serial’verb’construc1ons:’ - university of illinois

Serial Verb Construc1ons: a distribu1onal and typological perspec1ve

Daniel Ross, Ryan Grunow, Kelsey Lac, George Jabbour and Jack Dempsey

University of Illinois at Urbana-‐Champaign

Illinois Language and Linguis:cs Society 7 April 17th, 2015

Serial Verb Construc:ons (SVCs) •  Examples from Sranan (Sebba, 1987: 43, 46):

(1) A waka go na wowoyo. He walk go LOC market ‘He walks to the market.’ (2) Mi fringi a batra broko. I throw the boSle break ‘I threw the boSle and broke it.’

History of Research on SVCs

•  Earliest observa1ons in the 1800s:

•  “The na:ves [of Fiji] frequently, by compounding verbs, express themselves with astonishing clearness, and force; which cannot be imitated in English.” (Hazlewood 1850: p.v-‐vi)


•  Term “compound or serial verbs” originally used by Balmer & Grant (1929) for Akan (West Africa).

•  Term popularized by Stewart (1963) for West African languages.

•  Later adopted by others in the 1970s and 1980s for use in other regions and for unrelated languages, o`en applying the defini1on loosely.

“a pretheore:cal umbrella term… or as a historically faithful term… [not theore:cal]” (Zwicky 1990)


•  Substan1al varia1on in the defini1on today. •  Few broad cross-‐linguis1c comparisons. •  Those that do exist use inconsistent defini1ons.

•  O`en cited now is Aikhenvald (2006), which presents a prototype defini1on due to varia1on.

Defining Serial Verbs

•  Our defini1on is compiled from over 20 main sources from the history of research on SVCs, iden1fying trends and finding the core proper1es. (Ansre 1966; Stahlke 1970; Schachter 1974; Lord 1973; Li & Thompson 1973; Bamgboṣe 1974; Foley & Olsen 1985; Sebba 1987; Baker 1989; Bickerton 1989; Seuren 1990, 1991; Givón 1991; Zwicky 1990; Durie 1997; Aikhenvald 1999, 2006, 2010; Kroeger 2004; Muysken & Veenstra 2006; Ansaldo 2006; Bowern 2008; Bisang 2009; inter alia)

Technical Defini1on (1) •  Construc1ons involving a series of two (or more) different juxtaposed verbs

–  Not joined in a one-‐word compound verb –  Each of which could be used independently –  In a series that may be finite –  Including not only idioma1c or syntac1cally frozen colloca1ons, –  But one verb

•  may be of a limited class •  and may have "light" (less than lexically full) seman1cs

•  within a single clause –  With no pause between the verbs,

•  [no orthographic indica1on otherwise, such as a comma] –  Prosodic realiza1on of a single predicate, and –  No clause boundary markers –  Expressing a single, possibly complex, event

•  with no overt operator linking the verbs –  No coordinator –  No subordinator –  No morphological dependency –  No "serial" linker or general ligature

Technical Defini1on (2) •  with shared values

–  represented either only once on the first or last verb, or –  on each verb, for: –  Tense, aspect and mood/modality –  Polarity (nega1on), such that the verbs cannot be negated independently –  In a shared scope of auxiliaries

•  with obligatorily shared arguments: –  The subject of following verb is the subject or object of preceding verb –  And each argument is expressed overtly only once in the series

•  and poten1al and expected adjacency for these verbs –  except for interposed shared arguments

•  which may render several different rela1onships between the verbs including –  Subordina1on; and –  Coordina1on

Simplified Working Defini1on

•  Serial verb construc1ons (SVCs) are: –  two or more juxtaposed verbs – with no marker of dependency or linking element – expressing a single event in a single clause – with shared values for Tense-‐Aspect-‐Modality and nega1on

– and shared arguments (subject and/or object) – encoding various seman1c rela1onships.

Not serial verb construc1ons:

Pseudocoordina:on

Let’s go and see a movie! (English)

•  Overt conjunc1on linking the verbs.

•  Similar to SVCs, but does not match defini1on.


Converbs

Hi-‐ga sizun-‐de it-‐ta (Japanese: Shibatani 2003:271) sun-‐NOM sink-‐CONJ go-‐PAST ‘The sun went down.’

