Serial Verbs

Description

This book provides an in-depth typological account of the forms, functions, and histories of serial verb constructions. Serial verbs, in which several verbs combine to form a single predicate, describe what is conceptualized as a single event. The verbs in the construction have the same tense, aspect, mood, modality, and evidentiality values, cannot be negated or questioned separately, and usually share the same subject and object. They are a powerful means of portraying various facets of one event, and can express grammatical meanings such as aspect, direction, and causation, particularly in languages where few other means are available. In this volume, Alexandra Aikhenvald seeks to answer unresolved questions such as: What are the parameters of variation in serial verbs? How do serial verbs differ from other, superficially similar multi-verb constructions? How do serial verbs emerge, and what happens to them over time? What role do they play in the representation of event structure? The book uses an inductively-based framework for the analysis and draws on data from languages with different typological profiles and genetic affiliations. It will be of interest to researchers and students from a wide range of fields of linguistics, especially typology, anthropological linguistics, and language contact. Title_Pages Preface_and_acknowledgements List_of_figures_and_tables Abbreviations_and_conventions 1:Serial verbs: The framework 2:Recognizing a serial verb 3 Serial verbs 4 Formal properties of serial verbs 5 The limits of verb serialization 6 The many facets of serial verbs 7 What are serial verbs good for? 8 The rise and fall of serial verbs 9 The essence of serial verbs A fieldworker’s guide References Index of authors Index of languages, linguistic families, and areas Index of subjects