Prefaceandacknowledgements
My firstpersonalbrushwithdauntinglycomplexserialverbconstructionswas through fieldworkonTariana,anArawaklanguageintheVaupésRiverBasinin Brazil,andotherrelatedArawaklanguages.Tocometogripswiththenewfacts, Idecidedtoundertakeatypologicalstudyofserialverbs.
In R.M.W.DixonandIorganizedanInternationalWorkshopon ‘Serial verbconstructions’.Theworkshopandtheensuingeditedvolumefeaturedan introductionbymyself,settingoutthecross-linguisticparametersofvariationof serialverbconstructions,theirclassificationandgeneralissues,withasummaryby Dixonsummarizingtheparametersofanalysis.Thiswasfollowedbyfourteen contributionsfeaturingindepthanalysesofserialverbconstructionsandsimilar structuresinlanguagesfromAsia,Africa,North,Central,andSouthAmerica, Oceania,andNewGuinea.Theanalyticframework inparticularthedivisionof serialverbsintosymmetricalandasymmetrical,andtheprinciplesofgrammaticalizationandlexicalizationwithinthem hascometobeacceptedasstandardinthe growingnumberofhands-onstudiesofserialverbsacrosstheworld.Thepastfew yearshaveseennewdata,newlanguages,andnewsystemsofserialverbconstructionsanalysedandrecognized.Alongsidethese,therehavebeenrevisionistattempts atdilutingtheconceptof ‘serialverbs’ withintheseaofmulti-verbcombinationsof allsorts.Comingfromanotherangle,therehasbeendistortionoftheconceptofverb serializationthroughmisinterpretingsources,misunderstandingarguments,and takingaimattheessenceoftypologicallyinformedgrammars.
Thetimeisnowripetosystematicallytakestockofserialverbconstructions world-wide,incorporatingnewdataandnewinsights.Encouragedbycolleagues andindependentreviewersfromOxfordUniversityPress,Idecidedtoundertakea cross-linguisticstudyofserialverbs,world-wide.
Thebookcanbeusedbothasasourcebookforfurthertypologicalinvestigations, andatextbook.Thediscussioniscouchedwithinbasiclinguistictheory(ratherthan anyofthetime-lineformalisms),andallgeneralizationsarebasedonreliable languagefacts.Thereadersandmyselfshareacommonpurpose togainan understandingofawidediversityofserialverbs.Ihavetriedtoanalysethefacts andpresentthediscussionintheclearestpossibleway thecomplexityofthe systemswillspeakforitself.
Iamindebtedtomanypeople,ofdifferentcontinentsandbackgrounds.
Mygratitudegoestoallthosenativespeakerswhotaughtmetheirlanguagesand theirserialverbconstructions:José,Jovino,Olívia,Rafael,LeoandthelateCândido, GracilianoandIsmaelBrito(speakersofTarianaofSantaRosa),Marino,Domingo,
Ismael,JorgeandBatistaMuniz(TarianaofPeriquitos);HumbertoBaltazarand PedroÂngeloTomas(Warekena);Afonso,AlbinoandJoãoFontes,Celestinoda Silva,CecíliaandLaureanodaSilva,andthelateMarcíliaRodrigues(Baniwa).Iam foreverindebtedtoPaulineAgnesYuanengLumaLaki,JamesSesuLaki,Jacklyn YuamaliBenjiAla,KatieTeketay,JennyKudapa:kwandGemaj,andtosomany otherswhorevealedthebeautyoftheirnativeManambu(PapuaNewGuinea). TamaraMargolina,togetherwithmylatemother,ValeriaGuerlin,helpedmeget somelinguisticunderstandingofdoubleverbconstructionsintheirnativeRussian.
Invaluablesupportcamefromthosewhogavemecommentsonearlierversions, patientlyansweredmyquestionsonserialverbsandrelatedissues,andprovided mewithreferencesandadditionalsourcesovertheyear GrantAiton,Ayhan Aksu-Koç,FelixAmeka,AzebAmha,AlexanderAndrason,JunweiBai(Abe), PierMarcoBertinetto,OlgaBlinova,JulianeBöttger,SeinovanBreughel,Hilary Chappell,LucaCiucci,AndrewCowell,EvaCsató,WolfDietrich,TonyDiller,Gerrit J.Dimmendaal,MarkDurie,CarolaEmkow,NickEnfield,DianaForker,Lucía Golluscio,ValérieGuérin,AntoineGuillaume,BerndHeine,BernhardHurch, GwenHyslop,EmiIreland,BartJacobs,NeridaJarkey,CherylJensen,LarsJohanson, ChristaKönig,AdenikeS.Lawal,YongxianLuo,SilviaLuraghi,LiseMenn,Marina Magalhães,StephenMatthews,FelicityMeakins,ElenaMihas,VeronicaNercesian, RachelNordlinger,AndyPawley,EkaterinaProtassova,NickReid,WillemdeReuse, EduardoRibeiro,KerenRice,MalcolmRoss,AaronRubin,HannahSarvasy,Dineke Schokkin,SandySteever,KrisStenzel,AnneStorch,TimThornes,PilarValenzuela, RenévandenBerg,MariaVoejkova,PemaWangdi,JohnWatters,NathanWhite, MaryRuthWise,KasiaWojtylak,FirewGirmaWorku,DefenYu,andSihongZhang.
InvaluablecommentsonjustabouteverypagecamefromR.M.W.Dixon, withoutwhoseincisivecriticism,ideas,andconstantsupportandencouragement thisbookwouldhavenevercometofruition.
