How to Find Serial Verbs in English

JOHN R. ROBERTS SIL International

1. Introducing Serial Verb Constructions

Trask (1993:251-252) describes a serial verb construction (SVC) as: “A construction in which what appears to be a single clause semantically is expressed syntactically by a sequence of juxtaposed separate verbs, all sharing the same subject or agent but each with its own additional arguments, without the use of overt coordinating conjunctions.” Trask gives (1a-b) as examples of typical SVCs from the West African languages of Yoruba and Vagala.

(1) a. Yoruba (West African) ó mú ìwé wá 3sg took book came „He brought the book.‟ b. Vagala (West African) ù kpá kíyzèé mòng ówl 3sg take knife cut meat „He cut the meat with a knife.‟

In a more recent cross-linguistic typological study, Aikhenvald (2006) says: “A serial verb construction (SVC) is a sequence of verbs which act together as a single predicate, without any overt marker of coordination, subordination, or syntactic dependency of any sort. Serial verb constructions describe what is conceptualized as a single event. They are monoclausal; their intonational properties are the same as those of a monoverbal clause, and they have just one tense, aspect and polarity value. SVCs may also share core and other arguments. Each component of an SVC must be able to occur on its own. Within an SVC, the individual verbs may have same, or different, transitivity values.” Aikhenvald (2006:1) also says SVCs are widespread in Creole languages, in the languages of West Africa, Southeast Asia (Chinese, Thai, Khmer, etc.), Amazonia, Oceania, and New Guinea. However, Dixon (2006) notes that while SVCs are found in perhaps one-third of the languages of the world, there appear to be none in Europe or north or central Asia, and rather few in North America or Australia. In this article we will show how SVCs can be found in English.1 But first we should become more acquainted with SVCs. Matthews and Yip (1994:142) say that the SVC is one of the most important and produc- tive patterns in Cantonese syntax. They say an SVC in Cantonese is a simple concatenation of verbs. The Cantonese examples in (2b) has three verbs concatenated together, but note that the English translation for (2b) has only one verb. Cantonese also has specialized SVCs where the first verb in the series has a particular function, e.g. to add an „oblique‟ argument (instrument, distribution, benefaction, etc.), to express direction of the motion, or completion of the event. Similar examples of SVCs for Mandarin are given in (3).

(2) Cantonese (Matthews and Yip, 1994:143) a. Bātyùh ngóhdeih heui tái hei rather 1pl go see film „Let‟s go and see a film.‟

1 I want to thank Robert Van Valin for his helpful comments on an earlier draft of this article. 2 How to Find Serial Verbs in English

b. Ngóh tīngyaht fēi heui gin-gūng 1sg tomorrow fly go see-work „I‟m flying to an interview tomorrow.‟

(3) Mandarin a. Tā jiāo wŏ xĭe zì 3sg teach 1sg write characters „She teaches me to write characters.‟ b. Wŏ qù măi shū 1sg go buy book(s) „I‟m going to buy books.‟

Amele (Papuan)2 also has productive and extensive SVCs. These comprise verb stems concatenated in a series. (4a), for example, has four verbs concatenated in a series. The first three are marked with the serial verb morpheme -i/-u and the last verb is marked with full independent verb inflection. In addition, the second verb in the series, ehudi „take him‟, is marked with the 3sg direct object suffix -ud. The first three verbs are not marked with any subject agreement morphology, so the subject marked on the final verb applies to all of these verbs. (4b) has five verbs in a series with madesin „they(du) said‟ as the final verb in the series. In addition the verb feeadi „they(du) greeted them‟ is marked with the 3pl direct object marker -ad. Amele also has specialized SVCs where the last verb in the series has a particular function, e.g. to express direction of the motion, various aspectual notions, or enumeration of the event (twice, thrice, etc.).

(4) Amele (Papuan) a. Age hew-i eh-ud-i ah-u n-ein. 3pl hold-(SS) take-3sg.DO-(SS) bring-(SS) come down-3pl.SU.REMP „They arrested him and brought him down. b. Ale fee-ad-i co-nola sul-i u uta-i 3du greet-3pl.DO-(SS) lips-3du.POSR lift.up-(SS) get.(SS) call-(SS) mad-esin, “… say-3du.SU.REMP „They(du) greeted them and in a loud voice said, “….

Seimat is an Austronesian language of the Admiralties family. It is spoken by approximately 1,200 people living in the Ninigo Islands, which is part of Manus province in Papua New Guinea. Wozna and Wilson (2005:54-59) say that SVCs in Seimat comprise sequences of two, three or four verbs which share nominal arguments (both subject and object) and are all within the scope of the verb inflection marked on the final verb in the series, such as imperative or purpose. Some examples are given in (5). Seimat also has specialized SVCs where the first verb in the series has a particular function, e.g. to express direction of the motion, or causation, or manner.

(5) Seimat (Austronesian; Wozna and Wilson, 2005:54-59) a. Laha apuha kak pax-ai waliko. 3pl meet speak look-TRANS something „They met, spoke and looked at things. b. Teka seilon tu-tu tum-i xau lol koti siponi some people RED-stand end-POSR barrier wade cut close mat-e xau. front-POSR barrier

2 Amele is a Papuan language spoken by approximately 6,000 people living in Madang Province, Papua New Guinea (see Roberts 1987). John R. Roberts 3

„The people standing at the end of the barrier, waded (through the water), cut (across the front of the barrier) and closed off the front of the barrier.‟

Verhaar (1995:97-130) describes the range of SVCs that can be found in Tok Pisin, spoken in Papua New Guinea. In structural terms the two verbs in series in (6a) are both intransitive, in (6b) the first verb is transitive and the second is intransitive, and in (6c) the first verb is intransitive and the second verb is transitive. It is apparently not possible to have two trans- itive verbs in an SVC in Tok Pisin.

(6) Tok Pisin (PNG) a. Dispela pisin i-flai i-go na i-no kam bek. this bird fly go and not come back „This bird flew away and didn‟t come back.‟ b. Ol i-karim kaikai i-kam. 3pl carry.TRANS food come „They carried the food this way.‟ c. Na em i-go pulimapim wara long skin meme. and 3sg go fill.TRANS water into skin goat „And she went to fill the goat skin with water.‟

The standard definition of an SVC (as in Trask, 1993, for example) is that it comprises a sequence of juxtaposed verbs sharing the same subject or agent. However, SVCs readily occur where the verbs in the series have different subjects. In each of the examples in (7a-d) the subject of the second verb is the object of the first verb.

(7) a. Yoruba (W. Africa; Bamgboṣe, 1974; tone not shown) olu ti ɔmɔ naa šubu. Olu push child the fall „Olu pushed the child down.‟ (lit. „Olu pushed the child and it fell.‟) b. Cantonese Ngóh diu goh bòh lohk heui. 1sg throw CL ball down go „I threw the ball down.‟( lit. „I threw the ball and it went down.‟) c. Tok Pisin (PNG) Ol i-sutim pik i-dai. 3pl shoot.TRANS pig die „They shot the pig dead.‟ (lit. „They shot the pig and it died.‟) d. Seimat (Austronesian; Wozna and Wilson, 2005:57) Ti ipong nga tahuni ha-paxe. at night 1sg smoke CAUS-dry „At night I dried (the pandanus) by smoking it.‟ (lit. „At night I smoked the pandanus and caused it to dry.‟)

In §2 we will first look at some of the common functions of SVCs. Then in §0 -§7 we will characterize the typical properties of SVCs in morphosyntactic and semantic terms. These observations and characterizations are drawn mainly from Kroeger (2004), and Dixon (2006) has a similar set of characterizations. After this, we will discuss how best to represent the syntactic structure of SVCs. Specifically in §8 we will show that a constituent structure-based approach, as in a generative grammar type of framework3, is inadequate to account for the

3 Hornstein et al. (2005:173) give [CP Spec C [TP Spec T [vP SU [v′ v[VP V OB ] ] ] ] ] as the current basic structure of the sentence in Minimalism (Chomsky 1995), where T stands for tense. This is still fundamentally the S → NPSU VP „universal‟ structure of sentences advocated in Chomsky (1957:27). 4 How to Find Serial Verbs in English syntactic structure of SVCs. Instead, we show that the syntactic function-based approach of Role and Reference Grammar (RRG) (see Van Valin and LaPolla 1997, Van Valin 2005) provides a more adequate and more universally applicable account of SVC syntactic structure. Finally, in §9 we show how the application of an RRG analysis to so-called „phase verb constructions‟4 in English reveals that they have the same semantic and syntactic properties as SVCs.

2. Functions of the SVC

In an SVC the two (or more) verbs normally function together to express a single complex event. But because both verbs contribute to the meaning of the clause, the resulting expression is semantically more complex than the meaning of any verb on its own. The function of verbs in an SVC can be classified into symmetrical and asymmetrical. In a symmetrical arrange- ment all the verbs in the series have equal functional status. Examples of this are (3a) in Mandarin, (4a-b) in Amele, (5a-b) in Seimat, and (7a) in Yoruba. In an asymmetical arrange- ment one verb modifies the meaning of another verb in some way. We will look at examples of this in this section. Kroeger (2004:227-229) describes several different forms of asymmetical function. One very common use of the SVC is to add an additional argument. Matthews and Yip (1994:143) say that many of the oblique relationships which are expressed by prepositions in English and other European languages are expressed by serial verbs in Cantonese. (8) illustrates serial verbs expressing an instrument and (9) illustrates serial verbs expressing a beneficiary.

