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More Than Their Parts:� Linking Actions and Creating New Senses Through Serial Verb Constructions�

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Serial Verb Constructions (SVCs)

  • Definitions
  • Semantic Functions: Examples from natlangs
  • Lexicalization and grammaticalization
  • Uses in conlanging

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Where are SVCs found?

  • SVCs common in:
    • Papuan languages (+ Austronesian languages influenced by them)
    • Western African languages (Niger-Congo, e.g. Ewe, Yoruba)
    • Southeast Asian languages
    • Creoles
    • Amazonian languages

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Serial Verb Constructions: Definitions

  • What are they?
  • Essentials:
    • Monoclausal sets of two or more verbs acting as a single predicate
    • No connecting morphology (no morphology relating to subordination, coordination, clause chaining, etc.)
  • Otherwise…

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Serial Verb Constructions: Definitions

  • Other considerations
    • Negation: typically only marked once more SVC
      • Often precedes V1
      • Scope over entire construction
    • TAM: same for both verbs
    • Usually share at least one argument
    • Both verbs often combine to present one instance of “eventhood”
      • Conceptualization as a single event (may correlate with prosodic and gestural properties of monoverbal clauses)

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Functions

  • SVCs are used to organize discourse, package information, and represent complex events (Kluge 2023:11)
  • Different semantic notions and functions include:
    • Cause & effect
    • Change-of-state
    • Degree relations
    • Instrumentals
    • Motion & direction
    • Benefactives
    • Causatives
    • Passives
    • Sequential actions
    • Simultaneous actions
    • Temporal extensions

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Cause & Effect

  • Papuan Malay (Austronesian)��de bilang saya tong baku pukul mati�3sg say 1sg 1pl recp hit die�‘he said to me, “we’re beating each other dead”’

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Change-of-state

  • Papuan Malay (Austronesian)��de jadi herang�3sg become feel.surpised(.about)�‘She became surprised’

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Degree relations

  • Nzema (Niger-Congo: Southern Bia (Kwa))��Manza súkòkà kpàlɛ́ tɛ́là ɔ nli�Manza learn well exceed her mother�‘Manza learns better than her mother’

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Instrumentals

  • Nzema:��Kaku và-lé akuma bú -lè egyane ne�Kaku take-pst axe cut-pst tree det”�‘Kaku cut the tree with the axe’

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Motion and Direction

  • Olutec (Mixe-Zoque)��teːja-naʔw ta=yopop-kaʔ -i�big.tile-aug erg=pile -descend-incd�‘They are piling big tiles down there’

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Benefactives (valency increasing)

  • Saramaccan (English-Portuguese Creole)��Kófi bi bái dí búku dá dí muyé�Kofi pst buy the book give the woman�‘Kofi had bought the woman the book’

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Causatives (valency increasing)

  • Tariana (Arawakan)��du -enipe -nuku dura du -hña -pidana�3sg.f-children-top 3sg.f.order 3sg.f-order-pst�‘She ordered her children to eat’

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Passives (valency decreasing)

  • Kristang (Malayo-Portuguese Creole)��aké pesi ja toka kumí di gatu�that fish perf touch eat source cat�‘That fish got eaten by the cat’��

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Sequential Actions

  • Ewe (Niger-Congo (Kwa))��Áma â -ɖa nú ɖu�Ama pot-cook food eat�‘Ama will cook and eat’�

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Simultaneous Actions

  • Kayah Li (Sino-Tibetan (Karen))��ne hɛ̄ nìdā mɛ̄ kʌ̄ mʌ̄�2sg come listen look com imp�‘Come listen and look!’�

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Temporal Extensions

  • Papuan Malay��tong tinggal jalang sampe tong cape�1pl stay walk reach 1pl be.tired�‘We kept walking all the way until we were tired’�

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Grammaticalization of SVCs: Locatives