IoweadebtofgratitudetothelibrarystaffofJamesCookUniversity and especiallyCarolynTredreaandBronwenForster whoseconstantsupportcontinues beingcrucialforourwork.Theefficientinterlibraryloansystemworkedlike clockwork myparticularthanksgotoLynClarkandBridieSoo.IoweaconsiderabledebttoBrigittaFlickandJoleneOverallforcarefullyreadingthroughthemany draftsofthisbookandmakingcorrections,andtoDavidEllisandJoleneOverallfor lookingafterallthingsadministrativewhileIwasdoingthewriting.Theworkwas supportedbytheAustralianResearchCouncilDiscoveryprojects ‘Howlanguages differ,andwhy’ and ‘Theintegrationoflanguageandsociety’,andalsomyAustralian LaureateFellowship.
Thisvolumewouldhaveneverbeenbroughttofruitionwithoutencouragement fromJuliaSteerandVickiSunter,linguisticseditorsofOxfordUniversityPress. Theirunfailingsupportandefficiencymadeitallworthwhile.
Theframework
Inmanylanguagesoftheworld,asequenceofseveralverbsacttogetherasoneunit. Theyformonepredicate,andcontainnoovertmarkerofcoordination,subordination,orsyntacticdependencyofanyothersort.Suchseriesofverbsareknownas serialverbconstructions,or serialverbs forshort.Serialverbsdescribewhatcanbe conceptualizedasasingleevent.Theyareoftenpronouncedasiftheywereoneword. Serialverbstendtosharesubjectsandobjects.Theyhavejustonetense,aspect, mood,andmodalityvalue thatis,onepartcannotrefertopast,andanothertopresent. Thecomponentsofserialverbscannotbenegatedorquestionedseparatelyfromthe wholeconstruction.Eachcomponentmustbeabletooccuronitsown.Theindividual verbswithintheconstructionmayhavethesametransitivityvalues;orthevaluesmaybe different.Serialverbsareapowerfulmeansforadetailedportrayalofvariousfacetsof onesinglehappening.Theyoftenexpressgrammaticalmeanings aspect,direction,or causation especiallyinlanguageswherefewothermeansareavailable.
Serialverbsarefoundinmanylanguages,withdifferenttypologicalprofiles.They areprominentinEuropean-basedCreolelanguages,andinisolatinglanguagesofWest AfricaandofSouth-EastAsia.Theyhavenowbeenrecognizedinnumerouslanguages ofOceaniaandNewGuinea(especiallythoseoftheOceanicsubgroupofthelarge Austronesianfamily),andoftheAmericas(includingtheAmazonianLowlands).They havebeendescribedforatleastadozenAustralianAboriginallanguages,anumberof varietiesofcolloquialArabic,SyriacAramaic,DravidianlanguagesofIndia,numerous Tibeto-Burmanlanguages,afewlanguagesofnorth-eastEurope,andanumberof extinctIndo-Europeanlanguages(includingHittiteandClassicalArmenian).
. Whatserialverbsarelike
Serialverbshaveaplethoraofmeaningsandfunctions.Let’sstartwithsome examples.In ,fromTetunDili,anAustronesianlanguagefromEastTimor,the serialverbexpressesthedirectionofmotion: ‘throwcome’ means ‘throwoverhere’ . Theserialverbconstructionhas directional meaning. Hereandelsewherecomponentsofaserialverbconstructionareinbold.
SerialVerbs.Firstedition.AlexandraY.Aikhenvald. ©AlexandraY.Aikhenvald .Firstpublished
byOxfordUniversityPress.
tuda bola mai
throwballcome ‘Throwtheballoverhere’ (lit.throwcome)(Hajek : )
TetunDili
Theserialverbin ,fromIjo,anIjoidlanguagefromNigeria,containstheverb ‘take’:thisverballowstheinstrument ‘knife’ tobeusedwiththeverb ‘cut’.Thisisan instrumental serialverbconstruction.
. Eríogidi akí-níindi pei-mí Ijo hemachetetake-/ fishcut-/ ‘Hecuta fishwithamachete ’ (lit.takecut)(McWhorter : )
Oneverbcanrefertotheeffectoftheother,asin .,fromTaba,anAustronesian languagefromIndonesia.Theideaofanotheranimalbitingthepigdeadisexpressed withtheseriesofverbs ‘bitedie’.Themarkerofrealisoccursonceintheverbal complex characterizingitasawhole andfollowsthelastverb.Thisisa causeeffect serialverbconstruction.
n=babas welikn=mot do Taba sg=bitepig sg=die ‘Itbitthepigdead’ (literally:bitedie)(Bowden : )
Aserialverbconstructionmayrefertoasequenceofinterconnectedactions.In .,from Alamblak,aSepikHilllanguagefromPapuaNewGuinea(Bruce : ), ‘getting’ and ‘putting’ aresubsequenttoeachother.Thisisa sequential serialverbconstruction.
. wa-rim-ak-hɨta-n-m Alamblak --get-put- sg-pl
‘Getthemonalevelplanetowardme(and)putthemupthere’ (lit.getput) (Bruce : )
Verbswithinaserialverbconstructioncanformanidiomaticcollocation.Inmany WestAfricanlanguagestheconcept ‘believe’ isexpressedwithaserialverbwhose overallmeaningcannotbeeasilyinferredfromthemeaningsofitsparts,asinEwe xɔ se ‘believe’,literally, ‘gethear’,orAkan gyedi ‘believe’,literally, ‘geteat’ (Ameka : ).
Aserialverbconstructioncanconsistofmorethanjusttwoverbs.Thesentencein .,fromTariana,anArawaklanguagefromNorthwestAmazonia,containsaserial verbwiththreecomponents—‘take’ , ‘makecross’,and ‘makestand ’.Themeaningof theserialverbis ‘bringacross’ .
