Serial Verb Constructions in English and Chinese
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Load more
Recommended publications
-
Serial Verb Constructions in Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara
The ITB Journal Volume 14 Issue 1 Article 3 2013 Serial Verb Constructions in Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara Conor Pyle Trinity College Dublin Follow this and additional works at: https://arrow.tudublin.ie/itbj Part of the Anthropological Linguistics and Sociolinguistics Commons Recommended Citation Pyle, Conor (2013) "Serial Verb Constructions in Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara," The ITB Journal: Vol. 14: Iss. 1, Article 3. doi:10.21427/D7SM9Z Available at: https://arrow.tudublin.ie/itbj/vol14/iss1/3 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Ceased publication at ARROW@TU Dublin. It has been accepted for inclusion in The ITB Journal by an authorized administrator of ARROW@TU Dublin. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 License Serial Verb Constructions in Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara Conor Pyle Trinity College Dublin ABSTRACT This study looks at serial verb constructions in two dialects of the Western Desert language of Australia, Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara. With a Role and Reference Grammar analysis, the paradigm allows us to look at the constituents for logical structure, and marking of macroroles. We find that core and peripheral argument phrases are marked by case with ergative nominal marking and accusative pronoun marking. Dependent marking is on the phrase level and there is no verb agreement for number, gender or person marking on the verb. Simple verbs use endings for tense, aspect, mood and status. The operator projection shows the nature of linkage between the verbs involved in multi verb structures. -
Serial Verb Constructions Revisited: a Case Study from Koro
Serial Verb Constructions Revisited: A Case Study from Koro By Jessica Cleary-Kemp A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Linguistics in the Graduate Division of the University of California, Berkeley Committee in charge: Associate Professor Lev D. Michael, Chair Assistant Professor Peter S. Jenks Professor William F. Hanks Summer 2015 © Copyright by Jessica Cleary-Kemp All Rights Reserved Abstract Serial Verb Constructions Revisited: A Case Study from Koro by Jessica Cleary-Kemp Doctor of Philosophy in Linguistics University of California, Berkeley Associate Professor Lev D. Michael, Chair In this dissertation a methodology for identifying and analyzing serial verb constructions (SVCs) is developed, and its application is exemplified through an analysis of SVCs in Koro, an Oceanic language of Papua New Guinea. SVCs involve two main verbs that form a single predicate and share at least one of their arguments. In addition, they have shared values for tense, aspect, and mood, and they denote a single event. The unique syntactic and semantic properties of SVCs present a number of theoretical challenges, and thus they have invited great interest from syntacticians and typologists alike. But characterizing the nature of SVCs and making generalizations about the typology of serializing languages has proven difficult. There is still debate about both the surface properties of SVCs and their underlying syntactic structure. The current work addresses some of these issues by approaching serialization from two angles: the typological and the language-specific. On the typological front, it refines the definition of ‘SVC’ and develops a principled set of cross-linguistically applicable diagnostics. -
Two Types of Serial Verb Constructions in Korean: Subject-Sharing and Index-Sharing
