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Are there serial verb constructions?

Summary

Serial verb constructions are understood as per Haspelmath's definition (2016: 296): "A serial verb construction is a monoclausal construction consisting of multiple independent verbs with no element linking them and with no predicate–argument relation between the verbs."

Serial verbs are different from verb compounds in that they are compositional. Haspelmath (2016) states that "a serial verb construction must be a productive schematic construction such that the meaning of a concrete construct can be determined on the basis of the meanings of its parts and the construction meaning." By contrast, verbal compounds, which are phonologically bound, are lexicalized and often non-compositional.

Grambank distinguishes serial verb constructions from clause-chaining (see GB150). Clause chaining involves a series of verbs where only one verb is inflected. For a construction to be a serial verb construction, it must align with Haspelmath's definition and not constitute an instance of clause chaining (i.e., there is no single inflected verb while the other verbs are without inflection). Nevertheless, a language may feature both serial verb constructions and clause chaining.

Serial verb constructions are also different from light verb constructions, which are made up of a verbal element and a lexical stem which is not an inflected verb, jointly determining argument structure (see GB123).

The term 'verb' here refers to words that can function as independent verbs in the language under consideration. Ideally, these verbs should be dynamic, as per Haspelmath's (2016) definition: "Verbs are defined as dynamic event expressions that do not have special coding when used in predication function". Serial verb constructions that are more restricted, such as applying solely to stative verbs (e.g., a verb meaning 'to be good'), should not be counted as 1. Be cautious with descriptions using "auxiliary verbs" and "copulas" as these typically do not qualify as serial verb constructions.

Procedure

Code 1 if two or more verbs can be juxtaposed, this verbal sequence functions as a single predicate, there is no predicate-argument relationship between the verbs, and it is not an instance of clause chaining (i.e., no single verb is inflected while the other verbs lack inflection).
Code 0 if no descriptions or examples of serial verb constructions are found in an otherwise comprehensive grammar.
Code ? if the only potential examples of serial verb constructions in a language can also be analyzed as verbal compounds.
Code ? if there are no examples of serial verb constructions but there is reason to believe that the authors of your sources may have overlooked such constructions.

Examples

Ewe (ISO 639-3: ewe, Glottolog: ewee1241)

Coded 1. "Subject is only expressed with the first verb. Some of the verbs may share objects as is the case for ‘dig’, ‘cook’ and ‘eat’ in the sentence below. Serialising connectives may be used to link verbs in a series" (Ameka 1991: 58).

é-fɔ́      do go      le zã    me dazáá   ɖa-ku     te   ɖa    ɖu
3SG-arise go outside at night in quietly PURP-dig  yam  cook  eat  
‘He got out quietly at night, dug up yams, cooked them and ate them.’ (Ameka 1991: 58)

Dongxiang (ISO 639-3: sce, Glottolog: dong1285)

Coded 0. The following is an example of clause chaining, not serial verbs. The first three verbs are non-finite (‘take’, ‘make’, ‘hang’) and each take a non-finite marker. The final verb (‘eat’) is the only finite verb and takes an aspectual marker. The first three verbs are medial verbs, and the finite verb occurs sentence-finally where main verbs usually occur in Dongxiang.

bi     tʂi-ni  barisə dʑiəku niə saji-dzi        dʑiauliədʑi=dəə idʑiə=nə.
1SG.NM 2SG-ACC take   rope   one make.rope-SIM   hang.up=SEQ     eat=IPFV
‘After I catch you, I will make a rope and hang you up, then I will eat you.’ (Field 1997:384)

References

Ameka, Felix K. 1991. Ewe: Its grammatical constructions and illocutionary devices. Canberra: Australian National University. (Doctoral dissertation.)

Field, Kenneth Lynn. 1997. A grammatical overview of Santa Mongolian. Santa Barbara: University of California. (Doctoral dissertation.)

Haspelmath, Martin. 2016. The serial verb construction: Comparative concept and cross-linguistic generalizations. Language and Linguistics 17(3). 291–319.

Related Features

GB150 Is there clause chaining?

Patron

Jay Latarche and Jeremy Collins