_
HABER]
Temporalaspectual
morphology
on the auxiliary
[AUX_TEMP]
Bounded
Unbounded
Unspecified
Future
Imperfective past
Perfective past
2 (small distance)
34
50.0
34 50.0
68
1779
68.3
826 31.7
2605
0 (no persistence)
567
58.2
407 41.8
974
1 (large distance)
876
72.2
337 27.8
1213
2 (small distance)
336
80.4
82 19.6
418
1779
68.3
826 31.7
2605
TOTAL
TOTAL
A comparison to the Old Spanish data shows both similarities and differences in the distribution of auxiliary selection. The variable date of occurrence [TIME] clearly influences auxiliary selection in Early Modern Spanish;
after 1425, ser + PtcP gradually drops in usage frequency. This process is very
fast in Pre-Classical Spanish (14251524) and slows down in Classical Spanish
(15251699). Regarding the types of auxiliated verbs, the situation appears
comparable to Old Spanish. Whereas ser-selection is more frequent for contexts marked as [+DIR] or [+TE], haber-selection is more frequent in contexts
marked as [+CON]. No clear preferences can be found for movement leading to a change in location [+MO]. As in Old Spanish, ser + PtcP has a much
lower usage frequency in contexts involving a reflexive pronoun than haber +
PtcP. This effect has clearly gained strength over time. In the Old Spanish data,
a reflexive pronoun is used with around 75 per cent of the ser + PtcP tokens,
whereas in the data after 1425, a reflexive pronoun is only used with two per
cent of the ser + PtcP tokens. With regard to subject referentiality, it appears
that ser + PtcP appears less frequently with abstract subject referents than haber
+ PtcP. Regarding the influence of locative, manner, and intention expressions
on Early Modern Spanish auxiliary selection, it seems that in sentences involving these expression types, haber-selection is more frequent than ser-selection.
In the domain of temporal adverbial modification, it appears that ser-selection
is less frequent with adverbials expressing bounded duration. With regard to
number morphology, ser + PtcP has the highest relative frequency in contexts
involving singular number morphology on the auxiliary. Interestingly, the irrealis effect documented in Old Spanish is reversed in Early Modern Spanish.
Thus, ser + PtcP is relatively more frequent in sentences involving irrealis
modality than haber + PtcP. In the domain of temporal-aspectual morphology,
great differences can be observed. Whereas ser + PtcP has a much lower relative
frequency than haber + PtcP with present and imperfective past tense morphology, it has a much higher relative frequency than haber + PtcP with perfective
past tense morphology. Persistence seems to play an important role for Early
Modern Spanish auxiliary selection. In the presence of a ser + PtcP token in the
preceding co-text, ser-selection is more frequent. Likewise, haber-selection is
more frequent in the presence of a haber + PtcP token in the preceding co-text.
To some degree, these frequency differences are greater if the textual distance
between trigger and auxiliary is lower.
It is important to add to this descriptive synchronic analysis by describing
changes in the distribution of auxiliary selection according to these parameters. Table 7.10 illustrates the degree of selection of ser + PtcP in the usage
contexts represented by each of the variables as a function of the three macroperiods established in the periodisation section (Old Spanish = 12701424,
Pre-Classical Spanish = 14251524, Classical Spanish = 15251699). Whereas
Table 7.10 Descriptive analysis of the changes in the distribution of Spanish auxiliary
selection between Old Spanish, Pre-Classical Spanish, and Classical Spanish
VARIABLE
LEVEL
PERCENTAGE
Ser + PtcP
1270 1425 1525
1424 1524 1699
AVERAGE
DECREASE
OF ser
RATIO
VERAGE
A
DECREASE
RELATIVE
TO RL
[DIR]
False
True
28.2
89.5
19.7
75.3
3.3
24.5
12.5
32.5
Reference level
2.6 to 1
[TE]
False
True
63.7
91.9
44.8
79.9
12.0
28.3
25.9
31.8
Reference level
1.2 to 1
[MO]
False
True
80.0
86.2
70.5
65.6
23.0
21.6
28.5
32.3
Reference level
1.1 to 1
[CON]
False
True
85.8
80.3
81.5
55.0
26.1
19.2
29.9
30.6
Reference level
1 to 1
[PRO]
False
True
83.3
75.3
71.8
22.2
28.5
0.4
27.4
37.5
Reference level
1.4 to 1
[SUBTYPE]
Human
Abstract/inan.
Animals/plants
Organisation
84.5
76.8
70.0
83.7
68.4
61.4
71.4
82.4
25.4
15.9
9.1
10.0
29.6
30.5
30.5
36.9
Reference level
1 to 1
1 to 1
1.2 to 1
[MANNER]
False
True
83.7
75.2
71.0
45.3
23.7
13.4
30.0
30.9
Reference level
1 to 1
[LOC]
False
True
85.0
67.8
71.0
47.5
22.6
19.3
31.2
24.3
Reference level
0.8 to 1
[INTENT]
False
True
83.1
78.5
67.8
85.0
23.0
10.2
30.1
34.2
Reference level
1.1 to 1
[TEMP]
None
Bounded
Unbounded
85.9
54.8
87.8
70.6
53.6
57.1
23.1
16.5
25.4
31.4
19.2
31.2
Reference level
0.6 to 1
1 to 1
[NUMBER]
Singular
Plural
Unspecified
80.3
85.7
93.3
69.2
65.9
88.2
27.5
17.4
20.1
26.4
34.2
36.6
Reference level
1.3 to 1
1.4 to 1
[IRREALIS]
False
True
83.4
75.0
67.7
93.3
21.9
29.7
30.8
22.7
Reference level
0.7 to 1
[NEG]
False
True
83.2
78.6
69.4
50.0
22.3
22.6
30.5
28.0
Reference level
0.9 to 1
[AUX_TEMP]
Present
Future
Imperfective past
Perfective past
89.7
96.4
76.2
93.5
75.3
100.0
52.8
92.4
20.2
75.0
17.2
86.6
34.8
10.7
29.5
3.5
Reference level
0.3 to 1
0.9 to 1
0.1 to 1
[PERSIST_SER]
0 (no persistence)
1 (large distance)
2 (small distance)
82.1
83.7
88.2
67.5
73.6
63.2
21.1
40.6
33.3
30.5
21.6
27.5
Reference level
0.7 to 1
0.9 to 1
[PERSIST_HABER] 0 (no persistence)

1 (large distance)
2 (small distance)
86.6
80.0
76.2
75.8
62.7
54.5
29.1
20.4
14.3
28.8
29.8
31.0
Reference level
1 to 1
1 to 1
the penultimate column illustrates the average decrease of the percentage of

ser-selection in the corresponding usage context over the three macro-periods,
the rightmost column illustrates the average decrease of ser-selection over time
in a usage context represented by a variable relative to the reference level (RL)
of that variable. The ratios given in the rightmost column therefore allow estimating the speed with which the use of ser + PtcP decreases between 1270
and 1699 in a given usage context. If the ratio value of the given level is above
1, the speed with which the use of ser + PtcP decreases should be faster in
the given usage context. If the ratio value of the given level is below 1, the
speed with which the use of ser + PtcP decreases should be slower in the given
usage context. For instance, the descriptive analysis suggests that in contexts
marked as [+DIR], ser-selection is lost 2.6 times faster than in contexts marked
as [DIR], whereas in contexts with perfective past tense morphology on the
auxiliary ([AUX_TEMP] = Perfective past), ser-selection is lost almost 10
times slower than in contexts with present tense morphology on the auxiliary
([AUX_TEMP] = Present).
When interpreting the results from Table 7.10, it is however necessary to keep
in mind the distribution of auxiliary selection in Old Spanish. As an example, consider the results for the variable [DIR] (directed change). The descriptive analysis
appears to suggest that the use of ser-selection decreases faster in contexts involving predicates marked as [+DIR] than in contexts marked as [DIR]. However, this
finding is at least to some degree due to the fact that predicates marked as [DIR]
have a lower rate of ser-selection already in Old Spanish (28.2 per cent ser + PtcP
vs. 89.5 per cent haber + PtcP). Given that at some point in time the percentage
of ser-selection reached zero per cent for both usage contexts marked as [+DIR]
and [DIR], the descriptive analysis is deceiving regarding the estimated speed of
loss of ser + PtcP in these usage contexts: whereas the usage context [DIR] only
has the potential to display a decrease in ser-selection of 28.2 per cent, the usage
context [+DIR] has the potential to display a decrease in ser-selection of 89.5 per
cent. In other words, what appears to be a faster decrease of usage frequency of ser
+ PtcP with predicates marked as [+DIR] is in fact a result of the remanence effect
described in Chapter 7.2. In line with this interpretation, the multivariate regression analysis presented in the next section will demonstrate that the variable [DIR]
does not have a significant effect on the speed with which the use of ser-selection
decreases over time.
With these considerations in mind, we can proceed to describe the results
from Table 7.10. The following usage contexts appear to not influence the
speed of decrease of ser-selection over time: [DIR], [TE], [CON], [MANNER],
[LOC], [TEMP], and [PERSIST_HABER]. In these usage contexts, either the
ratio of the average decrease in ser-selection relative to the reference level is 1

to 1, or the faster/slower decrease in ser-selection can be motivated by quantitative differences in ser-selection already in Old Spanish and consequently, a
remanence effect.
The following usage contexts illustrate slight differences in the speed of
decrease of ser-selection over time: [MO], [SUBTYPE], [INTENT], and [NEG].
Given that these differences are not likely to be significant, they are not described
in detail. Note however that in usage contexts involving a predicate that describes
a change in location [+MO], the speed of decrease of ser-selection appears to be
slightly faster. This is a result of the fact that all change of location predicates are
also change of state predicates, i.e. predicates marked as [+MO] are also marked as
[+DIR] (see 6.2.2). Consequently, the influence of the variable [MO] on the speed
with which the use of ser-selection decreases can only be estimated after comparing the relative ratio of decrease of contexts marked as [+MO] to the relative
ration of contexts marked as [+DIR]. Given that in contexts marked as [+MO],
ser-selection is lost at a slower rate than in contexts marked as [+DIR], it appears
that effectively, usage contexts marked as [+MO] are not catalysts for the expansion of haber + PtcP, but on the contrary stall the actualisation process. This observation illustrates the need for a multivariate analysis of the changes in Spanish
auxiliary selection over time (see below).
Lastly, the following usage contexts illustrate great differences in the
speed of decrease of ser-selection over time: [PRO], [NUMBER], [IRREALIS], [AUX_TEMP], and [PERSIST_SER]. Thus, the speed of decrease of serselection over time appears to be faster for usage contexts involving a reflexive
pronoun [+PRO] and usage contexts with plural and unspecified number
morphology (i.e. with gerund and infinitive auxiliaries) [NUMBER]. By contrast, the speedof decrease of ser-selection over time appears to be slower for
usage contexts marked as [+IRREALIS], aspectual morphology on the auxiliary other than present tense especially perfective past tense morphology
[AUX_TEMP], and usage contexts in which a recent ser + PtcP token is present
[PERSIST_SER].
There are three problems with the descriptive analysis of the changes in the
distribution of auxiliary selection given in this section. First, the discussion of the
example of the variable [DIR] has shown that the ratios given in the last column
of Table 7.10 cannot be considered conclusive evidence for the assumption that a
variable indeed influences the speed with which ser + PtcP was lost in this usage
context. Second, it is difficult to gauge the magnitude of the effect of the variable
on the speed of decreasing usage frequency of ser + PtcP and thus know whether
a usage context has a significant influence on the changes in the distribution of
auxiliary selection over time. Third, as demonstrated by the discussion of the

results for the variable [MO], correlations between the variables might distort the
general picture.
7.3.2.3 Multivariate analysis
The discrete-hazard analysis proposed in 7.2.2 and 7.3.1.2 identifies those contexts
in which ser-selection survives for a longer time. However, the analysis does not
make any claims with regard to whether the functions of haber + PtcP and ser +
PtcP changed over time. By contrast, the multivariate analysis proposed in this
section evaluates whether the process by which ser + PtcP was lost was accompanied by changes in the influence of the predictor variables on auxiliary selection.
As stated in 7.2, in statistical terms this means to model the slopes of auxiliary
selection over time. This aim can be achieved by testing for interaction effects.
In this section, a multivariate regression model is presented that measures how
the influence of various variables on auxiliary selection changed between Old,
Pre-Classical, and Classical Spanish.
7.3.2.3.1 Measurements.MODEL3 calculates the probability of ser-selection in
the entire corpus of historiographical texts according to (a) the variable [MACROPERIOD] referring to the date at which the source text was published, (b) thepredictors of Old Spanish auxiliary selection summarised in Table 7.8, and (c) the interactions between [MACRO-PERIOD] and the predictors (b). In addition, the model
controls for (a) the auxiliary selection of each of the 43 verbs (as in MODEL1), and
(b) the slopes of development of ser-selection for each of the verbs. As in MODEL1,
this procedure excludes the possibility that the effects encountered by the model are
the result of idiosyncrasies of certain verbs. A statistical significance of a predictor in
MODEL3 means that this effect concerns all of the verbs alike.
[MACRO-PERIOD] is operationalised as a numerical variable with the values
0, 1 and 2. These values indicate whether the investigated token is from an Old
Spanish (12701424), a Pre-Classical Spanish (14251524), or a Classical Spanish
text (15251699). [MACRO PERIOD] receives the value 0 if the token is from an
Old Spanish text, 1 if the token is from a Pre-Classical text, and 2 if the token is
from a Classical text. This model of the progression of time captures the intuition
from the section on periodisation (6.1), reiterated in 7.3.2.2, that there is a fundamental difference between the development of auxiliary selection in Old Spanish,
Pre-Classical Spanish, and Classical Spanish. Each of the macro time periods differs from the other periods regarding the quantitative development of auxiliary
selection, leading to the s-curve observed in 6.1. Including a numerical variable
for time in which each value refers to a date of publication would have led to
two problems. First, it would have implied a monotonous decrease of ser-selection
from 1270 to 1699. Since this is clearly not the case, the modelling of time in terms
of macro-periods is expected to fit the data better.14 Second, this type of time modelling could have resulted in the overfitting of the model.
The variable [MACRO-PERIOD] is included into the model both as a simple
main effect and a moderator variable for the interactional effects. This allows an
estimation of how the influence of the variables enumerated in the last paragraphs
on Spanish auxiliary selection changes over time.
7.3.2.3.2 Model selection. As for the other regression models, the significance
of each predictor included in the initial MODEL3 was evaluated in a backward
fitting process, yielding MODEL3 . A statistically non-significant predictor was
excluded only if the interaction of this predictor with the variable [MACRO-
PERIOD] had been shown to be statistically non-significant and had consequently
been excluded at an earlier point in the fitting process. Consequently, MODEL3
is a hierarchically well-formulated model (see 7.2.1). 15
Whereas no significant difference between the degree of variance explained
by MODEL3 and MODEL3 can be found (as indicated by the identical values
for the C index of concordance and Somers Dxy), the AIC is lower for MODEL3
. Since MODEL3 explains the same high degree of variance in the data assuming fewer predictors, Occams razor predicts that MODEL3 accounts best for the
data.
7.3.2.3.3 Description of results. Since MODEL3 includes interactions between
categorical predictor variables such as [DIR] and the numerical variable [MACROPERIOD], the odds ratios of the non-interaction predictor variables do not represent main effects but rather conditional effects (Jaccard 2001:31). For instance,
the OR given for the variable [DIR] represents the influence of the variable [DIR]
when [MACRO-PERIOD] has the value 0. In other words, the effects listed under
the heading conditional effects in Table 7.11 represent the influence of the predictor variables on Old Spanish auxiliary selection.
. Since the development of auxiliary selection in Spanish follows a non-linear trend,

this model can doubtlessly be improved by using quadratic or cubic polynomial terms, as
proposed in Vulanovi and Baayen (2006) and Baayen (2008:218222). Due to the mathematical complexities of this approach, this issue is left to further research. It may well be that
a more elaborate coding of the time variable leads to further statistically significant results in
the study of the changes of the distribution of haber + PtcP and ser + PtcP.

Table 7.11 Generalised linear mixed-effect regression model of the development of auxiliary selection in the corpus of historiographical
texts (MODEL3 )
PARAMETER
CLUSTER
VARIABLE
LEVEL
MODEL3
OR
MODEL3
OR
CONDITIONAL EFFECTS
(Intercept)
97.708
0.000
***
142.176
0.000
***
TIME
Macro-period [MACRO-PERIOD]
0.133
0.000
***
0.095
0.000
***
AUXILIATED VERBS
4.178
0.158
4.567
0.002
**
Telicity [TE]
1.713
0.282
Movement leading to a change in loc. [MO]
0.832
0.772
0.601
0.316
Control [CON]
0.374
0.102
0.501
0.003
**
REFLEXIVITY
2.931
0.091
2.804
0.098
SUBJECT
REFERENTIALITY
Type of subject referent [SUBTYPE] Human
0.599
0.003
**
0.528
0.009
**
0.505
0.000
***
1.167
0.627
LOCATIVE, MANNER,
INTENTION
EXPRESSIONS
TEMPORAL
ADVERBIAL
MODIFICATION AND
NUMBER MARKING
RL
Abstract/inan.
1.075
0.900
Animals/plants
0.649
0.706
Organisation
1.108
0.864
0.673
0.395
0.523
0.158
0.747
0.656

[TEMP]
auxiliary [NUMBER]
None
RL
RL
Bounded
0.325
0.016
Unbounded
7.252
0.112
Singular
RL
RL
Plural
2.628
0.002
Unspecified
1.247
0.874
**
2.493
0.003
1.216
0.887
**

MODALITY
0.277
0.037
0.624
0.462
TEMPORAL-ASPECTUAL Temporal-aspectual morphology

MORPHOLOGY ON
on the auxiliary [AUX_TEMP]
AUXILIARY
PERSISTENCE
Presence/distance of persisting
ser + PtcP token [PERSIST_SER]
0.249
0.020
Present
RL
Future
0.800
0.949
0.551
0.857
Imperfective past
0.076
0.000
***
0.074
0.000
***
Perfective past
0.136
0.012
0.114
0.005
**
0 (no persistence)
RL
1 (large distance)
0.778
0.514
0.778
0.508
2 (small distance)
2.743
0.121
2.534
0.147
0 (no persistence)
RL
1 (large distance)
0.736
0.339
0.668
0.001
**
2 (small distance)
1.042
0.930
0.516
0.000
***
0.836
0.731
Telicity [TE]
0.850
0.441
1.404
0.212
1.589
0.020
Control [CON]
1.191
0.542
REFLEXIVITY
0.100
0.000
0.102
0.000
***
SUBJECT
REFERENTIALITY
Type of subject referent [SUBTYPE] Human
Presence/distance of pers.
haber + PtcP token
[PERSIST_HABER]
RL
RL
INTERACTIONS WITH [MACRO-PERIOD]

AUXILIATED VERBS
***
RL
Abstract/inan.
0.983
0.943
Animals/plants
0.857
0.757
Organisation
0.816
0.429
(Continued)

Table 7.11 Generalised linear mixed-effect regression model of the development of auxiliary selection in the corpus of historiographical
texts (MODEL3 ) (Continued)
PARAMETER
CLUSTER
VARIABLE
LOCATIVE, MANNER,
INTENTION
EXPRESSIONS
LEVEL
MODEL3
OR
0.952
0.800
1.315
0.172
0.853
0.569
TEMPORAL ADVERBIAL Temporal adverbial modification

MODIFICATION AND
[TEMP]
NUMBER MARKING
auxiliary [NUMBER]
None
1.218
0.301
Unbounded
0.494
0.133
Plural
0.609
0.000
0.657
0.389
1.901
0.013
1.120
0.661
TEMPORAL-ASPECTUAL Temporal-aspectual morphology on Present

MORPHOLOGY ON
Future
AUXILIARY
Imperfective past
3.471
0.362
1.923
0.004
4.623
0.000
Perfective past
0.617
0.000
0.679
0.422
1.965
0.007
RL
Unspecified
MODALITY
RL
Bounded
Singular
MODEL3
OR
***
*
RL
***
**
RL
3.904
0.301
**
1.978
0.002
**
***
5.078
0.000
***

PERSISTENCE
Presence/distance of persisting ser + 0 (no persistence)

PtcP token [PERSIST_SER]
1 (large distance)
1.494
0.037
2 (small distance)
0.887
0.726
Presence/distance of pers. haber +

MODEL EVALUATION
RL
RL
0 (no persistence)
RL
1 (large distance)
0.956
0.733
2 (small distance)
0.735
0.112
1.509
0.031
0.927
0.823
0.96
0.96
Somers Dxy
0.91
0.91
AIC
2535
2514
4135
4135
It is evident that the expanded analysis to some degree changes the scenario of
Old Spanish auxiliary selection established in Chapter 6. Compare the conditional
effects section of Table 7.11 with the summary of the results for Old Spanish auxiliary selection given in Table 7.8. Some of the predicted influences of the variables
remain approximately the same. As in MODEL1, directed change [+DIR] and plural number morphology [NUMBER = Plural] are predicted to significantly favour
ser-selection, whereas control [+CON], bounded temporal adverbial modification
[TEMP = Bounded], irrealis modality [+IRREALIS] and imperfective past tense
morphology [AUX_TEMP = Imperfective] are predicted to significantly favour
haber-selection.
Two variables that did not reach statistical significance in MODEL1 are judged
to be significant in MODEL3. In particular, MODEL3 predicts that manner adverbials [+MANNER] and expressions of subject intention [+INTENT] significantly
favour haber-selection over ser-selection. These parameters were argued to favour
a resultative interpretation of the construction in Chapter 6, but did not reach
statistical significance in the synchronic model of Old Spanish auxiliary selection.
The findings from MODEL3 regarding these variable can be argued to lend further
support to the assumption that Old Spanish ser + PtcP has a resultative function.
Contrarily, some variables judged to have a significant influence on Old Spanish auxiliary selection in MODEL1 do no longer reach statistical significance in
MODEL3. This concerns the variables telicity [+TE], reflexive pronoun [+PRO],
and recency of use of ser + PtcP [PERSIST_SER]. Given that these changes are
due to the inclusion of the temporal dimension to the statistical model, it appears
that at least in the case of [PRO] and [PERSIST_SER], the positive influence of
these variables on ser-selection over haber-selection in Old Spanish are caused
by historical changes in the distribution of these variables (see below). A similar
effect appears to cause MODEL3 to predict that perfective past tense morphology
significantly favours haber-selection in Old Spanish.
Under the heading Interactions with [MACRO-PERIOD] in Table 7.11, the
interaction terms in the regression model are summarised. As explained using
the example of voting behaviour in 5.3, there are two possible interpretations of
these interaction terms. First, the interactions can be argued to refer to the differences in the speed of decline of the usage frequency of ser + PtcP in different usage contexts. [MACRO-PERIOD] is taken as the focal predictor variable
and the other variables entering into the interaction are taken as moderator variables (recall the example of voting behaviour in 5.3). In this case, the interaction
between [MACRO-PERIOD] and another predictor variable indicates the specific
speed of the decline of the usage frequency of ser + PtcP in usage contexts in which
the predictor variable receives the value TRUE in comparison to usage contexts
in which the predictor variable receives the value FALSE. If the odds ratio of the
interaction between [MACRO-PERIOD] and a variable is below 1, ser-selection

decreases in usage frequency faster in usage contexts in which the variable receives
the value TRUE. If the odds ratio is above 1, ser-selection decreases in usage frequency slower in usage contexts in which the variable receives the value TRUE.
For instance, in the model the interaction between the variable [PRO] (specifying
the presence or absence of a reflexive pronoun) and [MACRO-PERIOD] receives
an odds ratio between 0 and 1. This means that haber replaces ser faster in usage
contexts that involve a reflexive pronoun than in usage contexts without a reflexive
pronoun.
Second, assuming that [MACRO-PERIOD] is the moderator variable and the
other predictor variables are focal predictor variables, the interaction effects in
MODEL3 describe changes in the grammatical constraints on auxiliary selection.
If a predictor variable reaches statistical significance, it can be assumed that the
influence of that predictor changes significantly. A positive value for the predictor favours ser-selection more than in Old Spanish (odds ratio above one) or a
positive value for the predictor favours haber-selection more than in Old Spanish
(odds ratio between zero and one). According to this second interpretation, the
interaction term between [PRO] and [MACRO-PERIOD] suggests that the presence of a reflexive pronoun has a stronger positive influence on haber-selection in
Pre-Classical and Classical Spanish than in Old Spanish.
Crucially, the two possible interpretations of the interaction terms in MODEL3
correspond to two historical processes that are inseparable from each other. On the
one hand, if ser-selection decreases slower in frequency in a certain usage context,
that usage context necessarily starts favouring ser-selection. On the other hand, if
a usage context starts favouring ser-selection, the frequency of use of ser + PtcP
necessarily decreases slower in this usage context. In the same way in which either
interpretation of interaction terms is licit, either interpretation of the historical
processes modelled by interaction terms is licit. It is this relationship between a
slower decrease of the usage frequency of ser + PtcP (i.e. conservation) and functional change that is at the heart of one of the central hypotheses investigated this
chapter: conservation necessarily leads to functional changes in a disappearing
construction.
MODEL3 suggests rather few contexts that display differences regarding
the speed with which ser-selection declines between Old Spanish, Pre-Classical
Spanish, and Classical Spanish. This means that most of the contexts influencing
auxiliary selection in Old Spanish historiographical texts continue exercising a
similar influence in Early Modern Spanish. Consequently, there is a great degree
of stability regarding the relative distribution of ser + PtcP and haber + PtcP (as
also indicated in the descriptive analysis in 7.3.2.2). Although the overall number
of ser + PtcP tokens decreases dramatically, this does not have an influence on the
istribution of auxiliary selection with regard to directed change, telicity, subject

d
control, the type of subject referent, manner adverbials, stative locative adverbials,
expressions of the intention of the subject referent, temporal adverbial modification, the use of gerundial and infinitival morphology, negative modality, future
tense morphology, and the presence/distance of a recent haber + PtcP token. These
findings are consistent with the theory of actualisation and subsequent remanence
effects developed in this study. Since the actualisation of haber + PtcP affects the
replaced construction ser + PtcP gradually but globally, the decrease of usage frequency of ser + PtcP in its prototypical usage contexts does not affect the prototypicality of these contexts.
According to MODEL3, the frequency of use of ser-selection decreases faster in
the following usage contexts: contexts involving a reflexive pronoun and contexts
where plural number morphology is used on the auxiliary. These contexts thus
favour haber-selection to a relatively greater degree in Pre-Classical and Classical
Spanish than in Old Spanish. By contrast, the frequency of use of ser-selection
decreases slower in the following usage contexts: contexts with predicates marked
as [+MO], contexts with irrealis modality, contexts with imperfective and perfective past tense morphology on the auxiliary, and contexts where a persisting
ser + PtcP token is found in the preceding discourse. These contexts thus favour
ser-selection to a relatively greater degree in Early Modern Spanish than in Old
Spanish. Note that this effect is much stronger for contexts with perfective past
tense morphology than for contexts with imperfective past tense morphology.
7.3.2.3.4 Discussion. In this discussion of the results from MODEL3, it is shown
that the model of linguistic disappearances developed in Chapter 4 can account
for the differences regarding the speed of the decline of the frequency of ser-selection in different usage contexts. The statistical results are interpreted in terms
of second and the third hypothesis regarding linguistic disappearances reiterated
at the beginning of this chapter. Conservation leads to paradigmatic atrophy and
reanalyses of the function of ser + PtcP. The use of ser + PtcP increasingly relies
on persistence effects. In addition, the results from MODEL3 provide evidence
regarding the causes of the expansion of haber + PtcP. This evidence is discussed
in a third part.
Two findings from MODEL3 add evidence to the results from 7.3.1 regarding
the assumption of conserving effects in the history of Spanish. First, the speed
with which the use of ser + PtcP decreases is sensitive to the semantics of the auxiliated verb. Second, the use of ser-selection decreases faster in contexts with plural
number morphology.
MODEL3 suggests a slower speed in the decrease of ser-selection in contexts
with predicates marked as [+MO] than with predicates marked as [MO]. This
finding reinforces the results from the discrete-time hazard analysis, which demonstrated that predicates expressing change of location have a lower hazard of
losing ser-selection than predicates marked as [MO]. The statistical analysis in
Chapter 6 has demonstrated that because motional semantics does not play a clear
role in the opposition between anterior and resultative constructions, as the variable [MO] does not significantly influence Old Spanish auxiliary selection. As a
result, the slower decrease in the frequency of ser-selection in contexts with predicates marked as [+MO] cannot be explained by a higher degree of ser-selection of
these predicates in Old Spanish and resulting remanence effects.
By contrast, this finding suggests that due to the high usage frequency of verbs
with a motional semantics, ser + PtcP tokens formed from these verbs such as es
ido is gone also have a high token frequency in the corpus of historiographical
texts. The entrenchment effects resulting from this high token frequency led to
a greater autonomy of these syntagms from the ser + PtcP construction. Consequently, these syntagms were affected to a lesser degree by the expansion of haber
+ PtcP.
Further evidence for this assumption comes from the findings from MODEL3
regarding the longevity of ser-selection in different contexts of number marking.
MODEL3 suggests that the usage frequency of ser-selection decreased faster in
contexts with plural number marking on the auxiliary. The rapid decrease of use
of ser + PtcP after 1425 is correlated to a relative increase of the use of ser + PtcP
with singular morphology.
Distinguishing between the development of number marking for haber + PtcP
and ser + PtcP (leaving aside gerunds and infinitives), Figure 7.5 demonstrates that
this relative increase is a result of a decrease of the token frequency of plural number marking for ser + PtcP, but not for haber + PtcP. Over time, ser + PtcP becomes
increasingly restricted to contexts with singular number marking; its relative frequency with plural number morphology drops from about 50 per cent to about
35 per cent. No such trend can be found for haber + PtcP. The gradual restriction
of ser + PtcP tokens to contexts that involve singular number marking indicates
increasing paradigmatic atrophy. Singular number morphology has a higher token
frequency in the historiographical texts than plural number morphology. Consequently, ser + PtcP syntagms with singular morphology are more likely to be subject to entrenchment and conservation processes than ser + PtcP syntagms with
plural number morphology. Since the conserved ser + PtcP syntagms gradually
emancipate from the mother construction, they are used less freely with regard to
number morphology in Pre-Classical and Classical Spanish than in Old Spanish.
It was argued that conserving effects are particularly strong with verbs
marked as [+DIR,+MO], such as ir go, venir come, and partir leave, because
these verbs have a high absolute token frequency. If, as suggested by the findings