Two Types of Serial Verb Constructions in Korean: Subject-Sharing and Index-Sharing Juwon Lee The University of Texas at Austin Proceedings of the 21st International Conference on Head-Driven Phrase Structure Grammar University at Buffalo Stefan Muller¨ (Editor) 2014 CSLI Publications pages 135–155 http://csli-publications.stanford.edu/HPSG/2014 Lee, Juwon. 2014. Two Types of Serial Verb Constructions in Korean: Subject- Sharing and Index-Sharing. In Muller,¨ Stefan (Ed.), Proceedings of the 21st In- ternational Conference on Head-Driven Phrase Structure Grammar, University at Buffalo, 135–155. Stanford, CA: CSLI Publications. Abstract In this paper I present an account for the lexical passive Serial Verb Constructions (SVCs) in Korean. Regarding the issue of how the arguments of an SVC are realized, I propose two hypotheses: i) Korean SVCs are broadly classified into two types, subject-sharing SVCs where the subject is structure-shared by the verbs and index- sharing SVCs where only indices of semantic arguments are structure-shared by the verbs, and ii) a semantic argument sharing is a general requirement of SVCs in Korean. I also argue that an argument composition analysis can accommodate such the new data as the lexical passive SVCs in a simple manner compared to other alternative derivational analyses. 1. Introduction* Serial verb construction (SVC) is a structure consisting of more than two component verbs but denotes what is conceptualized as a single event, and it is an important part of the study of complex predicates. A central issue of SVC is how the arguments of the component verbs of an SVC are realized in a sentence. -
The Serial Verb Construction in Chinese: a Tenacious Myth and a Gordian Knot Waltraud Paul
The serial verb construction in Chinese: A tenacious myth and a Gordian knot Waltraud Paul To cite this version: Waltraud Paul. The serial verb construction in Chinese: A tenacious myth and a Gordian knot. Lin- guistic Review, De Gruyter, 2008, 25 (3-4), pp.367-411. 10.1515/TLIR.2008.011. halshs-01574253 HAL Id: halshs-01574253 https://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/halshs-01574253 Submitted on 12 Aug 2017 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. The serial verb construction in Chinese: A tenacious myth and a Gordian knot1 WALTRAUD PAUL Abstract The term “construction” is not a label to be assigned randomly, but presup- poses a structural analysis with an associated set of syntactic and semantic properties. Based on this premise, the term “serial verb construction” (SVC) as currently used in Chinese linguistics will be shown to simply refer to any multi- verb surface string i.e,. to subsume different constructions. The synchronic consequence of this situation is that SVCs in Chinese linguistics are not com- mensurate with SVCs in, e.g., Niger-Congo languages, whence the futility at this stage to search for a “serialization parameter” deriving the differences between so-called “serializing” and “non-serializing” languages. -
Serial Verb Constructions: Argument Structural Uniformity and Event Structural Diversity
SERIAL VERB CONSTRUCTIONS: ARGUMENT STRUCTURAL UNIFORMITY AND EVENT STRUCTURAL DIVERSITY A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE DEPARTMENT OF LINGUISTICS AND THE COMMITTEE ON GRADUATE STUDIES OF STANFORD UNIVERSITY IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Melanie Owens November 2011 © 2011 by Melanie Rachel Owens. All Rights Reserved. Re-distributed by Stanford University under license with the author. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution- Noncommercial 3.0 United States License. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/us/ This dissertation is online at: http://purl.stanford.edu/db406jt2949 ii I certify that I have read this dissertation and that, in my opinion, it is fully adequate in scope and quality as a dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Beth Levin, Primary Adviser I certify that I have read this dissertation and that, in my opinion, it is fully adequate in scope and quality as a dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Joan Bresnan I certify that I have read this dissertation and that, in my opinion, it is fully adequate in scope and quality as a dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Vera Gribanov Approved for the Stanford University Committee on Graduate Studies. Patricia J. Gumport, Vice Provost Graduate Education This signature page was generated electronically upon submission of this dissertation in electronic format. An original signed hard copy of the signature page is on file in University Archives. iii Abstract Serial Verb Constructions (SVCs) are constructions which contain two or more verbs yet behave in every grammatical respect as if they contain only one. -
