Fitting periphrastic do in affirmative declaratives*

Abstract

Whereas the logistic curve can be used to model the increase in the percentage of periphrastic do in several types of English sentences, a different fit to the data for affirmative declaratives is needed. Two possible fits are considered in this paper, both based on a generalized logistic differential equation with a time-dependent coefficient. Linear and piecewise constant coefficients are used. Linguistic and practical implications of the two approaches are discussed.

Acknowledgement

I would like to thank Professors Gabriel Altmann and Karl-Heinz Best for their interest and for providing me with copies of papers related to the present topic.