On the Grammaticalization of the English Have Perfect Based on Diachronic Bible Versions

초록

My observations show that the preterit and the HAVE perfect are in free variation with the HAVE perfect marked in Old English, and rather unmarked in Middle English with reference to my markedness theory (Shin 1992). The grammaticalization of the HAVE perfect starts or strengthens in the Middle English Wycliffe Version influenced by French passé composé. It shows correspondence to the English HAVE perfect in that besides the meaning of the preterit like that of Anglo-Saxon and Wycliffe, it also commutes with the English HAVE perfect in function and form with the distinction of être and avoir depending on the verb. The ratio of the Wycliffe of 98 HAVE perfects versus 71 preterits in comparison with the ratio of AS 0 HAVE perfect versus 167 preterits shows this stage of grammaticalization. The grammaticalization of the HAVE perfect was (almost) established around the early period of Early Modern English (1500-1800), Tyndale and King James Versions with the BE perfect still in variation with it in a few cases (17 and 18, respectively). The final stage of the grammaticalization of the HAVE perfect with the disappearance of the BE perfect and new appearance of the Present perfect progressive (continuous) has arrived by the end of the nineteenth century, or in Late Modern English or Present English.

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