On the form of complex predicates: toward demystifying serial verbs
نویسنده
چکیده
As the recent volume edited by Aikhenvald and Dixon (2006) indicates, interest in verb serialization or serial verb constructions (SVCs hereafter) persists. Indeed, the question of how serial verbs differ from other types of complex predicates such as converbal complex predicates and verb compounds, as well as other multi-verb constructions like coordination and subordination, remains one of the outstanding questions in both formal and typological studies. This paper, by critically examining the widely held current characterizations of SVCs, attempts to remove some of the misconceptions surrounding serial verbs. In particular, we focus on the similarities between serial verbs and converbal complex predicates containing a nonfinite marker, and argue that they are not distinct types of complex predicate, contrary to the claims made in the recent literature on SVCs. While space limitation prevents us from developing it further, our discussion of SVCs, in particular the functional aspect of the predication of these constructions, benefits greatly from some of Christian Lehmann’s earlier work (e.g., Lehmann 1989) on the typology of clause linkage. I thus find it fitting that I contribute this paper as a token of the great admiration that I hold with regard to Christian’s many seminal works in modern linguistic typology. As seen in the following characterization of SVCs by Aikhenvald (2006), the current definitions of SVCs such as Foley and Olsen (1985), Bisang (1995), and Bril (2004) typically refer to the four defining properties summarized in (1) below:
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