bradrn wrote: ↑Mon Jun 05, 2023 7:26 amTechnically speaking, if you have overt dependency markers it can’t be called a serial verb construction (at least in the usual definitions). I’m not sure what this
would be, though.
I've realised that these are essentially converbs. They subordinate the following verb to the preceding one.
Here are another couple of examples.
- ŋel = be unique, be the only one, be the sole one
- nam = be liked, appeal
- tlev = be a name
→ ŋel au nam | ŋel o nam | ŋelonam = be exclusively liked
(E.g. Ŋelonam ool m'aaž. = You're the only one I like. | I like only you.
→ ŋel ai tlev | ŋeletlev = be uniquely named
(E.g. Ŋeletlev aaž. = I'm the only one with my name.
The reason for
au|o|-o- (CN1) in the first example and
ai|-e- (CN2) in the second is that someone who is exclusively liked is both unique in some regard (
ŋel) and liked (
nam). Someone who is uniquely named is unique in some regard (
ŋel), but is
NOT, themself, a name (
tlev). The
ai tlev or
-etlev merely gives more information about what kind of uniqueness the referent has.
The CN1 converb comes up a lot with the kind of verb chains that we often use in English.
Hi tsal-o-tuwem aa=ž.
CONT try-CN1-eat DEF(b)=1S
I'm trying to eat.
Adverbial particles (such as
hi in the above sentence) can be converted into verbs by appending the suffix
-q) and this can be used with CN1 for emphasis.
Bo beg aa=ž.
want(ADV) leave DEF(b)=1S
I want to go/leave.
Bo-q o beg aa=ž.
want-VB CN1 leave DEF(b)=1S
I want to go/leave.
But this leads me to the next topic. The sentences above are all a single clause (with the exception of
[Ŋelonam ool] [m'aaž] further up, which is two). Rather than subordinating one verb to another within one clause, it is possible and common to do it across two clauses (provided it is the kind of verb pair where the subject applies to both, as is the case with CN1 constructions but not CN2). For example:
Hi tsal aa=ž tuwem aa=(ž).
CONT try DEF(b)=1S eat DEF(b)=(1S)
I'm trying to eat.
(Literally: I try, I eat.)
Bo-q aa=ž beg aa=(ž).
want-VB DEF(b)=1S leave DEF(b)=(1S)
I want to go.
(Literally: I want, I go.)
The final
ž is in brackets because once a referent has been asigned a rank (in this case rank B, as indicated by
aa) explicit mention of the referent can be dropped, including 1st and 2nd person pro-verbs.
I've just realised that this extra-clausal structure meets the requirements for some definitions of serial verb constructions.
One of the links you posted in the SOV help thread said this:
Page 21, MIRIAM VAN STADEN AND GER REESINK, emphasis mine wrote:For
some researchers, serial verb constructions must contain only one inflected verb, while the
others are not or less inflected (Dol 1996, 1999), while for others all verbs must be
inflected (van Staden 2000). Even so, whether all verbs must have the same inflections
(Baker 1989) or not (Durie 1988, 1997) is an issue.
In Balog, each verb (or verb phrase where there is subordination) must be inflected inasmuch as it must at the very least have a subject (with few exceptions), so this fits van Staden's definition. (TAM marking can be marked once on one verb phrase and then understood for the others. There are two types of negation: with the adverbial particle
kqa, only the immediate clause is negated. With the verb
kq followed by the complementiser
ä(ä)=, negation can spread across the whole sentence.) Verbs do not have to have have the same inflections, in line with Durie's definition. The examples above do, but "switch-subject serialisation" is common:
Boq aa=ž, beg oo=l.
want-VB DEF(b)=1S | leave DEF(c)=2S
I want you to leave.
(Literally: I want, you leave.)
Kqal aaž magaz iddauz.
kqal aa=ž, magaz ii=dauz
use.axe DEF(b)=1S | fall.over DEF(e)=be.tree
I chop the tree down with an axe.
(Literally: I use an axe, the tree falls down.)
(Also possible are more specific sentences leaving smaller semantic gaps when necessary: I use an axe, the axe is swung repeatedly, the tree is struck repeatedly, it (the tree) falls down.)
Page 22, MIRIAM VAN STADEN AND GER REESINK wrote:There are, however, several properties that are mentioned almost universally: (i) a
single intonation contour covers the entire construction, (ii) no conjunction can be inserted
between the verbs, and (iii) the entire construction represents a single notional event. The
first two criteria together are taken to mean that the construction is in fact a single clause,
and this single clause analysis is also what almost all linguists agree on.
(i) Yes.
(ii) Depends how you define a conjunction. The equivalent of conjunctions tend to work a bit more like conjunctive adverbs in Balog (I class them with the adverbial particles) and they can be more or less thought of as inflections in the verb phrase. In the Lawarim dialect, these are mostly present as unstressed infixes within the verb itself.) E.g.
kavu "but" can be more or less thought of as
"however" or "in contrast to the previously mentioned context". In Lawarim, this is
-akuv-.
(iii) Yes.
If that means that whole clusters of what I'm calling clauses count as one clause together, then I'll need to find new terminology for them. Or alternatively, I'll just ignore this and continue to describe it as I've been describing it because that's nice and parsimonious.