  • In Goemai (Afro-Asiatic (Chadic)), some directional/motional SVCs have grammaticalized one verb in the construction into a locative particle��de ji doe kat ni yi�so log come/here find her that�‘So he finds her here’
  • Doe has gone from a verb to a locative particle (no longer otherwise behaves as a verb)�

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Grammaticalization of SVCs: Aspect

  • In Cantonese, some aspects are derived from a verb in grammaticalized SVCs��Progressive:��ngo5 hai2dou6 zyu2-faan6�I be.here cook-rice�‘I’m cooking rice’

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Grammaticalization of SVCs: Complementizers

  • The complementizer waa6 is a grammaticalized ‘say’ that previously formed SVCs with other verbs:��keoi5 tung4 ngo5 gong2 waa6 m4 dak1haan4 �3sg with me talk ‘say’/that not available �‘He told me (that) he wasn’t free’

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Grammaticalization of SVCs: Evidentiality

  • In some Arawakan Tucanoan languages (e.g. Tariana) have developed evidential markers that may be derived from former SVC components
  • Final verbs ‘see’ (for visual evidentiality) and ‘hear’ (non-visual evidentality)

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Lexicalization

  • SVCs can become lexicalized too
  • Non-compositional meaning (i.e. “more than the sum of their parts”)
  • Meanings become idiomatized and non-literal

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Lexicalization

  • Igbo:��kà-sá (say-spread.open) ‘spread rumors’��cè-fù (think-be.lost) ‘forget’��sò-gbú-ká (follow-cut/kill-exceed) ‘worry to death’

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Lexicalization

  • Kalam (Trans-New-Guinea Phylum:��yn ag (burn make.sound) ‘ignore, start up (an engine)��ag ñ (make.sound perceive) ‘ask’

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Lexicalization

  • Yoruba��pa run (hit crush) ‘destroy’��rí gbà (see take) ‘receive’��

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Lexicalization

  • Tariana��yawi di-ñha (be.jaguar 3sg-eat) ‘enter into an aggressive shamanic trance’��-sata –hima (greet hear) ‘ask’��

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Lexicalization

  • Oro Nao (Chapacuran (Wari’), Brazil)��xiram pa’ (press.down kill) ‘feel sorry for someone’��

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Uses in Conlanging

  • How are SVCs useful in conlanging?
  • Enhance any grammatical or discourse design by creating unique ways of phrasing that ensures avoidance of accidental relexing habits
  • Allow you to avoid having to create unique lexical bases for every new verbal concept
    • Instead of having a new verb for “to assume”, you could have an SVC composesd of “to take say know” lexicalized for this concept ��

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Tosi SVCs

sīn tī lur ad i�man drink swallow juice obj

‘The man drinks and swallows the juice’��mīni nox ōr

boy punch.down weep

‘The boy is overwhelmed by grief’��xer won xis mel yās i�girl take give woman boat obj

‘the girl requisitions the boat for/on behalf of the woman’

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Grammaticalization of SVCs from mother to daughter language

  • Grammaticalized SVCs can be used in diachronic changes between a mother and daughter language
  • Old Rílin has several SVC constructions that became grammaticalized as derivational prefixes in Rílin ��

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Grammaticalization of SVCs from mother to daughter language

  • Old Rílin mōh- (hide) + [verb] construction was grammaticalized as a morpheme mó- in Rílin, meaning ‘unexpected or unknown (thing)’ (applied first to verbs but now extended to nouns)
  • SVC: khas- ‘push’ + [verb] construction → causative prefix xa- in modern Rílin�

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Conlanging with SVCs

  • Make phrasing and grammar rich by using SVCs
  • Avoid having to create (and remember!) new lexical bases—just use an SVC!
  • You can even further lexicalize those
  • Spice up your diachronic depth with SVC origins for grammatical morphemes
  • Increase the grammatical complexity of changes from Proto → Modern language (not only the phonology)

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Ngab Won Mē Sil!��(throw take joy listen) = ��Thank you!