Title Serial Verb Construction in Cantonese-Speaking
View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by HKU Scholars Hub Serial verb construction in Cantonese-speaking preschool Title children with and without language impairment Author(s) Chan, Ka-yee; 陳嘉儀 Chan, K. [陳嘉儀]. (2014). Serial verb construction in Cantonese- speaking preschool children with and without language Citation impairment. (Thesis). University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong SAR. Issued Date 2014 URL http://hdl.handle.net/10722/238921 The author retains all proprietary rights, (such as patent rights) and the right to use in future works.; This work is licensed under Rights a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. SERIAL VERB CONSTRUCTION IN CANTONESE PRESCHOOLER 1 Serial Verb Construction in Cantonese-Speaking Preschool Children With and Without Language Impairment CHAN Ka Yee A dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Bachelor of Science (Speech and Hearing Sciences), The University of Hong Kong, June 30, 2014. SERIAL VERB CONSTRUCTION IN CANTONESE PRESCHOOLER 2 List of Abbreviations CL Noun Classifier LP Linking Particle PERT Perfective Aspect Marker V-PRT Verbal Particle SERIAL VERB CONSTRUCTION IN CANTONESE PRESCHOOLER 3 Serial Verb Construction in Cantonese-Speaking Preschool Children With and Without Language Impairment CHAN Ka Yee Abstract Serial verb construction (SVC) is very productive in Cantonese and it develops actively in the preschool years. Little is known about the development of SVC of children with language impairment (LI). Forty-four kindergarten children with and without LI, aged between 4 to 6 years, participated in the study. This study made use of a video description task to examine the developmental and error patterns of five subtypes of SVC, which were directional, instrumental, benefactive, purpose and dative SVC. -
Focus on Inherent Complement Verbs and Serial Verb Constructions
REPUBLIC OF CAMEROON RÉPUBLIQUE DU CAMEROUN Peace-Work-Fatherland Paix-Travail-Patrie ********* ********* UNIVERSITÉ DE YAOUNDÉ I THE UNIVERSITY OF YAOUNDE I ***** **************** FACULTÉ DES ARTS, LETTRES ET FACULTY OF ARTS, LETTERS AND SCIENCES HUMAINES SOCIAL SCIENCES ***** ***** CENTRE DE RECHERCHE ET DE POSTGRADUATE SCHOOL FOR ARTS, FORMATION DOCTORALE EN ARTS, LANGUAGES AND CULTURES LANGUES ET CULTURES ***** ***** DOCTORAL RESEARCH UNIT FOR UNITÉ DE RECHERCHE ET DE FORMATION LANGUAGES AND LITERATURE DOCTORALE EN LANGUES ET ***** LITTÉRATURE DEPARTMENT OF AFRICAN LANGUAGES ***** AND LINGUISTICS DÉPARTEMENT DE LANGUES AFRICAINES ***** ET LINGUISTIQUE ***** THE MORPHOSYNTAX OF GHƆMÁLÁʼ VERBS: FOCUS ON INHERENT COMPLEMENT VERBS AND SERIAL VERB CONSTRUCTIONS. A dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Award of a Master’s Degree in Linguistics By Minette Corrine MOKAM FOKO Bachelor’s Degree in Linguistics Matricule : 13J396 Under the supervision of Edmond BILOA Professor May 2020 i DEDICATION To The almighty God, CHOUDJA Marc family, FOKO Jean family. i ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This research work could never be achieved without the assistance of many people who deserve my deepest gratitude. I am grateful to Prof. Edmond BILOA, my supervisor, who follows up the writing of this dissertation despite his busy time table and the amount of scientific works he has to supervise each year. To be honest, it is really very hard to turn into words how helpful was Prof. BILOA in the realization of this work. Each time that I have to give up due to daily difficulties, as a mentor, he was there to hammer me to never give up. Thank you Prof! My deepest appreciation also goes to Prof. -
ED373534.Pdf