Haber + PtcP
Proportion plural number morphology
70%
60%
50%
40%
69
50
64
00
16
59
50
16
54
00
15
49
50
15
44
00
14
39
14
13
50
34
00
13
12
70
29
30%
Ser + PtcP
60%
50%
40%
30%
12
70
13 12
00 99
13 13
50 49
14 13
00 99
14 14
50 49
15 14
00 99
15 15
50 49
16 15
00 99
16 16
50 49
1
69
9
Proportion plural number morphology
70%
Figure 7.5 Proportion of plural number morphology over time for haber + PtcP and ser + PtcP
from MODEL2 and MODEL3, these verbs are used longer in the ser + PtcP
construction because of their high absolute usage frequency, it would be expected
that ser + PtcP tokens formed from motional predicates display a higher degree of
paradigmatic atrophy. Figure 7.6 illustrates the development of auxiliary selection
Verbs typically marked [+MO]

100%
80%
60%
Singular
Plural
40%
20%
12
70
13 12
00 99
13 13
50 49
14 13
00 99
14 14
50 49
15 14
00 99
15 15
50 49
16 15
00 99
16 16
50 49
1
69
9
0%
Verbs typically marked [MO]
100%
80%
60%
Singular
Plural
40%
9
1
4
00 99
15 15
50 49
16 15
00 99
16 16
50 49
1
69
9
44
15
50
14
39
14
00
34
50
13
00
13
12
70
29
20%
Figure 7.6 Development of auxiliary selection by number morphology, divided for verbs that
typically have a motional semantics and verbs that typically have a non-motional semantics
by number morphology on the auxiliary, separating verbs that typically express

a meaning marked as [+MO] and verbs that typically express a meaning marked
as [MO].16
There appears to indeed be a difference in the development of number morphology for ser + PtcP tokens formed from verbs that typically have a motional
semantics, and verbs that typically have a non-motional semantics. With the exception of the early 16th century, ser + PtcP tokens formed from verbs that typically
do not express a change of location (lower plot) display more variability regarding
number morphology on the auxiliary than ser + PtcP tokens formed from verbs
that typically express a change of location (upper plot). In other words, a late ser +
PtcP token expressing a change of location is more likely to be used with singular
number morphology than a late ser + PtcP token without a motional semantics.
This specificity of the development of number morphology is additional evidence
for the existence of conservation effects in the history of Spanish auxiliary selection, as well as the special relevance of the parameter [MO] for this development.17
The conservation processes documented in this section lead to changes in the
function of ser + PtcP. The dissolution of the paradigmatic ties between the conserved ser + PtcP syntagms and the original construction raises the probability of
a reanalysis of these syntagms: due to their uncertainty regarding the function of
ser + PtcP, the authors may attribute a new function to these conserved syntagms.
Remanence and conservation can be clearly distinguished in this respect. Since
actualisation processes affect all usage contexts of the replaced construction at the
same speed, these processes do not change the constraints on the use of that construction within its remaining usage contexts. In contrast to conservation, actualisation does not lead to a fragmentation of the use of the replaced construction but
creates ordered variation and consequently, remanence.
Since reanalyses are always abrupt and do not necessarily diffuse in a group
of language users, different types of reanalyses can accompany conserving
effects. The conserving effects documented in this chapter can be argued to
. The two groups were divided at the mean of use of [+MO] of all verbs (37.15 percent),
thus dichotomising the variable. Verbs typically marked as [+MO] thus are marked
as [+MO] in more than 37.15 per cent of these cases, whereas verbs typically marked as
[MO] are marked as [+MO] in less than 37.15 per cent of the cases. For clarity of illustration,
all tokens marked for unspecified number morphology (i.e. infinitives and gerunds) were
excluded from the plot.
. Note however that the plot does not reflect the finding from MODEL3 that verbs typically
expressing a meaning marked as [+MO] show a slower decline in ser-selection than verbs
typically expressing a meaning marked as [MO]. In descriptive statistics, this effect seems to
be obscured by correlated factors (possibly, [DIR]).
lead to a number of new rules governing auxiliary selection. In line with the
results from MODEL3, these new rules relate to (a) whether a predicate carries
a change of location meaning, and (b) the aspectual-temporal morphology on
the auxiliary. These rules operate in micro-contexts and imply the neutralisation of the previous principle governing Spanish auxiliary selection, i.e. the
result event opposition. Rather, they are concordant with the assumption that
ser + PtcP was often reanalysed as an anterior construction. There is a further piece of evidence that supports this assumption. As shown by MODEL3,
the probability of usage of ser + PtcP in irrealis contexts significantly increases
overtime.
It was argued that the semantic parameter of movement leading to a change
in location [MO] has special importance for the conservation of ser-selection in
Spanish historiographical texts because verbs referring to movement events tend
to have a high absolute usage frequency in the texts. The growing restriction of
ser-selection to contexts where a movement event is expressed can lead to a functional reanalysis of ser + PtcP. In that case, the original rule of auxiliary selection
as formulated in (149) is reformulated in terms of (150).
(149) When confronted with the choice between ser + PtcP and haber + PtcP,
useser + PtcP if you want to express the state resulting from a past event.
(150) When confronted with the choice between ser + PtcP and haber + PtcP, use
ser + PtcP if you want to express a past movement event.
There are indeed usage contexts in Early Modern Spanish that instantiate a rule
such as (150). In Rosemeyer (2013), it was shown that in Early Modern Spanish,
the auxiliary selection behaviour of the near-synonymous verbs tornar and volver
return is sensitive to the distinction between a motional change of location reading (151) and abstract grammaticalised readings expressing change of state by the
addition of a nominal or adjectival complement (152), or iterativity by the addition of a verbal complement (153).18
(151) Estovo
all vn da y vna noche hasta que el marqus

be.pst.pfv.3sg there one day and one night until that the marquis

fue tornado
be.pst.pfv.3sg return.ptcp.m.sg
He stayed there one day and one night, until the marquis had returned
[ENRE, 779]
. Cf. Rosemeyer (2013) for examples of this type with the verb volver.
(152) hacia el sur, donde ha

habido
grandes

to the south where have.prs.3sg have.ptcp.m.sg great

contrataciones y se
han tornado muchos
recruitments and pro.refl have.prs.3pl turn.ptcp.m.sg many
negros cristianos
Blacks Christians

To the south, where there have been great recruitments and many Blacks
have become Christians [HDI, 760]
(153) torn
enviar otra vez gran suma de dinero al

return.pst.pfv.3sg to send other time great sum of money to.the

Rey de Hungra su hermano para que hiciese
king of Hungary his brother for that make.pst.ipfv.sbjv.3sg

descender de Italia ms nmero de alemanes por los que
descend from Italy more number of Germans for those that

se
haban tornado
volver
pro.refl have.pst.ipfv.3pl return.ptcp.m.sg to return
He again sent much money to his brother, the king of Hungary, to convince
him to send more German troops down from Italy than had returned there
[CEC, 831]
Figure 7.7 illustrates the auxiliary selection behaviour in 204 tokens of tornar and
volver from 16th century historiographical texts according to these three types of
readings (MO = change of location reading, COS = change of state reading, IT
= iterative reading). It suggests that ser-selection is more likely in contexts such
as (151) than in contexts such as (152) and (153).19
The preceding analyses give an explanation for this contrast. Both in a change
of state reading and iterative reading, Old Spanish tornar + PtcP tokens do not
display a significantly higher degree of haber-selection than in the motional reading, but typically appear with ser + PtcP. This is illustrated in Examples (154) and
(155). As suggested by the findings from MODEL1, the semantic parameter of
movement leading to a change in location does not appear to play an important
role in these contexts.
. Note that the distinction between true motional and abstract grammaticalised meanings
of verbs such as tornar is correlated to reflexivity. In particular, the use of tornar or volver with
a change of state reading depends on the use of a reflexive pronoun in the sentence.
COS
IT
MO
Semantic usage
0.0
0.2
0.4
0.6
Auxiliary selected
aver
0.8
ser
1.0
Figure 7.7 Auxiliary selection of tornar and volver in the 16th century as a function of their
semantic usage (Rosemeyer 2013:448)
(154) Los otros fueron

ass camiados [sic]
por otros que

the others be.pst.pfv.3pl so change.ptcp.m.pl for others that

son tornados oy muy desconuudos
be.prs.3pl turn.ptcp.m.pl today very unknown
The others were changed for others that today are completely unknown
[GEI, 1254]
(155) que yo sea tornado
a seer cnsul

that I be.prs.sbjv.3sg return.ptcp.m.sg to be consul

That I have again become consul [DTL, 1346]
The application of the rule (150) in the micro-contexts illustrated by the E

xamples
(151)(153) is a reflex of more general conservation trends in the development of
Spanish auxiliary selection. The conservation of the highly frequent verbs referring to motional events leads to the reanalysis of the functional value of the more
fragmented ser + PtcP construction, giving rise to an emergent systematicity
regarding auxiliary selection in these micro-contexts.
As illustrated by the Examples (152) and (153), the use of the reflexive pronoun appears to play an important role in this process. It seems that the expansion
of haber-selection to these contexts is accompanied by an expansion of the use of
the reflexive pronoun with haber + PtcP. This matter will receive further attention
at the end of this section.
Temporal-aspectual morphology represents a second usage context where
Early Modern Spanish authors frequently reanalyse the function of ser + PtcP. This
effect is illustrated in Figure 7.8.

Haber + PtcP
100%
90%
Proportion of use
80%
70%
60%
Imperfective past
Perfective past
50%
40%
30%
20%
9
14 13
00 99
14 14
50 49
15 14
00 99
15 15
50 49
16 15
00 99
16 16
50 49
1
69
9
34
13
50
00
13
12
70
29
10%
Ser + PtcP
100%
90%
Proportion of use
80%
70%
60%
50%
Imperfective past
Perfective past
40%
30%
20%
13
12
70
1
2
00 99
13 13
50 49
14 13
00 99
14 14
50 49
15 14
00 99
15 15
50 49
16 15
0 0 99
16 16
50 49
1
69
9
10%
Figure 7.8 Development of use of haber + PtcP and ser + PtcP with imperfective and
perfective past tense morphology over time
MODEL3 suggests that ser-selection decreases slower in frequency in contexts with past tense morphology both imperfective and perfective than in
contexts with present tense morphology. Figure 7.8 confirms this result. First,
there is a r elative increase of ser-selection in contexts regarding imperfective past

tense morphology from about 45 per cent to about 60 percent. By contrast, haber-
selection gradually emancipates from this usage context which is prevalent for the
use of haber + PtcP in Old Spanish (as demonstrated in Chapter 6, Old Spanish
haber + PtcP is prone to imperfective past tense morphology due to its backgrounding function) and comes to be used much more with tense morphology
other than past tense, particularly present tense. Second, whereas the use of haber
+ PtcP is quickly lost in usage contexts involving perfective past tense morphology, ser + PtcP survives much longer in this type of usage contexts. This means
that in Early Modern Spanish, in practically all contexts involving perfective past
tense morphology ser is selected over haber.
This finding is in line with the assumption that conserving effects are
accompanied by a decrease in paradigmatic variability of the conserved construction. The descriptive analysis of Old Spanish auxiliary selection (Table 6.3)
has shown that in Old Spanish historiographical texts both haber + PtcP and
ser + PtcP are mainly used with past tense morphology. Thus, 1033 of 1269 Old
Spanish ser + PtcP tokens and 226 of 261 Old Spanish haber + PtcP tokens are
used with past tense morphology. Whereas the grammaticalisation of haber +
PtcP led to a gradual intrusion of the construction into present tense contexts,
the process had a different effect on ser + PtcP, which stayed restricted to past
tense contexts.
Recall that MODEL3 predicts this effect to be stronger for perfective past
tense morphology than for imperfective past tense morphology. In other words,
the diachronic trend of ser + PtcP towards perfective past tense contexts is
much stronger than the constructions trend towards imperfective past tense
morphology. This difference is mirrored in the synchronic fact that whereas in
Early Modern Spanish, ser + PtcP is used in almost 90 per cent of the contexts
involving perfective past tense morphology, whereas it is only used in about
24 per cent of the contexts involving imperfective past tense morphology (see
7.3.2.2).
In their discussion of the development of haber-anteriors with perfective past
tense morphology like (156), Octavio de Toledo y Huerto & Rodrguez Molina
(2008) demonstrate that at the end of the Old Spanish period, these forms were
lost rapidly. They argue with Barra Jover (2002) and Elvira Gonzlez (2004) that
the syntactic configuration of the Romance languages changed from preferred
pre-position of a subordinate clause to preferred post-position. Since perfective
past tense morphology is typically associated with a pre-posed temporal clause,
this development weakened the use of perfective past tense morphology. Similarly, the use of absolute constructions like (157) dramatically decreased in Early
Modern Spanish.
(156) E no
hovo cado
que luego antes que

and not have.pst.pfv.3sg fall.ptcp.m.sg that then before that

recordase
ms de cient
caballeros moros e
notice.pst.ipfv.sbjv.3sg more than hundred knights Moorish and

aun cristianos pasaron
sobre l
even Christian cross.pst.pfv.3pl over him
And right after he had fallen, before he even knew more than hundred
Moorish and even Christian knights trampled over him [CRR, 2687]
(157) Ayuntados
los poderes de amas partes salieron
a

gather.ptcp.m.pl the forces of both parties leave.pst.pfv.3pl to

la batalla
the battle
When the forces of both parties were gathered, they left to battle [GEI,
apud CORDE]
Octavio de Toledo y Huerta & Rodrguez Molina (2008) argue that in Early Modern
Spanish, both ser + PtcP tokens and haber + PtcP tokens with perfective past tense
morphology, as well as absolute constructions, were increasingly replaced with
haber + PtcP tokens with imperfective past tense morphology. According to the
authors, the same applies to compound infinitives such as (158) and (159).
(158) Y despues de haber comido
y holgado

and after of have eat.ptcp.m.sg and rest.ptcp.m.sg
And when they had eaten and rested [GCG, 1816]
(159) por las violencias y vexaciones y robos
que

for the violence and humiliation and robberies that

haban
d=ellos rescebido
despus de
have.pst.ipvf.3.pl from=them receive.ptcp.m.sg after of

haber=se partido el Almirante
have=pro.refl leave.ptcp.m.sg the Admiral
Because of the violence and humiliation and robberies perpetrated against
them after they admiral had left [HDI, 4564]
The data from the corpus of historiographical texts clearly support this assumption. Consider Figure 7.9, which illustrates the development of infinitival morphology with haber + PtcP and ser + PtcP. It demonstrates that the increasing
decline in the frequency of perfective past tense morphology in Early Modern
Spanish coincides with an increase in the use of infinitival morphology both
with haber + PtcP and ser + PtcP tokens from zero to respectively 19 and nine
percent.
15%
10%
5%
50 9
14 13
00 99
14 14
50 49
15 14
00 99
15 15
50 49
16 15
00 99
16 16
50 49
1
69
9
13
00
13
12
70
29
0%
34
Proportion infinitival number morphology
Haber + PtcP
20%
20%
15%
10%
5%
0%
13
12
70
1
2
00 99
1
13 3
50 49
14 13
00 99
14 14
5 0 49
15 14
00 99
15 15
50 49
16 15
00 99
16 16
50 49
1
69
9
Proportion infinitival number morphology
Ser + PtcP
Figure 7.9 Development of infinitival morphology for haber + PtcP and ser + PtcP over time
Chapter 6 has demonstrated that the difference in the distribution between

imperfective and perfective past tense morphology for Old Spanish haber + PtcP
and ser + PtcP is a result of the difference between the functions of anterior and
resultative constructions and leads to a difference in the narrative functions of
haber + PtcP and ser + PtcP. The decline of usage frequency of ser + PtcP and ensuing fragmentation of the original paradigm causes the loss of the original resultative function of ser + PtcP. However, the narration-progressing function of ser +
PtcP is preserved, as illustrated by examples such as (160).
(160) E a aquella sazn estavan
all ayuntados
todos los

and at that time be.pst.ipfv.3pl there gather.ptcp.m.pl all the

grandes barones del reyno, por razn de la guerra, e
great barons of.the kingdom for reason of the war and

Dorotea mand=les
juntar a su consejo. E
Dorotea order.pst.pfv.3sg=pro.dat gather to her council and

quando fueron juntados, demand=les
por
when be.pst.pfv.3pl gather.ptcp.m.pl ask.pst.pfv.3sg=pro.dat about

muchas cosas, en razn de la guerra
many things in reason of the war
At that time all of the great barons of the kingdom were there at the same
place because of the war, and Dorotea ordered them to come to her council.
And when they were there, she asked them many things about the war
[VIC, 3479]
Example (160) illustrates that (a) the original resultative function of ser + PtcP
becomes less obvious in many examples, and (b) that ser + PtcP still is used to
advance the narrative plot. The ser + PtcP token in (160) is preceded by the syntagm estavan all ayuntados (first line of the example). In many respects, estar
+ PtcP can be characterised as the successor of the resultative function of ser +
PtcP (see 5.2.2). It is safe to assume that this estar + PtcP token would have been
expressed using ser + PtcP in Old Spanish. For instance, the ser + PtcP token from
the General estoria in (161) is very similar to the estar + PtcP token in (160) with
regard to the verb, the locative adverbial, and the temporal adverbial expressing
unbounded duration:
(161) como era
estonces alli ayuntada
grand yent

because be.pst.ipfv.3sg then there gather.ptcp.f.sg great people

era
la cibdad cercada
departe
de la mar
be.pst.ipfv.3sg the city surround.ptcp.f.sg across.from of the sea
Since many people were gathered there at that time, the city was surrounded by the sea side [GEIV, 3423]
The fact that the writer uses estar + PtcP in Example (160) to express a resultative
meaning suggests that resultativity is not the main criterion governing the choice
of ser as the auxiliary of juntar in the following co-text. Rather, it is the combination of a pre-posed temporal clause and perfective past tense morphology that
licences the selection of ser. The fact that the barons are gathered is the immediate
prerequisite for Doroteas question. In Example (160), ser-selection is based less
on the event resultative distinction than on the distinction between background
information and information relevant to the progression of the narration.
Further evidence for the growing restriction of ser-selection to this specific
discourse context is supplied by examples like (162) and (163):
(162) Bueltos
que fueron
al
palacio con el nio,

return.ptcp.m.pl that be.pst.pfv.3pl to.the palace with the child

contaron
a la reyna lo que
tell.pst.pfv.3pl to the queen that that

ava passado
have.pst.ipfv.3sg happen.ptcp.m.sg
When they were back at the palace with the child, they told the queen what
had happened [TCAL, 734]
(163) Partido
que fu
Pedro de Puelles a la ciudad

leave.ptcp.m.sg that be.pst.pfv.3sg Pedro of Puelles to the city

de Len, en Guanuco, a traer la gente
of Len in Guanuco to bring the people

que hubiese,
that have.pst.ipfv.sbjv.3sg
When Pedro de Puelles had left to Len, in Guanuco, in order to bring
every available person [QUI, 4602]
The syntactic blending of subordinating que and the ser + PtcP construction in
examples of this type reflect the growing conventionalisation of ser-selection in
these discourse contexts. 12 examples of this type were found in the corpus of
historiographical texts. These are distributed over five books, mostly from the 16th
century, and have a reasonably wide range of types (ayuntar, morir, partir, pasar,
subir, and volver). Only in one intransitive example, haber is selected:20
(164) Cobrado
que ayamos
el seoro de la mar,

obtain.ptcp.m.sg that have.prs.sbjv.1pl the dominion of the sea

passado
que ayan
nuestros exrcitos a Grecia
cross.ptcp.m.sg that have.prs.sbjv.3pl our
armies to Greece
. But note that the transitive haber + PtcP token in the same example (cobrado que
ayamos) displays the same narration-progressing function.

y a Tracia, el furor
de Mahoma
and to Thrace the vehemence of Mohammed

ser refrenado
be.fut.3sg curb.ptcp.m.sg
When we have obtained the dominion of the sea and when our armies have
passed the sea to Greece and Thrace, the vehemence of Mohammed will be
curbed [TCAL, 5100]
In summary, it appears that the increasing fragmentation of the ser + PtcP paradigm leads to a new rule of the distribution of auxiliary selection regarding the
type of involved narrative context. Ser + PtcP is increasingly used to indicate the
progression of the narrative plot, whereas haber + PtcP is used to give background
information. Since perfective past tense morphology is closely related to the first
narrative function, the frequency of use of ser + PtcP decreases more slowly in
these contexts. In contrast to Old Spanish, however, this opposition in the narrative function of ser + PtcP and haber + PtcP appears to no longer be motivated by
the distinction between resultative and anterior functions.
The gradual dissolution of the event result opposition as a rule of auxiliary
selection is also demonstrated by the finding in MODEL3 that ser is replaced with
haber more slowly in contexts involving irrealis modality. As argued in Chapter3.1,
irrealis modality necessarily leads to an eventive interpretation. The same applies
to late ser + PtcP tokens such as (165).
(165) y que si no hubiera
este artificio,

and that if not have.pst.ipfv.sbjv.3sg this trick

fuera
vuelto
Bartolom Fiesco
be.pst.ipfv.sbjv.3sg return.ptcp.m.sg Bartoloms Fiesco

conforme
a lo que se
in.accordance.with to that that pro.refl

haba publicado
have.pst.ipfv.3sg publish.ptcp.m.sg
And that without this trick, Bartolom Fiesco would have come back as
agreed [HHC, 1744]
The fact that ser + PtcP gains relative frequency in contexts like (165) thus again
suggests a change in the grammatical constraints on ser-selection. In these contexts authors reanalyse the function of ser + PtcP in terms of the rising haber +
PtcP construction, i.e. as an anterior. This reanalysis is made possible by the weakening of the resultative function of ser + PtcP due to the fragmentation of the ser
+ PtcP paradigm.
In summary, this section has described and motivated a series of differences

in the speed with which ser-selection declined in usage frequency, and the resulting functional changes in the distribution of auxiliary selection in Early Modern
Spanish. The decrease of use of ser + PtcP and the conserving effects that accompany that process led to a fragmentation of the ser + PtcP paradigm and to the loss
of the original resultative function of ser + PtcP.
The increasing uncertainty of authors regarding the function of ser + PtcP in
turn licences a series of reanalyses establishing new types of systematicity of auxiliary selection within certain micro-contexts. Two of these micro-contexts have
been identified: (i) ser + PtcP is selected when expressing a past movement event,
and (ii) ser + PtcP is selected with perfective past tense morphology, i.e. with the
intention to advance the narrative plot.
The micro-rules (iii) can be characterised as exceptions to a more general
rule: when expressing a past situation with present relevance, use haber + PtcP. If
however ser + PtcP is increasingly defined in opposition to haber + PtcP, the two
construction enter into a paradigmatic relationship. The existence and particularity of these micro-rules thus demonstrate that ser + PtcP is increasingly understood as a mere allomorph of haber + PtcP. For this reason, previous restrictions
in the use of ser + PtcP become obsolete. For instance, authors increasingly use ser
+ PtcP in sentences with irrealis modality.
Consequently, it appears that it is only in Early Modern Spanish where the
relationship between haber + PtcP and ser + PtcP can be defined in terms of an
overarching anterior construction. Only in Early Modern Spanish, auxiliary selection in the narrow sense of a choice between two auxiliaries with temporal function can be argued to exist.
MODEL3 demonstrates a further usage-based effect in the history of
Spanish auxiliary selection. Persistence effects not only exercise a synchronic
influence on ser-selection (as demonstrated in Chapter 6.4.4.6), but also a
diachronic influence. The frequency of use of ser + PtcP decreases slower in
contexts involving a persisting ser + PtcP token. In terms of the correlation
between a slower decline in the usage frequency of ser + PtcP and changes
in the distribution of auxiliary selection, this means that in comparison to
Old Spanish, the strength of the persistence effect increases in Early Modern
Spanish. This finding supports the assumption that persistence can work as a
conserving effect in diachrony (see 4.6 and R
osemeyer to appear-a). As in Old
Spanish, in Early Modern Spanish the use of a ser + PtcP token raises the probability that the writer again uses ser + PtcP in the following co-text. The syntactic productivity of the ser + PtcP construction drastically decreases in Early
Modern Spanish, leading to a fragmentation of its function. To the extent to
which the mental representation of an abstract schema of ser + PtcP declines
for individual authors, the activation of this abstract representation becomes

increasingly dependent on persistence effects. This leads to a change in the diffusion of ser + PtcP constructions in the investigated texts. Ser + PtcP tokens
increasingly form clusters of usage rather than being distributed regularly in
the texts, as in (166).
(166) pues que fueron
hechas
todas aquellas honras con

after that be.pst.pfv.3pl make.ptcp.f.pl all these honours with

malicia, no siendo muerto,
y por dar crdito a toda la
malice not be.prog die.ptcp.m.sg and for give belief to all the

ciudad que ramos muertos,
e no por su alma; que
city
that be.pst.ipfv.1pl die.ptcp.m.pl and not for his soul that

pues vean
que hacan
bienes
y
then see.pst.ipfv.3pl that make.pst.ipfv.3pl intercessions and

honras por Corts y por nosotros, creyesen
que
honours for Corts and for us
believe.pst.ipfv.sbjv.3pl that