•  Overt suffix linking the verbs.



Compound Serial Verb Construc:ons

xig + ab + op (Pirahã: EvereS 1986:301) take turn go ‘bring back.’

•  Compounds, not independent words



Parataxis; Asynde:c coordina:on

ka-‐korro-‐pakjung nga-‐majiyn nga-‐warntadlkpun SE:he-‐there-‐sat SE’:I-‐shot SE”:I-‐missed ‘He alighted, I shot and missed.’ (Gunbalang: Harris 1969:42)

•  Juxtaposted verbs, but no structural cohesion, no required shared morphology or arguments.



•  All of those varied construc1ons have been proposed as SVCs in the literature.

•  In fact, “excep1ons” have been proposed for essen1ally every element of the defini1on.

•  We maintain our strict defini1on to facilitate cross-‐linguis1c comparison.

General Conjunc1on

•  ‘And’ that is used to conjoin both – Noun+Noun (“Mother and father”) – Verb+Verb (“Sing and dance”)

•  And that is NOT the same as ‘with’. – For example, Swahili na means ‘and’ as well as ‘with’ in the sense of accompaniment.

WALS (Haspelmath et al. 2005)

325 Languages [250 presented now] Abkhaz, Abun, Acehnese, Acoma, Agarabi, Ainu, Alamblak, Alyawarra, Ambae (Lolovoli Northeast), Amele, Apurinã, Arabic (Egyp1an), Araona, Arawak, Arop-‐Lokep, Arrernte (Mparntwe), Babungo, Badimaya, Bagirmi, Baka (in Cameroon), Bali-‐Vitu, Banoni, Basque, Batak (Karo), Bawm, Berber (Middle Atlas), Bininj Gun-‐Wok, Bozo (Tigemaxo), Brahui, Brokskat, Buduma, Buma, Burushaski, Busa, Cahuilla, Canela-‐Krahô, Cantonese, Cayuga, Chamorro, Chechen, Chemehuevi, Chichewa, Chocho, Chukchi, Coahuilteco, Coos (Hanis), Cop1c, Dagbani, Dargwa, Degema, Dhaasanac, Dhivehi, Djabugay, Doyayo, Drehu, Dullay (Gollango), English, Erromangan, Evenki, Ewondo, Fijian, Finnish, Fongbe, French, Gapapaiwa, Garo, Georgian, German, Gola, Gooniyandi, Greek (Modern), Greenlandic (West), Guaraní, Gujara1, Gunbalang, Gurr-‐goni, Haida, Hamtai, Hatam, Hausa, Hawaiian, Hebrew (Modern), Hindi, Hixkaryana, Hmong Njua, Hoava, Hungarian, Hunzib, Ika (Arhuaco), Imonda, Indonesian, Iraqw, Italian, Itzaj, Jabêm, Jakaltek, Jaminjung, Japanese, Ju|'hoan, Kairiru, Kalkatungu, Kamaiurá, Kambera, Kana, Kannada, Kanuri, Karen (Pwo), Karok, Kashmiri, Kâte, Kera, Ket, Kham, Khanty, Khasi, Khmu', Khoekhoe, Kiriba1, Koasa1, Kobon, Kolami, Kombai, Korean, Korku, Koromfe, Korowai, Koyraboro Senni, Krongo, Kugu Nganhcara, Kukú, Kuot, Kutenai, Kwaio, Lai, Lak, Lakhota, Lamang, Lango, Latvian, Lavukaleve, Laz, Lele, Lepcha, Lezgian, Lillooet, Longgu, Lugbara, Luvale, Maale, Ma'di, Madurese, Maithili, Malayalam, Mam, Mandarin, Mangarrayi, Mangghuer, Maori, Mapudungun, Marathi, Maricopa, Marquesan, Matsés, Maybrat, Mbay, Mbili, Meithei, Midob, Mixtec (Chalcatongo), Miya, Mocoví, Mohawk, Monumbo, Mosetén, Mundari, Mupun, Musgu, Mussau, Nabak, Nagatman, Nahuatl (Mecayapan Isthmus), Nahuatl (Tetelcingo), Nambikuára, Navajo, Ndebele (in South Africa), Ndjébbana, Nelemwa, Nepali, Newar (Dolakha), Nez Perce, Ngalakan, Nhanda, Nias, Nisgha, Niuafo'ou, Niuean, Nivkh, Nkore-‐Kiga, Nsenga, Nuaulu, Obolo, Ojibwa (Eastern), O'odham, Oromo (Harar), Otomí (Mezquital), Paamese, Páez, Paiute (Northern), Paiwan, Palauan, Passamaquoddy-‐Maliseet, Pech, Pero, Persian, Pirahã, Pitjantjatjara, Popoloca (Metzontla), Puluwat, Purépecha, Qafar, Qiang, Quechua (Huallaga), Quechua (Imbabura), Retuarã, Rotuman, Russian, Saami (Kildin), Saami (Northern), Salt-‐Yui, Sango, Sangu, Sanuma, Selkup, Sentani, Shoshone, Siar, Siuslaw, Slave, So, Somali, Southeast Ambrym, Spanish, Squamish, Sudest, Suena, Sundanese, Supyire, Taba, Tagalog, Taiof, Tamabo, Tamil, Tarao, Tauya, Tepehuan (Southeastern), Teribe, Tetun, Thai, Thompson, Tibetan (Shigatse), Tidore, Tigrinya, Tikar, Tinrin, Tiwi, Tobelo, Tommo So, Totonac (Xicotepec de Juárez), Trumai, Tsat, Tugun, Tukang Besi, Turkish, Tuvaluan, Tzutujil, Udihe, Udmurt, Ulithian, Upper Kuskokwim, Urubú-‐Kaapor, Usan, Vafsi, Vietnamese, Walman, Warao, Wardaman, Wari', Wichí (Mataca), Wolof, Yagua, Yaqui, Yawelmani, Yawuru, Yidiny, Yimas, Yoruba, Yukaghir (Kolyma), Zapotec (Quiegolani), Zoque (Chimalapa), Zulu, Zuni, Arapesh (Mountain), Asmat, Barasano, Burmese, Cree (Plains), Daga, Dani (Lower Grand Valley), Grebo, Kayardild, Kewa, Khalkha (Mongolian), Kiowa, Makah, Malagasy, Martuthunira, Maung, Ngiyambaa, Oneida, Rama, Rapanui, Swahili, Wichita, Irish, Selknam

