Aspects of grammaticalization and reanalysis in the voice domain in the transition from Latin to early Italo-Romance

This article discusses some aspects of the grammaticalization and reanalysis of lexical verbs as passive auxiliaries and light verbs in the passage from Latin to (Italo-)Romance, focussing on (i) the diachronic relationship between auxiliarization and light verbs, (ii) the direction of the changes and (iii) the often quoted pertinacity to change of light verbs. The light verb uses of the verbs under investigation (COME, BECOME), both in Late Latin and in some early Italo-Romance vernaculars, exhibit a different type of decategorialization and desemanticization compared with auxiliaries, attested later than their auxiliary function.