. phia-kaphita pi-thaketa pi-eme Tariana you-
sg+take
sg-cross+
ha-ne-nahyapa-na-nuku
sg-stand+
‘Itwasyouwhobroughtthatmountainacross(lit.takemake.crossmake.stand) (theriver)totheotherside’ (saidtheking)
AserialverbinSranan,aDutch-basedCreole,canbeevenlonger.Thesequenceof verbs ‘ run ’ , ‘ go ’ , ‘take’ , ‘ carry ’ ,go ’,and ‘give’ in . formsoneserialverbconstruction.
. Longoteki abuku tyarigogi aleriman Sranan rungotakethebookcarrygogivetheteacher ‘Run(and)fetchthebook(and)takeittotheteacher’ (rungotakecarrygogive) (Sebba : )
Aserialverbisoftenbesttranslatedwithamonoverbalclauseintoalanguagewhich lacksserialverbs,suchasEnglishorPortuguese.Duringa fieldworksessionwith Tarianaspeakers,Ihaddifficultiesintakinginthefactthat,torenderthePortuguese verb trazer ‘bring’ intoTariana,onehastouseaserialverb -hita-inu ‘getcome’.My teacher,thelateGracilianoSanchezBrito,cametomyaid,explaining: ‘Itisnotlike Portuguese,wejustcannotsayitwithoneverb’ RenderingsometypesofserialverbsintoEnglishcanbeachallenge.Inher analysisofsequentialserialverbsinGurr-goni,Green(: )remarkshowit is ‘almostimpossibletogiveamonoclausaltranslationfortheseGurr-goni examples Englishrequiresoneoftheverbstobesubordinatedtoorco-ordinate withtheother’.TheserialverbconstructionsinGurr-gonihavetheintonational contourofasingleclause,theysharetense,moodandpolarityvalue,and ‘however harditmaybetoexpressinEnglish,theeventsbeingdescribedarethoughtofasone event,ratherthantwoseparateactionsorevents’.Inasimilarvein,inhisdiscussion ofserialverbconstructionsinLao,Enfield(a: )remarksthat ‘itisimpossible toreflectintheEnglishtranslationthefactthatthe...elements[ofaserialverb construction]areeachunmarkedverbsofsimilarstatus’.Atranslationwillinevitably containtheword and.Butthisdoesnotmakeserialverbsintocoordinateclauses. Serialverbconstructions diverseastheyare alwaysconsistofseveralverbs whichformonepredicate.Verbserializationcanbeviewedasagrammatical techniquedeployedtoexpressaplethoraofmeanings.Howtodefineaserialverb isournextquestion.
. Definingaserialverb
Aserialverbconstructionwillhavethefollowingproperties.
A. Aserialverbconstruction(SVC)consistsoftwoormoreverbs,eachof whichcouldalsofunctionasthesoleverbinaclause. AverbmayhaveadifferentmeaningwhenusedaloneandwhenusedinanSVC, butthemeaningsshouldberelatable.Theverbhastobeabletostandalone.
B Thereisnomarkofdependency suchascoordination,subordination,or dependencyofanysort betweentheverbswithinaserialverbconstruction. Itisimportanttocarefullydistinguishbetweenserialverbconstructionsand otherconstructionsconsistingofmorethanoneverbwhichmayhavesimilar
(butneveridentical)features.Thereistypicallyacomplexofgrammaticaland discoursepropertieswhichdistinguishserialverbconstructionsfromconsecutive,subordinate,purposive,andotherkindsofverbsequences.
C. Aserialverbconstructionismonoclausal itfunctionsasasinglepredicate.
C.Grammaticalcategorieswhichapplytoamonoclausalpredicateina givenlanguagewillhavethecompleteserialverbconstructionintheir scope.Thesemayincludetense,aspect,evidentiality,modality,mood, realitystatus,illocutionaryforce,manneradverbs,andalsomarkersof subordination(includingthoseofrelativeclauses).
C.Typically,onlyacompleteserialverbconstruction andnotoneofits components canbenegatedorquestioned.
C.Aserialverbconstructionwillberepeatedasawhole.Whenusedina responsetoaquestion,thereplywillnotconsistofjustonecomponent verb:itwillcontainthefullconstruction.
C
.Aserialverbconstructioncannotbefelicitouslysplitintoanumberof coordinatedclauses.
C.Ingeneral,aserialverbconstructionwillfallwithinoneintonation contourandispronouncedasoneverbwouldbe,sothatnopauseis likelyinthemiddleofit.
D. Theserialverbconstructionitselfwillhaveitsowntransitivityvalue. Verbswhichmakeupaserialverbconstructionmayvaryintheirtransitivities.AnSVChasanoveralltransitivitywhichwilldependonthetransitivity ofthecomponentverbsandthetypeofserialverbconstruction.
E. Thereisusuallyatleastonecoreargumentsharedbyalltheverbsinaserial verbconstruction.
Thesharedargumentistypicallythesyntacticsubject(coveringthetransitive subjectlabelledAandtheintransitivesubjectlabelledS).Objectsand obliquescanalsobeshared.
F. Theserialverbconstructionisconceivedasdescribingasingleevent. Theeventdescribedbyaserialverbconstructionmaybesimpleorcomplex. Itmaycoverasetofinterconnectedactivities,orstates.