Language Sample

Four criteria for selec1ng languages in WALS: •  Gene1c diversity •  Geographic distribu1on •  Include some familiar languages (e.g., English)

•  Availability of gramma1cal descrip1on

Methodology

•  Iden1fy source(s) for a language •  Usually descrip1ve grammars

•  Locate that source •  Iden1fy relevant morphosyntac1c features •  Meet together and check results •  Add to database —

•  Look for correla1ons

Distribu1on of SVCs

250 languages; 109 (red) have SVCs, 44%; 141 (blue) do not.

Distribu1on of SVCs

•  Another 29 languages without SVCs have compound SVCs.

Correlates of SVCs •  This is the first large-‐scale distribu1onal study of SVCs. •  Many proposals have been made for typological correla1ons,

even for a “serializa1on parameter” (Baker 1989). •  But not widely tested (plus inconsistent use of the term)

•  Morphological type (isola1ng) said to correlate with SVCs. But this is biased by the defini1on.

•  The data presented here show correla1ons with word order…

Word order and SVC distribu1on •  S-‐V-‐O languages o`en have serial verbs (70%) •  S-‐O-‐V languages do not (23%).

–  (Sta1s1cally significant, p<.0001) •  Why? Probably because S-‐O-‐V languages have converbal/

absolu1ve construc1ons with very similar proper1es. –  (of the form Ea:ng, I leR ‘Having eaten, I le`’)

•  S-‐V-‐O languages rarely have converbal construc1ons (12%) •  S-‐O-‐V languages do (53%).

–  (Sta1s1cally significant, p<.0001)

Converbs within S-‐O-‐V languages

Total: 43 languages; 20 (red) have converbs; 2 (blue) have SVCs; 3 (pink) have both; 18 (black) have neither.

Why SVCs in S-‐V-‐O languages?

•  Recall pseudocoordina:on –  Its distribu1on must be a subset of languages with an appropriate conjunc1on

–  Pseudocoordina1on shares many proper1es with SVCs; in fact, the only difference may be the requirement that there is no conjunc1on linking the verbs in SVCs.