(8) a. Nupe (Hyman, 1975; tone not indicate) Musa la ebi ba nakã. Musa take knife cut meat „Musa cut the meat with a knife.‟ b. Cantonese (Matthews and Yip, 1994) Kéuehdeih yuhng dī chín heui máaih láu. 3pl use CL money go buy flat „They‟re buying a flat with the money.‟ c. Sranan (Suriname; Sebba, 1987) Mi teki a.nefi koti a.brede. 1sg take the.knife cut the.bread „I cut the bread with a knife.‟

(9) a. Anyi (Ivory Coast; Van Lynseele, 1975, cited by Foley and Van Valin, 1984:199, tone not marked) ajo tɔ ̃ alɪɛ mã Kasi. Ajo cook.HABIT food give Kasi „Ajo cooked food for Kasi.‟ b. Cantonese (Matthews and Yip, 1994) Ngóh bōng léih dá-dihnwá. 1sg help 2sg call-phone „I‟ll phone for you.‟ c. Sranan (Suriname; Sebba, 1987) Mi e prani a.karu gi yu. 1sg ASP plant the.corn give you „I am planting the corn for you.‟

4 From Collins Cobuild English Grammar (1990:184-193). John R. Roberts 5

Another very common function of the SVC is to express the goal or direction of motion, as in (1a), (6b), and (10), or the result or extension of an action, as in (6c), (7c) and (11).

(10) a. Khmer (Schiller, 1990a; tone not marked) ko͡ at yɔɔk mhoup mɔɔk phte͡ ah. 3sg take food come house „He brought the food home.‟ b. Yoruba (W. Africa; Stahlke, 1970; tone not shown) mo mu iwe wa fun ɛ. 1sg took book came gave 2sg „I brought you the book.‟ c. Saramaccan (Suriname; Byrne, 1987) a bi tsá di.meliki go na di.konde. 3sg PAST carry the.milk go LOC the.village „He had taken the milk to the village.‟ d. Seimat (Austronesian; Wozna and Wilson, 2005:56) Nga hail takana alia hani ixux. 1sg paddle arrive back to land „We paddled and arrived back on the land.‟

(11) a. Sranan (Suriname; Sebba, 1987) Kofi naki Amba kiri. Kofi hit Amba kill „Kofi struck Amba dead.‟ b. Tok Pisin (PNG) Wanpela trak i-kam sanap klostu long ol. a truck come stand near to 3pl „A truck came and stopped near to them.‟ c. Yoruba (W. Africa; Bamgboṣe, 1974; tone not shown) olu ti ɔmɔ naa šubu. Olu push child the fall „Olu pushed the child down.‟ d. White Hmong (SE Asia; Jarkey, 1991; cited by Durie, 1997) kuv nrhiav tau kuv nti nplhaib. 1sg search.for get 1sg CL ring „I found my ring.‟

In a pattern related to the resultative use, serial verbs are often used to express completive aspect, as in (12). Other aspectual uses are also possible; these often involve verbs which denote bodily movements or postures, as in (13).

(12) a. Saramaccan (Suriname; Byrne, cited in Seuren, 1990) Kofi nyan di ganya kabá. Kofi eat the chicken finish „Kofi has already eaten the chicken.‟ b. Amele (Papuan) Age saab j-i he-d-oiga. 3pl food eat-(SS) finish-3sg.DO-3pl.TODP „They finished eating the food.‟ 6 How to Find Serial Verbs in English

(13) Yatyɛ (W. Africa; Stahlke, 1970; tone not indicated) a. Continuous: odide ahyɛ ibi itywi. man squat come home „The man is coming home.‟ b. Habitual: odide aga ibi itywi. man wander come home „The man usually comes home.‟ c. Repetitive: odide ibu ibi itywi. man return come home „The man came home again.‟

Other uses include purpose (14a), manner (14b) and causation (14c). In Amele the SVC can have an enumerative function, as shown in (15). Here the verb expressing number is derived from a numeral.

(14) a. Chrau (Vietnam; Thomas, 1971, cited in Durie, 1997:305) nĕh hao chhə pĭq pai-vunh. 3sg climb tree pick gourd „He climbed the tree to pick gourds.‟ b. Yoruba (W. Africa; Stahlke, 1970; tone not shown) mo fi ɔgbɔn ge igi. 1sg took cleverness cut tree „I cut the tree cleverly.‟ c. Tok Pisin (PNG) Em i-save mekim wara i-go antap na tanim i-kamap ren 3sg know make.TRANS water go above and turn.TRANS come.up rain „He causes the waters to rise up and to turn into rain.‟

(15) Amele (Papuan) a. Ege camac cah-d-u cijed-d-u he-du-m-eb … 1pl sago squeeze-3sg.DO-(SS) three-3sg.DO-(SS) finish-3sg.DO-SS-1pl „We finish squeezing the sago three times and … .‟ b. Age am qatan-i lecis-d-oin. 3pl group split-(SS) two-3sg.DO-3pl.REMP „They split the group into two.‟

Finally, specific combinations of serial verbs often take an idiomatic meaning, as illus- trated in (16a-e).

(16) a. Akan (W. Africa; Schachter, 1974) Kofi gyee Amma dii. Kofi receive-PAST Amma eat-PAST „Kofi believed Amma.‟ b. Yoruba (Baker, 1989, from Laniran and Sonaiya, 1987; tone not marked) olu rɛ bɔla jɛ. Olu cut Bola eat „Olu cheated Bola.‟ John R. Roberts 7

c. Vagala (W. Africa; Pike, 1966) ù lé û há. 3sg get.PAST 3sg throw „He saved him.‟ d. Seimat (Austronesian; Wozna and Wilson, 2005:58) Nga ilameni tioi salan nga hina akaik 1sg feel know true 1sg have child. „I realized I really was pregnant.‟ e. Amele Uqa saab j-i f-ol-oi 3sg food eat-(SS) see-HABP-3sg. „She used to taste the food.‟

3. Characteristic and diagnostic features of SVCs

We will discuss how to define an SVC in structural terms in §8 . Rather than try and formulate an explicit structural definition of SVCs at this point we will look at the characteristic features that can help identify a serial verb construction. Kroeger (2004:229-230) proposes a set of characteristic properties of SVCs, given in (17). Then he discusses these properties and provides diagnostic tests for determining whether or not a particular construction is in fact a “true” SVC.

(17) Characteristic properties of SVCs: a. A prototypical SVC contains two or more morphologically independent verbs within the same clause, neither of which is an auxiliary. b. There are no conjunctions or other overt markers of subordination or coordination separating the two verbs. c. The serial verbs belong to a single intonation contour, with no pause separating them. d. The entire SVC refers to a single (possibly complex) event. e. A true SVC may contain only one specification for tense, aspect, modality, negation, etc., though these features are sometimes redundantly marked on both verbs. f. The two verbs in the SVC share at least one semantic argument. g. Obligatory non-coreference: a true SVC will not contain two overt NPs which refer to the same argument. h. A prototypical SVC contains only one grammatical subject.5

Kroeger (2004:230) says that an important distinction between an SVC, where a verb series forms a complex predicate, and a set of conjoined clauses each comprising its own predicate verb is that there are no markers of subordination (e.g. complementizers) or markers of coordination (e.g. coordinators) in an SVC. This can be illustrated from the Nupe examples in (18). (18b) with the coordinate conjunction expresses two separate events, whereas (18a) expresses a single complex event.

(18) Nupe (Hyman, 1975; tone not indicate) a. Musa la ebi ba nakã. Musa take knife cut meat „Musa cut the meat with a knife.‟

5 Here „prototypical‟ can be understood to mean that the SVC abides by the [CP Spec C [TP Spec T [vP SU [v′ v[VP V OB ] ] ] ] ] (=S → NPSU VP) sentence structure that Minimalism claims is universal in all languages. 8 How to Find Serial Verbs in English

b. Musa la ebi tʃi ba nakã. Musa take knife and cut meat „Musa took the knife and (then) cut the meat.‟

Related to this single-event interpretation, it is generally not possible for the two (or more) verbs in an SVC to have independent marking for tense and aspect. If both verbs are marked, they must agree in tense and aspect. In example, (19a), both verbs are marked for past tense. In (19b), the first verb is past but the second verb is perfect, which marks the SVC as ungrammatical. In a coordinate structure like (19c), however, the two verbs can have different tense marking.

(19) Akan (Adkuapem dialect; Shachter, 1974) a. me-kɔɔ-e me-baa-e. 1sg-go-PAST 1sg-come-PAST „I went and came back.‟ b. *me-kɔɔ-e maba. 1sg-go-PAST 1sg-come-PRFV c. me-kɔɔ-e na maba. 1sg-go-PAST and 1sg-come-PRFV „I went and I have come back.‟

Since an SVC is treated as a single event, it is not possible for negation to apply to just one verb in the series. Compare the SVC in (20a) where the result of the action cannot be negated, with the corresponding biclausal construction (20b) where this negation is perfectly accept- able.

(20) Sranan (Suriname; Sebba, 1987) a. Mi teki a.nefi koti a.brede (#ma no koti en). 1sg take the.knife cut the.bread but not cut 3sg „I cut the bread with a knife (#but didn‟t cut it.)‟ b. Mi teki a.nefi fu koti a.brede (ma no koti en). 1sg take the.knife for cut the.bread but not cut 3sg „I took a knife in order to cut the bread (but didn‟t cut it.)‟

In Ewe, as in a number of other languages, negation is marked by a circumfix. The Ewe circumfix has the form me- … o: the prefix me- attaches to the verb of the clause which is being negated, while the particle o appears at the end of that clause. In an SVC both verbs must be included within a single instance of the circumfix (21b). It is not possible to negate one verb without the other, as in (21c). But in a biclausal structure like (21d), either clause can be negated independently, as illustrated in (21e).

