The limits of verb serialization

Serial Verbs ◽  
2018 ◽  
pp. 122-142
Author(s):  
Alexandra Y. Aikhenvald
Keyword(s):  
American English ◽  
Single Word ◽  
Auxiliary Verbs ◽  
Verb Forms ◽  
Verb Constructions ◽  
Serial Verbs ◽  
Verb Serialization

In some languages, verb serialization is productive. Others have just a few kinds of serial verbs. Limited verb serialization can be restricted to just a few directional verbs. Serial verbs need to be kept separate from clause sequences and multi-verb constructions of other kinds including coordinate and subordinate constructions and multi-verb constructions involving converbs and participles. Depending on their form, serial verbs may show similarities with other verb-verb combinations. Those which consist of several grammatical words need to be distinguished from other multi-word verb sequences—including coordinated clauses and clause chains. Monoclausal verb-verb sequences which may share some semantic similarities with serial verbs include constructions with auxiliary verbs and dependent verb forms (including converbs). Single-word serial verbs need to be distinguished from unproductive and lexically restricted verbal compounds. Productive serial verbs will have no restrictions on the mood, modality, and polarity, unlike quasi-serial verbs such as American English go eat.

The many facets of serial verbs

Serial Verbs ◽  
2018 ◽  
pp. 143-163
Author(s):  
Alexandra Y. Aikhenvald
Keyword(s):  
Surface Structure ◽  
Single Word ◽  
Serial Verb Constructions ◽  
Verb Constructions ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Serial Verbs ◽  
Serial Verb Construction ◽  
Serial Verb ◽  
The Many

A single language can have more than one kind of serial verb construction. Serial verbs may differ along the parameters of wordhood and contiguity. Different types of serial verbs may differ in their meanings and the degree of their grammaticalization or lexicalization. The closer the components are in surface structure, the more likely they are to grammaticalize or to lexicalize, and the more restrictions they will display. We expect single-word serial verbs to be more cohesive in their semantics than multi-word serial verbs, in accordance with the principle of iconic motivation. Semantic groups of verbs which are likely to occur in serial verb constructions form a hierarchy, with verbs of direction and motion being most likely, and stative verbs the least likely to occur. If a language has serial verb constructions, we expect directional serial verbs to develop before any other type. All the languages with symmetrical serial verbs also have asymmetrical ones.

Multi-verb constructions in Sri Lanka Malay

2012 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 303-343 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sebastian Nordhoff
Keyword(s):  
Sri Lanka ◽  
South Asian ◽  
Verb Constructions ◽  
Serial Verbs ◽  
Motion Verb ◽  
Verb Serialization ◽  
Compound Verbs ◽  
Local Languages ◽  
Simple Combination

This paper investigates serial verbs and related constructions in Sri Lanka Malay and shows that at least four types have to be distinguished (Motion Verb Serialization, Vector Verb Serialization, Compound Verbs, Clause Chains). The constructions found are quite different from those found in Atlantic or Pacific Creoles. This is due to the different input languages: Two of the constructions can be traced to influence from the local languages Tamil and/or Sinhala; one is of Indonesian origin, and one is mixed. Sri Lanka Malay is thus not a simple combination of South Asian Grammar and Malay lexicon but also shows retentions of Malay grammar, as already demonstrated by Slomanson (2006). This recombination of features can only be explained with an account which acknowledges the possibility of grammatical contributions from all input languages, whether substrate, superstrate, or any other.

Relationship between the target word form and children’s productions: place of articulation in Consonant-Vowel-Consonant (C1VC2) words in American English

Phonetica ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 78 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-94
Author(s):  
Katsura Aoyama ◽  
Barbara L. Davis
Keyword(s):  
Target Word ◽  
American English ◽  
English Word ◽  
Word Form ◽  
Single Word ◽  
Place Of Articulation ◽  
Target Words

Abstract The aim of the present study was to investigate relationships between characteristics of children’s target words and their actual productions during the single-word period in American English. Word productions in spontaneous and functional speech from 18 children acquiring American English were analyzed. Consonant sequences in 3,328 consonant-vowel-consonant (C1VC2) target words were analyzed in terms of global place of articulation (labials, coronals, and dorsals). Children’s actual productions of place sequences were compared between target words containing repeated place sequences (e.g., mom, map, dad, not) and target words containing variegated place sequences (e.g., mat, dog, cat, nap). Overall, when the target word contained two consonants at the same global place of articulation (e.g., labial-labial, map; coronal-coronal, not), approximately 50% of children’s actual productions matched consonant place characteristics. Conversely, when the target word consisted of variegated place sequences (e.g., mat, dog, cat, nap), only about 20% of the productions matched the target consonant sequences. These results suggest that children’s actual productions are influenced by their own production abilities as well as by the phonetic forms of target words.

The verb

2021 ◽  
pp. 258-382
Author(s):  
Martin Maiden ◽  
Adina Dragomirescu ◽  
Gabriela Pană Dindelegan ◽  
Oana Uță Bărbulescu ◽  
Rodica Zafiu
Keyword(s):  
General Structure ◽  
Auxiliary Verbs ◽  
Verb Forms ◽  
History Of ◽  
Finite Verb

What is the general structure of the Romanian verb? What are the verb’s inflexion classes and where do they come from? How is the verb’s inflexional paradigm structured? What is the nature of the extensive allomorphy found in lexical roots? Where do suppletive patterns come from? What is the morphological history of non-finite forms? What are ‘morphomic’ patterns and how did they emerge in the verb? What is the morphological history of auxiliary verbs? What is the history of novel periphrastic constructions involving auxiliary verbs and non-finite verb forms?