Aprototypicalserialverbconstructioninagivenlanguagewillhavealltheproperties, fromA–F.FeaturesA–Chelpdistinguishserialverbsfromothersequencesofverbs,or verb-likeelements.Toshowthatagivensequenceofverbsisindeedaserialverb construction,oneneedstoprovethatthesequenceformsonepredicateandismonoclausal.Stricttestswillbeappliedtoshowthattheserialverbhasonevalueforallthe predicatecategories.Asinglecaveatisinorder.Acontiguousserialverbconstruction willbepronouncedinthesamewayasamonoverbalpredicate.Butadiscontinuous serialverbmaynotbe,andtheparameterC maynotuniversallyapply.
Aprototypicalserialverbwillshareallthecorearguments thesubjectsandthe objects andalsoobliques,andconstituteacohesiveandtightly-knitrepresentation ofoneevent.Andindeed,everylanguagewithserialverbswillhaveSVCswiththe samesubject.Butjustoccasionally,alanguagewillhaveasubtypeofserialverbs whosecomponentsdescribedifferentfacetsofthesameevent,andyetnoarguments areshared.Then,parameterDwillonlypartiallyapply.
Thesemanticunityofaserialverbdepictingoneeventisafurthermatter.Showing thataserialverbreferstoonesingleeventmaybeunproblematicinsomeinstances asin fromTetunDiliand fromIjo butmoredifficultinothers.Sequential serialverbs liketheonein . fromAlamblak maybeanalysedasaclosely-knit sequenceofsubevents,orasone ‘macroevent’.Buthowtomakethisfoolproof?Serial verbshavetobede finedinthe firstplacebasedontheirformalfeatures;apurely semanticdefinitionofserialverbs iflimitedtojustparameterF mayruninto problemstodowiththehard-to-pinpointnotions.
Thissuggestsascalar,orcontinuum-typeapproach,toserialverbs whichcan conformtoaprototype(A–E)togreaterorlesserextent.
Thecomponentsofserialverbconstructionsmayalwayshavetooccurnextto eachother asin . and ..Orotherconstituentsmayintervenebetweenthem as in – and .Someverbalcategoriesmayhavetobemarkedoneverycomponent inaserialverb,asisthetense/aspectin . andpersonin ., .,and ..Ora categorycanbemarkedonceperconstruction anexampleistherealisin ..All componentsofaserialconstructionmaysharetheirsubject,asin .– and .–.Or theymayshareanotherargument:in . theobjectofthe firstcomponent(‘bite’)is thesameasthesubjectofthesecondone(‘die’).
Serialverbconstructionsmaynotbelimitedtojustsomeformsandcontexts. AconcatenationofverbsinAmericanEnglish comeplay! isnotaserialverbbecause thisislimitedjusttoimperativeandafewotherconstructions onecansay Iwant youtocomeplay butnot *hecameplayed. 1
Intheirfunctionsandmeanings,serialverbconstructionsmayappearsimilarto multi-verbconstructionswhichcontainsubordinatingorcoordinatinglinkers,or dependentverbformssuchasconverbs,orcomplexverbformsconsistingof auxiliariesplusdependentverbforms.AsMatisoff(: )putit,serialverbs ‘servetoprovideinauniformwaythesortofinformationthatinthesurface grammaroflanguageslikeEnglishishandledbyaformallydisparatearrayof subordinatingdevices:complementaryinfinitives,-ing complements,modalauxiliaries,adverbs,prepositionalphrases,evenwholesubordinateclauses’.Throughout thisbook,wewillpointoutdifferencesandcommonalitiesbetweenserialverbsand otherverbsequences,andtheirinteractionsinthehistoryoflanguages.
Serialverbconstructionscomeinavarietyofguises.Theymayconsistofseveral phonologicalandgrammaticalwords,asin .–,and .–.Ortheymayformone word,asin ..Thiscanbealternativelyreferredtoas ‘rootserialization’ . 2 Single-word
serialverbconstructionshavetobedistinguishedfromverbalcompounds limited, lexicalized,andunproductivecombinationswhosemeaningisoftenunpredictable andwhichcanbelistedexhaustively.Koreanhasalimitednumberofsemantically unpredictableverb–verbcombinations,suchas mi-tayta ‘lay,throw,shift’ (madeup ofroots mil ‘push’ and tay ‘attach’)or pwuth-tulta ‘takeholdof ’ (madeupofroots pwuth ‘stick’ and tul ‘hold’).Thesecanbelistedexhaustivelyandareidiomatic(Sohn : ).Suchcompoundsarenotserialverbs. Wedistinguishtwobroadtypesofserialverbconstructions,intermsoftheir composition.
• A serialverbconstructioninvolvestwoormoreverbsof differentstatus.The ‘major’ componentcanbevirtuallyanyverb;itischosen fromasemanticallyandgrammaticalunrestrictedclass,andcanbeconsidered the ‘head’ oftheconstruction.The ‘minor ’ componentischosenfromalimited andclosedsubclassofverbsofacertainsemanticset.Amongsemanticvaluesa minorverbmayspecifyare:
(i)direction comingorgoing,ascendingordescending,movingacross, etc. orpostureandstancesuchassittingorstanding;
(ii)aspect,extent,orchangeofstate,coveringprogressive,continuative,completive,habitual,andsoon;
(iii)modalvaluesofobligation,necessity,probability,andpossibility;
(iv)phasalmeaningssuchasstartingand finishing; (v)addinganargumentandincreasingvalency.
Anexampleofanasymmetricalserialverbwithdirectionalmeaningisat ..The asymmetricalserialverbin . hasinstrumentalmeaning,withtheminorverb ‘take’ .
