The not so dummy auxiliary 'do' in Dutch

The auxiliary doen ‘do’ in standard Dutch is usually described as ‘dummy’ because it supposedly adds nothing substantial to the meaning of the sentence. We argue, however, that the auxiliary does have a function in the sentence, as a marker of either habitual or intentional aspect. In an online production experiment, we investigated the acceptability of the allegedly dummy auxiliary doen ‘do’

标准荷兰语中的助动词doen（对应英语动词do）通常被描述为虚义助动词（dummy auxiliary），因其被认为不会为句子语义增添任何实质内容。然而，本研究主张，该助动词实则在句中具备语法功能，可作为习惯体（habitual aspect）或意向体（intentional aspect）的标记。本研究通过一项在线产出实验（online production experiment），探究了这一被宣称属于虚义的助动词doen（对应英语动词do）的可接受度。