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It's really nice that Sasha and Bob found the time to put together
such detailed comments on my 2016 paper on the serial verb
construction (<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://zenodo.org/record/225842">https://zenodo.org/record/225842</a>),
and it's a pity that the editor of L&L didn't want to publish
this commentary. I wish we had more interaction of this type, so I
suggested to Sasha and Bob that their piece could be published on my
blog, where I sometimes write critical reviews myself (<a
class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://dlc.hypotheses.org/1070">https://dlc.hypotheses.org/1070</a>),
and where I give space to other views as well (in the comments
section, and sometimes in interviews, e.g. with generativist David
Adger: <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://dlc.hypotheses.org/1517">https://dlc.hypotheses.org/1517</a>).<br>
<br>
Bob and Sasha agreed with this, so here it is:
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://dlc.hypotheses.org/1683">https://dlc.hypotheses.org/1683</a> – anyone is welcome to comment on
this piece further.<br>
<br>
I'm happy to learn about the first (?) (1929) occurrence of the term
SVC, as well as about the earlier literature on serial verbs in
Australian languages.<br>
<br>
But the main point of my 2016 paper was to provide a *definition* of
SVC (which is key to formulating generalizations, as noted by Edith
Moravcsik), and the ten cross-linguistic generalizations were
primarily meant to illustrate the usefulness of the definition. I
took many of them from Sasha's earlier work, and I explicitly noted
that they were not claimed to be exceptionless. Sasha's and Bob's
very careful reading of my paper does not seem to have found that
any of the generalizations are wrong (as strong cross-linguistic
tendencies), so I'm happy to see this convergence of views.<br>
<br>
Sasha and Bob also say that my definition is "problematic", but they
don't say how. (Sasha's new 2018 book is paywalled, so I don't have
access to it; I saw her 2018 OBO article, but this does not mention
any problems with my definition.)<br>
<br>
What I felt was missing in Sasha's earlier work (the 2006 book and
elsewhere) was a clear definition of "serial verb construction", and
I believe that my definition is very largely compatible with her
usage (and other people's usage). <br>
<br>
Jeffrey Heath seems to think that this whole approach (looking for
universal tendencies on the basis of comparative concepts and many
languages) is somehow "peripheral" or old-fashioned, but I don't see
why it couldn't coexist happily with the "integrative study of
specific languages". I also don't think that Bob and Sasha are not
interested in universals, or view them somehow differently from me.
Especially Bob's monumental "Basic Linguistic Theory" (3 volumes,
2010-2012) contains many universals, even though they are not
highlighted (and numbered), as I sometimes do in my work (following
Greenberg's and Hawkins's example).<br>
<br>
It seems that the differences between my paper and Sasha & Bob's
commentary boil down to a few factual inaccuracies such as my claim
that the term SVC was "coined" by Stewart (1963) (who probably knew
Balmer & Grant 1929 and thus *adopted* their term); but even
Sasha in her OBO article says that Stewart "reintroduced" the term,
so at least this inaccuracy is rather minor.<br>
<br>
Best wishes,<br>
Martin<br>
<br>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 22.01.19 07:58, Alexandra Aikhenvald
wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote
cite="mid:SL2P216MB08120B92D2A2F074A6610108A4980@SL2P216MB0812.KORP216.PROD.OUTLOOK.COM"
type="cite">
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;
charset=ISO-8859-1">
<style type="text/css" style="display:none;"> P {margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0;} </style>
<div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family:
Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </div>
<div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family:
Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">
<p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><font
color="#000000" face="Times New Roman" size="3">Dear
colleagues</font></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><font
color="#000000" face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><font size="3"><font face="Times
New Roman"><font color="#000000"><span lang="EN-US">The
recent paper on serial verbs by Martin Haspelmath (</span>2016.
'The serial verb construction: comparative concept and
cross-linguistic generalizations'. <i>Language and
Linguistics </i>17: 291-319) has caused concern to a
fair number of linguists. Quite apart from attempting to
re-characterize the category, the paper contains a
number of factual inadequacies. </font></font></font></p>
<p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><font color="#000000"
face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></p>
<p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><font color="#000000"
face="Times New Roman" size="3">Encouraged by our
colleagues, we have written a straightforward letter to the
editor of the journal <i>Language and Linguistics</i>, with
a list of corrections. However, they declined to publish it.
Our letter is attached to this message.</font></p>
<p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><font color="#000000"
face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></p>
<div style="margin: 0px 0in;"><span style="color: rgb(31, 73,
125); font-family:
"Calibri",sans-serif,serif,EmojiFont; font-size:
11pt;"><font color="#000000"><span style="line-height: 150%;
font-family: "Times New
Roman",serif,serif,EmojiFont; font-size: 12pt;">Sincerely</span></font></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px 0in;"><span style="color: rgb(31, 73,
125); font-family:
"Calibri",sans-serif,serif,EmojiFont; font-size:
11pt;"><font color="#000000"><span style="line-height: 150%;
font-family: "Times New
Roman",serif,serif,EmojiFont; font-size: 12pt;">Alexandra
Y. Aikhenvald</span></font></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px 0in;"><span style="color: rgb(31, 73,
125); font-family:
"Calibri",sans-serif,serif,EmojiFont; font-size:
11pt;"><font color="#000000"><span style="line-height: 150%;
font-family: "Times New
Roman",serif,serif,EmojiFont; font-size: 12pt;"></span></font></span><font
face="Times New Roman">R. M. W. Dixon</font></div>
</div>
</blockquote>
<br>
<br>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
Martin Haspelmath (<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:haspelmath@shh.mpg.de">haspelmath@shh.mpg.de</a>)
Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History
Kahlaische Strasse 10
D-07745 Jena
&
Leipzig University
Institut fuer Anglistik
IPF 141199
D-04081 Leipzig
</pre>
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