BE-perfects and grammaticalization in Bulgarian and Lithuanian

Abstract The goal of this paper is to put the semantic functions of the Lithuanian and Bulgarian perfects into a perspective of the grammaticalization cline specific to BE-perfects, i.e., perfects that exclusively use auxiliaries derived from verbs meaning ‘to be’. The study is based on synchronic data and on the idea that diachronic conceptual shifts, characteristic of grammaticalization, are reflected in synchronic variation. The analysis follows semantic links between perfect functions from statives and resultative constructions to experientials and evidentials. Quantitative frequency data from genre-parallel collections of Facebook comments in Bulgarian and Lithuanian shows that, in both doculects, auxiliaries are more frequently omitted with less grammaticalized perfect functions, while with cross-linguistically typical functions the auxiliary is more frequently present. In Bulgarian, the auxiliary-drop tendency resurfaces with evidential functions of the perfect. I argue that this auxiliary usage pattern aligns with the grammaticalization cline of BE-perfects.