(21) Ewe (W. Africa; Agbedor, 1993; Felix Ameka, unpublished MS.) a. Me-šle agbale ná Áma. 1sg-buy book give Ama „I bought a book for Ama.‟ b. Nye me-šle agbale ná Áma o. 1sg NEG-buy book give Ama NEG „I did not buy a book for Ama.‟ c. *me-šle agbale me-ná Áma o. NEG-buy book NEG-give Ama NEG John R. Roberts 9

d. me-yɔ!-e wò-tɔ. 1sg-call-3sg 3sg-respond „I called him (and) he responded.‟ e. me-yɔ!-e mé-tɔ o. 1sg-call-3sg NEG-respond NEG „I called him (but) he did not respond.‟

In a typical SVC, each argument will be expressed by only one overt NP. Thus a non- reflexive pronoun within the SVC must be non-coreferential with all of the other arguments; that is, the pronoun cannot take some other argument within the SVC as its antecedent. This constraint is illustrated in (22), specifically by the fact that the pronoun en in (22b) cannot refer to „the match‟ if the sentence is interpreted as a serial verb construction.

(22) Sranan (Suriname; Sebba, 1987) a. Kofi teki a swarfu bron. Kofi take the match burn „Kofi burned a match.‟ b. Kofi teki a swarfu bron en. Kofi take the match burn 3sg „Kofi burned it with a match.‟ (it cannot refer to match)

Sebba (1987) says that in Sranan, when a coreferential pronoun does occur as in (23b), the sentence is not a serial verb construction but rather a special type of coordinate structure which does not contain any overt conjunction. This coordinate structure must be interpreted as describing two separate events, and the two verbs may be separated by a pause. Thus (23b) has the same structure as in (23c), which clearly describes two distinct events. When no pronoun is present, as in (23a), we have a true SVC which must be interpreted as a single event, and which cannot contain a pause. A similar pattern is found in Paiamentu, a Portuguese-based creole (24).

(23) a. Kofi naki Amba (*,) kiri. Kofi hit Amba kill „Kofi struck Amba dead.‟ b. Kofi naki Amba (,) kiri en. Kofi hit Amba kill 3sg „Kofi struck Amba and killed her.‟ c. Kofi sutu Amba (,) kiri Kwaku. Kofi shoot Amba kill Kwaku „Kofi shot Amba and killed Kwaku.‟

(24) Papiamentu (W. Africa; Bendix, 1972; cited in Sebba, 1987) a. korta e barika habri. cut the belly open „cut the belly open‟ b. korta e barika habri-e. cut the belly open-3sg „cut the belly and then open it‟ (two actions)

Another helpful test comes from WH-question constructions. In many languages it is not possible to question an object in a coordinated clause with an extracted WH-question word. In (25a) Sranan has unmarked coordinated clauses as reflected by the English translation. It is not possible to question the object NP in either coordinate clause in both Sranan and in English, as shown by (25b-c). However, in a true SVC in Sranan it is possible to question the 10 How to Find Serial Verbs in English object of either verb, as shown in (26). This shows that the SVC is a single clause with one illocutionary force (IF) operator6 that has scope over the whole clause. The Sranan constructions in (25) are coordinated clauses each with its own IF operator.

(25) Sranan (unmarked coordination) (Sebba, 1987) a. Kofi sutu Amba kiri Kwaku. Kofi shoot Amba kill Kwaku „Kofi shot Amba and killed Kwaku.‟ b. *Suma Kofi sutu Amba kiri __? who Kofi shoot Amba kill („*Who did Kofi shoot Amba and kill?‟ c. *Suma Kofi sutu __ kiri Kwaku? who Kofi shoot kill Kwaku („*Who did Kofi shoot Amba and kill?‟

(26) Sranan (true SVC) (Sebba, 1987) a. Kofi teki a.nefi koti a.brede. Kofi take the.knife cut the.bread „Kofi cut the bread with a knife.‟ b. San Kofi teki a.nefi koti __. what Kofi take the.knife cut „What did Kofi cut with the knife?‟ c. San Kofi teki __ koti a.brede. what Kofi take cut the.bread „What did Kofi cut the bread with?‟

4. “Single event” interpretation

As well as syntactic factors which determine what constitutes an SVC, there are also semantic factors. One of the primary semantic factors is that an SVC refers to a “single event”. How is this notion of a single event manifested? The serialized verbs may refer to a sequence of closely related actions which together are viewed as making up a single event. For example, in the Amele examples in (4) the arresting and bringing down in (4a) is represented as a single event with the serialized verbs. Likewise the greeting and calling out in (4b) is also represented as a single event with a series of four verbs. However, in (27) these same events are represented as non-unitary. The verb ehudimeig „they took him‟ has same subject morphology added and this indicates that the event of „they arrested him‟ is distinct from the event of „they brought him down‟. Similarly, when same subject morphology is added to feeadimesi „they(du) greeted them‟ this separates the event of „they greeted them‟ from the event of „they said in a loud voice‟.

(27) Amele (Papuan) a. Age hew-i eh-ud-im-eig ah-u n-ein. 3pl hold-(SS) take-3sg.DO-SS-3pl bring-(SS) come down-3pl.SU.REMP „They arrested him and (then) brought him down.

6 In Minimalism a grammatical category, such as tense, is treated as a phrasal category, TenseP, and the scope of this category over other parts of sentence structure is determined by the nodal dominance of TP. In RRG, on the other hand, grammatical categories like negation, aspect, tense, modality, and illocutionary force (speech acts) are regarded as operators modifying different layers of the clause, i.e. nucleus, core, clause. John R. Roberts 11

b. Ale fee-ad-im-esi co-nola sul-i u uta-i 3du greet-3pl.DO-SS-3du lips-3du.POSR lift.up-(SS) get.(SS) call-(SS) mad-esin, “… say-3du.SU.REMP „They(du) greeted them and (then) in a loud voice said, “…. Some further examples of complex events represented as a unitary event are given from Yoruba (28a) and Kalam (28a).

(28) a. Yoruba (W. Africa; Lord, 1974; tone not shown) Dada ra burɛdi jɛ. Dada buy bread eat „Dada bought bread to eat and ate it.‟ b. Kalam (PNG; Lane, 1991, cited in Durie, 1997) byn pataj ogok am yg pak dad ap-elgp-al … woman young these go dig hit carrying come-PAST-HABIT-3pl „The young women dig and fetch (these animals) …‟ (i.e., „The young women go hunting‟)

However, what is considered to be a single unitary event ultimately depends on the worldview of the speakers. Durie (1997) says that in order for SVCs of this type to be grammatical, it must be possible for speakers of the language to interpret the various actions as comprising a single coherent event. It appears that different languages impose different restrictions as to which specific combinations of verbs are permissible, and that these restrictions are sometimes due to cultural factors. In the following Yoruba examples, there seems to be no grammatical explanation for the difference in grammaticality between (29a) and (29b), or between (30a) and (30b).

(29) Yoruba (W. Africa; Bamgboṣe, 1974) a. ó ra išu wá. 3sg bought yams came „She bought yams and came.‟ b. *ó ta išu wá. 3sg sold yams came

(30) a. ó jɛun sùn. 3sg ate slept „He ate and then he slept.‟ b. *ò jɛun padà. 3sg ate returned

Similarly, serial verbs are sometimes used to express simultaneous actions, but only when these are viewed by the speakers as comprising a single event. In Hmong culture, dancing and playing the bamboo pipes always go together. They are viewed as one event, and so may be combined in a serial construction (31a). Listening to music, on the other hand, is viewed as a separate event from dancing, so these two verbs may not serialize (31b). Instead, a coordinate construction must be used (31c).

(31) White Hmong (SE Asia; Jarkey, 1991; cited by Durie, 1997) a. nws dhia tshov qeej. 3sg dance blow bamboo.pipes „He dances playing the pipes.‟ b. *nws dhia mloog nkauj. 3sg dance listen song 12 How to Find Serial Verbs in English

c. nws dhia thiab mloog nkauj. 3sg dance and listen song „He dances (while) listening to music.‟

The Alamblak language of PNG has a very productive process of V+V compounding, which exhibits a number of features associated with prototypical SVCs in other languages. One such point of similarity is that, in order to form a permissible compound, two verb roots must name actions which can be conceived of as a single event (Bruce, 1988:28). This constraint involves both cultural and pragmatic factors. For example, all speakers accept the compound form in (32a), since climbing a tree to look for insects is a common activity in that culture. All speakers reject (32b), since climbing a tree and looking at the stars have no connection in people‟s minds. But, given a context in which it is important to see the stars for some reason, speakers will accept the very similar form in (32c).

(32) Alamblak (PNG; Bruce, 1988) a. mɨyt ritm muh-hambray-an-m. tree insects climb-search.for-1sg-3pl „I climbed the tree and looked for insects/ looking for insects.‟ b. *mɨyt guñm muh-hëti-an-m. tree stars climb-see-1sg-3pl (for: „I climbed the tree and saw the stars.‟) c. ?mɨyt guñm muh-hëti-marña-an-m. tree stars climb-see-well-1sg-3pl „I climbed the tree and saw the stars clearly.‟ (acceptable in specific context)

5. Morphological features in SVCs

Kroeger (2004:235) notes that one of the characteristic features of SVCs is that all the verbs in the series are marked for the same tense and aspect. Usually this tense and aspect is only marked once for the whole clause. Amele is an OV left-branching language and in this language tense and aspect is marked on the last verb in the series, as shown in (15b) and (27a- b). In languages which are VO and right-branching, typically the tense and aspect is marked on the first verb in the series, as in (33a-b). But some languages allow tense “doubling” or “spreading”, with both verbs taking identical marking for tense and aspect, as in (33c-d). In some languages, e.g. Akan, this tense spreading may even be obligatory, at least for certain types of SVC. Byrne (1990) reports that in Saramaccan and a few other Atlantic creole languages, tense may be marked on either or both verbs (33e); but this pattern seems to be quite rare. Of course, if both verbs are marked the indicated values of tense and aspect must be identical.