era
verdad que ramos
muertos
be.pst.ipfv.3sg truth that be.pst.ipfv.1pl die.ptcp.m.pl
Since we were not dead, these honouring prayers were not truthful, but a
deception with which they wanted to make the whole city believe that we
were dead, and they were not prayers for his [Corts, MR] soul; so that
when they [the natives] saw that they were interceding on behalf of Corts
and us, and honouring us, they should believe that it was true that we were
dead [CNE, 4801]
Importantly, this situation leads to an interaction between entrenchment and persistence. The conservation of specific ser + PtcP syntagms such as es ido is gone is
on the one hand accompanied by the loss of the original function of ser + PtcP. On
the other hand, the occurrence of these syntagms leads to a persistence effect that
temporarily strengthens the mental representation of the constructional schema
ser + PtcP. Section 7.4 will demonstrate that as a result of this interaction, ser +
PtcP tokens preceded by ser + PtcP tokens behave more conservatively with regard
to grammatical function than ser + PtcP tokens without a preceding ser + PtcP
token, or preceded by a haber + PtcP token.
Interestingly, MODEL3 also supplies evidence regarding the causes of the generalisation of haber to the sole auxiliary in Spanish. The analysis suggests that the
frequency of use of ser + PtcP decreases faster in contexts involving a reflexive pronoun. This situation is illustrated in Figure 7.10, which splits the development of
auxiliary selection over time according to whether the context involves a r eflexive
pronoun.
Development of auxiliary selection by use of reflexive pronoun
100%
80%
60%
[+PRO]
[PRO]
40%
20%
69
50
16
00
59
16
64
9
50
15
54
00
15
1
50
44
14
00
14
49
9
39
1
50
34
13
00
13
12
70
29
0%
Figure 7.10 Development of auxiliary selection by reflexive pronoun
Recall that there are differences in the meaning of the reflexive pronoun with
Old Spanish ser + PtcP and haber + PtcP (see 6.4). In combination with ser +
PtcP, the reflexive pronoun typically emphasises the resultant state of the situation, whereas in combination with haber + PtcP, the reflexive pronoun interacts
with valency. This finding was attributed to the origin of ser + PtcP as a middle
construction with a reflexive function.
Note however that the situation illustrated in Figure 7.10 contradicts the statistical findings from Chapter 6 in that until the end of the 14th century, reflexivity
does not seem to lead to more selection of haber over ser. Indeed, the inclusion of
a temporal dimension in the analysis of Spanish auxiliary selection in MODEL3
leads to the loss of statistical significance of the variable [PRO] for Old Spanish
auxiliary selection. In other words, the positive effect of reflexive pronouns on the
use of haber + PtcP found in MODEL1 appears to not be a synchronic constraint
in Old Spanish, but rather reflects the fact that the usage frequency of ser + PtcP
decreases faster in contexts involving reflexive pronouns. MODEL1 already documents the existence of this trend in Old Spanish.
In the light of these findings, it seems reasonable to assume that reflexivity was
a catalyst of the actualisation of haber + PtcP. As summarised in 6.4.4.2, it is often
assumed that in the Romance languages, the reflexive pronoun rose in frequency
over time and replaced the middle construction as the predominant reflexivity
marker. The data from the corpus of historiographical texts supports this assumption. Figure 7.11 illustrates the development of the use of the reflexive pronoun
in the corpus of historiographical texts. It shows a clear increase in the coding of
reflexivity with the reflexive pronoun over time.
30%
20%
10%
69
1
50
16
64
00
16
59
9
50
15
54
9
00
15
49
9
50
14
44
9
00
39
14
1
50
34
13
13
00
29
1
70
12
0%
Proportion use of reflexive pronoun
Figure 7.11 Development of the use of reflexive pronouns in the corpus of auxiliary selection
in historiographical texts
In 3.2, it was argued that the opposition between active and middle constructions in Proto-Indo-European is typical of active-stative argument configurations.
Consequently, the intricate relation between the expansion of the use of the pronoun se as a reflexive marker and the haber + PtcP construction constitutes the
link between the change in the Spanish auxiliary selection system and the more
general drift of the Indo-European languages towards nominative-accusative
coding. Whereas the opposition between active and middle constructions in
Proto-Indo-European does not constitute a contrast in transitivity, the reflexive
pronoun has a valency-decreasing function and thus interacts with transitivity.
It can thus be argued that the expansion of the use of the reflexive pronoun is
an important symptom of the spread of transitivity, and thus the nominative-
accusative opposition, as an organisation principle in Spanish.
The changes in the coding of reflexivity in turn affect the distribution of auxiliary selection in Spanish. Contexts involving a reflexive pronoun are affected early
by the expansion of haber + PtcP because these contexts resemble transitive contexts. The rise of the reflexive pronoun weakens the reflexive function of ser + PtcP,
and consequently the use of the construction itself. MODEL3 evinces that this
process accelerates over time. This finding thus may have explanatory potential for
the fact that haber + PtcP was generalised to the sole auxiliary in Spanish.
7.4 Persistence
The last section has demonstrated an interaction between the influence of entrenchment and persistence on the development of Spanish auxiliary selection. The use
of one of the increasingly formulaic ser + PtcP syntagms temporarily strengthens
the writers mental representation of the abstract ser + PtcP construction. This
assumption leads to two predictions. First, the use of ser + PtcP becomes increasingly dependent on persistence effects. This trend has already been demonstrated
by MODEL3 (see 7.3.2.3). Second, the conserving effect of persistence should not
only lead to a greater usage frequency of ser + PtcP, but also to a more conservative
use of ser + PtcP. If a ser + PtcP token in the preceding discourse serves as a clue to
the author to use the ser + PtcP construction, an inference process is necessary to
reach the abstract representation of ser + PtcP from a specific instance of that construction. This process has been described in detail in Section 4.6. This inference
leads to a strengthening of the paradigmaticity of the ser + PtcP construction, and
a more conservative use of ser + PtcP. If this assumption is correct, Early Modern
Spanish ser + PtcP tokens formed as a result of persistence effects should be used
more conservatively than the ser + PtcP tokens that trigger them. To a certain
degree, persistence effects should reverse the reanalysis of ser + PtcP tokens due to
the fragmentation of the original ser + PtcP paradigm.
This claim can be validated by comparing (i) Early Modern Spanish ser + PtcP
tokens formed in the presence of a ser + PtcP token with (ii) Early Modern Spanish
ser + PtcP tokens formed without such a persisting ser + PtcP token, with regard
to their distribution in the contexts where a change of the function of ser + PtcP
has been demonstrated. It would be expected that these distributional changes are
stronger for ser + PtcP tokens of type (ii) than for ser + PtcP tokens of type (i).
7.4.1 Multivariate analysis
In order to evaluate these predictions, a fourth generalised linear mixed-effect
regression model was conducted. This synchronic model analyses auxiliary selection
in Early Modern Spanish as a function of (a) the variables already used in MODEL1,
and (b) interaction terms between these variables and [PERSIST_SER]. The regression analysis thus complements the diachronic analysis suggested in 7.3.2.
As in MODEL1 and MODEL3, the dependent variable is the binary variable [SER],
which receives the value TRUE if ser is selected and FALSE if haber is selected. A
binomial distribution is assumed. The predictors are the variables already used
in MODEL1, with the exception of the persistence variables [PERSIST_SER] and
[PERSIST_HABER]: the numerical variable date of occurrence [TIME], as well as
[DIR], [TE], [MO], [CON], [PRO], [SUBTYPE], [MANNER], [LOC], [INTENT],
[TEMP], [NUMBER], [IRREALIS], [NEG], and [AUX_TEMP]. These variables
are modelled exactly as in MODEL1. In addition, interaction terms between
[PERSIST_SER] and most of the other main predictors are introduced. However, no interaction terms between [PERSIST_SER] and the predictors [TIME],
[SUBTYPE], and [AUX_TEMP] could be introduced into the model. This is due
to the fact that for certain combinations of the levels of these variables, no tokens
of haber + PtcP or ser + PtcP were found in Early Modern Spanish. For instance,
there are no tokens in the Early Modern section of the corpus of Spanish historiographical texts marked as [PERSIST_SER = 2] (i.e. presence of a recent ser + PtcP,
small textual distance) and [SUBTYPE = Animals/plants] (i.e. subject referents
that are animals or plants). An inclusion of interaction terms between these variables causes the regression model to not converge.
Like MODEL1, MODEL4 is synchronic and does not model a change. Consequently, both the type of verb from which the participle is formed [VERB] and the
author of the source text [AUTHOR] were included as random effects. The model
thus controls for whether or not the effects only apply to specific verbs or specific
authors and thus enhances the validity of the analysis.
7.4.1.2 Model selection
As with the other regression models in this study, the significance of this array
of predictors was evaluated in a backward fitting process. This process yielded
the reduced MODEL4 , a hierarchically well-formulated model. Table 7.12
summarises the results from MODEL4 and MODEL4 .21
The last section in Table 7.12 demonstrates that both MODEL4 and MODEL4
reach excellent values regarding the C index of concordance and Somers Dxy.
Since the AIC value is lower for the fitted version (MODEL4 ), MODEL4
accounts best for the data.
7.4.1.3 Results
In line with the moderator approach to the interpretation of interaction terms
assumed in this study, the upper half of Table 7.12 (Conditional effects) represents the influence of a predictor variable on Early Modern Spanish auxiliary
selection when no persisting ser + PtcP token is present in the preceding co-text.
The results regarding these conditional effects can be summarised as follows. MODEL4 shows that in Early Modern Spanish, the use of ser-selection significantly decreases over time. Regarding predicate semantics, the presence of a
transition in the event template of the predicate [DIR] favours ser-selection. In
contrast to the findings for Old Spanish auxiliary selection (MODEL1), this effect
however does not reach statistical significance. The model judges motional semantics [MO] to significantly favour ser-selection. The presence of a reflexive pronoun
[PRO] strongly and significantly decreases the likelihood of ser-selection. Manner
Table 7.12 Generalised linear mixed-effect regression model of Early Modern Spanish auxiliary selection (MODEL4 )
PARAMETER
CLUSTER
VARIABLE
LEVEL
MODEL3
OR
MODEL3
OR
CONDITIONAL EFFECTS
(Intercept)
1.847
0.501
TIME
0.981
0.000
AUXILIATED VERBS
3.173
0.171
Telicity [TE]
0.790
0.458
3.037
Control [CON]
0.362
REFLEXIVITY
0.005
SUBJECT
REFERENTI-ALITY

[SUBTYPE]
LOCATIVE, MANNER,
INTENTION
EXPRESSIONS
Human
3.331
0.032
***
0.981
0.000
***
0.006
**
4.050
0.000
***
0.022
0.333
0.002
**
0.000
***
0.005
0.000
***
0.605
0.038
0.501
0.048
*
**
RL
Abstract/inan.
0.823
0.550
Animals/plants
0.676
0.512
Organisation
1.053
0.873
0.625
0.073
0.929
0.790
0.450
0.039

MODIFICATION AND
[TEMP]
NUMBER MARKING
auxiliary [NUMBER]
None
RL
RL
Bounded
0.487
0.003
0.510
0.003
Unbounded
1.103
0.814
1.126
0.757
0.711
0.043
0.421
0.003
**
Singular
**
RL
RL
Plural
0.661
0.025
Unspecified
0.390
0.002
**
(Continued)

Table 7.12 Generalised linear mixed-effect regression model of Early Modern Spanish auxiliary selection (MODEL4 ) (Continued)
PARAMETER
CLUSTER
VARIABLE
LEVEL
OR
MODALITY
2.247
0.035
0.868
0.650
TEMPORAL-ASPECTUAL Temporal-aspectual morphology on Present

MORPHOLOGY ON
Future
AUXILIARY
Imperfective past
Perfective past
PERSISTENCE
MODEL3
MODEL3
OR
2.161
0.027
RL
137.226
0.032
109.529
0.029
0.349
0.000
***
0.367
0.000
***
6.078
0.000
***
6.270
0.000
***
Presence/distance of persisting ser 0 (no persistence)

+ PtcP token [PERSIST_SER]
1 (large distance)
1.533
0.710
1.395
0.196
2 (small distance)
0.917
0.958
1.369
0.481
RL
RL
Presence/distance of pers. haber + 0 (no persistence)

1 (large distance)
0.784
0.125
2 (small distance)
0.487
0.001
1.085
0.949
Telicity [TE]
0.481
0.242
1.773
0.542
Control [CON]
0.596
0.545
9.320
0.016
RL
RL
0.767
0.089
**
0.468
0.001
***
10.011
0.010
**
[PERSIST_SER = 1] (large distance)

AUXILIATED VERBS
REFLEXIVITY

LOCATIVE, MANNER,
INTENTION
EXPRESSIONS
0.763
0.752
1.059
0.941
2.620
0.344

MODIFICATION AND
[TEMP]
NUMBER MARKING
auxiliary [NUMBER]
MODALITY
None
RL
Bounded
1.918
0.443
Unbounded
1.468
0.756
Singular
RL
Plural
1.322
0.590
Unspecified
1.818
0.492
0.891
0.922
0.593
0.603
[PERSIST_SER = 2] (small distance)

AUXILIATED VERBS
4.241
0.568
Telicity [TE]
1.394
0.808
0.525
0.748
Control [CON]
0.997
0.999
REFLEXIVITY
0.720
0.849
LOCATIVE, MANNER,
INTENTION
EXPRESSIONS
0.255
0.440
2.899
0.479
0.139
0.411
1.240
0.874
(Continued)

Table 7.12 Generalised linear mixed-effect regression model of Early Modern Spanish auxiliary selection (MODEL4 ) (Continued)
PARAMETER
CLUSTER
VARIABLE

auxiliary [NUMBER]
MODEL EVALUATION
MODEL3
OR

MODIFICATION AND
[TEMP]
NUMBER MARKING
MODALITY
LEVEL
None
RL
Bounded
1.144
0.923
Unbounded
0.000
0.996
Singular
MODEL 3
OR
RL
Plural
0.650
0.734
Unspecified
0.000
0.991
1.088
0.973
0.388
0.541
0.96
0.96
Somers Dxy
0.92
0.92
AIC
1552
1503
4135
4135
adverbials, as well as expressions of the intention of the subject referent in the

sentence significantly decrease the odds of ser-selection over haber-selection. As
in Old Spanish, bounded temporal adverbials significantly decrease the odds of
ser-selection. In comparison to the reference level (singular number morphology),
ser + PtcP is significantly less likely to appear with plural number morphology or
with gerundial or infinitival morphology than haber + PtcP. Irrealis morphology
significantly favours ser-selection over haber-selection in Early Modern Spanish.
Early Modern Spanish ser + PtcP and haber + PtcP appear to be quite different
with regard to the typical temporal-aspectual morphology. In comparison to
the reference level (present tense), ser + PtcP is much less likely to appear with
imperfective past tense morphology than haber + PtcP, and much more likely to
appear with perfective past tense morphology. These effects are highly significant. Interestingly, a significant effect is also found for future tense morphology:
the model judges future tense morphology to significantly favour ser-selection.
Since however there are only six tokens with future tense morphology in the Early
Modern Spanish section of the corpus of historiographical texts, the relevance of
this finding is doubtful. Whereas the persistence variable for ser + PtcP tokens
does not reach statistical significance (this is to due to the fact that interaction
terms involving this variables are included in the model), the occurrence of a
recent haber + PtcP token significantly decreases the probability of ser-selection
over haber-selection.
In Table 7.12, the interaction terms between [PERSIST_SER] and the other
predictor variables are presented under the headings [PERSIST_SER = 1] (large
distance) and [PERSIST_SER = 2] (small distance). Only one interaction term
reaches statistical significance. Thus, the effect of the presence of a reflexive pronoun is modified in contexts involving the recent use of ser + PtcP. Although in
general, ser-selection is less likely in Early Modern Spanish when a reflexive pronoun is used, this effect is over ten times weaker if in addition to the reflexive
pronoun, a ser + PtcP token appears in the preceding co-text. However, this effect
is only found with less recent persisting ser + PtcP tokens.
7.4.1.4 Discussion
The synchronic analysis of Early Modern Spanish auxiliary selection proposed
in MODEL4 mirrors the diachronic development of auxiliary selection as portrayed in 7.3.2. The effects found by MODEL4 corroborate these previous analyses
because they can be explained by the changes in the auxiliary selection system. For
instance, irrealis modality significantly favours ser-selection over haber-selection
in Early Modern Spanish precisely because over time, ser-selection becomes more
likely in contexts involving irrealis modality (as shown by MODEL3). Likewise, in
contrast to the situation in Old Spanish, plural number morphology significantly
decreases the likelihood of ser-selection in Early Modern Spanish. In addition,

perfective past tense morphology and the typical narrative-progressing function
associated with its use strongly favours ser-selection over haber-selection.
It is interesting to consider the results regarding predicate semantics (auxiliated verbs). First, the loss of statistical significance of [DIR] in MODEL4 is a result
of the intrusion of haber + PtcP into usage contexts involving a predicate marked
as [+DIR]. Since in the Early Modern Spanish period, haber + PtcP has become
quite frequent with intransitive verbs referring to complex situations, from a synchronic perspective the opposition between predicates that imply a transition in
their event template and predicates that do not can no longer explain ser-selection.
Second, in contrast to the findings for Old Spanish, the variable referring
to change in location [MO] reaches statistical significance. This is a result of the
slower decline in usage frequency of ser-selection for verbs that express a change
in location. As proposed in 7.3.2, this means that the semantic feature [MO] is
reanalysed as a predictor of Early Modern Spanish auxiliary selection: a rule
stating that change of location predicates select ser is created.
The synchronic model of Early Modern Spanish auxiliary selection thus again
demonstrates how the interaction between remanence and conservation leads to
the emergence of a new systematicity in auxiliary selection. Due to the actualisation of haber + PtcP, the opposition between predicates marked as [+DIR] and
[DIR] loses its explanatory power. Since verbs expressing a change of location
have a high absolute frequency in the historiographical texts, ser-selection is conserved with these predicates. The conserving effect thus divides the class of predicates marked as [+DIR] and leads to the reanalysis of the distinction between
haber + PtcP and ser + PtcP in Early Modern Spanish.
Turning to the interactions between the persistence variable and the other
predictor variables, the results suggest that to some degree, persistence not only
conserves ser-selection itself, but also the original usage contexts of ser + PtcP. The
analyses conducted in 7.3.2 have demonstrated that over time, ser + PtcP becomes
much less frequent in the context of reflexive pronouns. MODEL4 shows that this
trend is counteracted in contexts where a persistence effect operates. In other
words, authors use ser + PtcP more conservatively if they have already used ser +
PtcP in the preceding co-text.
Note that the function-conserving effect of ser-persistence only concerns the
large distance level of the variable [PERSIST_SER]. The diachronic analysis of
the changes in the distribution of auxiliary selection in MODEL3 specifically isolated this variable level as the context in which the decrease of the use of ser + PtcP
is slower. This seems to suggest that the conserving effect of persistence demonstrated in 7.3 is bound to the conservative use of reflexive pronouns in contexts
where ser + PtcP appears in the preceding co-text.
In 7.3, it was argued that the actualisation of haber + PtcP crucially depended
on the expansion of the use of the reflexive pronoun. In the lights of this assumption, the fact that ser-persistence specifically conserves the use of ser + PtcP with
reflexive pronouns explains why ser-persistence also conserves the use of ser +
PtcP as such. This assumption is in line with the characterisation of the conserving
effect of persistence as a top-down activation process (see 4.6).
This conservative distribution of ser + PtcP in the context of a persisting ser
+ PtcP token thus lends support to the assumption that persistence conserves primarily the function of a disappearing construction, and only secondarily its form.
The use of a ser + PtcP token in the preceding co-text temporarily strengthens the
mental representation of the ser + PtcP construction by analogical inference, and
consequently its paradigmaticity. In the following co-text, the author shows both an
overall higher probability to use that construction, and to use it more conservatively.
7.5 Summary
In this chapter, the diachronic development of auxiliary selection in Early Modern Spanish has been analysed in terms of the theory of linguistic disappearances
proposed in Chapter 4. The key findings from the diachronic analysis can be summarised in four points related to (a) the actualisation of haber + PtcP and resulting
remanence effects, (b) conservation and functional reanalyses of ser + PtcP due
to conservation, (c) the conserving effect of persistence, and (d) the link between
the expansion of haber + PtcP into the domain of intransitive auxiliation and
reflexivity.
7.5.1 Remanence
One of the key findings of this study is that the time point at which the authors of
the historiographical texts stop using a verb in the ser + PtcP construction in Early
Modern Spanish crucially depends on the frequency with which that verb expresses
a predicate marked as [+DIR,+TE]. Verbs like morir die that always or often
express a situation that implies a transition to a resultant state and that are telic,
i.e. marked as [+DIR,+TE], appear most frequently in the Old Spanish ser + PtcP
construction and are also observed longest in the ser + PtcP construction. Verbs
like crecer grow expressing degree achievements, i.e. marked as [+DIR,TE], are
less frequent in the ser + PtcP construction in Old Spanish and disappear earlier
from the ser + PtcP construction than verbs expressing predicates categorised as
[+DIR,+TE]. Verbs like quedar stay that express a stative meaning, i.e. marked as
[DIR,TE], are least frequent in the Old Spanish ser + PtcP c onstruction and also
lose ser-selection earliest. The variable [CON] has been shown to not influence
that longevity of ser-selection with a verb. This finding provides evidence against
Aranovichs (2003) original Semantic Displacement Hypothesis, motivating the
Revised Semantic Displacement Hypothesis proposed in this study.
The fact that the relative frequency of ser-selection in Old Spanish is indicative
of the approximate point in time at which a verb loses ser-selection suggests that
all verbs are affected in the same way by the expansion of haber + PtcP. As argued
in Chapter 4.5.1, the speed of actualisation processes is independent from the
innovation that is being diffused. Thus, the authors start replacing ser + PtcP by
haber + PtcP at approximately the same rate in all of these three predicates classes.
The findings from this chapter confirm Mateus (2009) assumption that the
actualisation of haber + PtcP can be modelled in terms of his version of the Auxiliary Selection Hierarchy. Already in Old Spanish, predicates marked as [DIR]
appear relatively often in the haber + PtcP construction. These predicates are
affected earlier by the actualisation of haber + PtcP because they are more similar
to the original usage contexts of haber + PtcP than predicates marked as [+DIR].
Telicity adds to this effect. Since telicity emphasises a resultant state reading, predicates marked as [+DIR,+TE] are even more dissimilar to the original usage contexts of haber + PtcP. Consequently, atelic change of state predicates are affected
earlier by the spread of haber + PtcP than telic change of state predicates. Due to
the regularity of the spread of haber + PtcP, the Auxiliary Selection Hierarchy can
to a certain degree predict the point in time at which a predicate stops appearing
in the ser + PtcP construction. The gradience of auxiliary selection in Old S panish
leads to gradualness in the replacement of ser + PtcP by haber + PtcP in Early
Modern Spanish. The analysis has thus shown that this macro-change is composed
of a series of micro-changes.
7.5.2 Conservation
The statistical analysis has shown that a high frequency of use leads to the conservation of ser-selection. First, there is a positive correlation between the mean
verb lemma frequency of a verb (i.e. its overall usage frequency) and the relative
frequency of use of that verb in the ser + PtcP construction in the second half of
the 17th century. Second, the mean lemma frequency of a verb is negatively correlated to the date at which the verbs stops appearing in the ser + PtcP construction.
Third, the discrete-time analysis showed verb lemma frequency to be an important predictor of the longevity of ser-selection with verbs. If a verb has a high mean
lemma frequency, there will also be a high absolute number of ser + PtcP tokens
formed from this verb. This suggests that these specific ser + PtcP syntagms have a
high probability to be conventionalised and consequently conserved.
Additionally, the discrete-time hazard analysis has identified a semantic

parameter not predicted by actualisation theory that makes the loss of s er-selection
for a verb less likely: change of location [MO]. Thus, a longevity of appearance in
the ser + PtcP construction was documented not only for verbs that frequently
express meanings marked as [+DIR,+TE] and [+DIR,TE], but also for verbs like
ir go or partir leave that frequently denote an atelic or telic change in location.
Significantly, this result cannot be explained by reference to the Old Spanish
situation and consequently, actualisation viz. remanence. The parameter movement leading to a change in location [MO] does not have a significant influence on
Old Spanish auxiliary selection. There is no reason to assume that these predicates
were affected by the actualisation of haber + PtcP earlier or later than other change
of state predicates. Rather, this finding is indicative of a conserving effect. Since
change of location verbs are very frequent in the corpus of historiographical texts,
they experience a stronger conserving effect than other change of state predicates.
This finding was corroborated in a linear generalised mixed-effect regression
analysis modelling the slopes of development of auxiliary selection in different
contexts. The model shows that for predicates indicating a change in location, the
use of ser + PtcP decreases at a slower pace than other predicates. Consequently,
the longevity of verbs that frequently express these meanings in the ser + PtcP construction can be explained by the theory of conserving effects. The entrenchment
of frequent ser + PtcP syntagms is accompanied by a loss in paradigmaticity. In
particular, later tokens of ser + PtcP display a tendency to be confined to singular
number morphology. In addition, there are some indications that this trend is
stronger for verbs expressing a change in location.
The diachronic observation that ser-selection decreases slower in certain
usage contexts necessarily implies that in synchrony, ser-selection becomes relatively more likely in these usage contexts. Regarding auxiliary selection in Early
Modern Spanish, this means that the opposition between ser + PtcP and haber +
PtcP was reanalysed as an opposition between two auxiliaries for one and the same
construction, the anterior. In Early Modern Spanish, there is a tendency for ser
and haber to become allomorphs.
The findings from this chapter support this assumption. Thus, the regression
analysis suggested that over time, ser + PtcP gains relative frequency in irrealis
modality. The irrealis effect in Old Spanish was taken as to support an analysis
of Old Spanish ser + PtcP and haber + PtcP as distinct constructions with different functions. Consequently, this change is indicative of an approximation of
the functions of haber + PtcP and ser + PtcP. Likewise, the analysis has shown
that ser + PtcP became relatively more frequent in contexts involving imperfective
past tense morphology. Although the synchronic analysis of auxiliary selection in
Early Modern Spanish suggests that in that time period, imperfective past tense
orphology strongly and significantly favours haber-selection over ser-selection,

m
this synchronic constraint is weaker than in Old Spanish.
While the distinction between a resultative and an anterior function thus
increasingly lost explanatory power for the distribution of the two constructions,
a series of new rules of the distribution of ser + PtcP and haber + PtcP was created.
First, auxiliary selection becomes increasingly dependent on whether or not
the verb from which the participle is formed expresses movement leading to a
change in location [MO]. Since in later stages of the replacement process, haber +
PtcP is used with to predicates marked as [+DIR], this semantic parameter loses
predictive power for the opposition between ser + PtcP and haber + PtcP in Early
Modern Spanish. By contrast, due to the conservation of frequent syntagms like es
ido is gone, some authors appear to reanalyse auxiliary selection in Early M
odern
Spanish as an opposition between two anterior auxiliaries, one of which can be
used with predicates that express a change in location. As also evinced by the
marginal significance of the parameter [MO] in the synchronic analysis of Early
Modern Spanish auxiliary selection (MODEL4, see 7.4), a new rule of auxiliary
selection is created.
Second, it was suggested that the slower decrease in the usage frequency of
ser-selection with perfective past tense marking on the auxiliary corresponds
to a reanalysis of the opposition between haber + PtcP and ser + PtcP. Serselection becomes increasingly restricted to contexts with perfective past tense
morphology. As in Old Spanish, these contexts serve the pragmatic function
of advancing the narration of the plot. In contrast to Old Spanish, however,
the opposition between haber + PtcP and ser + PtcP with regard to temporal-
aspectual morphology is not necessarily motivated by the contrast between
anterior and resultative function. At least some authors reanalyse Early M
odern
Spanish auxiliary selection as a contrast between a foregrounding and a backgrounding function.
7.5.3 Persistence
This chapter has also demonstrated an important influence of the mechanism of
persistence on the development of Spanish auxiliary selection. A major finding of
this study is that persistence works as a conserving effect in language change. The
use of a ser + PtcP construction in the preceding co-text increases the probability
that a writer selects ser in the later discourse. The results suggest that this persistence effect becomes stronger over time: to the degree that the ser + PtcP construction declines in usage frequency, it increasingly becomes dependent on persistence
effects. The weakened syntactic productivity of the ser + PtcP construction is
temporarily boosted by recency.
However, persistence is not only conservative in the sense that the probability
of an overt realisation of ser + PtcP increases. In the presence of a persisting ser +
PtcP token, Early Modern Spanish instantiations of ser + PtcP behave more conservative. The findings from the study suggest that in the presence of a persisting
ser + PtcP token, ser + PtcP has a higher probability to be used with a reflexive
pronoun. Ser-persistence thus counteracts some of the functional changes in the
ser + PtcP construction that result from the decrease in usage frequency. Given
that contexts involving reflexive pronouns have been identified as catalysts of the
actualisation of haber + PtcP, the fact that ser-persistence specifically conserved
the use of the reflexive pronoun with ser + PtcP explains why the use of ser + PtcP
is conserved as such in recency contexts.
7.5.4 Causes of the generalisation of haber + PtcP
The diachronic analysis proposed here also offers some explanatory potential
regarding the causes of the generalisation of haber + PtcP. It suggests that the
usage frequency of ser + PtcP decreases faster in contexts involving reflexive
pronouns. It was demonstrated that in the corpus of historiographical texts, the
usage rates of reflexive pronouns steadily increase between Old and Early Modern Spanish. Whereas haber + PtcP partook in this trend, ser + PtcP did not.
The typical coding of reflexivity changed after Old Spanish. As a successor to the
old Proto-Indo-European middle construction, Old Spanish ser + PtcP bears an
inherent reflexive function. However, the reflexive function is increasingly coded
using the reflexive pronoun se. This change in the coding of reflexivity is a result
of the changes in the argument structure configuration between older and newer
stages of the Indo-European languages. As argued by Bauer (2000), the change
from active-stative coding to nominative-accusative coding in the Indo-European
languages can be explained as a spread of transitivity as the dominant grammatical organisational principle of these languages. Having shown that (a) as an overt
object marker, the reflexive pronoun se is an expression type that is intricately
related to the grammatical system of transitivity, and (b) the spread of haber +
PtcP into the domain of intransitive auxiliation is correlated to the general spread
of the reflexive pronoun, the actualisation of haber + PtcP can be explained as a
symptom of the more general change in the argument structure configurations of
the Indo-European languages. The findings from the chapter thus support what
in Chapter 2.2.4 has been called the typological explanation of the spread of
haber + PtcP.
chapter 8
Conclusions
This chapter recapitulates the findings of the study (8.1), and suggests further avenues of research for studies of auxiliary selection (8.2) and studies on frequency
effects (8.3).
8.1 Summary of findings
This study has demonstrated the advantages of a model of language that highlights the dynamic interaction between existing grammatical rules and language use. Grammar is emergent. Grammatical rules that can be identified at a
synchronic point in time are a result of the routinisation of certain manners of
expression. Variation is a crucial concept for emergentist approaches to language.
If language change is taken to be a gradual phenomenon consisting of a series of
micro-innovations, then structured variation must be understood as reflecting
this gradualness, a concept which has been termed gradience.
The process by which Spanish haber + PtcP intruded the usage contexts of
ser+ PtcP has served as an example of this relationship. The investigation of the
Latin origins of haber + PtcP shows that the construction originated in transitive
contexts. At some point, however, as a result of its increase in type frequency, haber
+ PtcP began expanding into intransitive contexts. The study has shown that, in
line with the theory of actualisation proposed in de Smet (2012), this process is
determined by the similarity between usage contexts. Consequently, Soraces (2000)
Auxiliary Selection Hierarchy can be interpreted as a cline of similarity between
a usage context and the original usage context of haber + PtcP. Thus, the lower
the position of a predicate class on the ASH, the more similar it is to the original predicates used in the haber + PtcP construction. More specifically, contexts
involving unergative verbs such as fablar talk and quedar stay are more similar
to transitive contexts than contexts involving unaccusative verbs such as morir die.
This goes to show how the concept of actualisation can explain why the ASH has
predictive power for the directionality of the replacement of ser + PtcP by haber +
PtcP in Spanish. Due to their similarity to the original transitive usage context of
haber + PtcP, some intransitive usage contexts are affected earlier than others by the
a ctualisation process. There is thus a linear relationship between the directionality