–  Found most o`en in S-‐V-‐O languages.

Go and get a book; Come and visit us tomorrow. I will try and win the race.

Pseudocoordina1on

Total: 32 languages iden1fied with pseudocoordina1on. Example: Go and get; come and see

Why SVCs in S-‐V-‐O languages? •  Does the type of conjunc1on found in a language correlate

with SVCs? –  In fact, it does, within the S-‐V-‐O languages:

•  Having a generalized ‘and’ conjunc1on (as in English) is determined by: 1.  Having a single, overt conjunc1on used for both noun+noun & verb+verb/

clause+clause 2.  Where that conjunc1on is not iden1cal to comita1ve ‘with’

•  59% of languages with a generalized ‘and’ have SVCs •  81% of languages without such a conjunc1on have SVCs.

–  This is marginally sta1s1cally significant (p=.0588)

SVCs as mul1-‐verb predicates •  Issues of terminology set aside, SVCs are best thought of as

belonging to a larger class of mul:-‐verb predicates along with converbal and pseudocoordina1on construc1ons

–  (Rephrased, converbs and pseudocoordina1on are types of SVC)

•  The distribu1on of subtypes is determined by typological proper1es of the surface form of the languages.

•  Given that in general languages have similar communica1ve needs, we can assume similar seman1c structures for these construc1ons. Therefore, languages differ in mapping to form.

Pidgins and Creoles

•  O`en have SVCs, discussed frequently. •  May be due to history (contact/influence from substrate languages that have SVCs).

•  Preliminary study using Atlas of Pidgin and Creole Structures (Michaelis et al. 2013); designed like WALS.

•  Three specific types of SVC iden1fied in the database, other types not considered.

APiCS 84: Direc1onal serial verb construc1ons with 'come' and 'go'

Nengee: A subi go anda. he climb go over.there ‘He climbed over there.’

Pidgins and Creoles

•  Including all three types of SVCs in APiCS, •  53 of 75 languages have SVCs – More frequent than in non-‐pidgin/creole sample.

•  More frequent in SVO pidgins/creoles, but not sta1s1cally significant (p=0.12)

•  No other correla1ons iden1fied •  May be due to sampling: few pidgins/creoles described, most (directly or indirectly) related.

Sign Languages

•  We have not iden1fied any sign languages with general conjunc1ons. Several have AND but none where it is described as obligatory or even widely used.

•  SVCs found: WEIGH CL:SS-‐PUT-‐ON-‐SHOULDERS CL:/\-‐BEND-‐KNEES-‐UP-‐AND-‐DOWN

‘I do knee bends with weights on my shoulders.’

•  Supalla (1990) iden1fied SVCs in ASL with mo1on verbs, as means of encoding manner and path.

10 Sign Languages

SVCs iden1fied in all but French Sign Language (no informa1on found).

Sign Languages

•  SVCs develop without contact from spoken languages with SVCs (ASL, Nicaraguan SL, etc.)

•  SVCs appear very common in signed languages, but more research is needed, especially for details of morphology.

Other Correla:ons with SVCs? (for fun)

Tone and Humidity

EvereS et al. 2015 iden1fy a correla1on between humidity and tonal languages.

Tonal languages in WALS

Maddieson 2005: (no tone); pink (simple tone); red (complex tone)

Similar distribu1on for SVCs…

Tone and SVCs

•  Among the overlapping languages in these samples:

•  35/102 (34%) have SVCs in the no-‐tone or simple-‐tone languages.

•  12/18 (67%) have SVCs in the complex-‐tone languages.

•  This is sta1s1cally significant: p<.02 •  (But remember, correla1on does not imply causa1on.)

•  Establishing a consistent defini1on allows us to iden1fy SVCs in over 40% of languages.

•  Most common in West Africa, Oceania and Southeast Asia, but found all over the world.

•  Distribu1on correlated with word order and other typological proper1es (like conjunc1ons).

•  Similarity to other construc1ons may be best accounted for by considering SVCs one form of mul1-‐verb predicate.

•  Next step: compare morphological types of languages with and without SVCs.

Conclusions

Thank you!

•  Ques1ons?

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serial’verb’construc1ons:’ - university of illinois

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