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5.6 Auxiliaries of body posture and aspect and their selection restrictions
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The auxiliaries of body posture are: sitte ‘sit’, stounde ‘stand’, läze ‘lie’ and hongje ‘hang’. They may function as aspectual auxiliaries.

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On verbs of body posture functioning as aspectual auxiliaries, see: 4.5. Reduced and full to-infinitives of purpose. These verbs combine with reduced to-infinitives of purpose (rather than PP infinitives). These infinitives require an empty middle field and they may exhibit incorporation of selected elements, just as the PP infinitive. The auxiliary of body posture not only expresses a body posture but it also has an aspectual (progressive) interpretation. Some examples are given below:

1
Dät oolde Wieuw siet deerbie tou fucheljen.
the old woman sat R.at to up.cut
The old woman sat close by cutting things up.
2
Midde in ’e Weede liegen uus Bäiste tou ietekaujen.
middle in the meadow lie our cows to food.chew
In the middle of the meadow, our cows are lying and ruminating.
3
Hie stoant in de Keelde tou krimpen.
he stands in the cold to freeze
He stood in the cold freezing.
4
Dät hongende tou druugjen an ’e Wieme.
it hung to dry at the chimney.hook
It was hanging from the chimny hook and drying.

These auxiliaries almost never combine with the PP infinitive.

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