of the actualisation of haber + PtcP and the date at which the last ser + PtcP token
of a verb was found. Verbs frequently expressing predicates that are situated higher
up on the ASH display greater longevity in the ser + PtcP construction than verbs
expressing predicates that are situated at the bottom of the hierarchy.
It is important to clearly state the scope of this analysis. The best predictor of
both Old Spanish auxiliary selection and the course of actualisation of haber +
PtcP is transitivity. However, transitivity has not received much attention in this
study. None of the contexts that can be characterised as syntactically transitive,
and only a few that can be characterised as semantically transitive, fall into the
envelope of variation assumed in this study (cf. 5.2.2). Some contexts where both
haber + PtcP and ser + PtcP were found in Old Spanish display a mixture of these
properties. For instance, they may be syntactically intransitive and yet, simultaneously display high transitivity on a semantic level. These contexts are affected by
the spread of haber + PtcP earlier than other syntactically intransitive contexts.
In this study, special attention has been given to reflexives and reciprocals, but
further studies may identify other bridging contexts relevant to the history of
Spanish auxiliary selection. This especially concerns sentences involving dative
arguments. Given that dative arguments represent a biacstantial configuration,
they were excluded from the analysis. However, it appears that the use of haber +
PtcP spread earlier to contexts involving a dative argument than true intransitive
contexts. This issue clearly merits further investigation.
The semantic parameters influencing the course of the actualisation of haber+
PtcP (and consequently, the Auxiliary Selection Hierarchy) are only relevant
within the contexts characterised as both syntactically and semantically intransitive. This state of affairs is illustrated in Figure 8.1 below. The expansion of haber +
PtcP proceeded from the contexts indicated on the left, which display mixed characteristics with regard to syntactic and semantic transitivity, to those indicated on
the right, which are syntactically and semantically intransitive. Within the latter
contexts, the type of auxiliated verbs played an important role in determining how
the actualisation of haber + PtcP progressed each step of the way.
Syntactically transitive,
semantically transitive
Transitive sentences
--->
Mixed forms
--->
Syntactically intransitive,
semantically intransitive
Locative adverbials in object position

sentences with dative arguments
[DIR]
Absolute transitives
[TE]
reflexives and reciprocals
Figure 8.1The course of actualisation of haber + PtcP
[+DIR]
[TE]
[+DIR]
[+TE]
Chapter 8. Conclusions
The concept of gradualness plays a crucial role in this model of the expansion
of haber + PtcP. Haber + PtcP expands successively into usage contexts previously
associated with ser + PtcP. In an affected usage context, haber + PtcP and ser + PtcP
co-exist for some time. Due to the regularity of the gradual expansion of haber +
PtcP, this co-existence takes the form of ordered variation synchronic gradience.
The Auxiliary Selection Hierarchy models this gradience between haber + PtcP
and ser + PtcP within usage contexts that are both syntactically and semantically
intransitive.
In modelling the longevity of ser-selection, the study has also shown that it is
necessary to distinguish between remanence and conservation.
Linguistic innovations within a usage context take some time to be carried
out to completion. They are not adapted instantly by all members of a linguistic community, but rather gradually diffused. These social conventionalisation
processes typically proceed in an s-shaped curve. Although some usage contexts
were affected earlier by the actualisation of haber + PtcP, the speed with which
the use of haber + PtcP was conventionalised in each usage context was found to
be constant for the different usage contexts. This effect was termed remanence in
order to distinguish it from conservation. Remanence thus ultimately refers to
the delay between the beginning and the completion of an actualisation process
in a specific usage context that is due to the prototypical organisation of linguistic
categories, and social conventionalisation.
By contrast, conservation in the strictest sense concerns the way language is
processed by the speaker. Conservation has been seen to indeed counteract actualisation processes, and thus maintain the productivity of a construction that is
being replaced. If a speaker hears a specific linguistic element quite frequently, this
item will become entrenched whereby it is increasingly accessed holistically and
consequently, more easily processed and reproduced. Due to this frequency effect,
the speaker no longer recurs to a mother construction or grammatical rule when
producing the item. If the mother construction is then affected by a grammatical
change such as replacement, the change has a weaker influence on the entrenched
linguistic item. This means that in conservation processes, token frequency influences the type frequency of the disappearing construction. Regarding auxiliary
selection, these considerations generated the assumption that verbs with a high
usage frequency appear longer in the ser + PtcP construction than verbs with a
comparable semantics, but a lower usage frequency. The application of discretetime hazard analysis to the data showed high verb lemma frequency to maintain
the use of a verb in the ser + PtcP construction. In historiographical texts, change
of location verbs are very frequent. The analysis has demonstrated that these
verbsin particular, ir go, venir come and volver returnare most affected by
c onservation processes. This finding evinces the relevance of conservation processes to the historical development of Spanish auxiliary selection. Consequently,
remanence and conservation have been clearly shown to be two different types of
historical processes. In order to model the longevity of ser-selection with a verb, it
is necessary to take into account both processes.
In addition, the study has demonstrated the relevance of Szmrecsanyis (2005,
2006) concept of morphosyntactic persistence for synchronic and a diachronic
analyses of Spanish auxiliary selection. Persistence effects have been proven to
significantly influence Old Spanish auxiliary selection. When an author decides
on whether to use haber or ser in a given usage context, the probability of the use
of ser rises if a ser + PtcP token is present in the immediate preceding co-text.
The effect of persistence increases with a decreasing textual distance to the persisting ser + PtcP token. This finding meets the expectation from a usage-based
approach to language that the short-term experience of a speaker with language
has a direct influence on her or his way to use it. Persistence, however, has also
been proven to have a conserving effect in diachrony. The persistence effect of ser
+ PtcP tokens in the preceding co-text increases over time. In later texts, ser +
PtcP tokens typically form usage clusters. Although ser + PtcP is generally used
less, this trend is counteracted to some degree in contexts involving a recent ser+
PtcP token.
The analysis of the development of Spanish auxiliary selection thus illustrates
that the productivity of ser + PtcP increasingly hinges on entrenchment and persistence. Both the long-term and short-term experiences of the authors with their
language work as conserving effects, and thus have a decisive influence on the
historical processes analysed in this study.
A second expectation generated by the model of linguistic disappearances
proposed in this study was that frequency effects interact with the way speakers
categorise linguistic expressions. The analysis of the Latin origins of haber + PtcP
and ser + PtcP suggests that haber and ser can not initially be analysed as alternating auxiliaries of the same construction, the anterior. Latin habre + PtcP and esse
+ PtcP clearly have very different origins and functions. Whereas habre + PtcP
originated in a transitive construction expressing deontic modality, esse + PtcP
is the successor to the old Indo-European middle construction. This assumption
explains why esse + PtcP is both inherently intransitive and reflexive/reciprocal. In
line with Khner and Stegmanns (1962) analysis, it has been assumed that already
in Latin, esse + PtcP often has a resultative function in which it expresses the persisting result of an event.
The analysis proposed in this study revealed a relative continuity of the function of ser + PtcP between Latin and Old Spanish. Whereas haber + PtcP is an
emergent anterior, ser + PtcP often has a resultative function. Although both haber
and ser can be characterised as auxiliaries, they exercise a different influence on
the conceptualisation of the situation. Haber + PtcP is used to indicate anteriority,
a temporal notion, and thus refers to events. By contrast, ser + PtcP is used to indicate results and thus refers to states, an aspectual notion. Old Spanish haber and
ser are different types of auxiliaries. This claim was substantiated by demonstrating the influence of a number of parameters relating to the resultative anterior
distinction on Old Spanish auxiliary selection. Neither the syntactic (Perlmutter
1978; Burzio 1981), nor the semantic approach to auxiliary selection (van Valin
1990) introduced in 2.1 offers explanatory potential for these differences in the
distribution of haber- and ser-selection.
First, some parameters refer to whether or not a usage context implies that
the resultant state of an event persists at reference time. In particular, the semantic
features of the predicate in a usage context are strong predictors of Old S panish
auxiliary selection. The analysis demonstrated that aspect is the most important
parameter in that domain. Predicates that are telic and especially predicates that
imply a transition in their event template are more likely to appear with ser + PtcP
than with haber + PtcP. In contrast to the assumptions from the Auxiliary Selection
Hierarchy, the statistical analysis does not assign special importance to the parameter of whether or not a predicate expresses a change in location. This finding
supports both Mateus (2009) reformulation of the Auxiliary Selection Hierarchy
in purely aspectual terms and the constructional approach to auxiliary selection.
It has additionally been shown that the use of ser + PtcP is significantly less likely
in sentences involving a temporal adverbial that indicates bounded duration, and
in contexts with irrealis modality. In these contexts, a resultative interpretation
does not apply.
Second, some parameters refer to event modification. It has been argued that
BE in resultative constructions is a copula verb with stative semantics. Consequently, it does not introduce a Davidsonian event variable in its semantic representation. Adverbials that express the subject referents intention for an event,
as well as manner adverbials, can only modify events, not states. Although these
effects do not reach statistical significance in the synchronic model of Old S panish
auxiliary selection, the later analyses (especially MODEL3 and MODEL4) provide some evidence that haber + PtcP is favoured over ser + PtcP in most of these
contexts.
Third, it has been suggested that there is a difference in the pragmatic functions of resultative and anterior constructions. Whereas resultative constructions
are typically used to advance a narrative, anterior constructions are often used to
give background information. In Romance languages, this contrast in discourse
function is usually expressed using the opposition between perfective past tense
morphology and imperfective past tense morphology. The fact that Old Spanish
auxiliary selection is sensitive to this morphological distinction is indicative of the
functional difference between ser + PtcP and haber + PtcP.
Lastly, the use of Old Spanish ser + PtcP and haber + PtcP differs significantly with regard to the parameters of reflexivity and reciprocity. As the successor of Latin esse + PtcP, Old Spanish ser + PtcP has a reflexive or reciprocal
function. This is indicated by the fact that in the data, (a) haber + PtcP is used
significantly more often with reflexive pronouns than ser + PtcP, and (b) ser +
PtcP is used significantly more often with plural number morphology than haber
+ PtcP. Reflexivity in particular has been identified as a crucial explanatory factor for the development of Spanish auxiliary selection. Reflexive pronouns have
a valency-decreasing function. Although syntactically, sentences involving a
reflexive pronoun are intransitive, they display high semantic transitivity. These
contexts are especially susceptible to the actualisation process of haber + PtcP. It
has been demonstrated that contexts involving a reflexive pronoun were affected
by the expansion of haber + PtcP to intransitive contexts very early on, already
in Old Spanish. In fact, the positive effect of reflexivity on haber-selection in
Old Spanish disappears when the historical picture is taken into account. Thus,
the synchronic influence of reflexivity is in fact a result of the historical trend of
reflexive contexts towards haber-selection. Thus, ser-selection decreases in usage
frequency much faster in contexts involving a reflexive pronoun than in contexts
without a reflexive pronoun. This process is explained by the typological change
in argument structure from active-stative to nominative-accusative coding in
the Indo-European languages. The data shows a steady expansion of the use of
the reflexive pronoun. In older stages of the Indo-European languages, reflexivity and reciprocity were coded using the middle. This synthetic coding strategy
was increasingly replaced by the use of the reflexive pronoun, an analytic coding
strategy related to the grammatical system of transitivity. The fact that haber +
PtcP, but not ser + PtcP, profited from the expansion of the use of the reflexive
pronoun, demonstrates the relevance of the typological change in argument configuration in the Indo-European languages to the development of Spanish auxiliary selection. The rise of the haber-anterior is related to the spread of transitivity
as an organisation principle of these languages.
The analysis proposed in this study has confirmed that the diachronic development of auxiliary selection had a profound influence not only on the distribution of ser + PtcP and haber + PtcP with regard to auxiliated verbs, but also on
the functional difference between the two constructions. In particular, it has been
suggested that the expansion of the use of haber + PtcP after 1425 is correlated
to a reanalysis of the relationship between haber + PtcP and ser + PtcP. This reinterpretation process is rooted in both the process of actualisation of haber + PtcP
and the corresponding decline in usage frequency of ser + PtcP.
Turning first to actualisation, actualisation has been conceptualised as a pushchain mechanism. The rising syntactic productivity of an actualising construction
reinforces itself because through actualisation the construction expands into more
and more new usage contexts. Actualisation has been argued to entail the creation of paradigmatic links between two or more constructions, and thereby the
reanalysis of the relationship between these constructions. The gradual expansion
of haber + PtcP into the domain of intransitive verbs necessarily led to a competition between haber + PtcP and ser + PtcP in this usage context. From this perspective, it is only in Early Modern Spanish where the opposition between haber +
PtcP and ser + PtcP can be described as auxiliary selection in the strict sense, i.e.
an opposition between HAVE + PtcP and BE + PtcP not in terms of grammatical
function, but the used auxiliated verbs.
Second, the role of conservation in this reinterpretation process has been
highlighted. From the perspective of ser + PtcP, the actualisation of haber +
PtcP leads to a decrease in type frequency and syntactic productivity. Over time,
the productivity of ser + PtcP increasingly relies on conservation processes, as
evinced by the paradigmatic attrition of ser + PtcP in the domain of number
morphology. The ensuing fragmentation of the ser + PtcP construction leads to
uncertainties in the authors regarding the function of ser + PtcP, and as a result,
a series of micro-reanalyses of the opposition between ser + PtcP and haber +
PtcP. These reanalyses concern (a) motional semantics, and (b) temporal-aspectual morphology. Due to their high usage frequency, verbs with a change of location meaning conserve ser-selection longer. Therefore, the opposition between
ser + PtcP and haber + PtcP is reanalysed in terms of motional semantics. This
explains the finding that whereas motional semantics do not influence auxiliary
selection in Old Spanish, it does in Early Modern Spanish, where verbs with
a change of location meaning typically appear with ser + PtcP. The historical
process of conservation thus leads to establishment of what in Legendre and
Soraces (2003) approach is modelled as a synchronic rule of auxiliary selection. Regarding temporal-aspectual morphology, the influence of the distinction between perfective and imperfective past tense morphology on auxiliary
selection gains importance in Early Modern Spanish. The authors of the source
texts increasingly associate the use of ser + PtcP with the specific usage context
of pre-posed subordinate clauses with a temporal function. The use of ser + PtcP
is increasingly restricted to this specific usage context that is already very important in Old Spanish.
These changes are correlated to the more general reanalysis of ser as an anterior auxiliary. Between Old and Early Modern Spanish, the irrealis effect in auxiliary selection gets lost. Since the irrealis effect was taken to be indicative of the
resultative anterior distinction, this change suggests that Early Modern authors
started reanalysing ser + PtcP in terms of an anterior construction. This trend has
been argued to reflect the loss of the inherent resultative function of ser + PtcP
since indeed, as ser is reanalysed as an anterior auxiliary, authors start using it in
contexts formerly favouring haber-selection.
This interplay between conservation and functional change of ser + PtcP is
influenced by persistence effects. Persistence effects due to the presence of ser +
PtcP tokens in the preceding co-text have a conserving effect on the development
of ser + PtcP. Not only is the use of ser + PtcP as such increasingly dependent on
persistence, but ser + PtcP is also used more conservatively in contexts involving
a preceding ser + PtcP token. In the presence of a preceding ser + PtcP token, ser
+ PtcP is more likely to be used with a reflexive pronoun. Ser-persistence thus
reverses the functional changes triggered by the actualisation of haber + PtcP to
some extent. Since reflexive contexts have been identified as catalysts of the actualisation of haber + PtcP, the fact that in the context of a recent ser + PtcP token,
ser + PtcP is more likely to be used with a reflexive pronoun explains why serpersistence conserves not only the function, but also the use of ser + PtcP as such.
8.2 Relevance for studies of auxiliary selection
The summary in the last section has shown how the systematic application of
usage-based theories and variationist methodology leads to very fine-grained
explanations of the interplay between synchronic and diachronic processes. In
addition, this investigation of gradience, gradualness and conservation in the history of Spanish auxiliary selection has yielded highly relevant findings for the diachronic and synchronic study of auxiliary selection in other languages. There are
indications that many of the findings from this study could be replicated in studies on other Romance or Germanic languages, and could thus further the understanding of auxiliary selection in Modern European languages. These ideas are
summarised in the points (iiii).
(i) This study demonstrates that at least when applied to the relationship
between Old Spanish haber + PtcP and ser + PtcP, the term auxiliary selection
must be defined very carefully. It is rather difficult to delimit the usage contexts
in which Old Spanish speakers actually had a choice between the two constructions. The fact that the synchronic analysis of the opposition between Old Spanish
haber + PtcP and ser + PtcP has suggested many usage contexts in which one of the
constructions is favoured over the other demonstrates a rather distinct function of