(33) a. Sranan (Suriname; Jansen et al., 1978, cited by Byrne, 1990) Roy e tyari a pikin go na oso. Roy PAST carry the child go LOC house „Roy took the child home.‟ b. Bamileke (W. Africa; Hyman, 1971) á ká láh càk usáɁ ha a. 3sg PAST take pot come give 1sg „He brought the pot for/to me.‟ c. Akan (W. Africa; Schachter, 1974) Kofi yɛ-ɛ adwuma ma-a Amma. Kofi do-PAST work give-PAST Amma „Kofi worked for Amma.‟ John R. Roberts 13

d. Ewe ( W. Africa; Collins, 1997) Kofi a tsɔ ati-ɛ a fo Yao. Kofi FUT take stick-DEF FUT hit Yao „Kofi will hit Yao with the stick.‟ e. Saramaccan (Suriname; Byrne, 1990) a (bi) tsa di.meliki (bi) go na di.konde. 3sg PRFV carry the.milk PRFV go LOC the.village „He had taken the milk to the fridge.‟

Similarly, in languages where negation is marked by a verbal affix, it must be marked on both verbs in some languages:

(34) a. Akan (W. Africa; Schachter, 1974) Kofi n-yɛ adwuma m-ma Amma. Kofi NEG-do work NEG-give Amma „Kofi does not work for Amma.‟ b. Anyi (Ivory Coast; Van Lynseele, 1975, cited by Foley and Olson, 1985; tone not marked) cʊa n-jɪ akɔ n-!ni. dog NEG-catch-HABIT chicken NEG-eat-HABIT „The dog never eats a chicken.‟

Since there is normally only one grammatical subject, if both verbs are marked for subject agreement they must show identical agreement features, as in (35).

(35) a. Akan (W. Africa; Schachter, 1974) me-yɛ-ɛ adwuma me-ma-a Amma. 1sg-do-PAST work 1sg-give-PAST Amma „I worked for Amma.‟ b. Tariana (Brazil; Aikhenvald, 1999) nha-ritu na-inu=pidana ñaña. 3pl-catch 3pl-kill=REMP madi.fish „The caught some madi fish.‟ c. Kisar (Maluku, Indonesia; Blood, 1992) Idedinamene Dedi n-amkuru n-amaka. just.now Dedi 3sg-sleep 3sg-awaken „Dedi just woke up from his sleep.‟ d. Kisar (Maluku, Indonesia; Blood, 1992) A=m la=m pahar. ai m-la m-pahar 1pl.EXCL 1pl.EXCL-go 1pl.EXCL-wash (clothes) „We (excl.) are going to wash clothes.‟

In some languages, even when the subject is not a semantic argument of the second verb, that verb may still be marked for agreement with the grammatical subject, as illustrated in (36).

(36) a. Akan (W. Africa; Schachter, 1974) me-de aburow mi-gu nsu-m. 1sg-take corn 1sg-flow water-in „I pour corn into the water.‟ 14 How to Find Serial Verbs in English

b. Tariana (Brazil; Aikhenvald, 1999) kaː ru=ka nuha nu-a=mahka nu-hyã=niki fearing 1sg 1sg-give=RECP 1sg-eat=completely piri=nuku iniri=nuku. your.son=ACC traira.fish=ACC „Being afraid, I let the traira-fish eat your son.‟ c. Obolo (Durie, 1997; tone not shown) e-gwen emi e-nu. PL-call 1sg PL-come „Let them call me to come.‟

6. Word order

In this section we look at the position of the object NP in SVCs. In some languages the position of the object NP is not the same in an SVC in that language as its position in a simple, one-verb clause. Serial verbs are cited most frequently in the literature as occurring in SVO languages. For example, out of the fourteen languages in Aikhenvald and Dixon (2006) where a comprehen- sive description is given of SVCs in those languages, eight languages have SVO basic word order, four have SOV basic word order and in two word order is not fixed. However, there are over 1000 Papuan languages spoken in New Guinea, nearly all of which are SOV and have SVCs of some type. Serial verbs are rare in verb initial languages but Schiller (1990) cites the Mon-Khmer language Rivüa as one such case, and Foley and Van Valin (1984:262) illustrate Fijian as another example (37).

(37) Fijian (Foley and Van Valin, 1984) a. E viri-tū-ra na duru na tūraga. CLM put-stand-TRANS ART post ART chief „The chief erects the post.‟ b. E viri-tū-ra tū na duru na tūraga. CLM put-stand-TRANS CONT ART post ART chief „The chief continues to erect the post.‟

The position of the object NP in a serial verb construction will depend in part on the position of the object within a simple, one-verb clause. For example, Sranan has VO order in the simple one-verb clause and the object NPs in the SVCs follow this same pattern, as in (38). Ịjọ, on the other hand, has OV order in the simple one-verb clause and the object NPs in the SVCs precede the verb, as in (39).

(38) Sranan (Suriname; Sebba, 1987) a. Mi teki a.nefi koti a.brede. 1sg take the.knife cut the.bread „I cut the bread with a knife.‟ b. Mi e prani a.karu gi yu. 1sg ASP plant the.corn give 2sg „I am planning the corn for you.‟

(39) Ịjọ (West Africa; Williamson, 1965; tone not marked) a. eri ogidi akɪ-nɪ indi pɛɪ-mɪ. 3sg.M machete take-Ø fish cut.up-PAST „He cut up a fish with a machete.‟ John R. Roberts 15

b. araʊ zu.ye akɪ buru teri-mɪ. 3sg.F basket take yam cover-PAST „She used a basket to cover a yam.‟

In some languages, however, the object NPs group together on one side of the verb series. In the Sranan example in (40a) Amba is a shared object NP and it occurs after the first verb. But Sebba says that the order in (40b) was used in nineteenth-century Sranan, and is still accepted by some speakers. In this case the shared object NP occurs to the right of both serial verbs.

(40) Sranan (Suriname; Sebba, 1987) a. Kofi naki Amba kiri. Kofi hit Amba kill „Kofi struck Amba dead.‟ b. Kofi naki kiri Amba. (archaic?) Kofi hit kill Amba „Kofi struck Amba dead.‟

Some languages, such as Hmong, seem to prefer to express shared objects as far to the right as possible (41c-d).

(41) White Hmong (SE Asia; Jarkey, 1991; cited by Durie, 1997) a. nws xuab riam txiav nqiaj qaib. 3sg grasp knife cut meat chicken „She cut some chicken with a knife.‟ b. nws xa ib qho khoom pub kuv. 3sg send one CL goods give 1sg „She sent some things to me (as a present).‟ c. kuv nrhiav tau kuv nti nplhaib. 1sg search.for get my CL ring „I found my ring.‟ d. nws tua raug liab. 3sg shoot.at hit.the.mark monkey „He shot a monkey.‟

In Jeh, an SVO language, object NPs are placed to the right of the serial verbs (42).

(42) Jeh (Vietnam; Gradin, 1976; Cohen, 1976) a. Au rŭp dĕk kanei. 1sg catch strangle rat „I caught and strangled a rat.‟ b. ĕn chŏk bùh cha ka. 3sg take roast eat fish „He roasted and ate fish.‟ c. Baǎ tənoh dòh bǎl.ĕn tədrong i …. father explain give them matter this „Father explained this matter to them …‟ d. mi ruat dòh au phei. 2sg buy give 1sg rice „You buy rice for me.‟ 16 How to Find Serial Verbs in English

e. ĕn loh chièu reng rŭp bùh cha chŏ̀l „wǎn 3sg exit go search catch roast eat pig their „He went out, got somebody‟s pig, roasted and ate it.‟

In Barai, an SOV language, object NPs are placed to the left of the serial verbs (43).

(43) Barai (PNG; Foley and Olson, 1985:43-44) a. fu burede ije sime abe ufu. 3sg bread the knife take cut „He cut the bread with the knife.‟ b. fu na ire ifej-ie i. 3sg 1sg food help-1sg.OBJ eat „He helped me eat food.‟ c. a na ine tua kore-j-ie. 2sg 1sg stick break.off throw-TRANS-1sg.OBJ „You broke off and threw at me a stick.‟

7. Non-canonical serialization

Kroeger (2004:241) says that in a prototypical SVC the two or more verbs are morph- ologically independent, i.e. two distinct words. But there are languages in which a highly productive V+V compounding process seems very similar to serialization. As we showed with (32), Alamblak is such a language. Some further examples are given in (44).

(44) a. Alamblak (PNG; Bruce, 1988) na yawyt yiman wikna-hay-më-an-m. 1sg dog people buy-give-REMP-1sg-3pl „I bought a dog for the people.‟ or „I bought a dog and gave it to the people.‟ b. Yimas (PNG; Foley and Olson, 1985) mabargat ya-na-park-bi-kapik-bi-warkɨ-k. coconut.branches 3pl.OBJ-3sg.SU-split-*-break.up-*-tie-REMP „He split, broke into small pieces, and tied together the coconut branches.‟

This type of “compounding serialization” is most common in SOV languages. However, it is also found in Igbo, an SVO language of West Africa. Interestingly, Déchaine (1993) reports that Igbo uses a “normal” SVC to express instrument, manner, comitative, etc., as illustrated in (45a-b). But there are no benefactive, recipient, or resultative SVCs in the language; these functions can only be expressed by using a V+V compound, as in (45c-d).

(45) Igbo (W. Africa; Déchaine, 1993; Lord, 1975) a. ó wè-re úkwʊ gà-á ahyá. 3sg take-ASP leg go-ASP market „He went to the market on foot.‟ b. ó ji-ri ɔhʊhʊ ri-e ihé. 3sg use-ASP hurry eat-ASP thing „He ate hurredly.‟ c. ó t!i-ghù-rù nwóké áhʊ̀ . 3sg hit-kill-ASP man that „He beat that man to death.‟ d. ó bì-nye-re Adhá akwà. 3sg borrow-give-ASP Adha cloth „He lent some cloth to Adha.‟ John R. Roberts 17

Another construction which has been described as serialization but does not exhibit all of the diagnostic properties listed in (17) is illustrated in (46). Several Austronesian languages spoken in Vanuatu and northern Papua New Guinea have constructions that look like normal SVCs with subject agreement marked on each verb, as in (46a). In some of these languages it is also possible for the second verb to appear in the default third person singular form, as in (46b).7 This pattern is sometimes referred to as “ambient” serialization.

