2215: Periphrastic Utility Jan 7, 2021

To update slightly the post on periphrasis from 2018, there can be linguistically significant benefits of using seemingly unnecessary words beyond just style. To recap, periphrastic language is when one uses separate words to express a grammatical relationship, such as 'did go' rather than 'went'. These are often, though by no means always with auxiliary verbs, but consider the exception with "I was blamed" with "I received the blame", which affects the grammar beyond simply intensity. Yiddish also uses periphrasis to express speed or urgency such as כאפן א קוק (khop a kuk), literally 'catch a look', or טאן א קוק (ton a kuk), literally 'do a look' meaning 'looked'.