Serial verbs in modern standard Arabic

This paper aims to discuss serial verb constructions in Modern Standard Arabic (MSA). It argues against the claim that this structure does not exist in MSA. We examined parallel structures in this paper: being verbs and what is called albadal ‘apposition’ in the traditional grammar of the Arabic language. This paper argues that the first structure should be analyzed as an auxiliary structure that contains two clauses, while the second structure should be analyzed as a serial verb structure as it denotes, among others, a complex situation, shares the same subject, and contains one clause. Finally, this paper provides a brief syntactic analysis for being verbs and serial verbs in MSA within the lexical functional grammar (LFG) framework, showing the differences between the two structures.

The matrix of verb-verb sequences in Tamil

Verb-Verb sequences characterize many types of grammatical constructions in Tamil. A subset of these sequences, called V-V sequences, characterize a predicate construction which is known otherwise as a complex predicate or compound verbs or serial verbs, though these are not identical. This predicate construction is shared by most Indian languages and found also in languages outside India such as Japanese. One of the verbs in the V-V sequence does not have lexical status referentially, or often even structurally. The comparison of Tamil and Japanese shows that the grammatical functions and the structural features of the verb sequence differ from language to language. An interesting conclusion drawn from this comparison is that specific members of each type of the sequence may be distributed differently across a matrix of types. In other words, an instance of a V-V sequence of Type 1 in one language may belong to Type 3 in another language.

Verbal complexes in Thai

This chapter investigates the serial verb constructions (SVC) in Thai, where the predicate takes the structure [V1 NP1 V2 (NP2)]. Focusing on a type of two-component SVC in which one component verb is the head and the other the modifier, we attempt to pinpoint those SVCs that correspond semantically to the Indian-type vector compound verbs, differentiating them from the Chinese-type resultative serial verbs. The V2 verbs, which are drawn from a limited set of verbs, modify the main verbs in V1 in terms of grammatical aspectual meanings or pragmatic meanings. The grammatical aspectual meaning of V2 is a part of the propositional meaning of the verbal complex and is relatively easy to identify. Most V2s in Thai verbal complexes modify V1s in terms of pragmatic specifications, which are rather difficult to spell out, and can be omitted without affecting the propositional meaning. These V2s are considered analogous to vector verbs.

LANGUAGE SERIAL VERB CONSTRUCTION DAYAK KENYAH LEPO’ TAU

This study discusses the construction of serial verbs in the Lepo Dayak Kenyah language 'Tau.This research is a qualitative descriptive type. The data in this study were taken from nativeLepo Dayak Kenyah speakers. The collection technique uses the listening technique and notesaccompanied by elicitation techniques. The results of this study state that the construction ofserial verbs in the Lepo 'Tau Dayak Kenyah language has the same characteristics as theextensive serial verb construction typology. In this study also found several semantic types inthe construction of serial verbs in the Lepo 'Tau Dayak Kenya language, namely type ofmovement, directional type, type of type, cause-effect type, type of modality and type of aspect.

Relaciones de complementación en toba del este de Formosa (Argentina): hacia un enfoque funcional de la subordinación

The aim of this paper is to analyze the complement relations in Toba of eastern Formosa (Argentina). We compare complement clauses with constructions which are called “symmetrical serial verbs”. They are two very close types of complex clauses since both share arguments, has two or more finite verbs and the simple juxtaposition of non-embedded clauses without any subordinators. This shows that the notion of embedding is inappropriate in a cross-linguistic perspective. We proposed functional definition of subordination that frees the notion of any specific syntactic correlate structure. In accordance with Cristófaro (2003) it will be argued that these phenomena should be explained instead in terms of the cognitive status of dependent SoAs, as defined by the Asymmetry Assumption. This research is based on a corpus composed of five hours of oral narrative texts and fifty elicited clauses collected by fieldwork carried out in Toba communities from eastern Formosa (Argentina).

The essence of ‘word’

This chapter offers general background for the analysis of ‘phonological word’ and ‘grammatical word’ in a cross-linguistic perspective. It outlines the defining characteristics of phonological word (including segmental and suprasegmental features and phonological processes), formulates restrictions on the length of a minimal word, and places ‘word’ within a hierarchy of phonological units. Defining features of grammatical word are outlined next. In most instances phonological words and grammatical words coincide. In some cases a grammatical word can consist of a number of phonological words, and vice versa. Typical instances of mismatches involve reduplication, compounding, and complex predicates, including serial verbs. Clitics—morphological units which form a phonological unit with a word preceding or following them—account for further mismatches. The reality of word and the nature of its orthographic representation are discussed next. The chapter concludes with an overview of the volume, and an appendix containing points to be addressed by fieldworkers.