the two constructions, and consequently, a lack of competition between them in
many contexts. The constructional approach to the study of auxiliary selection has
the advantage of accounting for the diachronic facts about the genesis of the two
constructions. Haber + PtcP and ser + PtcP viz. Latin habre + PtcP and esse + PtcP
were created in different usage contexts in different time periods and are thus very
unlikely to have been in direct competition in the early stages of their coexistence.
Since auxiliary selection in all Romance languages is fundamentally based on
the developments in Late Latin, the argument about the different historical origins
of haber + PtcP and ser + PtcP does not only concern Spanish, but also the other
Romance languages. Thus, it could be hypothesised that a functional contrast
similar to the one found for Spanish operates in other Romance languages. There
are certain indications that this is indeed the case. As in Old Spanish, studies on
Old Neapolitan have demonstrated an irrealis effect in auxiliary selection, where
contexts involving irrealis modality favour HAVE over BE (Formentin 2001;
Ledgeway 2003). Likewise, in her study on Old Catalan, Battle (2002:66) finds
the same ambiguity of BE + PtcP between a resultative reading, or, in her words, a
stative interpretation, and an anterior reading. Giving examples from Old French,
Old Italian dialects, Old Catalan and Old Spanish, Mackenzie (2006:135) claims
that in the vast majority of the examples in the medieval corpus, E + intransitive
past participle has a resultant-state type of meaning. He also demonstrates that
the omission of the reflexive pronoun is not only typical for Old Spanish BE + PtcP
tokens, but can also be found in Old Italian dialects and Old French (Mackenzie
2006:137138).
The idea of a resultative interpretation of BE + PtcP thus clearly has a typological dimension. Even in older stages of the Germanic languages, the distinction
between BE + PtcP and HAVE + PtcP has been argued to correspond to a functional contrast between a resultative and an anterior construction (for Old High
German, see Leiss 1992: Chapter 4; Gillmann 2011, to appear; for Old English,
McFadden & Alexiadou 2006a; McFadden & Alexiadou 2010). Therefore, it can
be hypothesised that the difference in the origins of BE + PtcP and HAVE + PtcP
explains why the distributional differences between BE + PtcP and HAVE + PtcP
are similar across Romance and Germanic languages.
(ii) Whereas in Old Spanish, the opposition between ser + PtcP and haber
+ PtcP has been shown to rather clearly correspond to the functional contrast
between a resultative and an anterior reading, this form-function correspondence grew weaker over time. There are indications of similar processes in other
Romance and Germanic languages.
The analysis first suggested that the conservation of BE + PtcP was particularly strong with respect to verbs that express a change of location because in the
investigated texts, these verbs are very frequent. The Auxiliary Selection Hierarchy captures cross-linguistic similarities in the distribution of auxiliary selection. In the Modern European languages, verbs expressing a change of location
most consistently select BE, a fact not predicted by the constructional perspective on auxiliary selection. Legendre & Sorace (2003) model this prominence of
verbs expressing a change in location by posing a parameter movement leading
to a change in location [MO]. The analysis proposed in this study has shown
how conservation leads to the creation of the new rule of auxiliary selection Use
BE with verbs that express a change in location. In most of the Romance and
Germanic languages, BE + PtcP has been reduced to rather specific usage contexts and in this way, has lost syntactic productivity. The findings from this study
suggest that the prominence of this type of verbs in the ASH may be a result of
conserving processes. Significantly, this hypothesis is complex in that it assumes
that because conservation processes are not only specific to a language, but also
to a given discourse tradition in a language, this discourse tradition has been
similar enough across the European languages to have triggered the same conservation processes. This entails two problems that require further investigation.
On the one hand, it is unclear whether the conserving processes documented
in the written discourse tradition of historiographical texts also occurred in the
spoken language. Alternatively, it is possible that the new rule of auxiliary selection established in the written discourse tradition has transcended into spoken
language. On the other hand, it would have to be investigated whether change of
location verbs are indeed highly frequent in historiographical or other narrative
texts in the other European languages. As preliminary evidence for the hypothesis proposed here, consider the similarities between Spanish and English already
noted by Smith (2007:262, Footnote 8). As previously mentioned, English be was
lost as an auxiliary in the domain of intransitive auxiliary selection. This change
was practically complete by the 19th century. Consequently, it can be argued that
in terms of the chronology of the changes in auxiliary selection, the 19th century
in English is comparable to the 17th century in Spanish. Smith (2007:261) shows
that in terms of token frequency, the most frequent verbs in the 19th century
be+ PtcP construction are go and come. It has been shown in this study that a
similar situation applies in 17th century Spanish, where the token frequencies of
both ir go and venir come in the ser + PtcP construction are very high. Given
that (a) many authors have claimed that Old English auxiliary selection can be
conceptualised as a contrast between a resultative and an anterior construction,
and (b) change of location appears to be an important determinant of later stages
of English auxiliary selection, it can be hypothesised that as in Spanish, change of
location verbs are particularly frequent in Old, Middle and Early Modern English
texts and therefore susceptible to conserving effects.
Second, the results from this study suggest that before the disappearance
of BE+ PtcP in Spanish, the decline in syntactic productivity also led to partial
reanalyses in terms of the anterior function of HAVE + PtcP. This finding may
explain why in those languages in which the BE + PtcP construction is still productive in particular, Italian, Continental French, and German , it is considered
to be an anterior auxiliary. Given that in older stages of these languages, the opposition between BE and HAVE is argued to have been an opposition between the
constructional types resultative and anterior, a grammatical development appears
to have taken place. However, it is unlikely that this process is a grammaticalication process because grammaticalisation is usually accompanied by a rise in
type frequency, i.e. syntactic productivity (cf. Chapter 4). Indeed, studies of the
German BE + PtcP construction like Gillmann (2011) argue that German sein +
PtcP is only weakly grammaticalised (Gillmann 2011:203).
However, it might be possible to also apply the model of linguistic disappearances developed in this study to cases where no such disappearance has taken
place. In the case of Early Modern Spanish, the authors copy the function of HAVE
+ PtcP when using BE + PtcP precisely because BE + PtcP declines in syntactic
productivity. It can be hypothesised that the attainment of allomorphy between
HAVE + PtcP and BE + PtcP can also have an influence on the usage frequency
of BE + PtcP. If BE + PtcP is reanalysed as an anterior, and at the same time the
anterior construction (primarily instantiated by HAVE + PtcP) simultaneously
increases in usage frequency, then BE + PtcP might also be used more frequently.
This idea relates to Bardals (2008) account of productivity described in 4.6. In
order to be productive, a paradigm does not necessarily need to have a high type
frequency. Rather, small paradigms can be productive due to their great semantic
coherence. If as in Modern French, the use of BE + PtcP is essentially reduced to
change of location predicates, it is likely to be generalised to new verbs expressing
a change of location a hallmark of syntactic productivity.
The idea expounded in the last paragraph receives support through the evaluation of the connection between the grammaticalisation of the anterior in Modern European languages, and the conservation of BE + PtcP. In Chapter 3.2.1, the
concept of aorist drift was introduced. It appears that in the functional change
of HAVE + PtcP, at some point it attains an aorist function. Crucially, in many
Northern Italian dialects, as well as Modern German and Modern Continental
French, HAVE + PtcP is often used instead of the synthetic past tense forms. In
these languages, BE + PtcP still exists. By contrast, Modern Spanish haber + PtcP
is used to express the present relevance of a situation, and is thus largely excluded
from hodiernal contexts (but cf. Schwenter 1994a; Serrano 1994). The degree of
syntactic productivity of BE + PtcP thus appears to be correlated to the degree of
grammaticalisation of HAVE + PtcP. It is hypothesised here that in these languages,
BE + PtcP experienced a parasitic grammaticalisation process by which the integration of BE + PtcP into an emergent anterior paradigm enabled its survival as a
linguistic means of expression.
In order to test this hypothesis, diachronic studies of auxiliary selection for
those languages in which BE + PtcP still exists are necessary. In particular, it
would be interesting to evaluate the historical development of auxiliary selection
in French and Italian. Future studies may be able to fill this gap in the diachronic
research on the Romance languages.
(iii) As a last point, this study has demonstrated the importance of the grammatical domain of reflexivity in the development of auxiliary selection. The
changes in the distribution of Spanish BE + PtcP and HAVE + PtcP are inextricably intertwined with the changes in the coding of reflexivity in Spanish. The
special relevance for reflexivity for the development of Spanish auxiliary selection
has been explained with the typological change in argument structure in the IndoEuropean languages.
However, other Romance languages where BE-selection has been conserved
until today differ from Early Modern Spanish in that BE + PtcP has become more
common in contexts involving a reflexive pronoun than HAVE + PtcP. For French,
it has been shown that the use of the reflexive pronoun indeed started to rise in
usage frequency after the 15th century (Heidinger 2008: Chapter 4). However, this
change appears to have favoured the expansion of HAVE + PtcP to a lesser degree.
This finding thus contradicts the analysis proposed here in that the expansion of
HAVE + PtcP in French appears not to be correlated to the typological change
from an active-stative to a nominative-accusative coding of argument structure.
This issue thus clearly requires further attention in the diachronic research on auxiliary selection.
8.3 Relevance for studies on frequency effects
As summarised in 8.1, this study has elaborated the relationship between frequency
effects and discourse traditions, as well as the relationship between frequency and
categoriality. The results concerning these problems are of high relevance to studies on frequency effects.
First, it was suggested that studies of frequency effects need to pay close
attention to the question of discourse traditions. The concept of discourse traditions is not a mere nuisance when studying frequency effects. Rather, discourse
traditions enable frequency effects because experience with language is always
connected to specific contexts. In line with Foucault (2002 [1969]), it has been
argued that discourse traditions are indeed created out of more or less overt
forms of repetition.
This study has demonstrated the relevance of conserving effects to the history of Spanish auxiliary selection in historiographical texts. However, it is unclear
whether these conserving effects in historiographical texts correspond to conserving effects in spoken language or other written discourse traditions. It would seem
promising to investigate the interaction between frequency effects in different discourse traditions, as well as language modalities in order to find answers to the
following questions which result from the findings of this study. Does entrenchment of a linguistic element in a discourse tradition lead to a greater probability
of entrenchment of that element in another discourse tradition? What is the exact
interplay between the written and oral modalities with regard to frequency effects?
Which role does the global importance, or prestige, of a discourse tradition play in
such exchanges? These questions lend themselves easily to both experimental and
corpus-based investigations in Modern languages. See Rosemeyer (to appear-b)
for a first analysis of the interplay between frequency effects and discourse traditions in Spanish auxiliary selection.
Second, it has also been shown that there is an interplay between persistence
effects, conservation, and categoriality. In Early Modern Spanish auxiliary selection, the grammatical function of ser + PtcP is strengthened if ser + PtcP appears
in the preceding co-text. Consequently, persistence effects have been shown to
have a conservative function in language change. These findings need to be tested
in the diachronic analysis of other morphosyntactic alternations.
References
Aarts, B. 2004. Modelling linguistic gradience. Studies in Language 28: 149.
Aarts, B. 2007. Syntactic Gradience. The Nature of Grammatical Indeterminacy. Oxford: OUP.
Abbot-Smith, K. & Behrens, H. 2006. How known constructions influence the acquisition of
other constructions: The German periphrastic passive and future constructions. Cognitive
Science 30: 9951026.
Abraham, W. 1990. Die Grammatikalisierung von Auxiliar- und Modalverben. Beitrage zur
Geschichte der deutschen Sprache und Literatur 112: 200208.
Abraham, W. 1991a. Aktionsartsemantik und Auxiliarisierung im Deutschen. In Neue Fragen der Linguistik. Akten des 25. Linguistischen Kolloquiums, Paderborn 1990, Volume 1:
Bestand und Entwicklung, E. Feldbusch, R. Pogarell & C. Wei (eds), 125133. Tubingen:
Niemeyer.
Abraham, W. 1991b. How much of the German tense system is aspect and aktionsart? Belgian
Journal of Linguistics 6: 133150.
Admyte. 1992. Archivo digital de manuscritos y textos espaoles, Tomo 0. Madrid: Micronet.
Albright, A. 2005. The morphological basis of paradigm leveling. In Paradigms in Phonological
Theory, L. Downey, T.A. Hall & R. Raffelsiefen (eds), 1743. Oxford: OUP.
Alexiadou, A. To appear. On the irrealis effect on auxiliary selection. In Auxiliary Selection Revisited: Gradience and Gradualness, R. Kailuweit & M. Rosemeyer (eds). Berlin: De Gruyter.
Alexiadou, A., Agnostopoulou, E. & Everaert, M. 2004. Introduction. In The Unaccusativity
Puzzle: Explorations of the Syntax-Lexicon Interface, A. Alexiadou, E. Agnostopoulou &
M.Everaert (eds), 121. Oxford: OUP.
Alexiadou, A., Rathert, M. & von Stechow, A. 2003. Introduction: The modules of perfect
constructions. In Perfect Explorations, A. Alexiadou, M. Rathert & A. von Stechow (eds),
viixxxviii. Berlin: De Gruyter.
Aleza Izquierdo, M. 1987. Ser con participio de perfecto en construcciones activas no oblicuas
(espaol medieval). Valencia: Universidad de Valencia.
Altmann, G. 1983. Das Piotrowski-Gesetz und seine Verallgemeinerungen. In Exakte Sprachwandelforschung, K.-H. Best & J. Kohlhase (eds), 5490. Gttingen: Edition Herodot.
Andersen, H. 2001a. Actualization and the (uni)directionality of change. In Actualization:
Linguistic Change in Progress, H. Andersen (ed.), 225248. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Andersen, H. (ed.). 2001b. Actualization: Linguistic Change in Progress. Amsterdam: John
Benjamins.
Andersen, H. 2001c. Markedness and the theory of linguistic change. In Actualization: Linguistic
Change in Progress [Current Issues in Linguistic Theory 219], H. Andersen (ed.), 225248.
Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Andres-Surez, I. 1994. El verbo espaol. Sistemas medievales y sistema clsico. Madrid: Gredos.
Anttila, R. 1977. Analogy. Berlin: De Gruyter.
Anttila, R. 2003. Analogy: The warp and woof of cognition. In The Handbook of Historical
Linguistics, B. Joseph & R. Janda (eds), 425440. Oxford: Blackwell.
Aranovich, R. 2003. The semantics of auxiliary selection in Old Spanish. Studies in Language
27(1): 137.
References
Aschenberg, H. 2003. Diskurstraditionen Orientierungen und Fragestellungen. In Romanische
Sprachgeschichte und Diskurstraditionen, H. Aschenberg & R. Wilhelm (eds), 118. Tbingen:
Narr.
Aschenberg, H. 2005. Analogie: Gedanken zu einem linguistischen Begriff und zu seiner
Anwendung in der romanischen Sprachwissenschaft. Zeitschrift fr romanische Philologie
121(1): 126.
Avram, L. & Hill, V. 2007. An irrealis BE auxiliary in Romanian. In Split Auxiliary Systems:
A Cross-Linguistic Perspective [Typological Studies in Language 69], R. Aranovich (ed.),
4768. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Azofra Sierra, M.E. 2006. La naturaleza del participio perfecto. In Actas del VI Congreso Internacional de Historia de la Lengua Espanola (Madrid, UCM, 29 de septiembre-3 de octubre
de 2003), J.J. Bustos Tovar & J.L. Girn Alchonchel (eds), I, 439448. Madrid: Arco Libros.
Baayen, H. 2008. Analyzing Linguistic Data. A Practical Introduction to Statistics Using R.
Cambridge: CUP.
Baddeley, A.D. 1966. Short-term memory for word sequences as a function of acoustic, semantic
and formal similarity. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology 18: 362365.
Bailey, C.-J. N. 1973. Variation and Linguistic Theory. Washington DC: Center for Applied
Linguistics.
Bard, E.G., Frenck-Mestre, C. & Sorace, A. 2010. Processing auxiliary selection with Italian
intransitive verbs. Linguistics 48(2): 325361.
Bardal, J. 2008. Productivity: Evidence from Case and Argument Structure in Icelandic [Constructional Approaches to Language 8]. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Barra Jover, M. 2002. Propiedades lxicas y evolucin sintctica. El desarrollo de los mecanismos
de subordinacin en espaol. Corua: Toxosoutos.
Barthes, R. 1967. The death of the author. Aspen 56. http://www.ubu.com/aspen/aspen5and6/
threeEssays.html barthes (16 January 2012).
Bates, E. & Goodman, J.C. 1997. On the inseparability of grammar and the lexicon: Evidence
from acquisition, aphasia and real-time processing. Language and Cognitive Processes
12(56): 507584.
Bates, E. & Goodman, J.C. 1999. On the emergence of grammar from the lexicon. In The
Emergence of Language, B. Macwhinney (ed.), 2979. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum
Associates.
Batlle, M. 2002. Lexpressi dels temps compostos en la veu mitjana i la passiva pronominal. El
procs de substituci de lauxiliar sser per haver (The expression of compound tenses in
middle voice and pronominal passives. The process of replacement of sser by haver).
Barcelona: LAbadia de Montserrat.
Batllori Dillet, M. 1992. Preliminary remarks on Old Spanish auxiliaries: haber, ser, and estar.
Catalan Working Papers in Linguistics: 87112.
Batllori Dillet, M. & Castillo Herrero, M.E. 2002. Hiptesis inacusativa y verbos de movimiento:
Perspectiva diacrnica. In Presente y futuro de la lingstica en Espaa, II, A. Bernab &
J.A. Berenguer (eds), 128136. Madrid: Sociedad Espaola de Lingstica.
Bauer, B.L.M. 2000. Archaic Syntax in Indo-European. The Spread of Transitivity in Latin and
French. Berlin: De Gruyter.
Becker, M. 2010. Die Ingredienzen des romanischen Imperfekts. Linguistische Berichte 221:
79108.
Behrens, H. 2009. Usage-based and emergentist approaches to language acquisition. Linguistics
47(2): 383411.
References
Belletti, A. 1988. The case of unaccusatives. Linguistic Inquiry 19(1): 134.
Beninc, P. 1985. Uso dellausiliare e accordo verbale nei dialetti veneti e friulani. Rivista italiana
di dialettologia 8: 178194.
Bentein, K. 2012. The periphrastic perfect in Ancient Greek: A diachronic mental space analysis.
Transactions of the Philological Society 110: 141.
Bentley, D. 2006. Split Intransitivity in Italian. Berlin: De Gruyter.
Bentley, D. & Eythrsson, T. 2004. Auxiliary selection and the semantics of unaccusativity.
Lingua 114(4): 447471.
Benveniste, . 1952. La construction passive du parfait transitif. Bulletin de la Socit de linguistique de Paris 48: 5262.
Benveniste, . 1966. tre et avoir dans leur fonctions linguistiques. In Problmes de linguistique gnrale, . Benveniste (ed.), I, 187207. Paris: Gallimard.
Benveniste, . 1968. Mutations of linguistic categories. In Directions for Historical Linguistics:
ASymposium, W.P. Lehmann & Y. Malkiel (eds). Austin TX: University of Texas Press.
Benzing, J. 1931. Zur Geschichte von ser als Hilfszeitwort bei den intransitiven Verben im
Spanischen. Zeitschrift fr romanische Philologie LI: 385460.
Bergs, A. & Diewald, G. (eds). 2008. Constructions and Language Change. Berlin: De Gruyter.
Bergs, A. & Stein, D. 2001. The role of markedness in the actuation and actualization of linguistic change. In Actualization: Linguistic Change in Progress [Current Issues in Linguistic
Theory 219], H. Andersen (ed.), 7994. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Biber, D. 2000. Investigating language use through corpus-based analyses of association patterns.
In Usage-based Models of Language, M. Barlow & S. Kemmer (eds), 287313. Stanford CA:
CSLI.
Biber, D. & Finegan, E. 2004 [1987]. Historical drift in three English genres. In Corpus Linguistics: Readings in a Widening Discipline, G. Sampson & D. McCarthy (eds), 6777. London:
Continuum.
Bjerre, A. & Bjerre, T. 2007. Perfect and periphrastic passive constructions in Danish. Nordic
Journal of Linguistics 30(1): 553.
Blevins, J.P. & Blevins, J. 2009a. Analogy in Grammar: Form and Acquisition. Oxford: OUP.
Blevins, J.P. & Blevins, J. 2009b. Introduction: analogy in grammar. In Analogy in Grammar:
Form and Acquisition, J.P. Blevins & J. Blevins (eds), 112. Oxford: OUP.
Blumenthal-Dram, A. 2012. Entrenchment in Usage-Based Theories. What Corpus Data Do and
Do Not Reveal About The Mind. Berlin: De Gruyter.
Bogard, S. 2006. El cltico se. Valores y evolucin. In Sintaxis histrica de la lengua espaola,
I,2, C. Company Company (ed.), 753870. Mxico: Universidad Nacional Autnoma de
Mxico.
Bolinger, D. 1980. Wanna and the gradience of auxiliaries. In Wege zur Universalienforschung.
Sprachwissenschaftliche Beitrge zum 60. Geburtstag von Hansjakob Seiler, G. Brettschneider & C. Lehmann (eds), 292299. Tbingen: Narr.
Bortz, J. & Schuster, C. 2010. Statistik fur Human- und Sozialwissenschaftler, 7th edn. Berlin:
Springer.
Bresnan, J., Cueni, A., Nikitina, T. & Baayen, H. 2007. Predicting the dative alternation. In
Cognitive Foundations of Interpretation, G. Bouma, I. Kraemer & J. Zwarts (eds), 6994.
Amsterdam: Royal Netherlands Academy of Science.
Burke, J. 2004. Medieval Spanish prose. In The Cambridge History of Spanish Literature, D.T.Gies
(ed.), 95104. Cambridge: CUP.
Burzio, L. 1981. Intransitive Verbs and Italian Auxiliaries. Ph.D. dissertation, MIT.
References
Burzio, L. 1986. Italian Syntax. A Government-Binding Approach. Dordrecht: Reidel.
Bybee, J.L. 2002. Word frequency and context use in the lexical diffusion of phonetically conditioned sound change. Language Variation and Change 14: 261290.
Bybee, J.L. 2003. Mechanisms of change in grammaticization: The role of frequency. In The
Handbook of Historical Linguistics, R. Janda & B. Joseph (eds), 624647. Oxford: Blackwell.
Bybee, J.L. 2006. From usage to grammar:The minds response to repetition. Language 82(4):
711733.
Bybee, J.L. (ed.). 2007a. Frequency of Use and the Organization of Language. Oxford: OUP.
Bybee, J.L. 2007b. Introduction. In Frequency of Use and the Organization of Language, J.L.Bybee
(ed.), 522. Oxford: OUP.
Bybee, J.L. 2007c. Word frequency and context of use in the lexical diffusion of phonetically conditioned sound change. In Frequency of Use and the Organization of Language, J.L. Bybee
(ed.), 235264. Oxford: OUP.
Bybee, J.L. 2010. Language, Usage, and Cognition. Cambridge: CUP.
Bybee, J.L. & Eddington, D. 2006. A usage-based approach to Spanish verbs of becoming.
Language 82: 325355.
Bybee, J.L. & Hopper, P.J. (eds). 2001a. Frequency and the Emergence of Linguistic Structure
[Typological Studies in Language 45]. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Bybee, J.L. & Hopper, P.J. 2001b. Introduction to frequency and the emergence of linguistic
structure. In Frequency and the Emergence of Linguistic Structure, J.L. Bybee & P.J. Hopper
(eds), 126. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Bybee, J.L., Perkins, R.D. & Pagliuca, W. 1994. The Evolution of Grammar. Tense, Aspect and
Modality in the Languages of the World. Chicago IL: University of Chicago Press.
Bybee, J.L. & Thompson, S.A. 2007. Three frequency effects in syntax. In Frequency of Use and
the Organization of Language, J.L. Bybee (ed.), 269279. Oxford: OUP.
Bybee, J.L. & Torres Cacoullos, R. 2009. The role of prefabs in grammaticization: How
the particular and the general interact in language change. In Formulaic Language,
Volume I: Distribution and Historical Change [Typological Studies in Language 82],
R.C orrigan, E.A. Moravcsik, H. Ouali & K.M. Wheatley (eds), 187217. Amsterdam:
John Benjamins.
Canale, M., Mougeon, R. & Belanger, M. 1978. Analogical leveling of the auxiliary tre in
Ontarian French. In Contemporary Studies in Romance Linguistics, M. Suer (ed.), 4161.
Washington DC: Georgetown University Press.
Carey, K. 1994. The grammaticalization of the perfect in Old English: An account based on pragmatics and metaphor. In Perspectives on Grammaticalization [Current Issues in L
inguistic
Theory 109], W. Pagliuca (ed.), 103117. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Carrasco Gutirrez, . 2004. Algunas explicaciones para la simultaneidad en las oracones
subordinadas sustantivas. In El pretrito imperfecto, L. Garca Fernndez & B. Camus
Bergareche (eds), 407480. Madrid: Gredos.
Castillo Herrero, M.E. 2006. El condicionamiento de la delimitacin aspectual en la seleccin del
auxiliar en castellano medieval. In Actas del VI Congreso Internacional de Historia de la Lengua Espaola, Universidad Complutense de Madrid Universidad Autnoma de Madrid
Universidad de Alcal de Henares. 29 de septiembre al 3 de octubre de 2003, J.J. Bustos
Tovar& J.L. Girn Alconchel (eds), I, 585594. Madrid: Arco Libros.
Cataln, D. 1997. De la silva textual al taller historiogrfico alfons: Cdices, crnicas, versiones y
cuadernos de trabajo. Madrid: Fundacin Ramn Menndez Pidal.
References
Cennamo, M. 1998. The loss of the voice dimension between Late Latin and Early Romance.
In Historical Linguistics 1997. Selected Papers from the 13th International Conference
on Historical Linguistics, Dsseldorf, 1017 August 1997 [Current Issues in L
inguistic
Theory 164], M.S. Schmid, J.R. Austin & D. Stein (eds), 77100. Amsterdam: John
Benjamins.
Cennamo, M. 1999. Innaccusativita tardo-latina e suoi riflessi in testi italiani antichi centromeridionali. Zeitschrift fur Romanische Philologie CXV(2): 300331.
Cennamo, M. 2005. Passive auxiliaries in Late Latin. In tudes de Linguistique offertes Jzsef
Herman loccasion de son 80eme anniversaire, S. Kiss, L. Mondin & G. Salvi (eds), 177194.
Tbingen: Niemeyer.
Cennamo, M. 2008. The rise and development of analytic perfects in Italo-Romance. In Grammatical Change and Linguistic Theory: The Rosendal Papers [Linguistik Aktuell/Linguistics
Today 113], T. Eythorsson (ed.), 115142. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Cennamo, M. 2009. Argument structure and alignment variations and changes in Late Latin. In
The Role of Semantic, Pragmatic, and Discourse Factors in the Development of Case [Studies
in Language Companion Series 08], J. Bardal & S.L. Chelliah (eds), 307346. Amsterdam:
John Benjamins.
Cennamo, M. To appear. Perfective auxiliaries in some Southern Italian dialects. In Investigations into the Syntax of the Dialects of Italy, R. DAlessandro, A. Ledgeway & I. Robert (eds).
Cambridge: CUP.
Cennamo, M., Eythorsson, T. & Bardal, J. To appear. The rise and fall of anticausative constructions in Indo-European: the context of Latin and Germanic. In Typology of Labile Verbs:
Focus on Diachrony, L. Kulikov & N. Lavidas (eds).
Cennamo, M. & Sorace, A. 2007. Auxiliary selection and split intransitivity in Paduan: variation
and lexical-aspectual constraints. In Split Auxiliary Systems: A Cross-Linguistic Perspective [Typological Studies in Language 69], R. Aranovich (ed.), 6599. Amsterdam: John
Benjamins.
Centineo, G. 1996. A lexical theory of auxiliary selection in Italian. Probus 8: 223271.
Chen, M. 1972. The time dimension: Contribution toward a theory of sound change. Foundations of Language 8: 457498.
Cinque, G. 1990. Ergative adjectives and the lexicalist hypothesis. Natural Language & Linguistic
Theory 8(1): 139.
Company Company, C. 1983. Sintaxis y valores de los tiempos compuestos en el espaol medieval. Nueva Revista de Filologa Hispnica XXXII(2): 235257.
Comrie, B. 1976. Aspect: An Introduction to the Study of Verbal Aspect and Related Problems.
Cambridge: CUP.
Comrie, B. 1981. Aspect and voice: Some reflections on perfect and passive. In Tense and Aspect,
P. Tedeschi & A. Zaenen (eds), 6578. New York NY: Academic Press.
Comrie, B. 1985. Tense. Cambridge: CUP.
Copple, M.T. 2009a. A Diachronic Study of the Spanish Perfect(ive): Tracking the Constraints
on a Grammaticalizing Construction. Ph.D. dissertation, University of New Mexico.
Copple, M.T. 2009b. Temporal reference and grammaticalization in the Spanish perfect(ive).
In Historical Linguistics 2007 [Current Issues in Linguistic Theory 308], M. Dufresne,
F.Dupuis & E. Vocaj (eds), 7382. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Corts, C. 1993. Catalan participle agreement, auxiliary selection and the Government Transparency Corollary. Probus 5(3): 193240.
References
Coseriu, E. 1974. Synchronie, Diachronie und Geschichte: Das Problem des Sprachwandels.
Mnchen: Fink.
Crawley, M.J. 2007. The R book. Chichester: Wiley.
Croft, W. 2000. Explaining Language Change. An Evolutionary Approach. London: Longman.
Croft, W. 2001. Radical Construction Grammar. Oxford: OUP.
Croft, W. 2007. Beyond Aristotle and gradience: A reply to Aarts. Studies in Language 31:
409430.
Croft, W. & Cruse, D.A. 2004. Cognitive Linguistics. Cambridge: CUP.
Cunha, E., Magno, G., Comarela, G., Almeida, V., Gonalves, M.A. & Benevenuto, F. 2011.
Analyzing the dynamic evolution of hashtags on Twitter: A language-based approach. In
Proceedings of the Workshop on Language in Social Media (LSM 2011), M. Nagarajan &
M.Gamon (eds), 5865. Portland OR: Association for Computational Linguistics.
DAlessandro, R. & Roberts, I. 2010. Past participle agreement in Abruzzese: Split auxiliary
selection and the null-subject parameter. Nat Lang Linguist Theory 28: 4172.
Dahl, . 1985. Tense and Aspect Systems. Oxford: Blackwell.
Davies, M. 2002. Corpus del espaol (100 million words, 1200s-1900s). http://www.corpusdelespanol.org (23 March 2013).
Davies, M. 2005. On diachronic shifts with Spanish se: Preliminary evidence from large electronic corpora. In Romance Corpus Linguistics, II: Corpora and Diachronic Linguistics,
J.Kabatek, C. Pusch & W. Raible (eds), 431442. Tubingen: Narr.
de Acosta, D. 2011. Rethinking the genesis of the Romance periphrastic perfect. Diachronica
28(2): 143185.
de Smet, H. 2012. The course of actualization. Language 88(3): 601633.
de Smet, H. & Cuyckens, H. 2007. Diachronic aspects of complementation: Constructions,
entrenchment and the matching-problem. In Studies in the History of the English Language,
III: Managing Chaos: Strategies for Identifying Change in Englisch, C M. Cain & G. Russom
(eds), 137. Berlin: De Gruyter.
DeLancey, S. 1981. An interpretation of split ergativity and related patterns. Language 57(3):
626657.
DeLancey, S. 1982. Aspect, transitivity and viewpoint. In Tense-Aspect: Between Semantics &
Pragmatics, P.J. Hopper (ed.), 167183. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Denison, D. 2001. Gradience and linguistic change. In Historical Linguistics 1999, L. Brinton
(ed.), 119144. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Denison, D. 2006. Category change and gradience in the determiner system. In The Handbook
of the History of English, A. van Kemenade & B. Los (eds), 279304. Oxford: Blackwell.
Detges, U. 2001. Tiempo, retrica y cambio funcional: La evolucin del perfecto compuesto
espaol desde la Edad Media hasta el siglo XX. In Grammatikalisierung in den iberoromanischen Sprachen, B. Schfer-Prie, H. Klden & R. Kailuweit (eds), 77112. Wilhelmsfeld: Egert.
Di Giovine, P. 1996. Studi sul perfetto indoeuropeo. II. Roma: Il Calamo.
Diessel, H. 2007. Frequency effects in language acquisition, language use, and diachronic
change. New Ideas in Psychology 25: 108127.
Dixon, R.M.W. 1972. The Dyirbal Language of North Queensland. London: CUP.
Dixon, R.M.W. 1994. Ergativity. Cambridge: CUP.
Dixon, R.M.W. & Aikhenvald, A.Y. 2000. Introduction. In Changing Valency. Case Studies in
Transitivity, R.M.W. Dixon & A.Y. Aikhenvald (eds), 129. Cambridge: CUP.
References
Dowty, D. 1979. Word Meaning and Montague grammar. The Semantics of Verbs and Times in
Generative Semantics and in Montagues PTQ. 7. Dordrecht: Reidel.
Dowty, D. 1989. On the semantic content of the notion thematic role. In Properties, Types and
Meaning, II, G. Chierchia (ed.), 69129. Dordrecht: Kluwer.
Dowty, D. 1991. Thematic proto-roles and argument selection. Language 67(3): 547619.
Drinka, B. 2013. Sources of auxiliation in the perfects of Europe. In On Multiple Source
Constructions in Language Change (Special issue of Studies in Language 37: 3), H. de Smet,
L. Ghesquire & F. van der Velde (eds), 599644. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Eberenz, R. 1991. Castellano antiguo y espaol moderno: Reflexiones sobre la periodizacin en
la historia de la lengua. Revista de Filologa Espaola 71: 79107.
Ellis, N. 1996. Sequencing in SLA: Phonological memory, chunking and points of order. Studies
in Second Language Acquisition 18: 91126.
Ellis, N. 2002. Frequency effects in language processing. A review with implications for theories
of implicit and explicit language. Studies in Second Language Acquisition 24: 143188.
Elsness, J. 1996. The Perfect and the Preterite in Contemporary and Earlier English. Berlin: De
Gruyter.
Elvira Gonzlez, J. 2001. Intransitividad escindida en espaol. El uso auxiliar de ser en espaol
medieval. EdLing 15: 201245.
Elvira Gonzlez, J. 2004. Los caracteres de la lengua: Gramtica de los paradigmas y de la
construccin sintctica del discurso. In Historia de la lengua espaola, R. Cano Aguilar
(ed.), 449472. Barcelona: Ariel.
Elvira Gonzlez, J. 2009. Evolucin lingstica y cambio sintctico. Bern: Peter Lang.
England, J. 1982. Ser and aver with the past participles of intransitive verbs in the works of Don
Juan Manuel. In Don Juan Manuel: VII centenario, 117133. Murcia & Madrid: Universidad de Murcia & Academia Alfonso X el Sabio.
Enrique-Arias, A. d. 2008. Biblia Medieval. http://www.bibliamedieval.es (26 May 2011).
Ernout, A. 1945. Morphologie historique du latin. Paris: Klincksiek.
Fanego, T. 2004. On reanalysis and actualization in syntactic change. The rise and development
of English verbal gerunds. Diachronica 21(1): 555.
Fernndez-Ordez, I. 19931994. La historiografa alfons y post-alfons en sus textos. Nuevo
panorama. Cahiers de Linguistique Hispanique Mdivale 18(19): 101132.
Fernndez-Ordez, I. 1999. El taller historiogrfico alfons. La Estoria de Espaa y la General estoria en el marco de las obras promovidas por Alfonso el Sabio. In El Scriptorium
alfons: de los Libros de Astrologa a las Cantigas de Santa Mara, J. Montoya Martnez &
A. Domnguez Rodrguez (eds), 105126. Madrid: Fundacin Universidad Complutense.
Fernndez-Ordez, I. 2000. Variacin en el model historiogrfico alfons en el siglo XIII.
Lasversiones de la Estoria de Espaa. In La historia alfons: El modelo y sus destinos, siglos
XIIIXV, G. Martin (ed.), 4174. Madrid: Casa de Velzquez.
Fernndez-Ordez, I. 2001a. Alfonso X el Sabio y las Cronicas de Espana. Valladolid: Universidad de Valladolid-Centro para la Edicion de los Clasicos Espanoles.
Fernndez-Ordez, I. 2001b. La transmisin textual de la Estoria de Espaa y de las principales
Crnicas de ella derivadas. In Alfonso X el Sabio y las Crnicas de Espaa, I. FernndezOrdez (ed.), 219260. Valladolid: Universidad de Valladolid, Centro para la Edicin de
los Clsicos Espaoles.
Fernndez-Ordez, I. 2004. Alfonso X en la historia del espaol. In Historia de la lengua espaola, R. Cano Aguilar (ed.), 381422. Barcelona: Ariel.
References
Fernndez-Ordez, I. 2006. La historiografa medieval como fuente de datos lingsticos.
Tradiciones consolidadas y rupturas necesarias. In Actas del VI Congreso Internacional
de Historia de la Lengua Espaola, 11, J.J. Bustos Tovar & J.L. Girn Alchonchel (eds),
17791807. Madrid: Arco Libros.
Fillmore, C.J. 1968. The case for case. In Universals in Linguistic Theory, E. Bach & R.T. Harms
(eds), 188. New York, NY: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.
Fisher, R.A. 1922. On the interpretation of 2 from contingency tables, and the calculation of P.
Journal of the Royal Statistical Society 85(1): 8794.
Flobert, P. 1975. Les verbes deponents latins des Origines a Charlemagne. Paris: Les Belles Lettres.
Formentin, V. 2001. Lausiliazione perfettiva in antico napoletano. Archivio Glottologico Italiano
86(79): 79117.
Foucault, M. 1988 [1969]. Was ist ein Autor? In Schriften zur Literatur, M. Foucault (ed.), 731.
Frankfurt: Fischer.
Foucault, M. 2002 [1969]. Archeology of Knowledge. London: Routledge.
Foucault, M. 2005. Die Geburt der Klinik. Frankfurt: Fischer.
Fried, M. 2004. Construction Grammar: A thumbnail sketch. In Construction Grammar in a
Cross-Language Perspective [Constructional Approaches to Grammar 2], M. Fried & J.-O.
stman (eds), 1186. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Fried, M. & stman, J.-O. 2004. Construction Grammar in a Cross-Language Perspective [Constructional Approaches to Grammar 2]. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Fries, C.C. 1940. On the development of the structural use of word-order in Modern English.
Language 16(1): 99208.
Gansel, C. & Jrgens, F. 2007. Textlinguistik und Textgrammatik: Eine Einfhrung, 2nd edn.
Gttingen: Vandenhoeck &Ruprecht.
Garachana, M. & Rosemeyer, M. 2011. Rutinas lxicas en el cambio gramatical. El caso de las
perfrasis denticas e iterativas. Revista de Historia de la Lengua Espaola 6: 3560.
Garca Martn, J.M. 2001. La formacin de los tiempos compuestos del verbo en espaol medieval
y clsico. Aspectos fonolgicos, morfolgicos y sintcticos. Valncia: Universitat de Valncia.
Gentner, D. (ed.). 2001. The Analogical Mind: Perspectives from Cognitive Science. Cambridge,
MA: The MIT Press.
Gentner, D., Bowdle, B., Wolff, P. & Boronat, C. 2001. Metaphor is like analogy. In The Analogical Mind: Perspectives from Cognitive Science, D. Gentner (ed.), 199254. Cambridge, MA:
The MIT Press.
Gillmann, M. 2011. Die Grammatikalisierung des sein-Perfekts. Eine korpuslinguistische
Untersuchung zur Hilfsverbselektion der Bewegungsverben im Deutschen. Beitrge zur
Geschichte der deutschen Sprache und Literatur 133(2): 203234.
Gillmann, M. To appear. Auxiliary selection in closely related languages: The case of German
and Dutch. In Auxiliary Selection Revisited: Gradience and Gradualness, R. Kailuweit &
M.Rosemeyer (eds). Berlin: De Gruyter.
Giorgio, A. & Pilanesi, F. 1997. Tense and Aspect. From Semantics to Morphosyntax. Oxford:
OUP.
Givn, T. 1975. Serial verbs and syntactic change: Niger-Congo. In Word Order and Word Order
Change, C.N. Li (ed.), 47112. New York NY: Academic Press.
Goetz, H.-W. 1985. Die Geschichte im Wissenschaftssystem des Mittelalters. In Funktion und
Formen mittelalterlicher Geschichtsschreibung, F.-J. Schmale (ed.), 165213. Darmstadt:
Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft.
References
Goldberg, A.E. 1995. Constructions: A Construction Grammar Approach to Argument Structure.
Chicago IL: The University of Chicago Press.
Goldberg, A.E. 2006. Constructions at Work: The Nature of Generalization in Language. Oxford:
OUP.
Greenberg, J.H. 1966. Language Universals. With Special Reference to Feature Hierarchies. The
Hague: Mouton.
Gries, S. & Hilpert, M. 2008. The identification of stages in diachronic data: Variability-based