• A serialverbconstructioncombinesverbsofanysemantictype. Noneofthecomponentscanbeconsideredthe ‘head’.Examples . and . are typicalinstances.Theonlyrestrictiononcombiningthecomponentsintoone constructionmayhavetodowithsemanticplausibilityofthewhole.For instance,inWhiteHmongasymmetricalserialverbconstruction dhiatshov (danceblow)isacceptable,becausetheactionsofdancingandblowingbamboo pipesareseenascloselyknittogetherintheHmongmusicalrepertoire.But ‘dance’ and ‘listentomusic’ arenormallyviewedasdistinctevents,andthetwo verbscannotformoneserialverbconstruction(Jarkey : –).
Everylanguagewithserialverbconstructionshasasymmetricalserialverbs.No languageswithsymmetricalserialverbsandwithoutasymmetricaloneshavebeen identifiedthusfar.
Furtherparametersofvariationinserialverbconstructionsare:
I. C versus - ofcomponents.Verbswhichformaserial verbconstructionmayhavetobenexttoeachother,oranotherconstituentmaybe
allowedtointervenebetweenthem.Theserialverbin . isstrictlycontiguous;the verbsin .– arenot.
II.W:componentsofaserialverbconstructionmay ormaynotformindependentgrammaticalorphonologicalwords.Theserialverbin . formsonegrammaticalword;serialverbsin .– and .– consistofseveral.
III.M ofgrammaticalcategoriesinaserialverbconstruction:verbal categories suchas,forinstance,personofthesubjectandobject(s);tense,aspect, modality;negation;orvalencychanging maybemarkedjustonceperconstruction (‘ ’);orcanbemarkedoneverycomponent(‘ ’).
Tense/aspectin . andpersonin . and . receiveconcordantmarkingwithinthe serialverb.Realisin ismarkedjustonceperserialverbconstruction.
Verbserializationmaybefullyproductive.Oritmaybelimitedtojustafew semantictypes.Alanguagemayhaveseveralkindsofserialverbs varyingintheir contiguity,wordhood,andmeanings.Someverbs suchasthoseofmotionand direction aremorelikelytooccurinserialconstructionsthanothers.Inmany languages,aserialverbcannotconsistofverbsdenotingstates.Inthecourseof languagehistory,theminorverbinanasymmetricalserialverbconstructionmay undergogrammaticalizationandbecomeanaffix,anauxiliary,orapreposition. Asymmetricalserialverbconstructionwilltendtolexicalize,anddevelopintoone unit,nolongersegmentable losingitsstatusasaserialverb.Themanytypesand guisesofserialverbsacrosslanguages,theirformal,semantic,andpragmaticfeatures, andtheirhistoriesiswhatthisbookisabout.Wenowturntoabriefhistoryof linguistscomingtogripswithserialverbconstructions. . Serialverbconstructionsinthehistoryoflinguistics
Theconceptofverbserializationisafairlyrecentarrivalonthelinguisticscene.Up untilthelatenineteenthcentury,onlythelinguisticcategoriesprominentinclassical Indo-Europeanlanguageswere,byandlarge,accordedduestatusandinvestigatedin somedepth.Serialverbconstructionswerenotamongthese.Ithastakenlinguists sometimetoacknowledgetheexistenceofserialverbconstructionsandto findthem aplaceinananalyticframework.
Inthesecondhalfofthenineteenthcenturylinguistsnotedthat,inanumberof Africanlanguages,severalverbscombineinawaydistinctfromwhatweseeinfamiliar Europeanlanguages.Addingaverbtoanotherverbhasasimilareffecttoanadverbof timeandmanner,oraprepositionofinstrument,motion,orposition,inanIndoEuropean,oraSemiticlanguage.AsJ.G.Christaller(: ),aGermanmissionary, putitinhisrenownedgrammarofAsanteandFante,fromtheKwalanguagefamily, ‘manyverbalnotionsthatareexpressedwithasimpleverbinEnglishandother EuropeanandAsiaticlanguages,areexpressedbysyntacticalcombinationsofverbs’ . 3
Thephenomenonofmorethanoneverbinarowwithoutanymarkofsyntactic linkwasrecognizedinmanyaclassicwork.InhisgrammarofEwe,anotherKwa language,Westermann(: )describesserialverbsinthelanguage: apeculiarityoftheEwelanguageisthatweoften findarowofverbsoneaftertheother.Thechief featuresofthisarethatallverbsstandnexttoeachotherwithoutbeingconnected,thatallhave thesametenseormood...InEnglishtheseconsecutiveverbsarepartlyrenderedbycomposite sentences.ButveryoftenseveralEweverbsmaybeexpressedbyasingleverbinEnglish.
TheexplanationforthisisthattheEwepeopledescribeeverydetailofanactionor happeningfrombeginningtoend,andeachdetailhastobeexpressedbyaspecialverb:they dissecteveryhappeningandpresentitinitsseveralparts,whereasinEnglishweseizeonthe leadingeventandexpressitbyaverb,whilesubordinateeventsareeithernotconsideredor renderedbymeansofapreposition,adverb,conjunction,orprefixoftheverb.