DOCUMENT RESUME ED 373 534 FL 022 094 AUTHOR Bodomo, Adams B. TITLE Complex Predicates and Event Structure: An Integrated Analysis of Serial Verb Constructions in the Mabia Languages of West Africa. Working Papers in Linguistics No. 20. INSTITUTION Trondheim Univ. (Norway). Dept. of Linguistics. REPORT NO ISSN-0802-3956 PUB DATE 93 NOTE 148p.; Thesis, University of Trondheim, Norway. Map on page 110 may not reproduce well. PUB TYPE Dissertations/Theses Undetermined (040) EDRS PRICE MF01/PC06 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS *African Languages; Foreign Countries; *Grammar; *Language Patterns; Language Research; Language Variation; *Semantics; Structural Analysis (Linguistics); *Syntax; Uncommonly Taught Languages; *Verbs IDENTIFIERS Africa (West); Dagari ABSTRACT An integrated analysis of the syntax and semantics of serial verb constructions (SVCs) in a group of West African languages is presented. With data from Dagadre and closest relatives, a structural definition for SVCs is developed (two or more lexical verbs that share grammatical categories within a clause), establishing SVCs as complex predicates. Based on syntactic theories, a formal phrase structure is adapted forrepresentation of SVCs, interpreting each as a product of a series of VP adjunctions. Within this new, non-derivational, pro-expansionary approach to grammar, several principles are developed to license grammatical information flow and verbal ordering priority. Based on semantic theories, a functional account of SVCs is developed: that the actions represented by the verbs in the SVC together express a single, complex event. A new model of e. -ant structure for allconstructional transitions is proposed, and it is illustrated how two types of these transitions, West African SVCs and Scandinavian small clause constructions(SCCs), conform to this proposed event structure. -
Serial Verbs in Ibibio
Kansas Working Papers in Linguistics, Vol. 35 (2014), 129-148 Serial Verbs in Ibibio Travis Major University of Kansas 1. Introduction This paper investigates serial verb constructions (SVC) in Ibibio, a Niger-Congo language spoken in Nigeria12. Basic examples of SVCs in Ibibio are exemplified in (1) below: (1) a. (ǹdùfò) è-má é-dí wùó3 2PL.SUBJ 2PL.SUBJ-PST 2PL-go come ‘You (PL) arrived.’ b. Ekpe á-má á-tèm àdésì á-díyá Ekpe 3SG-PST 3SG-cook rice 3SG-eat ‘Ekpe cooked and ate rice.’ Notice that there are two verbs in the constructions above. The first two verbs combine to form complex verb which means ‘arrive’ in English. The second example forms a complex predicate meaning ‘cook and eat’. Both verbs share the same subject and same object. The constructions looked at in this paper typically surface as V1 V2 (Obj) or V1 (Obj) V2. The ultimate goal in this paper is to detail the morpho-syntactic and semantic properties of SVCs in Ibibio by using criteria for SVCs established for other languages. In section 2, I provide some background information on the typology and syntax of Ibibio that is relevant for the discussion of serial verbs. Section 3 defines and describes the property of light verbs in the literature. This includes discussion of SVCs in general, the syntactic properties, the semantic properties. The purpose of this section is to show that the constructions in Ibibio are truly SVCs across both syntactic and semantic grounds and also to fit Ibibio in with the typological literature on SVCs. -
On the Structure and Derivation of Twi Multi-Verb Constructions: Serialization Despite Multiple Clauses Cansada Martin ABSTRACT
On the Structure and Derivation of Twi Multi-Verb Constructions: Serialization Despite Multiple Clauses Cansada Martin ABSTRACT In this paper I discuss multi-verb constructions in Asante Twi. Of particular interest are sentences containing two verbs, but lacking an overt coordinator. (1) Ama wɔɔ bayerɛ no dii aburo no Ama pound-PST yam DET eat-PST corn DET ‘Ama pounded the yam and ate the corn.’ (2) Kofi kyii akɔla no bɔɔ no K catch-PST child DET beat-PST 3rd.SG ‘Kofi caught the child and beat it.’ (3) Ama wɔɔ bayerɛ no dii yɛ Ama pound-pst yam DET eat-pst do ‘Ama pounded the yam and ate it.’ Such sentences have been widely documented cross-linguistically and are often identified as Covert Coordination (CC) when two overt objects are present ((1) and (2)) or Serial Verb Constructions (SVCs) when consecutive verbs lack overt objects (3). Despite considerable documentation, SVCs lack a unified typological description or structural definition. Baker (1989) proposes a double-headed VP in which ternary branching accommodates V1 + OBJ + V2. Collins (1997) posits a VP shell structure in which V2 merges with an empty category pro and V1 merges with the overt object. Aboh (2009) argues that lexical V2 introduces the internal and external arguments and merges with functional V1, after which certain elements undergo movement resulting in the surface word order of V1 + OBJ + V2. This paper provides a description and structural account of multi-verb constructions in Twi. Extraction in the form of predicate clefting differentiates between coordinate and non-coordinate constructions, a task which has been neglected in the literature, and elucidates the structure of non-coordinating constructions. -
Urdu Resultive Constructions (A Comparative Analysis of Syntacto-Semantic and Pragmatic Properties of the Compound Verbs in Hindi-Urdu)
University of Kentucky UKnowledge Theses and Dissertations--Linguistics Linguistics 2015 Urdu Resultive Constructions (A Comparative Analysis of Syntacto-Semantic and Pragmatic Properties of the Compound Verbs in Hindi-Urdu) Razia A. Husain University of Kentucky, [email protected] Right click to open a feedback form in a new tab to let us know how this document benefits ou.y Recommended Citation Husain, Razia A., "Urdu Resultive Constructions (A Comparative Analysis of Syntacto-Semantic and Pragmatic Properties of the Compound Verbs in Hindi-Urdu)" (2015). Theses and Dissertations-- Linguistics. 10. https://uknowledge.uky.edu/ltt_etds/10 This Master's Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Linguistics at UKnowledge. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations--Linguistics by an authorized administrator of UKnowledge. For more information, please contact [email protected]. STUDENT AGREEMENT: I represent that my thesis or dissertation and abstract are my original work. Proper attribution has been given to all outside sources. I understand that I am solely responsible for obtaining any needed copyright permissions. I have obtained needed written permission statement(s) from the owner(s) of each third-party copyrighted matter to be included in my work, allowing electronic distribution (if such use is not permitted by the fair use doctrine) which will be submitted to UKnowledge as Additional File. I hereby grant to The University of Kentucky and its agents the irrevocable, non-exclusive, and royalty-free license to archive and make accessible my work in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. -
Berkeley Linguistics Society
PROCEEDINGS OF THE THIRTY-SECOND ANNUAL MEETING OF THE BERKELEY LINGUISTICS SOCIETY February 10-12, 2006 SPECIAL SESSION on THE LANGUAGES AND LINGUISTICS OF OCEANIA Edited by Zhenya Antić Charles B. Chang Clare S. Sandy Maziar Toosarvandani Berkeley Linguistics Society Berkeley, CA, USA Berkeley Linguistics Society University of California, Berkeley Department of Linguistics 1203 Dwinelle Hall Berkeley, CA 94720-2650 USA All papers copyright © 2012 by the Berkeley Linguistics Society, Inc. All rights reserved. ISSN 0363-2946 LCCN 76-640143 Printed by Sheridan Books 100 N. Staebler Road Ann Arbor, MI 48103 ii TABLE OF CONTENTS A note regarding the contents of this volume ........................................................ iii Foreword ................................................................................................................ iv SPECIAL SESSION Oceania, the Pacific Rim, and the Theory of Linguistic Areas ...............................3 BALTHASAR BICKEL and JOHANNA NICHOLS Australian Complex Predicates ..............................................................................17 CLAIRE BOWERN Composite Tone in Mian Noun-Noun Compounds ...............................................35 SEBASTIAN FEDDEN Reconciling meng- and NP Movement in Indonesian ...........................................47 CATHERINE R. FORTIN The Role of Animacy in Teiwa and Abui (Papuan) ..............................................59 MARIAN KLAMER AND FRANTIŠEK KRATOCHVÍL A Feature Geometry of the Tongan Possessive Paradigm .....................................71