neighbour clustering. Corpora 3(1): 5981.
Gries, S.T. 2005. Syntactic priming: A corpus-based approach. Journal of Psycholinguistic
Research 34(4): 365399.
Gries, S.T. 2009a. Quantitative Corpus Linguistics with R. A Practical Introduction. New York:
Routledge.
Gries, S. 2009b. Statistics for Linguistics with R. A Practical Introduction. Berlin: De Gruyter.
Griffin, Z.M. 2002. Recency effects for meaning and form in word selection. Brain and Language
80: 465487.
Harre, C.E. 1991. Tener + Past Participle. A Case Study in Linguistic Description. London:
Routledge.
Harris, A.C. & Campbell, L. 1995. Historical Syntax in Cross-Linguistic Perspective. Cambridge:
CUP.
Harris, C.L. 1998. Psycholinguistic studies of entrenchment. In Conceptual Structures, Language
and Discourse, J.-P. Koenig (ed.), 2, 5570. Stanford CA: CSLI.
Harris, M. 1982. The past simple and the present perfect in Romance. In Studies in the Romance
verb. Essays Offered to Joe Cremona on the Occasion of His 60th Birthday, N. Vincent &
J.Cremona (eds), 4270. London: Croom Helm.
Haspelmath, M. 1994. Passive participles across languages. In Voice: Form and Function, [Typological Studies in Language 27], P.J. Hopper & B. Fox (eds), 151177. Amsterdam: John
Benjamins.
Hay, J. 2001. Lexical frequency in morphology: is everything relative? Linguistics 39: 10411070.
Hay, J. 2002. From speech perception to morphology: Affixordering revisited. Language 78:
527555.
Hay, J. 2003. Causes and Consequences of Word Structure. London: Routledge.
Hay, J., Kennedy, C. & Levin, B. 1999. Scale structure underlies telicity in degree achievements.
In Semantics and Linguistic Theory 9, T. Matthew & D. Strolovich (eds), 127144. Ithaca
NY: CLC Publications.
Heidinger, S. 2008. French Anticausatives: A Diachronic Perspective. Ph.D. dissertation,
Universitt Stuttgart, Universit Paris 8 Vincennes-Saint-Denis.
Heine, B. 1993. Auxiliaries: Cognitive Forces and Grammaticalization. Oxford: OUP.
Hilpert, M. & Gries, S. 2009. Assessing frequency changes in multistage diachronic corpora:
Applications for historical corpus linguistics and the study of language acquisition. Literary
and Linguistic Computing 24(4): 385401.
Himmelmann, N.P. 2004. Lexicalization and grammaticization: Opposite or orthogonal? In
What makes Grammaticalization? A Look from its Fringes and its Components, W. Bisang,
N.P. Himmelmann & B. Wiemer (eds), 2142. Berlin: De Gruyter.
Hock, H.H. 1991. Principles of Historical Linguistics, 2nd edn. Berlin: De Gruyter.
Hock, H.H. 2003. Analogical change. In The Handbook of Historical Linguistics, B. Joseph &
R.Janda (eds), 441460. Malden MA: Blackwell.
References
Hoekstra, T. 1999. Auxiliary selection in Dutch. Natural Language & Linguistic Theory 17(1):
6784.
Hoey, M. 2004. The textual priming of lexis. In Corpora and Language Learners [Studies in Corpus Linguistics 17], G. Aston, S. Bernardini & D. Steward (eds), 2141. Amsterdam: John
Benjamins.
Hoey, M. 2005. Lexical Priming. A New Theory of Words and Language. New York NY: Routledge.
Hoffmann, S. 2004. Are low-frequency complex prepositions grammaticalized? On the limits of
corpus data and the importance of intuition. In Corpus Approaches to Grammaticalization in English [Studies in Corpus Linguistics 13], H. Lindquist & C. Mair (eds), 171210.
Holmes, B.C. & Balukas, C. 2011. Yesterday, all my troubles have seemed (PP) so far away:
variation in pre-hodiernal perfective expression in Peninsular Spanish. In Selected Proceedings of the 5th Workshop on Spanish Sociolinguistics, J. Michnowicz & R. Dodsworth (eds),
7989. Somerville MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project.
Hopper, P.J. 1987. Emergent grammar. Berkeley Linguistics Society 13: 139157.
Hopper, P.J. & Thompson, S.A. 1980. Transitivity in grammar and discourse. Language 56:
251299.
Hopper, P.J. & Traugott, E.C. 2003. Grammaticalization, 2nd edn. Cambridge: CUP.
Iatridou, S. 2000. The grammatical ingredients of counterfactuality. Linguistic Inquiry 31:
231270.
Iatridou, S. 2003. A little bit more on the English perfect. In Perfect Explorations, A. Alexiadou,
M. Rathert & A. v. Stechow (eds), 133151. Berlin: De Gruyter.
Itkonen, E. 2005. Analogy as Structure and Process: Approaches in Linguistics, Cognitive Psychology and Philosophy of Science [Human Cognitive Processing 14]. Amsterdam: John
Benjamins.
Jaccard, J. 2001. Interaction Effects in Logistic Regression. Thousand Oaks CA: Sage.
Jacob, D. 1994. Die Auxiliarisierung von habere. Habilitationsschrift, Albert-Ludwigs-Universitt Freiburg.
Jacob, D. 1995. A propos de la priphrase habeo + particie parfait passif. In Latin vulgaire
latin tardif, IV: actes du 4e Colloque International sur le Latin Vulgaire et Tardif. Caen, 25
septembre 1994, L. Callebat (ed.), 367381. Hildesheim: Georg Olms.
Jacob, D. 1996. Von der Subjekt-Relevanz zur Gegenwartsrelevanz: Gebrauch und Entwicklung
der Perfektperiphrase aver + Partizip Perfekt Passiv im Altspanischen. Romanistisches Jahrbuch 46: 251286.
Jacob, D. 1998. Transitivitt, Diathese und Perfekt: Zur Entstehung der romanischen habenPeriphrasen. In Transitivitt und Diathese in romanischen Sprachen, H. Geisler & D. Jacob
(eds), 105126. Tbingen: Niemeyer.
Jacob, D. 2001. Representatividad lingstica o autonoma pragmtica del texto antiguo? El
ejemplo del pasado compuesto. In Lengua medieval y tradiciones discursivas en la Pennsula
Ibrica, D. Jacob & J. Kabatek (eds), 153176. Frankfurt: Vervuert.
Johnson, K. 1997. Speech perception without speaker normalization. In Talker Variability in
Speech Processing, K. Johnson & J.W. Mullennix (eds), 145165. San Diego CA: Academic
Press.
Jones, M.A. 1993. Sardinian Syntax. London: Routledge.
Kailuweit, R. 2005. Linking: Syntax und Semantik franzsischer und italienischer Gefhlsverben.
Tbingen: Niemeyer.
References
Kailuweit, R. 2011. Le choix de lauxiliaire: tre ou avoir en franais standard contemporain. In
Peregrinatio in Romania: Artculos en homenaje a Eugeen Roegiest con motivo de su 65 cumpleaos, R. Enghels, M. Meulleman & C. Vanderschueren (eds), 397420. Gent: Academia
Press.
Kamp, H. & Rohrer, C. 1983. Tense in texts. In Meaning, Use, and Interpretation of Language,
R.Buerle, C. Schwarze & A. von Stechow (eds), 250269. Berlin: De Gruyter.
Katz, G. 2000. Anti neo-Davidsonianism. In Events as Grammatical Objects, C. Tenny &
J.Pustejovsky (eds), 393416. Stanford CA: CLSI.
Katz, G. 2003. Event arguments, adverb selection, and the stative adverb gap. In Modifying
Adjuncts, E. Lang, C. Maienborn & C. Fabricius-Hansen (eds), 455474. Berlin: De Gruyter.
Katz, G. 2008. Manner modification of state verbs. In Adjectives and Adverbs. Syntax, Semantics,
and Discourse, L. McNally & C. Kennedy (eds), 220248. Oxford: OUP.
Kay, P. & Fillmore, C.J. 1999. Grammatical constructions and linguistic generalizations: The
Whats X doing Y? construction. Language 75(1): 133.
Ke, J., Gong, T. & Wang, W. S.-Y. 2008. Language change and social networks. Communications
in Computational Physics 3(4): 935949.
Keller, F. & Sorace, A. 2003. Gradient auxiliary selection and impersonal passivization in
German: an experimental investigation. Journal of Linguistics 39(1): 57108.
Keniston, H. 1937. The Syntax of Castilian Prose (The Sixteenth Century). Chicago IL: University of Chicago Press.
Kennedy, C. & Levin, B. 2008. Measure of change: The adjectival core of degree achievements. In
Adjectives and Adverbs: Syntax, Semantics and Discourse, L. McNally & C. Kennedy (eds),
156182. Oxford: OUP.
Kern, J.H. 1912. De met het participium praeteriti omschreven werkwoordsvormen in t Nederlands.
Amsterdam: Mller.
Koenig, J.-P. & David, A.R. 2001. Sublexical modality and the structure of lexical semantic
representations. Linguistics and Philosophy 24(7): 71124.
Knig, E. & Gast, V. 2008. Reciprocity and reflexivity Description, typology and theory. In
Reciprocals and Reflexives. Theoretical and Typological Explorations, E. Knig & V. Gast
(eds), 132. Berlin: De Gruyter.
Koselleck, R. 1979. Vergangene Zukunft. Zur Semantik geschichtlicher Zeiten, 3rd edn. Frankfurt:
Suhrkamp.
Kratzer, A. 2000. Building statives. In Proceedings of the 26th Annual Meeting of the Berkeley
Linguistics Society, L.J. Conathan, J. Good, D. Karitskaya, A.B. Wulf & A.C.L. Yu (eds),
385399. Berkeley CA: University of California Berkeley Linguistics Society.
Krifka, M. 1989a. Nominal reference, temporal constitution, and quantification in event semantics. In Semantics and Contextual Expression, R. Bartsch, J.F.A.K. van Benthem & P. van
Emde Boas (eds), 75115. Dordrecht: Foris.
Krifka, M. 1989b. Nominalreferenz und Zeitkonstitution. Zur Semantik von Massentermen,
Pluraltermen und Aspektklassen. Mnchen: Wilhelm Fink.
Krifka, M. 1998. The origins of telicity. In Events and Grammar, S. Rothstein (ed.), 197235.
Dordrecht: Kluwer.
Kroch, A.S. 1989. Reflexes of grammar in patterns of language change. Journal of Language
Variation and Change 1(3): 199244.
Khner, R. & Stegmann, C. 1962. Ausfhrliche Grammatik der lateinischen Sprache, Band 1:
Satzlehre. Mnchen: Hber.
References
Kulikov, L. 1999. Split causativity. Remarks on correlations between transitivity, aspect, and
tense. In Tense-Aspect, Transitivity and Causativity. Essays in Honour of Vladimir Nedjalkov [Studies in Language Companion Series 50], W. Abraham & L. Kulikov (eds), 2142.
Kuryowicz, J. 1964. The Inflectional Categories of Indo-European. Heidelberg: Carl Winter.
Kuteva, T. 2001. Auxiliation. An Enquiry into the Nature of Grammaticalization. Oxford: OUP.
La Fauci, N. 1988. Oggetti e soggetti nella formazione della morfosintassi romanza. Pisa: Giardini.
Labelle, M. 1992. Change of state and valency. Journal of Linguistics 28: 375414.
Labov, W. 1966. The linguistic variable as a structural unit. Washington Linguistics Review 3: 422.
Labov, W. 1984. Field methods of the project on linguistic change and variation. In Language in
Use, J. Baugh & J. Sherzer (eds), 2853. Englewood Cliffs NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Labov, W. 1994. Principles of Linguistic Change, Vol. I: Internal Factors. Oxford: Blackwell.
Labov, W. 2001. Principles of Linguistic Change, Vol. II: Social Factors. Oxford: Blackwell.
Labov, W. 2010. Principles of Linguistic Change, Vol. III: Cognitive and Cultural Factors. Malden
MA: Wiley-Blackwell.
Laca, B. 2010. Perfect semantics: how universal are Ibero-American present perfects? In Selected
Proceedings of the 12th Hispanic Linguistics Symposium, C. Borgonovo (ed.), 116. Somerville MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project.
Lacerda, F. 1995. The perceptual-magnet effect: an emergent consequence of exemplar-based
phonetic memory. In Proceedings of the XIIIth International Congress of Phonetic Sciences,
K. Elenius & P. Branderup (eds), II, 140147. Stockholm: KTH, Stockholm University.
Lakoff, G. 1966. Stative adjectives and verbs in English. In Mathematical Linguistics and Automatic Translation, A.G. Goettinger (ed.). Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press.
Langacker, R. 1977. Syntactic reanalysis. In Mechanisms of Syntactic Change, C.N. Li (ed.),
57139. Austin TX: University of Texas Press.
Langacker, R.W. 1987. Foundations of Cognitive Grammar. Theoretical Prerequisites. Stanford
CA: Stanford University Press.
Langacker, R.W. 1988. A usage-based model. Topics in Cognitive Linguistics 50: 127163.
Lapesa, R. 1981. Historia de la lengua espaola, 9th edn. Madrid: Gredos.
Lapesa, R. 1987. Estudios lingsticos, literarios y estilsticos. Valencia: Servicio de Publicacin
Universidad de Valencia.
Lapesa, R. 1988. Historia de una Historia de la lengua espaola. ACIHLE 1(2): 17811785.
Larsson, I. 2008. Becoming perfect: Observations on lcelandic vera binn a. slensk ml. Og
almenn mlfraei 30: 5392.
Larsson, I. 2009. Participles in Time. The Development of the Perfect Tense in Swedish. Ph.D.
dissertation, University of Gothenburg.
Larsson, I. To appear. The HAVE/BE alternation in Scandinavian Perfects, resultatives
and unaccusative structure. In Auxiliary Selection Revisited: Gradience and Gradualness,
R.Kailuweit & M. Rosemeyer (eds). Berlin: De Gruyter.
Ledgeway, A. 2003. Lestensione dellausiliare perfettivo avere nellantico napoletano: Intransitivit scissa condizionata da fattori modali. Archivo Glottologico Italiano 88: 2971.
Legendre, G. 1989. Unaccusativity in French. Lingua 79: 95164.
Legendre, G. 2007a. On the typology of auxiliary selection. Lingua 117: 15221540.
Legendre, G. 2007b. Optimizing auxiliary selection in Romance. In Split Auxiliary Systems:
A Cross-Linguistic Perspective [Typological Studies in Language 69], R. Aranovich (ed.),
References
Legendre, G. & Sorace, A. 2003. Auxiliaires et intransivit en franais et dans les langues
romanes. In Les langues romanes: Problmes de la phrase simple, D. Godard (ed.), 185233.
Paris: CNRS ditions.
Lehmann, C. 1995. Thoughts on Grammaticalization. Mnchen: Lincom.
Lehmann, C. 2002. Thoughts on Grammaticalization. Erfurt: Seminar fr Sprachwissenschaft
der Universitt Erfurt.
Lehmann, W.P. 1989. Problems in Proto-Indo-European Grammar: Residues from Pre-IndoEuropean active structure. General Linguistics 29: 228246.
Leiss, E. 1992. Die Verbalkategorien des Deutschen. Ein Beitrag zur Theorie der sprachlichen
Kategorisierung. Berlin: De Gruyter.
Lenz, B. 1994. Probleme der Kategorisierung deutscher Partizipien. Zeitschrift fur Sprachwissenschaft 12: 3976.
Leumann, M. 1977. Lateinische Laut- und Formenlehre (Lateinische Grammatik von LeumannHofmann-Szantyr, Erster Band). Mnchen: Beck.
Levin, B. & Rappaport Hovav, M. 1995. Unaccusativity. At the Syntax-Lexical Semantics Interface. Cambridge MA: The MIT Press.
Levin, B. & Rappaport Hovav, M. 1999. Two structures for compositionally derived events. In
SALT 9, 199223. Ithaca NY: CLC Publications.
Levin, B. & Rappaport Hovav, M. 2005. Argument Realization. Cambridge: CUP.
Lichtenberk, F. 1991. On the gradualness of grammaticalization. In Approaches to Grammaticalization, I, [Typological Studies in Language 19], E.C. Traugott & B. Heine (eds), 3780.
Lichtenberk, F. 2000. Reciprocals without reflexives. In Reciprocals. Forms and Functions [Typological Studies in Language 41], Z. Frajzyngier & T.S. Walker (eds), 3162. Amsterdam:
John Benjamins.
Lieber, R. & Baayen, H. 1997. A semantic principle of auxiliary selection in Dutch. Natural
Language and Linguistic Theory 15: 789845.
Loporcaro, M. 1998. Sintassi comparata dellaccordo participale romanzo. Torino: Rosenberg &
Sellier.
Loporcaro, M. 2011. A euroversal in a global perspective: Auxiliation and alignment. In Linguistic Universals and Language Variation, P. Siemund (ed.), 5591. Berlin: De Gruyter.
Loporcaro, M. To appear. Perfective auxiliation with reflexives in Medieval Romance: Syntactic vs. semantic gradients. In Auxiliary Selection Revisited: Gradience and Gradualness,
R.Kailuweit & M. Rosemeyer (eds). Berlin: De Gruyter.
Mackenzie, I. 2005. Achievement verbs in Medieval and Modern Spanish. In Studies on IberoRomance Linguistics: Dedicated to Ralph Penny, R.W. Wright & P. Ricketts (eds), 375390.
Newark NJ: Juan de la Cuesta.
Mackenzie, I. 2006. Unaccusative Verbs in Romance Languages. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
MacWhinney, B. 1998. Models of the emergence of language. Annual Review of Psychology 49:
199227.
MacWhinney, B. 2005. The emergence of linguistic form in time. Connection Science 17(34):
191211.
MacWhinney, B. 2006. Emergentism Use often and with care. Applied Linguistics 27(4):
729740.
Magnusson, E.R. 1939. Syntax des Prdikatsverbums im Mittelniederdeutschen. Von der ltesten
Zeit bis zum Anfang des fnfzehnten Jahrhunderts. Lund: Gleerup.
References
Maienborn, C. 2000. Zustnde Stadien stative Ausdrcke: Zur Semantik und Pragmatik von
Kopula-Prdikativ-Konstruktionen. Linguistische Berichte 183: 271307.
Maienborn, C. 2003. Die logische Form von Kopula-Stzen. Berlin: Akademie-Verlag.
Maienborn, C. 2005a. Event Arguments. Foundations and Applications. Tbingen: Niemeyer.
Maienborn, C. 2005b. On the limits of the Davidsonian approach: The case of copula sentences.
Theoretical Linguistics 31(3): 275316.
Maienborn, C. 2007. Das Zustandspassiv. Grammatische Einordnung Bildungsbeschrnkung
Interpretationsspielraum. Zeitschrift fr germanistische Linguistik 35: 83115.
Manacorda de Rosetti, M. 1969. La llamada pasiva con se en el sistema espanol. In Estudios
de gramatica estructural, A. M. a. Barrenechea & M. Manacorda de Rosetti (eds), 91100.
Buenos Aires: Paidos.
Marcos Marn, F. 1995. La periodizacin. In Homenaje a Flix Monge, T. Blesa & M.A. Martn
Zorraquino (eds), 325334. Madrid: Gredos.
Martin, G. (ed.). 2000. La historia alfonsi: El modelo y sus destinos (siglos XIIIXV). Madrid: Casa
de Velazquez.
Martinet, A. 1952. Function, structure and sound change. Word 8: 132.
Martinet, A. 1955. conomie des changements phontiques. Bern: Francke.
Martnez Alcalde, M.J. & Quilis Mern, M. 1996. Nuevas observaciones sobre la periodizacion
en la historia de la lengua espanola. In Actas del III Congreso Internacional de Historia de la
Lengua Espanola, A. Alonso Gonzalez (ed.), I, 873886. Madrid: Arco Libros.
Maslov, J.S. 1988. Resultative, perfect, and aspect. In Typology of Resultative Constructions [Typological Studies in Language 12], V.P. Nedjalkov (ed.), 6385. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Mateu, J. 2002. Argument Structure. Relational Construal at the Syntax- Semantics Interface.
Ph.D. dissertation, Universitat Autnoma de Barcelona. http://www.tesisenxarxa.net/
TDX-1021103-173806/ (21 August 2012).
Mateu, J. 2009. Gradience and auxiliary selection in Old Catalan and Old Spanish. In Historical
Syntax and Linguistic Theory, P. Crisma & G. Longobardi (eds), 176193. Oxford: OUP.
McCawley, J.D. 1971. Tense and time reference in English. In Studies in Linguistic Semantics,
C.J. Fillmore & D.T. Langendoen (eds), 96113. New York NY: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.
McFadden, T. & Alexiadou, A. 2006a. Auxiliary selection and counterfactuality in the history
of English and Germanic. In Comparative Studies in Germanic Syntax [Linguistik Aktuell/
Linguistics Today 97], J.M. Hartmann & L. Molnrfi (eds), 237262. Amsterdam: John
Benjamins.
McFadden, T. & Alexiadou, A. 2006b. Counterfactuals and the loss of BE in the history of
English. In Proceedings of the 29th Penn Linguistics Colloquium, A. Eilam, T. Scheffler &
J.Tauber (eds), 251264. Pennsylvanina PA: Penn Linguistics Club.
McFadden, T. & Alexiadou, A. 2010. Perfects, resultatives and auxiliaries in Early English.
Linguistic Inquiry 41(3): 389425.
Meillet, A. 2009[1933]. Esquisse dune histoire de la langue latine. Cambridge: CUP.
Meillet, A. & Vendryes, J. 1924. Trait de grammaire compare des langues classiques. Paris:
Champion.
Michaelis, L.A. 1994. The ambiguity of the English present perfect. Journal of Linguistics 30(1):
111157.
Mithun, M. 1991. Active/agentive case marking and its motivations. Language 67: 510546.
Mittwoch, A. 2008. The English Resultative perfect and its relationship to the Experiential
perfect and the simple past tense. Linguist and Philos 31: 323351.
References
Moreno, P. 1998. El auxiliar tre y los llamados verbos de movimiento en francais. Revista de
Lingstica Terica y Aplicada 36: 97104.
Mller, N. 1999. Ergative und unergative Verben aus romanistischer Sicht. http://www.fb10.
uni-bremen.de/iaas/workshop/ergativ/mueller.pdf (28 August 2012).
Mustanoja, T.F. 1960. A Middle English syntax. Helsinki: Societe neophilologique.
Nedjalkov, V.P. & Jaxontov, S. 1988. The typology of resultative constructions. In Typology of
Resultative Constructions [Typological Studies in Language 12], V.P. Nedjalkov (ed.), 362.
Neely, J.H. 1977. Semantic priming and retrieval from lexical memory: Roles of inhibitionless
spreading activation and limited capacity attention. Journal of Experimental Psychology:
General 106(3): 226254.
Neely, J.H. 1991. Semantic priming effects in visual word recognition: A selective review of
current findings and theories. In Basic Processes in Reading: Visual Word Recognition,
D.Besner & G.W. Humphreys (eds), 264336. Hillsdale NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Nettle, D. 1999. Using Social Impact Theory to simulate language change. Lingua 108(23):
95117.
Newell, A. 1990. Unified Theories of Cognition. Cambridge MA: The MIT Press.
Norberg, D.L. 1944. Beitrge zur sptlateinischen Syntax. Uppsala: Almqvist & Wiksell.
Nordahl, H. 1977. Assez avez al: Estre et avoir comme auxiliaires du verb aler en ancien franais.
Revue romane 12(1): 5467.
OGrady, W. 2005. Syntactic Carpentry: An Emergentist Approach to Syntax. Mahwah NJ:
Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Octavio de Toledo y Huerta, .S. 2002. Auxiliacin con ser de verbos intransitivos de m
ovimiento
(14501600): El caso de ir(se). Res Diachronicae 1: 257269.
Octavio de Toledo y Huerta, .S. & Rodrguez Molina, J. 2008. En busca del tiempo perdido:
Historia y uso de hube cantado. In Tiempos compuestos y formas verbales complejas, .
Carrasco Gutirrez (ed.), 275357. Madrid & Frankfurt: Iberoamerica & Vervuert.
hl, P. 2009. Die Entstehung des periphrastischen Perfekts mit haben und sein im Deutschen:
Eine lngst beantwortete Frage? Zeitschrift fr Sprachwissenschaft 28(2): 265306.
Olbertz, H. 1993. The grammaticalization of Spanish haber plus participle. In Historical Linguistics 1991 [Current Issues in Linguistic Theory 107], J. van Marle (ed.), 243263. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Opgenoorth, E. 1969. Einfhrung in das Studium der neueren Geschichte. Braunschweig:
Westermann.
stman, J.-O. & Fried, M. 2004. Constructional Approaches to Language. Cognitive Grounding
and Theoretical Extensions [Constructional Approaches to Language 2]. Amsterdam: John
Benjamins.
Palmer, L.R. 1954. The Latin Language. London: Faber & Faber.
Pancheva, R. 2003. The aspectualmakeup of perfect participles and the interpretations of the
perfect. In Perfect Explorations, A. Alexiadou, M. Rathert & A. von Stechow (eds), 277308.
Berlin: De Gruyter.
Pancheva, R. & von Stechow, A. 2004. On the present perfect puzzle. In Proceedings of NELS34,
469484.
Parker, K.M. 1977. La versin de Alfonso XI del Roman de Troie. Ms. H-j-6 del Escorial. Illinois:
Applied Literature Press.
Pedersen, T. 1996. Fishing for exactness. In Proceedings of the SCSUG 96, 188200. Austin.
References
Penny, R. 2002. A History of the Spanish Language. Cambridge: CUP.
Perlmutter, D.M. 1978. Impersonal passives and the Unaccusative Hypothesis. In Proceedings
of the 4th Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society, J.J. Jaeger, C. Chiarello,
H.Thompson & F. Ackerman (eds), 157189. Berkeley CA: BLS.
Petr, P. 2010. The functions of weoran and its loss in the past tense in Old and Middle English.
English Language and Linguistics 14(3): 457484.
Petr, P. & Cuyckens, H. 2009. Constructional change in Old and Middle English copular
constructions and its impact on the lexicon. Folia Linguistica Historica: Acta Societatis
Linguisticae Europaeae 30(1): 311366.
Pierrehumbert, J.B. 2001. Exemplar dynamics: word frequency, lenition and contrast. In Frequency and the Emergence of Linguistic Structure [Typological Studies in Language 45],
J.L.Bybee & P. J. Hopper (eds), 123136. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Pierrehumbert, J.B. 2002. Word-specific phonetics. In Laboratory Phonology 7, C. G
ussenhoven&
N. Warner (eds), 101139. Berlin: De Gruyter.
Pinheiro, J., Bates, D., DebRoy, S., Sarkar, D. & Team, t. R. D. C. 2009. nlme: Linear and Nonlinear
Mixed Effects Models. R package version 3.196.
Pinkster, H. 1987. The strategy and chronology of the development of future and perfect tense
auxiliaries in Latin. In Historical Development of Auxiliaries, M. Harris & P. Ramat (eds),
193224. Berlin: De Gruyter.
Pintzuk, S. 2003. Variationist approaches to syntactic change. In The Handbook of Historical
Linguistics, B.D. Joseph & R.D. Janda (eds), 509528. Malden MA: Blackwell.
Platzack, C. 1979. The Semantic Interpretation of Aspect and Aktionsarten: a Study of Internal
Time Reference in Swedish. Dordrecht: Foris.
Poplack, S. 2001. Variability, frequency, and productivity in the irrealis domain of French. In
Frequency and the Emergence of Linguistic Structure [Typological Studies in Language 45],
J.L. Bybee & P.J. Hopper (eds), 405428. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Pountain, C.J. 1982. ESSERE/STARE as a Romance phenomenon. In Studies in the Romance
Verb. Essays Offered to Joe Cremona on the Occasion of His 60th Birthday, N. Vincent &
M.Harris (eds), 139160. London: Croom Helm.
Pountain, C.J. 1985. Copulas, verbs of possession and auxiliaries in Old Spanish: the evidence
for structurally interdependent changes. Bulletin of Hispanic Studies 62(4): 337355.
Primus, B. 1999a. Cases and Thematic Roles Ergative, Accusative and Active. Tbingen: Niemeyer.
Primus, B. 1999b. Rektionsprinzipien. In Typologisch vergleichende Untersuchung zur deutschen
Grammatik, H. Wegener (ed.), 135170. Tbingen: Stauffenburg.
Pustejovsky, J. 1991. The generative lexicon. Computational Linguistics 17: 409441.
Pustejovsky, J. 1995. The Generative Lexicon. Cambridge MA: The MIT Press.
Quilis Mern, M. 1999. Orgenes de la lengua espaola. Anejo XXXVI de Cuadernos de Filologa.
Valencia: Universitat de Valncia.
R Development Core Team. 2013. R: A language and environment for statistical computing.
RFoundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria. http://www.R-project.org (26
September 2013).
Ragnarsdottir, H., Simonsen, H.G. & Plunkett, K. 1999. The acquisition of past tense morphology in Icelandic and Norwegian children: an experimental study. Journal of Child Language
26: 577618.
Rapp, I. 1996. Zustand? Passiv? berlegungen zum sogenannten Zustandspassiv. Zeitschrift
fr Sprachwissenschaft 15(2): 231265.
References
Rapp, I. 1997. Partizipien und semantische Struktur: Zu passivischen Konstruktionen mit dem 3.
Status. Tbingen: Stauffenburg.
Rappaport Hovav, M. & Levin, B. 1998. Building verb meanings. In The Projection of Arguments: Lexical and Compositional Factors, M. Butt & W. Geuder (eds), 97134. Stanford
CA: CSLI.
Real Academia Espaola. 2012. Banco de datos (CORDE) [en lnea]. Corpus diacrnico del
espaol. http://www.rae.es (20 April 2012).
Reichenbach, H. 1947. Elements of Symbolic Logic. London: Collier-MacMillan.
Remberger, E.-M. 2006. Hilfsverben: eine minimalistische Analyse am Beispiel des Italienischen
und Sardischen. Tbingen: Niemeyer.
Rodrguez Molina, J. 2006a. Ser + participio en espaol antiguo: Perfrasis resultativa, no tiempo
compuesto. In Actas del VI Congreso Internacional de Historia de la Lengua Espaola,
J.J.Bustos Tovar & J.L. Girn Alchonchel (eds), II, 10591072. Madrid: Arco Libros.
Rodrguez Molina, J. 2006b. Tradicin manuscrita y gramtica histrica: Los tiempos compuestos en los textos medievales. In Historia de la lengua y crtica textual, L. Pons Rodrguez
(ed.), 1967. Madrid & Frankfurt: Iberoamericana & Vervuert.
Rodrguez Molina, J. 2010. La gramaticalizacin de los tiempos compuestos en espaol antiguo:
cinco cambios diacrnicos. Ph.D. dissertation, Universidad Autnoma de Madrid.
Rogers, E.M. 1983. Diffusion of Innovations, 3rd edn. New York NY: Macmillan.
Romani, P. 2006. Tiempos de formacin romance, I: Los tiempos compuestos. In Sintaxis
histrica de la lengua espaola, C. Company Company (ed.), I, 1, 243348. Mxico: Universidad Nacional Autnoma de Mxico.
Rosemeyer, M. 2012. How to measure replacement: Auxiliary selection in Old Spanish bibles.
Folia Linguistica Historica 33(1): 135174.
Rosemeyer, M. 2013. Tornar and volver: The interplay of frequency and semantics in compound
tense auxiliary selection in Medieval and Classical Spanish. In Argument Structure in Flux.
The Naples-Capri Papers [Studies in Language Companion Series 131], E. Van Gelderen,
J.Bardal & M. Cennamo (eds), 435458. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Rosemeyer, M. To appear-a. How usage rescues the system: Persistence as conservation. In
System, Usage, and Society, A. Adli, M. Garca Garca & G. Kaufmann (eds). Berlin: De
Gruyter.
Rosemeyer, M. To appear-b. Entrenchment and discourse traditions in Spanish auxiliary
selection. In Auxiliary Selection Revisited: Gradience and Gradualness, R. Kailuweit &
M.Rosemeyer (eds). Berlin: De Gruyter.
Rumelhart, D.E. & McClelland, J.L. 1982. An interactive activation model of context effects in
letter perception, II: The contextual enhancement effect and some tests and extensions of
the model. Psychological Review 89: 6094.
Rumelhart, D.E. & McClelland, J.L. 1986. On learning the past tenses of English verbs. In Parallel Distributed Processing: Explorations in the Microstructure of Cognition, 2: Psychological
and Biological Models, J.L. McClelland & D.E. Rumelhart (eds), 216271. Cambridge MA:
The MIT Press.
Salvi, G. 1987. Syntactic restructuring in the evolution of Romance auxiliaries. In Historical
Development of Auxiliaries: Papers of a Workshop, M. Harris & P. Ramat (eds), 225236.
Berlin: De Gruyter.
Salvi, G. 2010. Morphosyntactic persistence. In The Cambridge History of the Romance
Languages, I, A. Ledgeway, M. Maiden & J.C. Smith (eds), 318381. Cambridge: CUP.
References
Snchez Marco, C. 2012. Tracing the Development of Spanish Participial Constructions: An
Empirical Study of Semantic Change. Ph.D. dissertation, Universitat Pompeu Fabra.
Snchez Marco, C. & Evert, S. 2011. Measuring semantic change: The case of Spanish participial
constructions. Poster presented at 4th Conference on Quantitative Investigations in Theoretical Linguistics (QITL-4), Berlin, Germany, 2831 March.
Snchez-Prieto Borja, P. 2002. General estoria. Primera parte. Alcal de Henares: Universidad
de Alcal de Henares.
Sankoff, D. 1978. Probability and linguistic variation. Synthse 37(2): 217238.
Sankoff, D. 1982. Sociolinguistic method and linguistic theory. In Logic, Methodology, Philosophy of Science, L.J. Cohen, J. Los, H. Pfeiffer & K. P. Podewski (eds), 677689. Amsterdam&
Warsaw: North Holland & Polish Scientific.
Sankoff, G. & Thibault, P. 1977. Lalternance entre les auxiliaires avoir et tre en franais parl
Montral. Langue franaise 34(1): 81108.
Schlieben-Lange, B. 1983. Traditionen des Sprechens: Elemente einer pragmatischen Sprachgeschichtsschreibung. Stuttgart: Kohlhammer.
Schmidt, K.H. 1979. Reconstructing active and ergative stages of Pre-Indo-European. In Ergativity. Towards a Theory of Grammatical Relations, F. Plank (ed.), 333345. London: Academic Press.
Schmidt-Riese, R. 1998. Spanisch se jenseits von Aktanz und Diathese. In Transitivitt und Diathese in romanischen Sprachen, H. Geisler & D. Jacob (eds), 4360. Tbingen: Niemeyer.
Schwenter, S.A. 1994a. The grammaticalization of an anterior in progress: Evidence from a Peninsular Spanish dialect. Studies in Language 18: 71111.
Schwenter, S.A. 1994b. Hot news and the grammaticalization of perfects. Linguistics 32:
9951028.
Schwenter, S.A. & Torres Cacoullos, R. 2008. Defaults and indeterminacy in temporal grammaticalization: The perfect road to perfective. Language Variation and Change 20(1): 139.
Serrano, M.J. 1994. Del pretrito indefinido al pretrito perfecto: Un caso de cambio y gramaticalizacin en el espaol de Canarias y Madrid. Lingustica espaola actual 16: 3757.
Shannon, T.F. 1990. The Unaccusative Hypothesis and the history of the perfect auxiliary in
Germanic and Romance. In Historical Linguistics 1987 [Current Issues in Linguistic Theory
66], H. Andersen & K. Koerner (eds), 461488. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Shannon, T.F. 1996. Explaining perfect auxiliary variation: Some modal and aspectual effects
in the history of Germanic. American Journal of Germanic Linguistics and Literatures 7(2):
129163.
Singer, J.D. & Willett, J.B. 1993. Its about time: Using Discrete-Time Survival Analysis to study
duration and the timing of events. Journal of Educational Statistics 18(2): 155195.
Singer, J.D. & Willett, J.B. 2003. Applied Longitudinal Data Analysis. Modeling Change and Event
Occurrence. Oxford: OUP.
Smith, A.K. 2007. Language use and auxiliary selection in the perfect. In Split Auxiliary Systems:
a Cross-Linguistic Perspective, [Typological Studies in Language 69], R. Aranovich (ed.),
Sorace, A. 2000. Gradients in auxiliary selection with intransitive verbs. Language 76(4):
859890.
Sorace, A. 2004. Gradience at the lexicon-syntax-interface: Evidence from auxiliary selection and implications for unaccusativity. In The Unaccusativity Puzzle, A. Alexiadou,
E. Agnostopoulou & M. Everaert (eds), 243268. Oxford: OUP.
References
Squartini, M. & Bertinetto, P.M. 2000. The simple and compound past in Romance languages. In
Tense and Aspect in the Languages of Europe. Empirical Approaches to Language Typology,
. Dahl (ed.), 403439. Berlin: De Gruyter.
Stefanowitsch, A. & Gries, S. 2003. Collostructions: investigating the interaction of words and
constructions. International Journal of Corpus Linguistics 8(2): 209243.
Stolova, N.I. 2006. Split intransitivity in Old Spanish: Irreals and negation factors. Revue
Roumaine de Linguistique LI(2): 301320.
Stolova, N.I. 2009. Los corpus diacrnicos al servicio del estudio de los arcasmos gramaticales. In Diacrona de las lenguas iberorromnicas: Nuevas aportaciones desde a lingstica de
corpus, A. Enrique-Arias (ed.), 385400. Madrid & Frankfurt: Iberoamericana & Vervuert.
Szmrecsanyi, B. 2005. Language users as creatures of habit: A corpus-based analysis of persistence in spoken English. Corpus Linguistics and Linguistic Theory 1(1): 113150.
Szmrecsanyi, B. 2006. Morphosyntactic Persistence in Spoken English. A Corpus Study at the
Intersection of Variationist Sociolinguistics, Psycholinguistics, and Discourse Analysis. Berlin:
De Gruyter.
Tagliamonte, S. 2006. Analysing Sociolinguistic Variation. Cambridge: CUP.
Tekavcic, P. 1972. Grammatica storica dellitaliano, II. Bologna: Il Mulino.
Tenny, C. 1987. Grammaticalizing Aspect and Affectedness. Ph.D. dissertation, MIT.
Tenny, C. 1992. The aspectual interface hypothesis. In Lexical Matters, I.A. Sag & A. Szabolcsi
(eds), 127. Stanford CA: CSLI.
Thielmann, P. 1885. Habere mit dem Part. Perf. Pass. Archiv fur Lateinische Lexikologie und
Grammatik mit Einschluss des alteren Mittellateins II: 372432, 509349.
rinsson, H. 2007. The Syntax of Icelandic. Cambridge: CUP.
Tichy, E. 2000. Indogermanistisches Grundwissen fr Studierende sprachwissenschaftlicher
Disziplinen. Bremen: Hempen.
Timberlake, A. 1977. Reanalysis and actualization in syntactic change. In Mechanisms of Syntactic Change, C.N. Li (ed.), 141177. Austin TX: University of Texas Press.
Tomasello, M. 2003. Constructing a Language: A Usage-based Theory of Language Acquisition.
Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Torres Cacoullos, R. & Walker, J.A. 2009. The present of the English future: Grammatical variation and collocations in discourse. Language 85(2): 321354.
Traugott, E.C. & Trousdale, G. (eds). 2010a. Gradience, Gradualness and Grammaticalization
[Typological Studies in Language 90]. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Traugott, E.C. & Trousdale, G. 2010b. Gradience, gradualness and grammaticalization. How
do they intersect? In Gradience, Gradualness and Grammaticalization, E.C. Traugott &
G.Trousdale (eds), 1944. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Traugott, E.C. & Trousdale, G. 2013. Constructionalization and Constructional Changes. Oxford:
OUP.
Travis, C.E. 2007. Genre effects on subject expression in Spanish: Priming in narrative and
conversation. Language Variation and Change 19(2): 101135.
Trousdale, G. & Hoffman, T. (eds). 2013. The Oxford Handbook of Construction Grammar.
Oxford: OUP.
Tuttle, E.F. 1986. The spread of ESSE as universal auxiliary in Central Italo-Romance. Medioevo
Romanzo 11(2): 229287.
Valente, T.W. 1996. Social network thresholds in the diffusion of innovations. Social Networks
18(1): 6989.
References
van der Auwera, J. 1998. Conclusion. In Adverbial Constructions in the Languages of Europe,
J.van der Auwera (ed.), 813836. Berlin: De Gruyter.
van Hout, A. 2000a. Event semantics in the lexicon-syntax interface: Verb frame alternations in
Dutch and their acquisition. In Events as Grammatical Objects, C. Tenny & J. Pustejovsky
(eds), 239281. Stanford CA: CSLI.
van Hout, A. 2000b. Projection based on event structure. In Lexical Specification and Insertion
[Current Issues in Linguistic Theory 197], P. Coopmans, M. Everaert & J.B. Grimshaw
(eds), 403427. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
van Valin, R. 1990. Semantic parameters of split intransitivity. Language 66(2): 221260.
Vendler, Z. 1967. Verbs and times. In Linguistics in Philosophy, Z. Vendler (ed.), 97121. Ithaca:
Cornell University Press.
Verkuyl, H. 1972. On the Compositional Nature of the Aspects. Dordrecht: Reidel.
Verkuyl, H. 1989. Aspectual classes and aspectual composition. Linguistics and Philosophy 12:
3994.
Verkuyl, H. 1999. Aspectual Issues: Studies on Time and Quantity. Stanford CA: CSLI.
Vet, C. 2005. Limparfait: emploi anaphorique et emplois non anaphoriques. In Nouveaux dveloppements de limparfait, E. Labeau & P. Larrive (eds), 3344. Amsterdam: Rodopi.
Vincent, N. 1982. The development of the auxiliaries habere and esse in Romance. In Studies
in the Romance Verb. Essays Offered to Joe Cremona on the Occasion of his 60th Birthday,
N.Vincent & J. Cremona (eds), 7196. London: Croom Helm.
von Hoegen, S. 2000. Entwicklung der spanischen Historiographie im ausgehenden Mittelalter.
Am Beispiel der Crnicas de los Reyes de Castilla Don Pedro I, Don Enrique II, Don Juan I y
Don Enrique III von Pero Lpez de Ayala, der Generaciones y semblanzas von Fernn Prez
de Guzmn und der Crnica de los Reyes Catlicos von Fernando del Pulgar. Frankfurt: Peter
Lang.
Vulanovi, R. & Baayen, H. 2006. Fitting the development of periphrastic do in all sentence
types. In Exact Methods in the Study of Language and Text. Dedicated to Gabriel Altmann
on the Occasion of his 75th Birthday, P. Grzybek & R. Khler (eds), 679688. Berlin: De
Gruyter.
Walker, J.A. 2010. Introduction. In Aspect in Grammatical Variation [Studies in Language Variation 6], J. A. Walker (ed.), 112. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Wang, W.S.-Y. & Cheng, C.-C. 1970. Implementation of phonological change: The Shuangfeng
Chinese case. Chicago Linguistic Society 6: 552559.
Wanner, D. 2006. The Power of Analogy: An Essay on Historical Linguistics. Berlin: De Gruyter.
Weinreich, U., Labov, W. & Herzog, M. 1968. Empirical foundations for a theory of language
change. In Directions for Historical Linguistics, W.P. Lehmann & Y. Malkiel (eds), 95188.
Austin TX: University of Texas Press.
Weinrich, H. 2001 [1964]. Tempus: besprochene und erzhlte Welt. Mnchen: Beck.
White, H. 1973. Metahistory: The Historical Imagination in Nineteenth-Century Europe. Baltimore MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Wilhelm, R. 2001. Diskurstraditionen. In Language Typology and Language Universals/La
typologie des langues et les universaux linguistiques/Sprachtypologie und sprachliche Universalien. An International Handbook/Manuel international/Ein internationales Handbuch,
M. Haspelmath, E. Knig, W. Oesterreicher & W. Raible (eds), I, 467477. Berlin: De
Gruyter.
Wolfram, W. 1993. Identifying and interpreting variables. In American Dialect Research,
D.R.Preston (ed.), 193221. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
References
Wray, A. & Perkins, M. 2000. The functions of formulaic language: An integrated model. Language & Communication 20: 128.
Wunderlich, D. 1997. Participle Perfect and Passive in German. Dsseldorf: Universitat
Dusseldorf.
Yamaguchi, T. & Petursson, M. 2003. The speaker and the perfective auxiliaries hafa and vera in
Icelandic. Language Sciences 25(4): 331352.
Yllera, A. 1980. Sintaxis histrica del verbo espaol: Las perfrasis medievales. Zaragoza: Universidad de Zaragoza.
Zaenen, A. 1993. Unaccusativity in Dutch: Integrating syntax and lexical semantics. In Semantics and the Lexicon, J. Pustejovsky (ed.), 129161. Dordrecht: Kluwer.
Zaenen, A., Carletta, J., Garretson, G., Bresnan, J., Koontz-Garboden, A., Nikitina, T., OConnor,
M.C. & Wasow, T. 2004. Animacy encoding in English: Why and how. In DiscAnnotation
04 Proceedings of the 2004 ACL Workshop on Discourse Annotation, B. Webber & D. Byron
(eds), 118125. Stroudsburg PA: Association for Computational Linguistics.
Zimmermann, I. 1999. Partizip II-Konstruktionen des Deutschen als Modifikatoren. ZAS
Papers in Linguistics 14: 123146.
chapter 9
Appendix
9.1 Composition of the corpus of historiographical texts
Table 9.1 Source texts in the corpus of historiographical texts1
ID
Title
Corpus
Edition
EDEI Estoria de Espanna que

