On Double Verb Constructions in English: With Special Reference to Grammaticalization

Abstract

In Present-day English, some motion verbs including come and go can be followed by the bare form of another verb, forming so-called “Double Verb Constructions,” which have some unique properties like the inflectional restriction, the selectional restriction on their subjects, and the single event interpretation. These properties are argued to be closely related to their development from V and V constructions in infinitive and imperative uses through grammaticalization in Middle and Modern English. It is shown that as a result of grammaticalization, the relevant motion verbs have been reanalyzed into light verbs located in v that take an infinitival VP complement. © 2009, The English Linguistic Society of Japan. All rights reserved.