Re: Reflexive (was Re: Help on Verbs...)

Nik Taylor wrote:

> "Dr. David E. Bell" wrote:
> > What about -n't in couldn't?
>
> That's not a clitic, IMO, because it can't be moved.  -'s can detached
> from the possessor, as in the standard example "The Queen of England's
> crown", but not *"I could go-n't there" or anything like that.  -n't is
> a suffix which can only be added to auxiliaries.
That's true.  In my syntax class, we also treat "aren't" as
in "Aren't I supposed to go?" as a single grammaticalized
form, not as "are" + the reduced form of "not", "n't".

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Tom Wier <artabanos@...>
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Website: <http://www.angelfire.com/tx/eclectorium/>
"Cogito ergo sum, sed credo ergo ero."

Non cuicumque datum est habere nasum.
It is not given to just anyone to have a nose.
        -- Martial
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