OttoDempwolff,theauthoroftheclassicgrammarofJabêm,anOceaniclanguage spokeninPapuaNewGuinea(),recognizedserialverbconstructions whichhe termed Reihensatz (serialsentence) anddescribedthemasfollows:
Therepresentationofseveralevents,usuallyonlytwo,canbecombinedintoanewrepresentation,similartothewaynewcombinationsarerepresentedinGermanbymeansofverbal prefixes,asin weichen ‘tomove’ vs ausweichen ‘tomoveout[oftheway]’ ...To thisend,full verbformsareplacedinsequence.4
Itwasnotuntil thattheterm ‘serialverb’ wascoined,byBalmerandGrantin theirgrammarofFanteAkan(: –).Intheirownwords,
thereis ...oneusagewhichisadistinctivefeatureofFanteverbs,viz.theuseofdoubleor twofoldverbs,as, gye...dzi, tobelieve.Thisisduepartly(a)tothetendencyofthelanguageto usevivid figurativeexpressionsandpartly(b)tothehabitofanalysinganactionintoits componentparts...Theseverbsmaybetermedserialverbs.(pp. , )
Theterm ‘serialverbalconstruction’ wasreintroducedbyJohnStewart(),inthe paper ‘SomerestrictionsonobjectsinTwi’ 5 Fromthenonwardstheterms ‘serial verbconstruction’ and ‘serialverb’ (usedbyStahlke )havegraduallywon generalacceptance.Afewalternativetermsappearintheliterature including ‘verbconcatenations’ (Matisoff , workonLahu,aTibeto-Burmanlanguage), ‘tandempatternsofverbexpressions’ (Senft ,inhisgrammarofKilivila, anOceaniclanguage), ‘stringsofverbs’ (Williamson onIjo;andMitchell onColloquialEgyptianArabic), ‘verbalchains ’ (Voorhoeve ,onSranan),and ‘verbseries’ (Welmers ).Someserialverbsweredescribedwithoutusingthe term inhisgrammarofDyirbal,anAustralianlanguage,Dixon(: –) first referredtothemasverbcomplexes,labellingthem ‘serialverbs’ inhissubsequent work(a, , ).
ThestudiesofWestAfricanlanguagesunderwentaveritableboominthe s andearly s,withserialverbconstructionsmovingintothegeneralspotlight.
SerialverbswerealsorecognizedinlanguagesofSouth-EastAsia,andthenfor CreolesandalsoforOceaniclanguages.6 Oncethistheoreticalwindowwasopen, manylinguistsattemptedto fitserialverbsintothefamiliarframeworkoftwoclauses coordinatedtogether.
Thethencurrentlinguistictransformational-generativeparadigmstatedoperated onone-verb-one-clauseprinciple.Serialverbs sequencesofmorethanoneverb hadtobederivedfromunderlyinglycoordinatedsequencesofclauses,witha subsequentdeletionofco-referentialsubjectsandthecoordinator.Thisishow Stewart(),andafairfewothers(includingBamgbose andGeorge ), analysedserialverbconstructions.
Theassumption ‘thatsimplesentencemayhaveonlyone finiteverb,onesubject andonedirectobject’,andthat ‘onesurfacesignofacomplexsentencewillbethe presenceofmorethanoneoftheseelements’—asphrasedbyLawal(: ) was basedontheintuitionsofEnglish-speakingtheoreticians.Thefactsoflanguageswith serialverbsshowedotherwise.
Numerousscholarshavepointedoutthefactthataserialverbconstructioncannot berephrasedwithcoordinatedsentenceswithoutameaningchange.Asingle-word serialverbconstructionin . inIgboconsistsoftwoverbs, ‘beat’ and ‘kill’,and means ‘beattodeath’ (Lord : ).
. ó ti|-gbù-rùnwókéáhù Igbo hebeat-kill- manthat ‘Hebeatthatmantodeath’ (beatkill)
Thetwoclauses, ‘hehitthatman’ and ‘hekilledthatman’,canbecombined;one clauseismarkedas ‘consecutive’ totheotherin ..
. ótì-rìnwókéáhù okpo,gbú-éya| Igbo hehit- manthatblow,kill- he ‘Hehitthatmanandkilledhim’
In ,themandiedasadirectresultofbeinghit.In ,themurderercouldhave killedthemanbymeansotherthanhitting theman’sdeathdoesnothavetobethe directresultofbeing ‘hit’.Theconsecutiveconstructionin showsasequenceof actions,oroneactionindependentofanotherone(Lord : ).Theserialverb constructionin describesoneevent the firstcomponentreferstooneaction, andthesecondcomponentreferstotheresultofthataction.Verbsequencesin . and arenotsynonymous;derivingonefromtheotherwouldresultinalossof meaning.Formanyserialverbconstructionsitishardtocomeupwithanequivalent consistingofseveralclauses.7
ThetideturneddrasticallywiththepublicationofFoleyandOlson().This paperpresentedthe firstconsistentandcross-linguisticallyinformedlineofargumentforthemonoclausalanalysisofserialverbconstructions,theircross-linguistic
properties,includingargumentsharing,andtheserializabilityofverbs.Therehas graduallyemergedaconsensusconcerningthecharacteristicsofserialverbs.The de finitionin§. reflectsthisconsensusandconsolidatesthefeaturesproposedby FoleyandOlson();Noonan();Crowley(, );Zwicky();Durie ();andJarkey(),amongothers.8
Thetreatmentofserialverbsasunderlyinglyconjoinedclauseswithdeleted subjectswasgraduallyabandoned.9 However,thebeliefthat,historically,allserial verbconstructionsderivefromaclauseunion anerstwhilecoordinatingorsubordinatingstructure stilllingers.Thisiswhatwe findintheworkbyGivón(: –,
: –)andhisstudents.AccordingtoHyman(: ), serialverbsandverbsequenceslinkedtogetherwithaconsecutivemarkerarefound insimilarenvironmentsinlanguageswithserialverbs,andtherefore ‘thereseemsto beanaturalorderfromconsecutivizationtoserialization’.Theproofforsuch developmentsismostlylacking;inChapter weturntoothermechanismsatwork inthedevelopmentofserialverbconstructionsinindividuallanguages.TheAppendixtothischapterdealswithsomeofthewaysinwhichserialverbconstructions havebeentreatedbylinguistsinrecenttimes.