1270 Alfonse X
fizo el muy noble rey don
Alfonsso, fijo del rey don
Fernando et de la reyna
CORDE
Pedro Snchez Prieto,

Alcal de Henares:
Universidad de Alcal de
Henares, 2002
EDEII Estoria de Espaa, II
1275 Alfonse X
CORDE
Lloyd A. Kasten; John

J. Nitti, Madison:
Hispanic Seminary of
Medieval Studies, 1995
GEI
1277 Alfonse X
CORDE
Pedro Snchez
Prieto-Borja, Alcal de
Henares: Universidad de
Alcal de Henares, 2002
GEIV General Estoria. Cuarta

parte.
1280 Alfonse X
CORDE
Pedro Snchez-Prieto
Borja, Alcal de Henares:
Universidad de Alcal,
2002
GCU Gran Conquista de

Ultramar
1293 Annimo01
ADMYTE ADMYTE
CSA
Crnica de Sancho IV.

Ms. 829 BNM
1340 Annimo02
CORDE
RDT
Roman de Troie
1345 Annimo04
General Estoria. Primera

parte
Date Author
Pedro Snchez-Prieto
Borja, Alcal de Henares:
Universidad de Alcal de
Henares, 2004
Parker (1977)
(Continued)
. In the case of approximate datations, the mean of the indicated time span was used. For instance, according to the information from CORDE, the Atalaya cornicas [ATA] were written
between 1443 and 1454. Therefore, tokens from this source text were assigned the date 1449.
Table 9.1 Source texts in the corpus of historiographical texts (Continued)

ID
Title
Date Author
Corpus
Edition
SUM Sumas de la historia

troyana de Leomarte
1350 Annimo03
CORDE
Robert G. Black,
Madison: Hispanic
Seminary of Medieval
Studies, 1995
CRO2 Gran crnica de Espaa,

III. BNM, ms. 10134
1384 Fernndez
de Heredia,
Juan
CORDE
Juan Manuel Cacho

Blecua, Zaragoza:
Universidad de Zaragoza,
2003
CRO1 Gran crnica de Espaa,

I. Ms. 10133 BNM
1385 Fernndez
de Heredia,
Juan
CORDE
Regina af Geijerstam,
Madison: Hispanic
Studies, 1995
CDP
Crnica del rey don Pedro
1400 Lpez de
Ayala, Pero
CORDE
Germn Orduna, Buenos

Aires: SECRIT, 1994
DTL
Taduccin de las Dcadas

de Tito Livio
1400 Lpez de
Ayala, Pero
CORDE
Curt J. Wittlin, Barcelona:

Puvill, 1982
TAM Historia del gran

Tamorln. BNM 9218
1406 Gonzlez de CORDE

Clavijo, Ruy
Juan Luis Rodrguez

Bravo; Mara del Mar
Martnez Rodrguez,
Hispanic Seminary
of Medieval Studies
(Madison), 1986
CRR
Crnica del rey don

Rodrigo, postrimero rey
de los godos (Crnica
sarracina)
1430 Corral,
Pedro de
CORDE
James Donald Fogelquist,

Madrid: Castalia, 2001
VIC
El victorial
1440 Daz de
Games,
Gutierre
CORDE
Rafael Beltrn Llavador,

Madrid: Taurus, 1994
ATA
Atalaya cornicas.
British L 288
1449 Martnez
de Toledo,
Alfonso
CORDE
James B. Larkin, Madison:

GJU
Guerra de Jugurtha de Caio 1450 Ramrez de

Salustio Crispo. Escorial
Guzmn,
G.III.11
Vasco
CORDE
Jerry R. Rank, Madison:

REP
Repertorio de prncipes de 1471 Escavias,

Espaa
Pedro de
CORDE
Michel Garca, Madrid:

Instituto de Estudios
Giennenses, 1972
IBF
Istoria de las bienandanzas 1474 Garca de

CORDE
e fortunas
Salazar, Lope
ENRC Crnica de Enrique IV de

Castilla 14541474
1482 Annimo05
CORDE
Ana Mara Marn

Snchez, Madrid:
Corde, 2000
Mara Pilar Snchez
Parra, Madrid: Ediciones
de la Torre, 1991
(Continued)
Chapter 9. Appendix

ID
Title
Date Author
Corpus
Edition
CRCP Crnica de los Reyes

Catlicos (Hernando del
Pulgar)
1482 Pulgar,
Hernando
del
CORDE
Juan de Mata Carriazo,

Madrid: Espasa-Calpe,
1943
CVC
Claros varones de Castilla
1486 Pulgar,
Hernando
del
CORDE
scar Perea Rodrguez,

Madrid: Universidad
Complutense, 2003
CBC
Compilacin de las batallas 1487 Rodrguez

campales
de Almela,
Diego
CORDE
Lago Rodrguez Lpez,

Madison: Hispanic
Studies, 1992
ENRE Crnica de Enrique IV
1492 Enrquez
del Castillo,
Diego
CORDE
Aureliano Snchez
Martn, Valladolid:
Universidad de
Valladolid, 1994
MAE Hechos del Maestre de

Alcntara don Alonso de
Monroy
1492 Maldonado,
Alonso
CORDE
Antonio Rodrguez
Moino, Madrid:
Revista de Occidente,
1935
TCAF Traduccin de la Cornica 1499 Garca de

CORDE
de Aragn de fray
Santa Mara,
Gauberto Fabricio de
Gonzalo
Vagad
Jos Carlos Pino Jimnez,

Madison: Hispanic
Studies, 2002
TCAL Traduccin de la Crnica

de Aragn de Lucio
Marineo Siculo
1524 Molina,
Juan de
CORDE
scar Perea, Madrid:

Universidad Complutense
de Madrid, 2003
CBE
1527 Ziga,
Francs de
CORDE
Jos Antonio Snchez

Paso, Salamanca:
Universidad de
Salamanca, 1989
NAU Los Naufragios
1541 Nez
Cabeza de
Vaca, Alvar
CORDE
Enrique Pupo-Walker,
HDI
Historia de las Indias
1544 Casas, Fray

Bartolom
de las
CORDE
Paulino Castaeda
Delgado, Madrid:
Alianza Editorial, 1994
CEC
Crnica del Emperador

Carlos V
1550 Santa Cruz,

Alonso de
CORDE
Ricardo Beltrn y
Antonio Blzquez,
Madrid: Real Academia
de la Historia, 1920
ANA Anales de la corona de

Aragn. Primera parte
1562 Zurita,
Jernimo
CORDE
ngel Canellas
Lpez, Zaragoza: CSIC,
1967
GCP
1569 Cieza de
Len, Pedro
CORDE
Carmelo Senz de
Santamara, Madrid:
CSIC, 1985
Crnica burlesca del

emperador Carlos V
Las guerras civiles

peruanas
(Continued)
Table 9.1 Source texts in the corpus of historiographical texts (Continued)

ID
Title
Date Author
Corpus
Edition
CNE
Historia verdadera de la
conquista de la Nueva
Espaa
1572 Daz del

Castillo,
Bernal
CORDE
Carmelo Senz de Santa

Mara, Madrid: CSIC,
1982
QUI
Quinquenarios o
Historia de las guerras
civiles del Per
(15441548) y de otros
sucesos de las Indias
1576 Gutirrez
CORDE
de Santa
Clara, Pedro
Madrid: Ediciones
Atlas, 1963
GCG Guerras civiles de

Granada. 1 parte
1595 Prez de
Hita, Gins
CORDE
Shasta M. Bryant,
Newark, Delaware: Juan
de la Cuesta, 1982
HHC Historia general de

los hechos de los
castellanos en las islas
y tierra firme. Dcada
primera
1601 Herrera y
Tordesillas,
Antonio de
CORDE
ngel de Altolaguirre
y Duvale, Madrid: Real
Academia de la Historia,
1934
HVH Historia de la vida y hechos 1611 Sandoval,

CORDE
del Emperador Carlos V
Fray
Prudencio de
Alicante: Universidad
de Alicante, 2003
HFE
Jos Martnez Milln y

Carlos Javier de Carlos
Morales, Salamanca:
Junta de Castilla y Len,
1998
Historia de Felipe II,

rey de Espaa
1619 Cabrera de
Crdoba,
Luis
CORDE
HDC Historia y descripcin de la 1625 Fernndez

CORDE
antigedad y descendencia
de Crdoba,
de la Casa de Crdoba
Francisco
(Abad de
Rute)
Crdoba: Boletn de
la Real Academia de
Crdoba, 1954
HCA Historia de los

1645 Melo,
movimientos, separacin y
Francisco
guerra de Catalua
Manuel de
CORDE
Joan Estruch Tobella,

NUE
Historia del Nuevo

Mundo
1653 Cobo,
Bernab
CORDE
Marcos Jimnez de la
Espada, Sevilla: Sociedad
de Biblifilos Andaluces,
1890
DES
Desagravios de los indios

y reglas precisamente
necesarias para jueces
y ministros
1685 Fernndez
CORDE
de Villalobos,
Gabriel
Madrid: Real Academia

de la Historia, 1899
1698 San Agustn, CORDE

Fray Gaspar
de
Manuel Merino,
Madrid: CSIC, 1975
CON Conquistas de las Islas

Filipinas
Chapter 9. Appendix
9.2 Query syntax per verb lemma

Table 9.2 Query syntax per verb lemma
Verb
Query (CORDE)
acaecer
acaecid* o acaesid* o acaeid* o acaezid* o acaescid* o acaessid* o acaesid* o

acaeszid*;
caecid* o caesid* o caeid* o caezid* o caescid* o caessid* o caesid* o caeszid*;
acaecud* o acaesud* o acaeud* o acaezud* o acaescud* o acaessud* o
acaesud* o acaeszud*;
acaecud* o acaesud* o acaeud* o acaezud* o acaescud* o acaessud* o
acaesud* o acaeszud*;
Acaecid* o Acaesid* o Acaeid* o Acaezid* o Acaescid* o Acaessid* o Acaesid* o
Acaeszid*
ahogar
afogad* o affogad* o ahogad* o fogad* o ffogad* o hogad*;

Afogad* o Affogad* o Ahogad* o Fogad* o Ffogad* o Hogad*
alzar
alzad* o alsad* o alad* o alszad* o alssad* o alsad* o Alzad* o Alsad* o Alad* o

Alszad* o Alssad* o Alsad*
andar
andad* o anndad* o andid* o andud* o handad* o hanndad* o handid* o

handud*;
Andad* o Anndad* o Andid* o Andud* o Handad* o Hanndad* o Handid* o
Handud*
aparecer
aparecid* o aparesid* o apareid* o aparezid* o aparescid* o aparessid* o

aparesid* o apareszid*;
Aparecid* o Aparesid* o Apareid* o Aparezid* o Aparescid* o Aparessid* o
Aparesid* o Apareszid*;
aparescio*; sowie aparecud* o aparesud* o apareud* o aparezud* o aparescud* o
aparessud* o aparesud* o apareszud*;
Aparecud* o Aparesud* o Apareud* o Aparezud* o Aparescud* o Aparessud* o
Aparesud* o Apareszud*
arrepentir
arrepentid* o arrepentjd* o arrepentyd* o rrepentid* o rrepentjd* o rrepentyd* o

repentid* o repentjd*;
repentyd*;
Arrepentid* o Arrepentjd* o Arrepentyd*
avenir
avenid* o avenyd* o abenid* o abenyd* o auenid* o auenyd* o avenjd* o abenjd* o

auenjd*;
Avenid* o Avenyd* o Abenid* o Abenyd* o Auenid* o Auenyd* o Avenjd* o
Abenjd* o Auenjd*
ayuntar
ayuntad* o aiuntad* o ajuntad* o yuntad* o iuntad* o juntad*;

Ayuntad* o Aiuntad* o Ajuntad* o Yuntad* o Iuntad* o Juntad*;
ayvntad* o aivntad* o ajvntad* o yvntad* o ivntad* o jvntad*;
Ayvntad* o Aivntad* o Ajvntad* o Yvntad* o Ivntad* o Jvntad*
cabalgar
cavalgado o cabalgado o caualgado o cavalgados o cabalgados o caualgados;

cavallgado o caballgado o cauallgado o cavallgados o caballgados o cauallgados;
Cavalgado o Cabalgado o Caualgado o Cavalgados o Cabalgados o Caualgados
caer
cad* o caid* o cayd* o cajd* o caed* o Cad* o Caid* o Cayd* o Cajd* o Caed*;
caiud* o caud* o cayud* o cajud* o caeud*;
Caiud* o Caud* o Cayud* o Cajud* o Caeud*
(Continued)
Table 9.2 Query syntax per verb lemma (Continued)

Verb
Query (CORDE)
caminar
caminad* o camminad* o camynad* o cammynad* o camjnad* o cammjnad*;

Caminad* o Camminad* o Camynad* o Cammynad* o Camjnad* o Cammjnad*
correr
corrid* o corid* o corryd* o coryd* o corred* o cored*;

Corrid* o Corid* o Corryd* o Coryd* o Corred* o Cored*;
corrud* o corud* o corvd* o Corrud* o Corud* o Corvd*
corromper corrot* o corrompid* o corromped* o corrompyd* o corrut* o corrumpid* o

corrumped* o corrumpyd*;
corot* o corompid* o coromped* o corompyd*;
Corrot* o Corrompid* o Corromped* o Corrompyd* o Corot* o Corompid* o
Coromped* o Corompyd*;
Corrut* o Corrumpid* o Corrumped* o Corrumpyd*;
corronpid* o corronped* o corronpyd* o corrunpid* o corrunped* o
corrunpyd* o corronpjd*;
corrompud* o Corrompud* o corronpud* o Corronpud*
crecer
crecid* o crescid* o crezid* o creszid* o creid* o cresid* o cresid*;

crecud* o crescud* o crezud* o creszud* o creud* o cresud* o cresud*;
Crecid* o Crescid* o Crezid* o Creszid* o Creid* o Cresid* o Cresid*;
crecjd* o crescjd* o crezjd* o creszjd* o crejd* o cresjd* o cresjd*;
Crecjd* o Crescjd* o Crezjd* o Creszjd* o Crejd* o Cresjd* o Cresjd*;
Crecud* o Crescud* o Crezud* o Creszud* o Creud* o Cresud* o Cresud*
cuntir
cuntid* o cvntid* o kuntid* o kvntid* o contid* o kontid*;