(46) Numbani (PNG; Bradshaw, 1993) a. ma-pa-andalowa ma-woti ma-ma ma-solonga teteu. 1pl.EX-make-way 1pl.EX-descend 1pl.EX-come 1pl.EX-enter village „We walked down here into the village.‟ b. “Ambient” serialization (default 3sg marking) ma-pisa ai i-iye taun. 1pl.EX-find 3pl 3sg-lie town „We found them in the town.‟

Kroeger (2004:242) says a few examples have been published in which both verbs agree, but not with the same argument. In other words, the two verbs have different grammatical subjects, and each verb agrees with its own subject. This pattern, illustrated in (47), is sometimes called “switch-subject” serialization. However, switch-subject serialization is typically causative serialization and, as the examples in (7a-d) show, can be found in many languages with SVCs.

(47) a. Loniu (Manus Island, PNG; Hamel, 1993) utó ko’oluweni wow ala tan. 1pl.EX IRR-NONSG-move.with.rope 2sg IRR-2sg-go down „We will lower you down (into the water).‟ b. Paamese (Vanuatu; Crowley, 1987:48) kaik komuasinau nauvā netan. 2sg 2sg-REAL-hit-1sg 1sg-REAL-go down „You hit me down.‟

As stated above, Amele has concatenated SVCs where a series of verbs express a complex event of closely linked actions, as illustrated in (4). This language also has specialized SVCs where the last verb in the series has a particular function, e.g. to express direction of the motion, various aspectual notions, or enumeration of the event (twice, thrice, etc.). An example of aspectual use is given in (12b) and an example of enumerative use is given in (15). Amele also exhibits a range of switch-subject serialization and some examples are given in (48)-(50). In each of these examples a complex event is expressed rather than two or more separate events. In (48a) fec „to see‟ patterns like a motion verb and the second verb, tec „to go up‟, expresses the direction of the seeing. Alternatively, this verb could be noc „to go down‟. In (48b) the direction of the throwing is expressed and in (48c) the direction of the straightening is expressed. (48d-e) express concomitant states (two states existing together) and (48f-g) express resultative states.

(48) Amele (Papuan) Directional action: a. Uqa f-ece-b t-ei-a. 3sg see-DS-3sg.SU go up-3sg.SU-TODP „S/he looked up.‟ (lit. „S/he looked and it went up.‟)

7 Note that the object in (46b) is plural, so the second verb does not agree with either the subject or object of the first verb. 18 How to Find Serial Verbs in English

b. hel-ece-b n-oc „to throw down‟ throw-DS-3sg.SU go down-INF c. soo-ece-b l-ec „to straighten out‟ straighten-DS-3sg.SU go-INF Concomitant state: d. bil-ece-b catan-ec „to live forever‟ sit-DS-3sg.SU forever-INF e. hag hew-ece-b cob-oc „to live with sickness‟ sickness hold-DS-3sg.SU walk-INF Resultative state: f. am b-ece-b asan-ec „to fill up completely‟ full come up-DS-3sg.SU complete-INF g. bas-ece-b cal-i h-oc „to give birth‟ (lit. „she pours out pour-DS-3sg.SU appear-(SS) come-INF and s/he comes up‟)

The examples in (49) have the same form as those in (48), i.e. a preceding verb in the series marked for different subject following, but they have a causative meaning. The forms in (48) are considered SVCs because no clause level syntactic material may occur between the predicates. The only thing that can vary is the subject agreement on the verbs. Whereas with the causative forms in (49) free NP arguments and PP obliques can occur, as indicated.

(49) Causative: a. Uqa cul-t-ece-b (ija) (duec=na) nu-ig-a. 3sg let-1sg.DO-DS-3sg.SU (1sg) (dance=to) go-1sg.SU-TODP „He let me go (to the dance).‟ (lit. „He let me and I went (to the dance).‟) b. Uqa od-ad-ece-b (age) asal-eig-a. 3sg do-3pl.DO-DS-3sg.SU (3pl) laugh-3pl.SU-TODP „He made them laugh.‟ (lit. „He did to them and they laughed.‟) c. Uqa ma-t-ece-b (jo=na) bil-ig-a. 3sg say-1sg.DO-DS-3sg.SU (house=in) sit-1sg.SU-TODP „He told me to sit (in the house).‟ (lit. „He told me and I sat (in the house).‟)

(50) has the most interesting examples. In (50a) ija „I‟ is subject of seheli and is marked as direct object of qitia „it hit me‟, but seheli is marked for same subject following. (50b-c) have the same pattern but with ija cagu „I trip‟ and ija toni „I fall‟ as the first verbs.

(50) Involuntary action: a. Ija sehel-i q-it-i-a. 1sg slip-(SS) hit-1sg.DO-3sg.SU-TODP „I slipped and got hurt.‟ (lit. „I slipped and it hit me.‟) b. Ija cag-u q-it-i-a. 1sg cut-(SS) hit-1sg.DO-3sg.SU-TODP „I tripped and got hurt.‟ (lit. „I tripped and it hit me.‟) c. Ija ton-i q-it-i-a. 1sg fall-(SS) hit-1sg.DO-3sg.SU-TODP „I fell and got hurt.‟ (lit. „I fell and it hit me.‟)

The examples from Mandarin (3a), Yoruba (7a), Cantonese (7b), Tok Pisin (7c), Seimat (7d), Akan (36a), Tariana (36b), Obolo (36c), Loniu and Paamese (47) and from Amele (48)- (50) clearly show that an SVC does not necessarily need to have a series of verbs with the John R. Roberts 19 same syntactic subject. This is relevant as we discuss the syntactic structure of SVCs in the next section.

8. The syntactic structure of SVCs

There has been a great deal of discussion in the literature as to how to define an SVC in structural terms. However, most of this discussion has attempted to define SVCs in terms of the generative-type framework of S → NPSU VP. But there are serious difficulties with this approach. Firstly, an SVC prototypically expresses a single complex event and this complexity is expressed in terms of multiple verbs with shared arguments. The shared argument usually has the subject function between the serial verbs, but (7a-d) show that the shared argument can be object of one serial verb and subject of the next, and in some cases (42) the verbs share an object agument as well as the subject argument. Thus the linking is between a verb plus its core arguments (subject and object) and another verb plus its core arguments. In addition, in languages with SVCs the complexity of the event is expressed by verbs rather than by adpositions or adverbials. Secondly, within the confines of generative grammar the only subclausal unit available headed by a verb is the VP. This means that in a generative approach SVCs can only be defined in terms of VP structure. For example, Kroeger (2004:238) illustrates a standard structure of SVCs in a generative framework for SVO languages in (51a) and for SOV languages in (51b).

(51) a. Sranan (SVO languages)

S

NP VP

V′ V′

V NP V NP

Mi teki a.nefi koti a.brede. 1sg take the.knife cut the.bread „I cut the bread with a knife.‟

b. Ịjọ (SOV languages)

S

NP VP

V′ V′

NP V NP V

eri ogidi akɪ-nɪ indi pɛɪ-mɪ. 3sg.M machete take-Ø fish cut.up-PAST „He cut up a fish with a machete.‟ However, using a generative-type structure means that by default verb series which do not share the same subject, such as those illustrated in (7a-d), cannot be classified as “true” SVCs. This is obviously a theory-internal limitation imposed on the analysis of structures that could be classifed as SVCs in all other respects. In this case the linguistic facts of language 20 How to Find Serial Verbs in English are accommodated to meet theoretical expectations. A better approach is to have a theory that meets the linguistic facts. Instead of a hierarchy of syntactic categories, as illustrated in (51), in RRG it is proposed that the sentence consists of a layered structure comprising nucleus < core < clause < sentence. The nucleus is the predicate and typically, though not necessarily, filled with a verb, the core comprises the predicate and its arguments, and the clause comprises the core and peripheral adjuncts. In RRG, conjoining can be at the nuclear, core and clause level and these juncture types are represented schematically in (52). In serial verb constructions it is the core and nuclear levels of juncture that apply. There is no analogue in the layered structure of the clause to the VP constituent which is fundamental to a generative analysis of SVCs.

(52) a. [CORE … [NUC …] … + … [NUC …] …] Nuclear juncture b. [CLAUSE … [CORE …] … + … [CORE …] …] Core juncture c. [SENTENCE … [CLAUSE …] … + … [CLAUSE …] …] Clausal juncture

Another innovation in RRG is that traditional, structural and generative grammar have all operated on the assumption that there are just two linkage or „nexus‟ types, coordination and subordination. However, many of the languages of Papua New Guinea have a phenomenon called clause chaining where many clauses can be strung together linked by switch-reference marking and the tense designation for the clauses is only specified in the final clause of the chain. Roberts (1988) demonstrates from the Amele language that such clause chains with switch-reference marking exhibit properties of both coordination and subordination, and contrast structurally with clear cases of coordination and subordination. Such “intermediate” nexus is called cosubordination in RRG. The three nexus relations can be represented schematically as in Figure 1. Coordination nexus is an abstract linkage relation involving a relationship of equivalence and independence at the level of juncture, subordinate constructions are structurally dependent and cannot occur independently, and cosubordination is basically dependent coordination. It involves constructions that are structurally coordinate but have a syntactic operator dependency occurring between the constructions.

