Functions of Language

This paper discusses whether there are elements in spoken Sinhala that can be appropriately labeled auxiliary verbs, adopting the framework of grammaticalization theory (Hopper and Traugott 1993). While auxiliaries are thought of as a nearly universal cross-linguistic category (Steele 1978), the term is not mentioned in standard works on Sinhala (Gair and Paolillo 1997, Gair 1998). On the basis of elicited data, it is argued that a number of elements can be fruitfully analyzed as auxiliaries, while other elements resist such a classification, and thus pose a challenge to current definitions of the term auxiliary in grammaticalization theory.