| Cross-linguistic similarities can result from shared history, borrowing, or parallel development, in which case the similarities may be due to universal tendencies or coincidence. For example, many languages have auxiliary verbs meaning 'be', 'have', 'come', or 'go'. In some cases, different languages' auxiliaries are very similar; for example, many future markers mean 'want'. Other cases are more complicated; for instance, some future auxiliaries mean 'go', but some mean 'come'. Furthermore, divergent developments of the same verb show that these paths are not predictable simply from basic meanings.; This dissertation examines the development of past tense auxiliaries from 'be', 'have', and 'go' in the Iberian Romance languages (Catalan, Portuguese, and Spanish) with emphasis on both diachronic and synchronic patterns, specifically addressing universal versus language-specific factors and comparing developments in the Romance languages and other language families.; I argue that the development of verbs with these meanings into auxiliaries is motivated by syntactic and lexical semantic characteristics of the verbs, the nature of constructions, pragmatics, and discourse patterns. I also discuss the role of valence, metonymy, inference, reanalysis, and analogy. I integrate these considerations with current understanding of grammaticalization in particular and language change in general.; My research suggests that the participation of a small set of basic meanings in a wide array of constructions results from the relatedness of many of these constructions and the general nature of the processes of grammaticalization. I challenge accepted views on metaphor, unidirectionality, and grammaticalization as a problem-solving process. Because of the interaction of different grammatical components in grammaticalization, this study has implications for the nature of language change and of synchronic grammars. This is so because language change is ongoing and because the synchronic linguistic situation determines how a language will change. The study will also be useful to typologists and cognitive linguists.; The dissertation will also be a source on the history of these phenomena in Iberian Romance. A detailed account of the diachronic and modern synchronic situation will interest various researchers, including those seeking parallels to developments in other language families and those investigating related phenomena in the Romance languages. |