Unit 1 + Unit 2

Coordination

Unit 1 Unit 2

Subordination

Unit 1 Unit 2

Cosubordination shared operator dependence

Figure 1: Nexus types

The nexus relations of coordination, subordination and cosubordination also apply to serial verb constructions. Τhe most common relationship at both the core and nuclear level is that of cosubordination. The distinguishing feature of cosubordination is operator dependence, i.e. obligatory sharing of operators across units in the juncture. That is, the non-matrix unit(s) John R. Roberts 21 must be dependent upon the matrix unit for expression of at least one operator at the level of juncture. The operators relevant to core juncture are negation (internal), modality and core directionals. The operators relevant to nuclear juncture are nuclear directionals, nuclear negation and aspect. However, in SVCs more typically cosubordinate and subordinate relationships occur at the nuclear and core levels of juncture. All of the examples from Mandarin in (53) are instances of core+core juncture. It is possible for there to be distinct aspect operators in each core, as in (53b). Therefore they are not nuclear junctures. It is also possible in some core junctures for there to be distinct modality operators, as in (53c), but not in all, as in (53d′).

(53) Mandarin a. Tā jiāo wŏ xĭe zì 3sg teach 1sg write characters „She teaches me to write characters.‟ b. Wŏ zhèngzài zébèi tā méi bāngzhù nĭ 1sg PROG reproach 3sg NEG.PRFV help 2sg „I am reproaching him for not having helped you.‟ c. Lĭngdăo kĕyĭ mìnglìng nĭ bù kĕyĭ chū-qù leader can/may order 2sg NEG can/may out-go „The leader can order you to not be permitted to go out.‟ d. Wŏ kĕyĭ qù măi shū 1sg can/may go buy book(s) „I can go buy books.‟ d′. *Wŏ kĕyĭ qù néng măi shū 1sg can/may go able buy book(s) „I can go be able/permitted to buy books.‟ The impossibility of having independent core modality operators in (53d) shows that this is a case of core cosubordination. The operator and constituent projections are illustrated in (53′d). Note that in recent RRG development the noun phrase (NP) is replaced by the referential phrase (RP). In generative syntax the NP must be headed by a noun. But RRG syntax is based on syntactic function and the phrase representing a referring argument need not necessarily have a noun as its nucleus. So referential phrase is adopted as a more appropriate representation of this phrase type.

22 How to Find Serial Verbs in English

(53′) Mandarin (SVC: core cosubordination)

SENTENCE

CLAUSE

CORE

CORE CORE

RP NUC NUC RP

PRED PRED

V V

d. Wŏ kĕyĭ qù măi shū 1sg can/may go buy book(s)

V V

NUC NUC

CORE CORE

MOD CORE

CLAUSE

SENTENCE

„I can go buy books.‟

We can also illustrate nuclear cosubordination from Mandarin. In (54a) the postverbal perfective aspect marker le occurs after both of the verbs and has scope over both. It cannot occur between them, as shown by (54b), and the two verbs cannot have distinctive aspects, as shown by (54c). Thus (54a) is an instance of nuclear cosubordination.

(54) Mandarin a. Tā qiāo pò le yī ge fànwăn 3sg hit break PRFV one CL bowl „He broke (by hitting) a ricebowl.‟ b. *Tā qiāo le pò yī ge fànwăn c. *Tā zhèngzài qiāo pò le yī ge fànwăn 3sg PROG hit break PRFV one CL bowl „*He is hitting broke a ricebowl.‟ John R. Roberts 23

(55) Mandarin (SVC: nuclear cosubordination)

SENTENCE

CLAUSE

CORE

RP NUC RP

NUC NUC

PRED PRED

V V

Tā qiāo pò le yī ge fànwăn 3sg hit break PRFV one CL bowl

V V

NUC NUC

NUC ASP

CORE

CLAUSE

SENTENCE

„He broke (by hitting) a ricebowl.‟

The Barai examples in (56) illustrate cosubordinate and subordinate nuclear juncture. In (56a) the verbs kume-fie form a complex nucleus with the subject and object arguments to the left. The verb va „continue‟ has an aspectual function and has scope over the whole nuclear complex. The nuclei are therefore in a cosubordinate relationship. The constituent and operator projections for (56a) for given in (57a). In (56b) the verb furi „finish‟ also has an aspectual function but it only modifies the single verb ufu „cut‟. Therefore the predicating verbs ufu „cut‟, numu „pile‟ and akoe „throw.away‟ are in a coordinate relationship.

(56) Barai (Olson 1981) a. Fu kai fu-one kume-fie va. 3sg friend 3sg-GEN call-listen continue „He continued calling and listening for his friend.‟ b. Fu vazai ufu furi numu akoe. 3sg grass cut finish pile throw.away „He finished cutting, piled and threw away the grass.‟

24 How to Find Serial Verbs in English

(57) Barai

SENTENCE

CLAUSE cosubordinate nuclei

CORE subordinate nucleus

RP RP NUC NUC

NUC NUC

PRED PRED

V V V

a. Fu kai fu-one kume- fie va. 3sg friend 3sg-GEN call- listen continue

V V

NUC NUC

NUC ASP

CORE

CLAUSE

SENTENCE

„He continued calling and listening for his friend.‟

John R. Roberts 25

SENTENCE

CLAUSE coordinate nuclei

CORE subordinate nucleus RP RP NUC NUC NUC NUC

PRED PRED PRED

V V V V

b. Fu vazai ufu furi numu akoe. 3sg grass cut finish pile throw.away

V V V

NUC ASP NUC NUC

CORE

CLAUSE

SENTENCE

„He finished cutting, piled and threw away the grass.‟

(58) presents an RRG analysis of some switch-subject SVCs. The Yoruba example, (58a), is analyzed as a resultative construction which are always nuclear juncture. Foley and Van Valin (1984:266) argue that the unmarked nexus type for nuclear juncture is cosubordination but since there is no aspectual modification in (58a) we treat it as nuclear coordination. The Cantonese example, (58b), is also nuclear juncture. Here the perfective aspect marker le has scope over all the nuclei and it is not possible for the aspect to apply to just one of the nuclei, so it is nuclear cosubordination. The Barai example, (58c), is also nuclear cosubordination since the predicates abe „take‟ and ufu „cut‟ can be modified by furi „finish‟. Thus we see that switch-subject SVCs can have the same type of nuclear juncture as same subject SVCs.

(58) a. Yoruba (switch subject SVC: nuclear coordination)

SENTENCE

CLAUSE

CORE

RP NUC RP NUC

PRED PRO N V V

mo ge igi šubi. 1sg cut tree fall „I cut the tree down.‟ 26 How to Find Serial Verbs in English

b. Cantonese (switch subject SVC: nuclear cosubordination)

SENTENCE

CLAUSE

CORE

RP RP NUC

NUC NUC NUC

PRED PRED PRED PRO V V V

Ngóh diu goh bòh loh heui le. 1sg throw CL ball down go PRFV „I threw the ball down.‟

c. Barai (switch subject SVC: nuclear cosubordination)

SENTENCE

CLAUSE

CORE

RP RP RP NUC NUC

NUC NUC

PRED PRED

V V V

fu burede ije sime abe ufu furi. 3sg bread the knife take cut finish „He finished cutting the bread with the knife.‟

9. SVCs in English

In §1 we said that serial verb constructions occur in languages found in West Africa, main- land Southeast Asia, New Guinea and the Pacific Islands, and in many pidgin and creole languages. But SVCs can also be found in English—if you know what you are looking for. First of all, a prototypical SVC contains two or more verbs that are fully lexical verbs. This is important in distinguishing verb groupings that are not an SVC. For example, (59a) has two verbs juxtaposed, (59b) has three and (59c) has four. Are they SVCs? The answer is, no, because only the final verb in each set is a lexical verb. The verbs preceding the lexical verb are supporting or auxiliary verbs. They have a grammatical meaning rather than a lexical meaning as shown. John R. Roberts 27

(59) a. It is raining. be …-ing [progressive aspect] b. You have been overcharged. have … -en [perfective aspect] be …-ed [passive voice] c. It must have been raining. must [modal verb] have … -en [perfective aspect] be …-ing [progressive aspect]

Auxiliary verbs in English, such as be, have, must, etc. also have morphosyntactic properties that are different from lexical verbs. (60a-a′) shows that an auxiliary verb can invert with the subject NP to express a yes-no question, but this is not the case with a lexical verb, as shown by (60b-b′). (61b-b′) shows that a lexical verb on its own requires the presence of the supporting verb do to express a yes-no question, whereas (61a-a′) shows that an auxiliary verb does not require do-support. (62a′) shows that when an auxiliary verb is present in the verb group negation is expressed by not following the auxiliary, and (62a′′) shows that the negator can be contracted to -n’t and affixed to the auxiliary. (62b-b′′) shows that none of this can apply to a lexical verb. Thus verb series in English involving auxiliaries preceding a lexical verb are not considered serial verb constructions.

(60) Subject inversion: a. It is raining. a′. Is it raining? b. It rains here all the time. b′. *Rains it here all the time?

(61) Do support: a. It must have been raining. a′. *Does it must have been raining? b. It rains here all the time. b′. Does it rain here all the time?

(62) Negation: a. You have overcharged me. a′. You have not overcharged me. a′′. You haven‟t overcharged me. b. You overcharged me. b′. *You overcharged not me b′′. *You overchargedn‟t me

However, English does have a verbal construction that meets the criteria of serial verb constructions as set out in (17). Collins Cobuild English Grammar (1990:184-193) (henceforth Cobuild) describes how verbs can be used in a clause in English to talk about two actions or states which are closely linked. They call this structure a „phase‟, i.e. a linked sequence of events. The linked actions can be performed by the same participant, as in (63), or by different participants, as in (64). In the examples in (63) the subject is shared by both verbs and in (64) the object of the first verb functions semantically as the subject of the second verb. This is a typical SVC arrangement. The events are also closely linked. The second verb is needed because the first verb does not provide enough information on its own. For example, I want does not give enough information to be a useful statement, but I want to talk to you does. Again this is typical of an SVC. Two (or more) verbs describe a unified event.