Classificationofserialverbconstructionsisafurthermatter.Thedivisionofserial verbsintosymmetricalandasymmetricalwasforeshadowedbyChristaller(: –).Whathereferredtoas ‘combinationsofverbs’ wereoftwokinds—‘essential combinations’,where ‘oneverbistheprincipal’,andtheotheroneprovidesafurther specification,and ‘accidentalcombinations’ where ‘twoormorepredicates...expressing differentsuccessiveactions,orastatesimultaneouswithanotherstateoraction,but havingthesamesubject,aremerelyjoinedtogether’.Sebba(: )wasthe firstoneto havesuggestedthatserialverbsmayconsistofa ‘free’ component(fromanopenclass) anda ‘fixed’ component(recurringmemberofserialverbconstructions,suchashandlingormotion,thatis,fromaclosedclass).Thisisaprecursorofourdivisionofserial verbsintosymmetrical consistingofverbsfromopenclasses andasymmetrical consistingofoneverbfromaclosedclass(outlinedinAikhenvald a, a,b; andpartlyinspiredbyDurie’ s suggestiontoclassifyserialverbsinto ‘balanced’ and ‘unbalanced’).
Thatverbswithinaserialconstructionmaylosetheirverbalstatuswasaptly capturedbyAnsre():whathecalleda ‘caveat’ toserialverbsreferstothefact thatinEweandTwi(orAkan)somecomponentsofserialverbconstructionsdo nothavealltheverbalpropertiesandsoshowsignsofgrammaticalization.As Westermann(: )putit, ...manyverbswhentheystandnexttoothersplaythepartofEnglishprepositions,adverbsor conjunctions.Nowmanyoftheseverbs,inplayingthepartofprepositionsetc.,begintolose theirverbalcharacteristics,inthattheyarenolongerconjugated;theythusbegintobecome formwords.
Distinguishingserialverbconstructionsfromothermulti-verbstructuresisnot alwaysstraightforward.InmanyWestAfricanlanguages,serialverbconstructions coexistwithconsecutiveclauseswherethesecondverbismarkedwithamorpheme translatableas ‘and’.Consecutiveclausesandserialconstructioncanbeverysimilar intermsoftheirmeaning(see,forinstance,thediscussionsbyHyman andVan Leynseele ).Andconsecutiveconstructionsmaybeconfusedwithserialverbs. AnexampleofaconsecutiveconstructionfromKana,aCrossRiverlanguagefrom theBenue-Congofamily,isin . (Ikoro : –).Theconnective sa isoptional, butimpliedifomitted.In itappearsinbrackets.
. kúémɛ (sā)tēērā kìī bē Kana:consecutiveconstruction he:callme rungohouse ‘Hecalledmeandthenranhome’
Aconsecutiveconstructionwillrefertotwoseparateactions, ‘wherebyoneis dependentupontheother’ (Ikoro : ).Incontrast,inaserialverbconstruction, ‘thetemporalorderingoftheactionsisirrelevant’.Thetwoclausesinconsecutiveconstructionsmayhavedifferentsubjects;whileinaserialverb,subjectsofthe componentsarealwaysthesame.
Alongsimilarlines,theanalysisofconstructionscontaining na ‘and’ inTokPisin asserialverbconstructionsremainsproblematic(examplesarefoundinVerhaar ).AkkadianconsecutiveconstructionsdiscussedbyKraus()cannotbe consideredserialverbconstructionsforthesamereasonasKanaconsecutiveconstructions:theyallowoptionalinclusionoftheconjunction -ma ‘and’ .
Sequencesofverbs oneofwhichismarkedassyntacticallydependent andeven chainsofclausescanhavesemanticandfunctionalsimilaritieswithserialverbs. Wolaitta,anOmoticlanguagefromEthiopia,hascomplexverbswithtwocomponents,oneofwhichismarkedasa ‘converb’.Thesecomplexverbscanbeclassi fied intosymmetricalandasymmetrical,andmayexpressanumberofaspectualand othermeaningswhichserialverbsalsoexpress(AmhaandDimmendaal ).But theyarenotserialverbs,becauseoneofthecomponentsisformallymarkedas dependenttotheother.
Clause-chainingconstructionsinYankunytjatjara,anAustralianlanguage,consist oftwoverbs;thenonfinalverbsinasequencetakeasubordinatingsuffixandcanbe separatedfromthe finalverbbyapause.Goddard()misleadinglycallsthese ‘serialverbconstructions’.Theterm ‘serialverbconstruction’ intheTupí-Guaraní linguistictradition(e.g.Jensen )refersto ‘gerund’ constructionscomposedof twopredicates,oneofwhichismarkedasadependentverb;thesedonotinfact qualifyasserialverbconstructions,aswasdemonstratedbySeki().Wereturnto theseissuesinChapter . Theterm ‘serialverb’—likeanyotherterminlinguistics hastobeappliedwith care.AsRobertBlust(: )aptlyputit,the ‘comingofage’ ofSVCsinthe
literature ‘worksbothways:constructionsthatmayhavebeenoverlookedin grammarswrittenduringanearliereramay finallyhavereceivedfurtherdue,but the “bandwagon” effectoftheory-buildingmayalsohaveencouragedthe “discovery” ofSVCswherethisisonlypossiblebydilutingthedefinitionofverbserializationto thepointthatitceasestobedistinctive’.Thisiswhatweneed,andstrive,toavoid.
. Whatthisbookisabout
Thisbookfocusesonthegrammaticalphenomenonofverbserializationworld-wide. Whataretheparametersofvariationofserialverbs?Whatmeaningscanthey express?Howdoserialverbsdifferfromother,perhapssuperficiallysimilarmultiverbconstructions?Howdoserialverbsemerge,andwhathappenstothemin languagehistory?Whataretheygoodforintermsofrepresentationofevent structure?