Cuntid* o Cvntid* o Kuntid* o Kvntid* o Contid* o Kontid*
descender
decendid* o descendid* o dezendid* o deszendid* o deendid* o desendid* o

desendud* o deendud*;
decid* o descid* o dezid* o deszid* o deid* o desid* o desud* o deud*;
Decendid* o Descendid* o Dezendid* o Deszendid* o Deendid* o Desendid* o
Desendud* o Deendud*
durar
durad* o dvrad* o Durad* o Dvrad*
escapar
escapad* o escappad* o Escapad* o Escappad*
espantar
espantad* o espanntad* o Espantad* o Espanntad*
exir
exid* o exyd* o exjd* o Exid* o Exyd* o Exjd*
finar
finad* o finud* o Finad* o Finud*
fincar
fincad* o hincad* o incad* o fjncad* o hjncad* o jncad* o fincud* o ffincad* o

ffjncad* o ffincud*;
Fincad* o Hincad* o Incad* o Fjncad* o Hjncad* o Jncad* o Fincud*
holgar
holgad* o folgad* o olgad* o ffolgad* o hholgad* o huelg*;

Holgad* o Folgad* o Olgad* o Ffolgad* o Hholgad* o Huelg*
huir
huid* o huyd* o hujd* o hud* o fuid* o fuyd* o fujd* o fud*;

Huid* o Huyd* o Hujd* o Fuid* o Fuyd* o Fujd*
hundir
hundid* o hundyd* o hundjd* o fundid* o fundyd* o fundjd* o ffundid* o

ffundyd* o ffundjd*;
Hundid* o Hundyd* o Hundjd* o Fundid* o Fundyd* o Fundjd* o Ffundid* o
Ffundyd* o Ffundjd*
(Continued)
Chapter 9. Appendix

Verb
Query (CORDE)
ir
id* o yd* o jd* o Id* o Yd* o Jd*
maravillar maravillad* o marauillad*marabillad* o maravijad* o marauijad*marabijad* o

maraviyad* o marauiyad*;
marabiyad* o maraviljad* o marauiljad* o marabiljad* o maravilyad* o
marauilyad* o marabilyad*;
Maravillad* o Marauillad*Marabillad* o Maravijad* o Marauijad*Marabijad* o
Maraviyad* o Marauiyad*;
Marabiyad* o Maraviljad* o Marauiljad* o Marabiljad* o Maravilyad* o
Marauilyad* o Marabilyad*
menguar
menguad* o mengvad* o menuad* o menvad* o mennuad* o minguad* o

mingvad* o minuad* o minvad* o minnuad*;
Menguad* o Mengvad* o Menuad* o Menvad* o Mennuad* o Minguad* o
Mingvad* o Minuad* o Minvad* o Minnuad*
morar
morados o morado o morada o moradas o Morados o Moradas o Morado o

Morada
morir
muerto o muertos o muerta o muertas o mverto o mvertos o mverta o

mvertas;
moert* o mort* o morid* o morjd* o moryd* o murid* o murjd* o muryd*;
Muert* o Mvert* o Moert* o Mort* o Morid* o Morjd* o Moryd* o Murid* o
Murjd* o Muryd*
nacer
nacid* o nascid* o nasid* o naid* o naszid* o nazid* o nasid*;

nacjd* o nascjd* o nasjd* o najd* o naszjd* o nazjd* o nasjd*;
nacud* o nascud* o nasud* o naud* o naszud* o nazud* o nasud*;
Nacud* o Nascud* o Nasud* o Naud* o Naszud* o Nazud* o Nasud*
partir
partid* o partyd* o partijd* o partud* o Partid* o Partyd* o Partijd* o Partud*
pasar
pasad* o passad* o Pasad* o Passad*
perecer
perecid* o perescid* o perezid* o pereszid* o pereid* o peresid* o peresid*;

perecud* o perescud* o perezud* o pereszud* o pereud* o peresud* o peresud*;
Perecid* o Perescid* o Perezid* o Pereszid* o Pereid* o Peresid* o Peresid*;
perecjd* o perescjd* o perezjd* o pereszjd* o perejd* o peresjd* o peresjd*;
Perecjd* o Perescjd* o Perezjd* o Pereszjd* o Perejd* o Peresjd* o Peresjd*;
Perecud* o Perescud* o Perezud* o Pereszud* o Pereud* o Peresud* o Peresud*
quebrar
quebrad* o qvebrad* o queurad* o qveurad* o quevrad* o qvevrad*,

Quebrad* o Qvebrad* o Queurad* o Qveurad* o Quevrad* o Qvevrad*
quedar
quedad* o Quedad* o qvedad* o Qvedad*
sentar
sentad* o ssentad* o zentad* o entad* o Sentad* o Ssentad* o Zentad* o entad*;

asentad* o assentad* o azentad* o aentad* o Asentad* o Assentad* o Azentad* o
Aentad*
sobrar
sobrad* o ssobrad* o subrad* o ssubrad* o soprad* o ssoprad*;

Sobrad* o Ssobrad* o Subrad* o Ssubrad* o Soprad* o Ssoprad*
subir
subid* o subyd* o ssubid* o ssubyd* o suvid* o suvyd* o ssuvid* o ssuvyd* o

Subid*;
suuid* o suuyd* o ssuuid* o ssuuyd* o Suuid* o Suuyd* o Ssuuid* o Ssuuyd*
(Continued)
Table 9.2 Query syntax per verb lemma (Continued)

Verb
Query (CORDE)
tornar
tornad* o Tornad* o tornud* o Tornud*
venir
venid* o venyd* o benid* o benyd* o uenid* o uenyd* o venjd* o benjd* o uenjd*;

venud* o venud* o benud* o benud* o uenud* o uenud* o venud* o benud* o
uenud*;
Venid* o Venyd* o Benid* o Benyd* o Uenid* o Uenyd* o Venjd* o Benjd* o
Uenjd*;
Venud* o Venud* o Benud* o Benud* o Uenud* o Uenud* o Venud* o Benud* o
Uenud*
volver
buelt* o vuelt* o bvelt* o vvelt* o uuelt* o volvid* o bolbid* o uoluid*;

Buelt* o Vuelt* o Bvelt* o Vvelt* o Uuelt* o Volvid* o Bolbid* o Uoluid*
yacer
yazid* o yacid* o iazid* o iacid* o yaid* o iaid* o jazid* o jacid* o jacid* o jaid*;
yazjd* o yacjd* o iazjd* o iacjd* o yajd* o iajd* o jazjd* o jacjd* o jacjd* o jajd*;
Yazid* o Yacid* o Iazid* o Iacid* o Yaid* o Iaid* o Jazid* o Jacid* o Jacid* o
Jaid*;
Yazjd* o Yacjd* o Iazjd* o Iacjd* o Yajd* o Iajd* o Jazjd* o Jacjd* o Jacjd* o
Jajd*
9.3 Full event history table

Table 9.3 Event history table2
Verb
1270 1300 1350

1299 1349 1399
1400
1449
1450
1499
1500
1549
1550
1599
1600
1649
1650
1699
acaecer
TRUE TRUE TRUE
TRUE
TRUE
TRUE
TRUE
EVENT FALSE
ahogar
TRUE TRUE TRUE
TRUE
TRUE
TRUE
TRUE
TRUE
alzar
TRUE TRUE TRUE
TRUE
TRUE
TRUE
EVENT FALSE
FALSE
andar
FALSE
FALSE
FALSE
FALSE
FALSE
aparecer
TRUE TRUE TRUE
EVENT FALSE
FALSE
FALSE
FALSE
FALSE
arrepentir TRUE TRUE TRUE
TRUE
TRUE
TRUE
EVENT FALSE
FALSE
avenir
TRUE TRUE TRUE
TRUE
TRUE
TRUE
EVENT FALSE
FALSE
ayuntar
TRUE TRUE TRUE
TRUE
TRUE
TRUE
TRUE
EVENT FALSE
cabalgar
FALSE
FALSE
FALSE
FALSE
caer
TRUE TRUE TRUE
TRUE
TRUE
TRUE
TRUE
EVENT FALSE
caminar
TRUE TRUE TRUE
TRUE
TRUE
TRUE
EVENT FALSE
FALSE
correr
TRUE TRUE TRUE
EVENT FALSE
FALSE
FALSE
FALSE
FALSE
EVENT
FALSE
(Continued)
. Grey shading in a cell indicates that in this time period, no ser + PtcP tokens formed from
the respective verb were found.
Chapter 9. Appendix

Verb
1270 1300 1350

1299 1349 1399
1400
1449
1450
1499
1500
1549
1550
1599
1600
1649
1650
1699
corromper TRUE TRUE TRUE
TRUE
EVENT FALSE
FALSE
FALSE
FALSE
crecer
TRUE TRUE TRUE
TRUE
TRUE
TRUE
EVENT FALSE
FALSE
cuntir
FALSE FALSE FALSE
FALSE
FALSE
FALSE
FALSE
FALSE
FALSE
descender TRUE TRUE TRUE
EVENT FALSE
FALSE
FALSE
FALSE
FALSE
durar
FALSE FALSE FALSE
FALSE
FALSE
FALSE
FALSE
FALSE
FALSE
escapar
TRUE TRUE TRUE
TRUE
EVENT FALSE
FALSE
FALSE
FALSE
espantar
TRUE TRUE TRUE
TRUE
TRUE
TRUE
TRUE
EVENT FALSE
exir
FALSE
FALSE
FALSE
FALSE
finar
TRUE TRUE TRUE
TRUE
TRUE
TRUE
TRUE
EVENT FALSE
fincar
TRUE TRUE TRUE
TRUE
EVENT FALSE
FALSE
FALSE
FALSE
holgar
TRUE TRUE TRUE
EVENT FALSE
FALSE
FALSE
FALSE
FALSE
huir
TRUE TRUE TRUE
TRUE
TRUE
TRUE
TRUE
EVENT FALSE
hundir
TRUE TRUE TRUE
TRUE
TRUE
TRUE
TRUE
EVENT FALSE
ir
FALSE
TRUE TRUE TRUE
TRUE
TRUE
TRUE
TRUE
TRUE
maravillar TRUE TRUE TRUE
TRUE
TRUE
TRUE
TRUE
EVENT FALSE
menguar
TRUE TRUE TRUE
TRUE
EVENT FALSE
FALSE
FALSE
FALSE
morar
FALSE FALSE FALSE
FALSE
FALSE
FALSE
FALSE
FALSE
FALSE
morir
TRUE TRUE TRUE
TRUE
TRUE
TRUE
TRUE
TRUE
EVENT
nacer
TRUE TRUE TRUE
TRUE
TRUE
TRUE
TRUE
TRUE
EVENT
partir
TRUE TRUE TRUE
TRUE
TRUE
TRUE
TRUE
EVENT FALSE
pasar
TRUE TRUE TRUE
TRUE
TRUE
TRUE
TRUE
EVENT FALSE
perecer
TRUE TRUE TRUE
TRUE
TRUE
EVENT FALSE
FALSE
quebrar
TRUE TRUE TRUE
TRUE
TRUE
TRUE
TRUE
EVENT FALSE
quedar
TRUE TRUE TRUE
TRUE
EVENT FALSE
FALSE
FALSE
FALSE
sentar
TRUE TRUE TRUE
TRUE
TRUE
EVENT FALSE
FALSE
sobrar
TRUE TRUE TRUE
TRUE
EVENT FALSE
FALSE
FALSE
FALSE
subir
TRUE TRUE TRUE
TRUE
TRUE
TRUE
EVENT FALSE
FALSE
tornar
TRUE TRUE TRUE
TRUE
TRUE
TRUE
EVENT FALSE
FALSE
venir
TRUE TRUE TRUE
TRUE
TRUE
TRUE
TRUE
TRUE
EVENT
volver
TRUE TRUE TRUE
TRUE
TRUE
TRUE
TRUE
EVENT FALSE
yacer
FALSE FALSE FALSE
FALSE
FALSE
FALSE
FALSE
FALSE
TRUE
EVENT
FALSE
FALSE
Index
A
Aarts, Bas 7778
absolute construction 12, 33,
66, 239240
absolute transitive 6162, 183,
264
abstract subject referent 61,
167, 218
accomplishment predicates see
predicate classes
achievement predicates see
predicate classes
activation 6, 9697, 101, 103,
187, 257
active-stative coding 3334,
172, 248, 261, 268, 274
actor 14
actualisation, definition 80
adverbial modification 7,
14, 4347, 122, 149150,
154156, 159, 162, 172, 181,
215, 217 220, 224, 226,
228, 230, 251, 253254
agent see semantic role
agent proto-role see
generalised semantic role
agentivity 14, 24, 146
agreement 5960
Akaike Information
Criterion 134
Alexiadou, Artemis 3, 10,
1213, 2728, 64, 271
Alfonse X 109, 113114
allomorphy of haber + PtcP
and ser + PtcP 3, 39, 73,
9596, 245, 259, 273
analogical levelling 81
analogy 8081
Andalusian Spanish 194
anterior, definition of 40
animacy 33, 6061, 68, 7071,
132, 147148, 154, 159, 162,
216
anticausative 33, 60, 63, 71
aorist drift 64, 273
Aragonese 62, 113, 194
Aranovich, Ral 45, 18,

2124, 26, 2931, 65, 91,
105, 112, 144, 147, 167,
190192, 202203, 258
aspect 24, 1320, 25, 29,
3941, 45, 4953, 65, 68,
73, 142147, 152, 155, 160,
162164, 169, 176179,
202203, 215, 217218,
221, 225226, 237239,
252, 255, 267, 269
aspectual
underspecification 17, 29
autonomy
as a frequency effect 5, 93,
102, 231
of a grammaticalising
element 79
Auxiliary Selection
Hierarchy 45, 1427,
29, 36, 62, 7678, 102, 127,
142, 145, 163164, 180181,
196197, 201203, 258,
263265, 267, 272
B
Bardal, Jhanna 98100, 273
Barthes, Roland 110
BECOME operator see
transition in event
template
Benveniste, mile 9, 54,
58, 72
Benzing, Joseph 1819, 2224,
26, 112, 166, 196
binary variable 132
binomial distributions 133
Blumenthal-Dram, Alice 92,
98, 100101
boundedness 17, 46, 48, 53,
142, 150, 174
bridging context 58, 125, 264
Burzio, Luigi 3, 1012, 267
Bybee, Joan 1, 3, 4041, 64,
7677, 8081, 84, 9193,
95, 98, 108
C
C index of concordance 134
Cabeza de Vaca, lvar
Nez 194
Catalan 9, 21, 24, 271
Old Catalan 21, 24, 271
category formation 9192
causative-durative 54
Cennamo, Michela 9, 17,
6769, 118, 171
centering of numerical
data 142
change of location predicates
see predicate classes
change of state predicates see
predicate classes
Charlemagne Sprachbund 10
chi-square test 132
chunking 9192, 108
Claros varones 114, 130
cognition predicates see
predicate classes
comitative 42, 148
conditional 61, 150
conservation, definition of 94
construction grammar 39, 92
context expansion 61, 8283
continuation of a pre-existing
state 1516, 25
control 1415, 31, 55, 6568, 70,
142, 146148, 154, 156157,
159, 161, 167, 180, 182,
200, 202203, 215216,
224225, 228, 230, 251253
copula 4, 28, 3334, 39, 4144,
50, 65, 70, 72, 267
copula + predicative adjective
construction 42, 117, 135
copying see intertextuality
Corsican 9
counterfactual 3, 21, 28, 5152,
61, 150
Crnica abreviada 112
Crnica burlesca del
emperador Carlos V. 194
Crnica de 1344 112
Index
Crnica de Aragn 131, 194
Crnica de los reyes de
Castilla 114
D
Danish 9
dative 81, 125126, 158, 183, 264
Davidsonian state terms 42
de las Casas, Fray
Bartolom 194
de Molina, Juan 194
de Ziga, Francs 194
decomposition 16
definiteness 12, 80
degree achievement predicates
del Pulgar, Hernando 114, 130
delimitation 19
deontic modality 55, 71, 148,
266
deponent verb 34, 6571, 118
deponentisation 6871, 118
descriptive statistical
analyses 131
Detges, Ulrich 5659, 71, 124,
126, 183
diffusion 61, 75, 8389, 96
discourse function 45, 4850,
137, 177179, 181, 267268
backgrounding function 45,
49, 138, 152, 176179, 181,
183, 239, 243244, 260, 267
foregrounding function 45,
4950, 152, 176179, 260
discourse tradition 86,
106111, 113115, 128, 136,
138, 205, 213, 272, 274275
discrete-time hazard
models 188191
downstripping 158
dummy variable see binary
variables
Dutch 9, 27
dynamic appearance &
existence predicates see
predicate classes
dynamicity 19
E
Emergent Grammar 7677
English 34, 10, 2728, 44, 79,
8182, 87, 97, 106, 108, 152,
158, 183, 271272
Old English 34, 2728, 87,
271272
Middle English 34, 2728

entrenchment 5, 7, 75, 9194,
96101, 108110, 136,
186187, 214, 231, 246,
248249, 266, 275
envelope of variation 106,
115128, 133, 135136, 179,
264
ergativity 14
estar 3435, 61, 242
Estoria de Espanna 2, 109, 113,
115, 122, 130, 165
event complexity 1617, 163,
213
event composition 13, 17, 29
event history table 190191
event time 45
Exemplar theory 9192, 108
existence of state
predicates 1516, 2425,
127
experiencer see semantic role
F
Fernndez-Ordez, Ins 109,
113, 115
Fisher-Yates test 132
focal predictor variable 134
formulaicity 5, 93, 101
Foucault, Michel 108, 110, 274
French 913, 15, 27, 3235,
4452, 64, 9394, 167, 174,
178, 271, 273274
Old French 27, 167168, 271
Canadian French 32, 4452,
9394, 174, 176
functionalist theories 76,
7879
future 61, 97, 150, 152, 155, 160,
177, 217, 219, 225226, 230,
252, 255
future subjunctive 150
G
General Estoria 109, 113, 130,
242
generalised linear mixed-effect
regression modelling 132
generalised linear models 133
generalised semantic role 14,
2122, 24, 167
agent proto-role 21
patient proto-role 2122
German 9, 27, 64, 92, 271, 273
Old High German 271
Gothic 72
gerund see progressive
gradience
definition of 78
intersective 7778
subsective 7778
gradualness, definition of 78
grammaticalisation 7980,
8283, 85, 273274
of habere + PtcP 56, 5964,
239
Gran conquista de
Ultramar 115, 130
Gran crnica de
Espaa 129130, 300
Greek 10, 53
H
hazard rate 189
hierarchically well-formulated
model 199
Historia de las indias 131, 194
Historia troyana 112, 130
Historia Magistra
Vitae 113114
hodiernal contexts 64, 273
Hopper, Paul 6162, 76, 7881,
92, 95, 125
host-class expansion 8283
humanism 113
I
Icelandic 10, 99
imperfective past tense 4750,
152, 156, 162, 176, 178,
182184, 215, 218, 228,
230, 239240, 255, 259,
268269
inceptive function 50, 70,
120, 122
infectum 53, 65, 70
inferential statistical
analyses 131
infinitive 27, 150, 152, 156, 221,
230231, 234, 240241, 255
interaction effect 134, 201
Interactive Activation
Model 101
intersective gradience see
gradience
intertextuality 108111
irrealis 2729, 5051, 93,
150151, 155156, 160, 162,
172174, 181, 215, 217219,
221, 225226, 228, 230,
Index
244245, 249, 252255,
259, 267, 270271
irrealis effect 2729, 150151,
218, 259, 270271
Italian 913, 15, 3435, 64, 167,
171, 271, 273274
Old Neapolitan 27, 271
iterativity 3, 4547, 5152, 149,
169, 173, 235237
J
Jacob, Daniel 19, 28, 5456, 58,
66, 71, 108109, 116, 148,
170, 178
K
Kimian state terms 42
L
Labov, William 8586, 105107
Lapesa, Rafael 18, 113114,
138139
Latin 4, 9, 35, 39, 5253, 5758,
6373, 8081, 114, 118, 121,
147, 166, 168, 171172, 263,
266, 271
Latin verbal system 53, 70
Lazarillo de Tormes 114
Lehmann, Christian 61,
7980, 83
Leiss, Elisabeth 64, 68, 72, 271
linking rules 14
locative adverbial 42, 44,
5152, 145, 149, 155156,
159, 162, 181, 183, 215, 217,
224, 226, 230, 251, 253, 264
Lpez de Ayala, Pero 114, 300
M
Mackenzie, Ian 12, 18, 28, 32,
50, 6970, 121122, 165,
167168, 271
manner adverbial 4244, 51,
117, 122, 148, 154, 159, 162,
215, 217, 224, 226, 228, 230,
250251, 253, 267
manner of motion predicates
Mateu, Jaume 1718, 21, 2426,
29, 62, 103, 112, 142144,
146, 163, 180, 190191,
196197, 201, 258, 267
McFadden, Thomas 3, 10,
2728, 271
mediopassive 67
middle voice 3334, 63, 6770,

72, 120, 137, 147, 168,
171172, 180, 247248, 261,
266, 268
modal verb 61, 71, 150151
moderator variable 134
multivariate regression 133
N
narrative chain 4850
negated resultant state 51, 174
negation 27, 29, 5051, 152, 155,
160, 162, 173174, 215, 217,
225226, 230, 252254
nominative-accusative
coding 3334, 172, 248,
261, 268, 274
Norwegian 10
number morphology 5, 7,
149150, 155156, 159, 162,
174175, 180, 215, 218, 221,
224, 226, 228, 230234,
251, 253254, 259,
268269
O
odds ratio 161
P
p-value 161
paradigmatic atrophy 5, 103,
186, 214, 230234
paradigmaticity 75, 249, 257,
259
partitive cliticisation 12
pass antrieur 178
passive 11, 33, 35, 4344, 47,
60, 6367, 70, 92, 116124,
129, 135
passivity of the perfect 6667
past subjunctive 150
patient see semantic role
patient proto-role see
perception predicates 42, 54,
56, 5859
perfect of result 28
perfective past tense 6, 4950,
146, 152, 156, 176178,
182184, 218, 220221,
228230, 238245,
255256, 260, 268
perfectum 53, 65, 67, 70
periodisation 138142
Perlmutter, David 3, 10, 12, 267
persistence, definition
of 9697
personal morphology 26,
5960
present relevance 32, 49, 64,
245, 273
phonetic reduction 108
Poema de Mio Cid 57, 60, 166
Poplack, Shana 9394
Portuguese 32
possessive 34, 54
postverbal subjects 12
Pountain, Christopher 3436,
116118, 120122
Praeteritopraesentia 56
predicate classes
accomplishment 13, 1617,
24, 58, 145
achievement 13, 1617, 24,
3031, 58, 120, 164
change of location 35,
1516, 2223, 2527,
29, 6263, 69, 127128,
143146, 163, 167169,
180181, 185, 196, 201202,
210213, 221, 230237, 256,
259260, 265266, 269,
271273
change of state 34, 1516,
2127, 50, 6263, 70, 120,
127128, 143145, 163167,
180, 185, 194196, 201, 210,
221, 235237, 257259
cognition 54, 5859
degree achievement 144,
164, 185, 201, 257
dynamic appearance &
existence 23
manner of motion 2223,
125, 183
state 4, 1317, 2026, 33,
4043, 126128, 143147,
163167, 180181, 185186,
194196, 201, 220221,
257259, 264, 267
stative appearance &
existence 23
Primera crnica general 112
priming 5, 9697
productivity 1, 6, 26,
8384, 86, 9295, 98103,
109110, 187, 214, 260,
265266, 272273
progressive 150, 152, 156, 221,
230231, 234, 255
Index
projectionist accounts 14
Proto-Indo-European 3334,
53, 67, 69, 248, 261
proto-role approach see
psych-verbs 143
pull-chain 36
push-chain 36, 88, 269
R
random effect 105, 135, 157, 250
random slopes 222
reanalysis 55, 5859, 79, 82, 85,
88, 9596, 100, 122, 126,
214, 234235, 237, 244, 249,
256, 260, 269270
recency 5, 9798, 100101, 179,
228, 260261
reciprocity 11, 30, 174175, 180,
264, 268
reference time 45
reflexive-passive 63
reflexivity 7, 11, 3034, 6364,
6768, 70, 116117, 145,
147, 154, 156, 159, 161,
167172, 180, 182183,
215216, 218, 221, 224225,
230, 236237, 246248,
250253, 255257, 261, 264,
266, 268, 270271, 274
inherent reflexives 3032
quasi-reflexives 3032, 170
true reflexives 3032
Reichenbach, Hans 45
Reliefgebung see discourse
funcion
remanence, definition of 89
replacement, definition of 88
resultant state 4052, 55,
5859, 6572, 137, 164172,
174, 176, 179181, 247,
257258, 267
resultant state passive 35,
116122, 124, 129, 135
resultative, definition of 40
resultative I 5657, 59, 125126,
183
resultative II 5759, 61, 71
Revised Semantic
Displacement
Hypothesis 192, 194, 197,
202, 258
rhoticisation 81
Rodrguez Molina, Javier 18,
28, 32, 5863, 67, 69, 71,
112, 115, 121122, 126, 178,
182, 194, 239240
Roman de Troie 114115, 130
Romanian 9, 64
S
Sankoff, Gillian 9, 32, 4348,
5051, 66, 105, 173174, 176
Sardinian 9
Semantic Displacement
Hypothesis 4, 2324,
3031, 105, 192, 202203,
258
semantic entailment 2124,
144
semantic role 10, 14, 21, 54, 148
agent 2124, 2930, 33,
5558, 67, 69, 7172, 118,
123, 125126, 180
patient 2124, 2931, 33,
6668, 7172, 125126
experiencer 5456, 58, 69,
148, 170
undergoer 14
semantic transitivity see
transitivity
semantic-pragmatic context
expansion 8283
sentential objects 61
Siculo, Lucio Marineo 131, 194
similarity 62, 8083
statistical significance 132133,
161
social conventionalisation 75,
8586, 8890, 96, 102, 139,
196, 265
Somers dxy 134
Sorace, Antonella 34, 9,
1417, 25, 29, 62, 76, 127,
142, 144, 146, 153, 163164,
167, 192, 263, 269, 272
spec-position 11
speech time 45
split intransivity 1014, 19
state predicates see predicate
classes
stative appearance & existence
predicates see predicate
classes
stative passive 4344, 47

Stolova, Natalya 21, 2627, 51,
162, 173
subject referentiality 7, 25,
147148, 154, 156, 159, 161,
167, 182, 215216, 218219,
221, 224225, 249251
subject relevance 5557
subjunctive 93, 150151
subordinate clause 48, 146, 150,
176177, 181182, 239, 269
subsective gradience see
gradience
survival probability 189
Swedish 9
syntactic context
expansion 8283
T
telicity 15, 1719, 2425,
142145, 153154, 159, 161,
163164, 168, 181182, 185,
192, 194196, 200203,
212, 215216, 224225, 228,
230, 251253, 257259, 267
template augmentation 13, 17,
164167, 181
temporal adverbial 4546,
5152, 64, 149150,
155156, 159, 162, 172173,
181, 215, 217218, 224, 226,
228, 230, 251, 253255, 267
temporal subordinate
clause 176177, 181182
temporal-aspectual
morphology 7, 4952,
152, 155, 160, 162, 176179,
218219, 221, 225226,
237243, 252, 255, 260, 269
tener 3435, 56, 59
text genres 106107, 128
Thibault, Andr 9, 32, 4348,
5051, 66, 173174, 176
token frequency 5, 75, 8486,
8889, 91, 9394, 9899,
102, 204213, 231, 265, 272
to- participles 6567
transition in event
template 1517,
2425, 4041, 161, 163164,
180181, 192, 201, 250,
256257, 267
Index
transitivity
semantic 62, 124126, 137,
171, 179180, 264, 268
syntactic 124126
Traugott, Elisabeth 1, 39, 61,
7781, 203
try and + verb 79
type frequency 75, 82, 8486,
8889, 91, 98100, 213,
263, 265, 269, 273
typological change 34, 268, 274
U
Unaccusative Hypothesis 3,
1013, 30
unaccusative verbs 3, 1014,

19, 34, 263
unaccusativity 1014, 19
unaccusativity mismatch
1213
undergoer see semantic role
unergative verbs 3, 1012,
19, 263
usage-based grammar 5, 91, 96
V
Van Valin, Robert 3, 1314,
21, 267
variability-based neighbour
clustering 140141
variationist linguistics
7778, 105, 115, 133,
135, 270
Vedic Sanskrit 68
verb-period data set 198
verbal adjective 6566
W
Weinrich, Harald 49,
178
word order 5960, 79,
106
Z
z-score 199

Auxiliary Selection in Spanish - Gradience, Gradualness, and Conservation PDF

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Description:

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Auxiliary Selection in Spanish - Gradience, Gradualness, and Conservation PDF

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Studies in Language Companion Series (SLCS)

Elly van Gelderen

Arizona State University

Max Planck Institute, Leipzig

University of New Mexico

Free University of Berlin

University of California, Santa Barbara

University of Paris III