This comprehensive volume contains twenty-six out of thirty three papers that were presented at the International Conference on ‘Les Périphrases Verbales’. The conference took place at the University of Caen-Basse-Normandie from June 25th to June 28th 2003, and was co-organized by the Crisco umr cnrs research group and the French Department at Tel Aviv University, Israel. The contributors to this volume aim to present a broad spectrum of theoretical approaches to the analysis of constructions entitled ‘périphrases verbales’. Their work revolves around three central themes: the definition of these constructions and the distinction between certain verbal expressions and true periphrastic expressions; a particular meaning or function of these expressions; and specific nominal constructions considered as periphrastic expressions. The volume is divided into seven sections, each throwing light on a particular aspect of periphrastic expression from various perspectives. The issues discussed are: temporal and aspectual periphrases; auxiliaries, copula, and support verbs; causative periphrases;
venire and
aller + infinitive / participle; inchoative periphrases; modal periphrases; and the heritage of Gustave Guillaume.