US WURK LIII (2004), p. 85 [0803] WEST HAT, WEST IS: IT HELPTIIDWURD FAN IT PERFEKTUM BY ‘WÊZE’ Eric Hoekstra en Henk Wolf Summary The simple perfect tense of the Frisian verb ‘wêze’ (to be) can be conjugated both with ‘hawwe’ (have) and with ‘wêze’ (be). Thus we find “Ik haw west” (lit. I have been) alongside “Ik bin west” (lit. I am been). However, the option exists only if the auxiliary of the perfect is a simple present or a simple past. If the auxiliary of the perfect is an infinitive, as in “Soe er siik west hawwe / *wêze” (lit. Should he ill been have / *be), ‘wêze’ is hardly acceptable. We investigate the choice of ‘wêze’ and ‘hawwe’ as perfect auxiliary of ‘west’ (been) in Modern Frisian, Middle Frisian, Old Frisian and Dutch. Our analysis of the facts provides support for Ackema’s (2001) interpretation of the OCP. The OCP forbids adjacency of two ele- ments which are identical in some sense to be made precise. We provide our own formulation of this principle, and refer to it, for ease of reference, as the Principle of Distinctivity. In our view, this principle requires two adja- cent words to differ as much as possible with respect to syntactic category (syntactic features) or with respect to outward shape. Independent evidence for the PD comes from a ban on sequences of identical complementisers, and from a ban on sequences of identical adverbs. We then go on to briefly discuss choice of perfect auxiliary for the equivalent of ‘been’ in other languages, and argue that the facts provide further support for the PD. 1. Ynlieding 1 Yn dit artikel besprekke wy de kar fan it perfektive helptiidwurd yn it Frysk. Wy litte dêrby sjen hoe’t oerflakkige foarmskaaimerken fan ynfloed wêze kinne op it grammatikaliteitsoardiel fan sprekkers. Wy postulearje it bestean fan in distinktiviteitsprinsipe dat in beheining stelt oan it direkt njonken in- oar foarkommen fan (fierhinne) identike foarmen. 1. Foar kommentaar en/of diskusje betankje wy Oebele Vries, Siebren Dyk, Anne Popke- ma, Arjen Versloot, Anne Dykstra en yn it bysûnder Willem Visser.