Chains of freedom : Constraints and creativity in the macro-verb strategies of Mwotlap

In Mwotlap (north Vanuatu), most verb phrases consist of two or more verb roots chained together 〈V1-V2...〉, acting like a single verb. Although a clear case of verb serialization, such phrases reveal a strong asymmetry between their free verb head (V1), and what appears to be little more than a post-head modifier (V2). Because the resulting “macro-verb” can only refer to a single action, its internal structure has to obey strict rules; this paper analyses the way the valencies of both component verbs are capable of consistently merging into that of the whole macroverb, avoiding such things as conflicts between competing objects. Constraining though they may be, these syntactic rules turn out to be a powerful tool serving the speaker's creativity: indeed, this paradoxical “chained freedom” brings about spectacular paths of evolution in the history of Mwotlap macro-verb strategies.