Pola Pembentukan Konstruksi Verba Serial dalam Bahasa Batak Toba (Teori X-Bar)

This study aimed to describe the construction and how the formation pattern of serial verbs in Batak Toba language through X-bar theory. A qualitative descriptive method with data collection techniques using note-taking and interview techniques was used. Data were collected from interviews with native speakers and the text of Toba Batak language almanac. In analyzing the data, a method of distribution was employed. The results showed that the formation pattern of serial verbs in the Batak Toba language consisted of 4 types namely which were [transitive V1+ transitive V2], [transitive V1+intransitive V2], [intransitive V1+ transitive V2], and [intransitive V1 + intransitive V2]. The first type, [transitive V1+ transitive V2] is formed from the predicate that followed by the object + the predicate and followed by the object. The next formation, [V1 transitive + V2 intransitive] is formed from predicates followed by object + predicates and not followed by the object. The later type, [V1 intransitive + V2 transitive] is formed from predicates that not followed by object + predicates and followed by an object. Further, the last type, [intransitive V1 + V2] is formed from a predicate not followed by an object + a predicate and not followed by an object.

KONTRUKSI VERBA SERIAL BAHASA DAYAK KENYAH LEPO’ TAU

This study discusses the construction of serial verbs in the Lepo Dayak Kenyah language 'Tau. This research is a qualitative descriptive type. The data in this study were taken from native Lepo Dayak Kenyah speakers. The collection technique uses the listening technique and notes accompanied by elicitation techniques. The results of this study state that the construction of serial verbs in the Lepo 'Tau Dayak Kenyah language has the same characteristics as the extensive serial verb construction typology. In this study also found several semantic types in the construction of serial verbs in the Lepo 'Tau Dayak Kenya language, namely type of movement, directional type, type of type, cause-effect type, type of modality and type of aspect.

Morphology in Dravidian Languages

The Dravidian languages are rich in nominal and verbal morphology. Three nominal gender systems are extant. Pronouns are gender-number marked demonstratives. Gender-number agreement in the DP suggests an incipient classifier system. Oblique cases are layered on a genitive stem; iterative genitive and plural marking is seen. Genitive and dative case mark possession/ experience (there is no verb have), and the adjectival use of property nouns. Verbs inflect for agreement (in affirmative finite clauses), aspect, causativity, and benefactivity/ reflexivity. Light verbs are ubiquitous as aspect markers and predicate formatives, as are serial verbs. Variants of the quotative verb serve as complementizers and as topic and evidential particles. Disjunctive particles serve as question particles; conjunctive and disjunctive particles on question words derive quantifiers. Reduplication occurs in quantification and anaphor-formation.

Southeast Asia: Linguistic Perspectives

Southeast Asia (SEA) is not only rich in multicultural areas but also rich in multilingual nations with the population of more than 624 million and more than 1,253 languages (Ethnologue 2015). With the cultural uniqueness of each country, this region also accords each national languages with language planning and political management. This strategy brings a challenges to SEA and can lead to conflicts among other ethnic groups, largely owing to leadership. The ethnic conflicts of SEA bring controversy between governments and minorities, such as the ethnic conflict in Aceh, Indonesia, the Muslim population of the south Thailand, and the Bangsa Moro of Mindanao, of the Philippines. The objective of this paper is to investigate the characteristics of the linguistic perspectives of SEA. This research examines two main problems. First, this paper investigates the linguistic area which refers to a geographical area in which genetically unrelated languages have come to share many linguistic features as a result of long mutual influence. The SEA has been called a linguistic area because languages share many features in common such as lexical tone, classifiers, serial verbs, verb-final items, prepositions, and noun-adjective order. SEA consists of five language families such as Austronesian, Mon-Khmer, Sino-Tibetan, Tai-Kadai, and Hmong-Mien. Second, this paper also examines why each nation of SEA takes one language to become the national language of the nation. The National language plays an important role in the educational system because some nations take the same languages as a national language—the Malay language in the case of Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore. The research method of this paper is to apply comparative method to find out the linguistic features of the languages of SEA in terms of phonology, morphology, and grammar.