Serial Verbs and Serial Motion

1 How many events? A key observation about serial verb constructions (SVCs) is that they express a single, perhaps complex, event rather than a series of distinct events a single serial verb complex describes what is conceptualized as a single event: this is repeatedly reported to be a clear intuition of native speakers, and can be demonstrated through semantic analysis. It follows that a serial verb complex can often be best translated into a non-serializing language using a single, mono-verbal clause. However, it is not always a straightforward matter to determine the event boundaries ., inter alia) to certain types of Thai serial verbs in an attempt to delineate the event structures denoted by such constructions. It should be noted from the outset that not all SVCs are equal. Osam notes, for example, that different SVCs exhibit different 'levels of integration', as illustrated by the following SVCs in Akan (Fante dialect) (Osam (2003), ex. 53): (1) a. Aba Aba y´-`do-COMPL as¡r prayer má-` a give-COMPL Kofi. Kofi 'Aba prayed for Kofi.' b. Gyasiba Gyasiba ná-` a get-COMPL sika money sí-` ı build-COMPL dan house t´¡ n-` e` e sell-COMPL. 'Gyasiba got money, built a house, and sold it.' Osam 2003 observes that (1b) can be paraphrased by a series of three independent Akan sentences meaning 'Gyasiba got money', 'Gyasiba built a house', and 'Gya-siba sold the house'— but that by constrast no similar decomposition is possible for (1a). Even among SVCs that allow such decomposition, events structures vary. Compare the Thai sentences (2a) and (2b). (2) a. Piti Piti den walk khâw enter roo¢rian. school 'Piti entered the school walking.' 1 I am indebted to Cholthica Sudmuk for Thai grammaticality judgments and valuable discussion of the data.