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Pro-verb
In linguistics, a pro-verb is a word or partial phrase that substitutes for a contextually recognizable verb phrase (via a process known as grammatical gapping), obviating the need to repeat an antecedent verb phrase.[1] A pro-verb is a type of anaphora that falls within the general group of word classes called pro-forms (pro-verb is an analog of the pronoun that applies to verbs instead of nouns[2]). Many languages use a replacement verb as a pro-verb to avoid repetition: English "do" (for example, "I like pie, and so does he"), French: faire, Swedish: göra.[2]
The parallels between the roles of pronouns and pro-verbs on language are "striking": both are anaphoric and coreferential, able to replace very complex syntactic structures. The latter property makes it sometimes impossible to replace a pro-verb with a verb, thus its utility (like the one of a pronoun) goes beyond the stylistic variation of word substitution.[3] When choosing between substituting a pro-verb and repeating a verb, in multiple languages, including English, French, and Swedish the repetition is preferred by a wide margin (up to 80% to 20% ratio in the modern French). In many cases this is due to the presence of different objects, like in "I will read your letter every day, as a Christian reads the Gospels". Chance of using a pro-verb increases as the complexity of the verb phrase being replaced grows; verbs in the passive voice have lower chance of being substituted by a pro-verb.[4]
The pro-verb construction can be applied when a "direct construction" (without preposition before the object) is used in the verb phrase, or with an "indirect construction" with a preposition. In the latter case, the preposition, depending on the language and context, can be either omitted from the pro-verb construct, added, copied, or modified. For example, in modern Swedish any preposition in a verb phrase is replaced by Swedish: med in the pro-verb[5] (cf. insertion of "with" in English, "You can organize voicemail in folders as you do with email."[6])
- ^ "Pro-Verb". Glossary of Linguistic Terms. 2015-12-03. Archived from the original on 2022-01-21. Retrieved 2021-03-25.
- ^ a b Eriksson 2008, p. 235.
- ^ Eriksson 2008, pp. 237–238.
- ^ Eriksson 2008, p. 240.
- ^ Eriksson 2008, p. 249.
- ^ Eriksson 2008, p. 242.
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