Re: Perfect aspect

Quoting Doug Dee <AmateurLinguist@...>:

> In a message dated 9/30/2004 6:03:49 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
> Peter.Bleackley@RD.BBC.CO.UK writes:
>
> >Actually, this is an interesting question. Exactly how and why did "have"
> >get the sense of "auxiliary verb for perfect aspects"?
>
> I recall reading somewhere that this is believed to have started with
> sentences roughly like "I have a cake baked" in the sense of "I have a cake
> that is
> in-a-state-of-having-been-baked."
>
> From there, it's a small step to "I have baked a cake."
"I have a cake baked", of course, is identical to Modern Standard High German
syntax.

                                                          Andreas