(63) Phase verbs with same participant: a. Mary stopped crying. b. Sheila was prevented from going to work. c. James wants to see a movie. 28 How to Find Serial Verbs in English

d. Coffee helped keep him alert. e. Those very close to the blast risk being burned.

(64) Phase verbs with different participants: a. The attendant stopped him falling. b. The new law prevents people from smoking in public places. c. The government encourages people to stop smoking. d. He watched her play tennis. e. Those people got burned by the blast.

In the phase constructions in (63) and (64) all the verbs in the series are lexical. The morphosyntactic properties of auxiliaries do not apply to the first verb in a phase construction, as shown by (65).

(65) Phase verbs are not auxiliaries: a. *Stopped Mary crying? [do not invert with subject] b. *Mary stoppedn‟t crying. [do not take negator contraction]

The first verb in a phase structure is the main verb of the syntactic structure. It is usually finite and inflects for tense and agrees in number with the subject of the clause. The second verb in the series is always non-finite, which means that it does not inflect for tense. There are five non-finite verb forms that are used for the second verb in phase:

(66) a. the bare present participle (63a) and (64a) b. the from-present participle (63b) and (64b)8 c. the to-infinitive (63c) and (64c) d. the bare infinitive (63d) and (64d) e. the past participle (63e) and (64e)

Cobuild also says that there are restictions as to which finite verb can be used with the different non-finite verb forms. Some finite verbs are used with the present participle, but not with a to-infinitive, e.g. admit, defer, endure, loathe, report; some verbs are used with a to- infinitive, but not a present participle, e.g. ache, decide, hesitate, plan, want; and some finite verbs are usually used in the passive when followed by a to-infinitive, e.g. allege, discover, prove, understand. We noted in §4 on single event interpretation that collocational restrictions on verbs in a series is a feature of SVCs. Before proceeding, we need to establish what is the syntactic status of the to-infinitive constituents in (63c) and (64c). In Minimalism (e.g. Hornstein, et. al. 2005) they are treated as subordinate VPs. However, Van Valin and LaPolla (1997:469-472) show that there is considerable evidence that the infinitival constructions in (63c) and (64c) are not instances of subordination; that is, these infinitives are not complements akin to that-clauses and gerunds. For example, they do not cleft like that-clauses and gerunds, and if they occur with a verb which can passivize, gerunds and that-clauses can occur as subject of the passive but the infinitive cannot. This is illustrated in the examples in (67). Also in the sentences in (68) with want, the simple NP complement can be clefted and can occur as the subject of a passive, just like the gerund and that-clause in (67), while the to-infinitive cannot.

(67) a. Leslie regretted [Kim‟s losing the election]. a′. [Kim‟s losing the election] was regretted by Leslie. a′′. It was [Kim‟s losing the election] that Leslie regretted. b. Mary regretted [slapping Bill] the most. b′. [Slapping Bill] was regretted by Mary the most.

8 Cobuild omits the from-present participle form but it belongs to the paradigm of phase verb cons- tructions. John R. Roberts 29

b′′. It was [slapping Bill] that Mary regretted the most. c. Leslie regretted [that Kim lost the election]. c′. [That Kim lost the election] was regretted by Leslie. c′′. It was [that Kim lost the election] that Leslie regretted.

(68) a. Pat wanted [to open the door]. a′. Pat wanted [a new car]. b. *It was [to open the door] that Pat wanted. b′. It was [a new car] that Pat wanted. c. *[To open the door] was wanted by Pat. c′. [A new car] was wanted by Pat.

That-clauses and gerunds are canonical examples of subordination because they can occur as the subject of a passive and can be clefted, the same as simple NP complements. Therefore since to-infinitives do not behave this way syntactically, they cannot be subordinate. Hence constructions like (63c) James wants to see a movie and (64) The government encourages people to stop smoking are a non-subordinate nexus type. This is an example of a mismatch between syntax and semantics. The logical structure of the infinitival core is a semantic argument of the verb in the matrix core at the semantic level, but in the syntax it is not treated as a core argument. The logical structure of James wants to see a movie would be want′ (Jamesi, [[do′ (xi, Ø)] CAUSE [see′ (xi, movie)]]), in which the logical structure for see is a semantic argument of the matrix verb want. Such constructions also have the property of sharing an argument semantically between linked cores. We can demonstrate that the linked cores in phase verb constructions are also in a non-subordinate relationship. A nominal complement of the verb can be passivized or made the focus of a clefted construction, as in (69a-a′′), (70a-a′′) and (71a-a′′) for example. However, as can be seen from (69b-b′′), (70b-b′′) and (71b-b′′) the corresponding phasal verb cannot be passivized or clefted. Thus all the phasal verbs are linked in a non-subordinate syntactic relationship, not only the to-infinitive forms.

(69) a. Mary stopped the car. a′. The car was stopped by Mary. a′′. It was the car that Mary stopped. b. Mary stopped crying. b′. *Crying was stopped by Mary. b′′. *It was crying that Mary stopped.

(70) a. James wanted an i-phone. a′. An i-phone was wanted by James. a′′. It was an i-phone that James wanted. b. James wants to see a movie. b′. *To see a movie is wanted by James. b′′. *It is to see a movie that James wants.

(71) a. Dave helped the old lady. a′. The old lady was helped by Dave. a′′. It was the old lady that Dave helped. b. Coffee helped keep him alert. b′. *Keep him alert was helped by coffee. b′′. *It was keep him alert that coffee helped.

As we stated above, the structure of phase verb constructions in English is finite+nonfinite verb. Syntactically, the first verb is the head of the construction as only this verb takes the 30 How to Find Serial Verbs in English tense and aspect marking. However, semantically the nonfinite verb may describe the main state of affairs in a complex event. For example, some of the verbs that collocate with a present participle describe a facet of the temporal frame in which a state of affairs obtains. In (63b) stop expresses the termination of the event of speaking. Further examples are given in (72). The verbs begin and start express the onset of an event, continue and keep express the continuation of an event, and finish and stop express the termination of an event. The semantic representations for the temporal frames are respectively, BECOME for the onset of an event (72a′′)9, CONTINUE for the continuation of an event (72b′′), TERMINATE for the termination of an event (72c′′). The passive (69b′) and clefted (69b′′) constructions do not express the temporal frame of TERMINATE that is expressed in (69b).

(72) a. Mary began crying. a′. Mary started crying. a′′. BECOME (do′ (Mary, [cry′ (Mary)]))

b. Mary continued crying. b′. Mary kept crying. b′′. CONTINUE (do′ (Mary, [cry′ (Mary)]))

c. Mary finished crying. c′. Mary stopped crying. c′′. TERMINATE (do′ (Mary, [cry′ (Mary)]))

In (64a) the verb stop expresses a temporal frame for the event of „him falling‟. Here one actor acts upon another in a causative event. Thus we need to add „x CAUSE y‟ to the logical structure. This is given in (73a′). Fall is an accomplishment verb. An accomplishment is a process change of state with an end result. Some further examples of causative events are given in (73b-d) with the appropriate logical structures.

(73) a. The attendant stopped him falling. a′. [do′ (attendant, Ø)] CAUSE [TERMINATE BECOME (fallen′ (him))]

b. James started Mary crying. b′. [do′ (James, Ø)] CAUSE [INGR (do′ (Mary, [cry′ (Mary)]))]

c. James kept Mary waiting. c′. [do′ (James, Ø)] CAUSE [CONTINUE (do′ (Mary, [wait′ (Mary)]))]

d. James stopped Mary crying. d′. [do′ (James, Ø)] CAUSE [TERMINATE (do′ (Mary, [cry′ (Mary)]))]

The other phase construction where the non-finite verb is a present participle is the from- present participle form, as illustrated in (63b) and (64b). In both (63b) and (64b) the function of from is to specify that the event described by the present participle did not happen. In (63b) the proposition is that Sheila did not go to work and in (64b) it is that people do not smoke in public places. The logical structures for (63b) and (64b) are given in (74). The causee in (74a′) is unspecified. The logical operator NOT represents the meaning of from.10 Notice from (74c-c′) and (74d-d′) that verbs such as keep and stop do not have their temporal frame meaning when in construction with the from-present participle.

9 The onset of an event described by begin and start is not punctual since we can say slowly begin/ start crying. So the logical operator here is BECOME rather than INGR. 10 Quirk et. al. (1985:678) say the meaning of the negative locative preposition away from is „not at‟. John R. Roberts 31

(74) a. Sheila was prevented from going to work. a′. [do′ (Ø, Ø)] CAUSE [NOT (do′ (Sheila, [go′ (Sheila) & INGR be-at′ (work, Sheila)])]

b. The new law prevents people from smoking in public places. b′. [do′ (law, Ø)] CAUSE [NOT be-in′ (public place, (do′ (people, [smoke′ (people)])))

c. James kept Mary from waiting. c′. [do′ (James, Ø)] CAUSE [NOT do′ (Mary, [wait′ (Mary)])]

d. James stopped Mary from crying. d′. [do′ (James, Ø)] CAUSE [NOT (do′ (Mary, [cry′ (Mary)]))]

The examples in (74c) and (74d) also illustrate another function of from in the phase verb constructions which is discussed in Van Valin and LaPolla (1997:471-472). In (73c) the event described by keep occurs within the time frame of the event described by wait, and in (73d) the event described by stop occurs within the time frame of the event described by cry. There is a temporal overlap between the events described by the first verb in the phase construction and those described by the second verb. Now contrast the same examples in (74c) and (74d) where from is added. Here there is no temporal overlap of events because in this case the events described by the second verb did not happen. The same contrast applies to the to-infinitive forms in (63c) and (64c) and the bare infinitive forms in (63d) and (64d). Some examples of verbs that link to a to-infinitive are given in (75) and of verbs that link to a bare infinitive in (76). For the verbs linked with to the events described by each verb do not overlap. But for the verbs followed by a bare infinitive the events described clearly overlap temporally.

