[Lingtyp] Query: Habitual serial verb constructions

Mon Apr 17 10:54:29 UTC 2023

Dear Eva and Sune,

Burmese (Sino-tibetan) uses serial verb constructions, and does have a SVC to express habitual meaning. This SVC contains the verb တတ် /taʔ/ that appears after another verb.
The verb တတ် /taʔ/ outside of the construction means ‘be skilled, know’.

Examples could be found in my chapter on Burmese (Vittrant 2019 : 58), or in Vittrant (2006) or (2012<https://journals.openedition.org/lidil/3246>)  on SVC in Burmese.
See also Jenny & Hnin Tun (2016:209)

Best regards,
Alice

Vittrant, A.<http://www.ddl.cnrs.fr/Annuaires/Index.asp?Langue=FR&Page=Alice%20VITTRANT>, 2019, "Burmese", in The Mainland Southeast Asia Linguistic Area, Vittrant, A. & Watkins, J. (eds), Berlin, De Gruyter Mouton, pp. 56-130
Vittrant, A.<http://www.ddl.cnrs.fr/Annuaires/Index.asp?Langue=FR&Page=Alice%20VITTRANT>, 2012, "How typology allows for a new analysis of the verb phrase in Burmese", Lidil, 46, pp. 101-126

Vittrant, A.<http://www.ddl.cnrs.fr/Annuaires/Index.asp?Langue=FR&Page=Alice%20VITTRANT>, 2006, "Les constructions en série : une autre approche du syntagme verbal en birman", Bulletin de la Société de linguistique de Paris, CI, pp. 305-368

M. Jenny & San San Hnin Tun, Burmese: A comprehensive grammar,  New York: Routledge, 2016.

Le 17 avr. 2023 à 10:20, Sune Gregersen <s.gregersen at isfas.uni-kiel.de<mailto:s.gregersen at isfas.uni-kiel.de>> a écrit :

Dear colleagues,

In connection with an investigation of habitual markers, we are looking for information on languages which use serial verb constructions (SVCs) to express habitual meaning, i.e. for customarily or typically recurring situations. An example of this is seen in (1), from Papuan Malay [ISO 639-3: pmy], where the verb taw can be combined with another verb to express a habitual situation. Outside of this construction, the verb taw means 'know', as in (2):

(1) Papuan Malay (Kluge 2023: 8)
dong taw maing foli
3PL know play volleyball
'they habitually play volleyball'

(2) Papuan Malay (Kluge 2023: 7)
mama de blum taw tempat itu
mother 3SG not.yet know place DISTAL.DEM
'mother doesn’t yet know that place'

We adhere to the definition of SVC offered by Haspelmath (2016: 296): "a monoclausal construction consisting of multiple independent verbs with no element linking them and with no predicate–argument relation between the verbs".

That the verbs must be "independent" means that they must be able to occur on their own in a non-elliptical utterance (see Haspelmath [2016: 302–304] for details). This does not exclude the possibility that the verbs in a SVC are pronounced as a single phonological word. Hence the definition also covers some constructions which may be termed differently in grammars, e.g. "verb incorporation", "verbal compounds", or "secondary verbs". An example of such a SVC is seen in (3) from Northern Paiute [pao]. The combination of 'kill' with čakwi, literally 'carry', gives the habitual meaning 'would kill'. However, 'carry' may also be used as an independent verb, as shown in (4):

(3) Northern Paiute (Thornes 2003: 266)
nɨnmi kammɨ koi-čakwi
1.EXCL jackrabbit kill.PL-carry
'We would kill jackrabbits.'

(4) Northern Paiute (Snapp et al. 1982: 68)
baa-huu-na i gunna pa-to-ǰakwi-kɨ-kwɨnai-hu
water-flow-SUBORD my wood water-shoulder-carry-APPLIC-away-PUNCTUAL
'The flood carried away my wood.'

Apart from Papuan Malay and Northern Paiute, we have examples from the following languages so far: Anamuxra [imi], Dumo [vam], Kwomtari [kwo], Lao [lao], Sezo [sze], Tariana [tae], and Yace [ekr]. We would be most grateful for any information on other habitual serial verb constructions, including verbal compounds, in any language of the world.

With all best wishes,
Eva van Lier (Amsterdam) and Sune Gregersen (Kiel)

REFERENCES

Haspelmath, Martin. 2016. The serial verb construction: Comparative concept and cross-linguistic generalizations. Language and Linguistics 17(3). 291–319. https://doi.org/10.1177/2397002215626895

Kluge, Angela. 2023. Serial verb constructions in Papuan Malay: Forms, functions and indeterminacy. Journal of the Southeast Asian Linguistics Society 16(1). 1–36. http://hdl.handle.net/10524/52507

Snapp, Allen, John Anderson & Joy Anderson. 1982. Northern Paiute. In Ronald W. Langacker (ed.), Studies in Uto-Aztecan grammar 3: Uto-Aztecan grammatical sketches, 1-92. Dallas: Summer Institute of Linguistics. https://www.sil.org/resources/archives/8593

Thornes, Timothy Jon. 2003. A Northern Paiute grammar and texts. Doctoral dissertation, University of Oregon.

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Alice Vittrant
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Université Lyon 2 - DYNAMIQUE DU LANGAGE (CNRS DDL - UMR 5596)
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