Exactlywhatqualifiesasaserialverbconstruction?Chapter , ‘Recognizinga serialverb’,addressesthedefinitionalpropertiesofserialverbs theirmonoclausality,prosodicproperties,andtheoverallmeaningencompassingoneevent.Serial verbconstructionstendtosharecoresyntacticarguments subjectsandobjects.But therearealsootherkinds includingswitch-functionserialverbswheretheobjectof the firstcomponentisthesameasthesubjectofthesecondone.Noargumentsare sharedinjustafewtypesofserialverbs.
Intermsoftheircomposition,serialverbconstructionsdivideintoasymmetrical andsymmetrical.Chapter , ‘Serialverbs:Theircompositionandmeanings’ ,contraststhetwokinds,outliningthesemantictypesofeachofthese.
Thecomponentsofserialverbconstructionscanbeplacednexttoeachother,or anotherconstituentmayintervenebetweenthem.Theymayformone,ormore, grammaticalwords.Agrammaticalcategory person,tense,aspect,andothers can bemarkedoneverymemberoftheconstruction,orjustonceperserialverb.In Chapter , ‘Formalpropertiesofserialverbs’,welookathowthesefeaturesinteract, andwhatotherpropertiesserialverbsmayhaveandwhy.
Serialverbsmaybeaproductivetechniquewithinalanguage.Ortheymaybe restrictedtojustafewcombinationsinalimitednumberofenvironments.Howdo serialverbsdifferfromsuperficiallysimilarverbsequences?Ifalanguagehasserial verbs,theyarealwaysdifferentfromotherverbsequences,nomatterhowsubtlethe difference.AsBolinger(:ix–x)putit, ‘anywordwhichalanguagepermitsto survivemustmakeitssemanticcontribution;and ...thesameholdsforanyconstructionwhichisphysicallydistinctfromanyotherconstruction’.Thesearethe topicsofChapter , ‘Thelimitsofverbserialization’ .
AsDurie(: )putit,withinasinglelanguagetherecanbea ‘goodcasefor distinguishingquitedifferentkindsofserialization’ withdifferentsetsofformaland semanticproperties.Andindeed,asinglelanguagecanhavemorethanonekindof
serialverbconstruction onemaybecontiguous,theothernot;oneconsistofa singleword,andtheotherofmorethanone.Ifalanguagehasseveraltypesofserial verbconstructions,whatmeaningdifferencesbetweenthemdoweexpect?Thisis whatChapter , ‘Themanyfacetsofserialverbs’,isabout.
Serialverbshavemanygrammaticalfunctions.Theyhelpdissectasingleevent intominutedetails.Thewaysinwhichserialverbsareputtogetherreflectsspeakers’ experience whatDiller(: )termed ‘culturalinfluenceineventcohesion’ . ThesearethetopicsaddressedinChapter , ‘Whatareserialverbsgoodfor?’.Atthe endofthechapterwediscusscommonfeaturesoflanguageswhichhaveserialverbs.
Chapter , ‘Theriseandfallofserialverbs’,focusesontheoriginsofserialverb constructionsandtheirlossandgainindifferentlanguagecontactsituations.We discussgrammaticalizationandlexicalizationofserialverbconstructionsasmajor pathwaysoftheirdevelopment,andtouchuponthewaysinwhichserialverbsare learntbychildren.
Thelastchapter, ‘Theessenceofserialverbs’,sumsitallup,puttingtogether conclusionsandgeneralizationsmadeinthepreviouschapters.
The fieldworker’sguide, ‘Serialverbconstructions howtoknowmore’,contains achecklistofpointstobeaddressedforanindepthanalysisofserialverbs,and suggestionsto fieldworkersworkingonthephenomenon.Itisneverenoughtojust saythatalanguagehasserialverbsandofferafewrandomexamples:tofully understandthephenomenon,theanalystneedstogoinsomedepthwithregardto theformandthemeaningsofserialverbsand,ifatallpossible,theirhistory.The checklistisnotaquestionnaire.Itaimsatofferingguidelinesforlinguisticanalysts tomakesureitisascomprehensiveascanbeatourpresentstageofknowledge.
Thepastfewyearshaveseenasurgeinnewsystemsofserialverbsdiscoveredand analysed.Itisnowtimeforathoroughcross-linguisticaccountofserialverbsintheir impressivediversity.Iaimatprovidingacomprehensive,inductively-basedanalytic frameworkforinvestigatingserialverbs,basedonawiderangeoflanguagesof differenttypologicalprofilesandgeneticaffiliations.Thisempiricalbasiswillhelp ensurethattypologicalgeneralizationsofferedherewillwithstandthetestoftime, andbeofsubstantialusetolinguistsinterestedinhowlanguageswork.
Typologyandlanguageanalysisfeedintoeachother.Inordertocomeupwith sensiblecross-linguisticgeneralizationborneoutbythefactsoflanguages,atypologist needstorelyongoodqualitycomprehensivereferencegrammars.Theconverseisalso true.Detailedreferencegrammarsofpreviouslyundescribedlanguagesalerttypologists tonewphenomena,andoffermaterialsfornewtypologicalgeneralizations.
Atypologicalstudyiscrucialforprovidingnewanalyticoptionsandideasfora majorbusinessoflinguists analysingandwritinggrammarsofunknownorpoorly understoodlanguages.Thisbookisintendedtoofferscholarsacomprehensive analyticframework,andtoalertthemtothediversityofpatternsinserialverb constructions incomparisontoothersequencesofverbs,encouragingthemto