The essence of serial verbs

Serial Verbs ◽  
2018 ◽  
pp. 237-249
Author(s):  
Alexandra Y. Aikhenvald
Keyword(s):  
Serial Verb Constructions ◽  
Grammatical Categories ◽  
Verb Constructions ◽  
Serial Verbs ◽  
Serial Verb ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Definition Of

This chapter provides an integrated summary of the properties of serial verbs discussed throughout the book, and their parameters of variation. The definition of serial verbs with their characteristic properties is followed by the principles of argument sharing within serial verbs. In terms of their composition, serial verbs divide into symmetrical and asymmetrical types. There can be nesting within serial verb constructions. The two broad kinds of constructions are contrasted in terms of their semantics, order of components, and propensities towards grammaticalization or lexicalization. Contiguity and wordhood are further typological parameters of variation within serial verbs. Grammatical categories such as person of the subject, aspect, tense, modality, evidentiality, or mood, can be marked concordantly on each component, or just once per construction. Serialization can be productive or limited. It is essential to distinguish serial verbs from multi-verb sequences of other kinds. Origins and development of serial verbs are briefly summarized.

What are serial verbs good for?

Serial Verbs ◽  
2018 ◽  
pp. 164-195
Author(s):  
Alexandra Y. Aikhenvald
Keyword(s):  
Single Event ◽  
Verbal Morphology ◽  
Serial Verb Constructions ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Verb Constructions ◽  
Serial Verbs ◽  
Serial Verb ◽  
Good For

Serial verb constructions can express a multitude of grammatical meanings—including directionality, aspect, comparison, increasing valency, and many more. These meanings may be expressed with affixes in other languages. Using a serial verb may help express definiteness and focus. Detailed portrayal of various facets of one single event is a function of symmetrical serial verbs. Languages with serial verbs—or ‘serializing’ languages—are not exclusively associated with any particular type of language. Serial verbs are a major means of expressing grammatical meanings in languages with few if any bound morphemes. Many of these languages are highly analytic and isolating in their profile. Languages with little verbal morphology tend to rely on serial verbs for expressing the relevant meanings. Prolific use of serial verbs is a corollary of the language having a comparatively small number of verbs with a wide range of meanings.

Serial verbs

Serial Verbs ◽  
2018 ◽  
pp. 55-91
Author(s):  
Alexandra Y. Aikhenvald
Keyword(s):  
Internal Structure ◽  
Minor Component ◽  
Serial Verb Constructions ◽  
Event Argument ◽  
Change Of State ◽  
Verb Constructions ◽  
Serial Verbs ◽  
Serial Verb ◽  
A Minor ◽  
Open Class

In terms of their composition, serial verb constructions divide into asymmetrical and symmetrical. Asymmetrical serial verbs consist of a minor component from a closed class of verbs, and a major component from an open class; this is the head of the construction. Symmetrical serial verbs consist of several components from open classes. Asymmetrical serial verb constructions cover a wide array of meanings—direction and orientation, aspect, extent and change of state, associated posture and motion, increasing and reducing valency, and marking the index of comparison. They are also used as complementation strategies with secondary concept verbs and with complement-taking verbs, and mark manner modification in event-argument constructions. The recurrent meanings of symmetrical serial verbs cover cause-effect, result, and manner, in addition to synonymous verb constructions. The established properties of asymmetrical and symmetrical serial verbs are defined in terms of their meanings, iconicity, internal structure, and grammaticalization and lexicalization.

Recognizing a serial verb

Serial Verbs ◽  
2018 ◽  
pp. 20-54
Author(s):  
Alexandra Y. Aikhenvald
Keyword(s):  
Argument Structure ◽  
Overwhelming Majority ◽  
Event Type ◽  
Cultural Stereotypes ◽  
Serial Verb Constructions ◽  
Event Argument ◽  
Verb Constructions ◽  
Serial Verbs ◽  
Serial Verb Construction ◽  
Serial Verb

A serial verb construction is a sequence of verbs which act together as a single predicate. Serial verbs are always monoclausal and are pronounced as a single verb would be. The components of a serial verb construction share tense, aspect, modality, reality status, evidentiality, mood, and also polarity values. A serial verb construction typically refers to what can be conceptualized as one event, and one recognizable event type, in terms of cultural stereotypes available to the speakers. Serial verbs tend to share at least one argument. An overwhelming majority of serial verbs have a single overall argument structure, with the subjects, objects and obliques belonging to the whole construction. In switch-function serial verb constructions, the O (or the recipient) of the first component is the same as the S (rarely, the A) of the second one. Event-argument and resultative serial verb constructions share no arguments.

scholarly journals The origin of serialization

2009 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 644-684 ◽  
Author(s):  
Françoise Rose
Keyword(s):  
Short Review ◽  
Detailed Account ◽  
Serial Verb Constructions ◽  
Verb Constructions ◽  
Serial Verbs ◽  
Serial Verb ◽  
Dependent Clause

This paper gives clear synchronic evidence for the origin of serial verb constructions (SVCs) in Emerillon, a Tupi-Guarani language. SVCs in that language result from a gerundive construction after the loss of both a subordinator and an indexation pattern specific to dependent clauses. After a short review of the general literature on the origins of SVCs and their similarity to converbs (of which Tupi-Guarani gerundives may be considered a subtype), the author gives a detailed account of the Emerillon SVCs. Strong arguments then show that Emerillon serial verbs (superficially comparable to independent verbs) originate from a ‘deranked’ dependent clause. The paper ends with some discussions on clause linkage, comparing more specifically SVCs and converbs on the morphological, syntactic and functional levels.

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