(75) Verbs that link to a to-infinitive: X agreed to go X decided to go X waited to go X asked Y to go X wanted Y to go X helped Y to go

(76) Verbs that link to a bare infinitive: X heard Y sing X noticed Y arrive X watched Y dance X helped Y walk

The verb help can occur either with a to-infinitive or a bare infinitive. This verb further illustrates the difference that the presence or absence of to makes to the construction. In (77a) the interpretation is that Sam participated in the event of building the new garage. Hence the oddness of „?by loaning him money‟. In (77b) with to the help event need not overlap with the build event, so it is acceptable to say that Sam helped in some other way than by participating in the building of the garage.

(77) a. Sam helped his neighbour build his new garage (by pouring the foundations/?by loaning him money). b. Sam helped his neighbour to build his new garage (by pouring the foundations/by loaning him money). 32 How to Find Serial Verbs in English

Therefore it appears there is a contrast between when the linking elements to or from are present and when they are absent. Their absence indicates that the linked events necessarily overlap temporally. Whereas when they are present the default interpretation is that the linked events do not overlap temporally, i.e. they are sequential. This may be summarized in (78).

(78) a. Phase verb constructions with zero marker on linked unit: [+temporal overlap]. b. Phase verb constructions with to/from marker on linked unit: [−temporal overlap].

We saw with the examples in (72) that in a complex event expressed by a phase verb structure the first verb can modify the meaning of the event. In (72) the first verb expresses the temporal frame for the event. It is also possible for the first verb in a phase structure to specify the spatial frame for an event. In (79a) lay specifies the position of the child for the event of sleeping, in (79b) sat specifies the position of the teacher for the event of reading, and in (79c) stood specifies the position of the waitress for the event of talking. Since the posture verbs, lay, sit and stand require progressive aspect (see (59)) to express present tense they are activity verbs rather than stative verbs.

(79) a. The child lay sleeping. a′. do′ (child, [lay′ (child)])  asleep′ (child) b. The teacher sat reading. b′. do′ (teacher, [sit′ (teacher)])  do′ (teacher, [read′ (teacher)]) c. The waitress stood talking. c′. do′ (waitress, [stand′ (waitress)])  do′ (waitress, [talk′ (waitress)])

It is also possible for the second verb in a phase structure to modify the meaning of the complex event. In (80a) and (b) the bare infinitives of scream and run give the meaning that these events are completed within the event frame of the preceding perception verb. Whereas when the present participial forms are used in (80a′) and (b′) the events of „scream‟ and „run‟ are not completed within the event frame of the perception verbs.

(80) a. They heard her scream. [perfective event] a′. They heard her screaming. [imperfective event] a′′. hear′ (they, [do′ (her, [scream′ (her)]) b. They saw him run. [perfective event] b′. They saw him running. [imperfective event] b′′. see′ (they, [do′ (him, [run′ (him)])

In (81a) and (b) the motion verb is modified by the following verb, which expresses the manner in which the motion is carried out. The logical structures of (81a′) and (b′) specify two events occurring concurrently. This is the same as in (79a′,b′,c′). However, in (79) the first verb specifies the spatial frame of the event and is the modifying verb, whereas in (81) it is the second verb that specifies this modification of the complex event.

(81) a. The girls came running out. a′. do′ (girls, [come′ (girls)  do′ (girls, [run′ (girls) & INGR be-out′ (girls) b. Bill entered the room skipping. b′. do′ (Bill, [enter′ (Bill, room)])  do′ (Bill, [skip′ (Bill)

With regard to the marking of tense, aspect, modality and negation in phase verb cons- tructions, the full range of these categories can only be marked on the first finite verb, as illustrated in (82)-(86). As a clause operator, tense has default scope over both the phase verbs. As nuclear operators, progressive and perfective aspects only have scope over the first verb. Modality operators, such as must, and the negation operator are core operators and they may have scope over just the first verb, in which case it is a core coordination nexus, or they John R. Roberts 33 may have scope over both the verbs, in which case it is a core cosubordination nexus. Only negation can be marked independently on the second nonfinite verb, as illustrated in (87).

(82) a. the bare present participle: stopped crying. [past tense]  is stopping crying. [prog aspect]  Mary  has stopped crying. [prfv aspect]  must stop crying. [modal]  didn’t stop crying. [negation] 

(83) b. the from-present participle: prevented people from going to work. [past tense]  is preventing people from going to work. [prog aspect]  The law  has prevented people from going to work. [prfv aspect]  must prevent people from going to work. [modal]  didn’t prevent people from going to work. [negation] 

(84) c. the to-infinitive: encourages people to stop smoking. [present tense]  is encouraging people to stop smoking. [prog aspect]  The government  has encouraged people to stop smoking. [prfv aspect]  must encourage people to stop smoking. [modal]  didn’t encourage people to stop smoking. [negation] 

(85) d. the bare infinitive: helps keep him alert. [present tense]  is helping keep him alert. [prog aspect]  Coffee  has helped keep him alert. [prfv aspect]  must help keep him alert. [modal]  didn’t help keep him alert. [negation] 

(86) e. the past participle: got burned by the blast. [past tense]  are getting burned by the blast. [prog aspect]  Those people  have got burned by the blast. [prfv aspect]  must have got burned by the blast. [modal]  didn’t get burned by the blast. [negation] 

(87) a. From today he has started not smoking. b. Cheap booze encourages people to not quit drinking.

Table 1 compares the properties of SVCs as given in (17) with the properties of phase verbs described in this section. From this we see that phase verbs in English have the same semantic and syntactic properties as serial verb constructions found in Creole languages, West Africa, mainland Southeast Asia, New Guinea and the Pacific Islands. We can conclude therefore that phase verbs in English are a type of serial verb construction.

34 How to Find Serial Verbs in English

Table 1: Properties of English phase verbs compared to SVC properties

SVC properties English phase verb properties

A prototypical SVC contains two or Phase verbs are a combination of fully lexical verbs; more morphologically independent none of which is an auxiliary, see (65). The first verb verbs within the same clause, in the series is finite and the second nonfinite, see neither of which is an auxiliary. (66) for the different types of nonfinite forms. In SVCs there are no conjunctions The second nonfinite verb is not subordinate to the or other overt markers of first verb, see (69)-(71). The to in the to-infinitive subordination or coordination form and the from in the from-participle form do not separating the two verbs. indicate a subordinate or coordinate relationship. Instead the presence of to and from indicate no temporal overlap between the events described by the first and second verbs. Compare (75) and (76) for to and (73) and (74) for from. Additionally, from indicates that the event described by the from- participle verb did not occur. The serial verbs belong to a single Phase verbs belong to a single intonation pattern. intonation contour, with no pause separating them. The entire SVC refers to a single Phase verbs describe two actions or states which are (possibly complex) event. closely linked. The nonfinite verb may describe the main event and be modified by the preceding finite verb, see (72)-(73) and (79). Vice versa, the finite verb may describe the main event and be modified by the following nonfinite verb, see (81). A true SVC may contain only one Phase verbs comprise finite verb + nonfinite verb. specification for tense, aspect, The nonfinite form may be the infinitive or a past or modality, negation, etc., though present participle. Only the finite verb is marked for these features are sometimes tense. redundantly marked on both verbs. The two verbs in the SVC share at Phase verbs may have a single subject argument least one semantic argument. shared by both verbs, as in (63), or an object of the first verb interpreted as subject of the second verb, as in (64). Obligatory non-coreference: a true Where a non-reflexive pronoun occurs in a phase SVC will not contain two overt NPs verb construction it cannot be coreferential with any which refer to the same argument. other argument in the construction. E.g. in he stopped teasing him, he and him cannot be coreferential. A prototypical SVC contains only Phase verb constructions may only contain one one grammatical subject. grammatical subject.

Finally, structural representations are provided in (63)ʹ and (64)ʹ for some of the English serial verb constructions given in (63) and (64). The SVCs in (63)ʹ are all cosubordination core constructions and the SVCs in (64)ʹ are all coordinate core constructions.

John R. Roberts 35

(63)ʹ SENTENCE

CLAUSE

CORE

CORE CORE

RP NUC NUC

PRED PRED

V V

a. Mary stopped crying.

(63)ʹ SENTENCE

CLAUSE

CORE

CORE CLM CORE

RP NUC NUC PP

PRED PRED

V V

b. Sheila was prevented from going to work.

(63)ʹ SENTENCE

CLAUSE

CORE

CORE CORE

RP NUC NUC RP

PRED NUC NUC

PRED PRED

V V ADJ

d. Coffee helped keep him alert.

36 How to Find Serial Verbs in English

(64)ʹ SENTENCE

CLAUSE

CORE CORE

RP NUC RP NUC

PRED PRED

V V

a. The attendant stopped him falling.

(64)ʹ SENTENCE

CLAUSE

CORE CORE

RP NUC CLM CORE CORE

PRED RP NUC NUC

PRED PRED

V V V

c. The government encourages people to stop smoking.

(64)ʹ SENTENCE

CLAUSE

CORE CORE

RP NUC RP NUC RP

PRED PRED

V V

d. He watched her play tennis.

John R. Roberts 37

Abbreviations ACC accusative NONSG nonsingular ART article NUC nucleus ASP aspect OBJ object CAUS causative PAST past tense CL classifier PL plural CLM clause linkage marker POSR possessor CONT continuous PRED predicate DO direct object PRFV perfective DS different subject following PRO pronoun EX(CL) exclusive PROG progressive FUT future tense REAL realis GEN genitive RECP recent past HABIT habitual RED reduplication HABP past habitual REMP remote past tense INF infinitive RP referential phrase INGR ingressive SS same subject following IRR irrealis SU subject LOC locative TODP today‟s past tense MOD modality TRANS transitive NEG negative V verb

1 first person du dual number 2 second person pl plural number 3 third person M masculine gender sg singular number F feminine gender

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