Ronc Tyu/Serial verb constructions

From AkanaWiki
Jump to: navigation, search

Serial verb constructions (SVC)

Sequential events

One of the most obvious uses for serial verb constructions is for expressing sequences of closely connected actions that are understood to form a single macro-event. Verbs in a series of this type have equal status within the construction (i.e. there is no clear ‘head’). They are ordered according to the actual temporal sequence, and they usually have a shared subject.

Sometimes all components of a sequential SVC are intransitive:

Dye
boat
decay
níe.
sink
The boat falls apart and sinks.

Sometimes all of the verbs are transitive. In this case, the SVC as a whole is transitive too, and both subject and object are shared by all verbs:

mother
ndźáo
cook
tyòu
eat
hlíc.
stew
The mother cooks and eats a stew.

If a transitive and an intransitive verb are used together, the intransitive verb must come first because it may not intervene between the transitive verb and its object. The SVC as a whole is transitive:

Blóun
lion
shout
kónc
bite
nròc.
hunter
The lion roars and bites the hunter.
  • *Blóun kónc xù nròc.
    (ungrammatical)


Sequential SVC often contain one or more passivized verbs. If the first verb in the series is passivized and the SVC as a whole remains intransitive, the word order is typically switched to VS, with the subject appearing after the verb series:

Hkónc
PASS\bite
ma
die
nròc
hunter
ta
by
blóun.
lion
The hunter died after being bitten by the lion.


If the semantics and transitivity values of the verbs do not permit iconic order (for example because the verb that happens last is intransitive), or if two or more transitive verbs have different objects, it is not possible to use a sequential SVC. Instead, the event can be described as a sequence of independent clauses, with the shared subject being referred to with the logophoric pronouns dzó (animate) or hto (inanimate) in all but the first of these chained clauses:

Blóun
lion
kónc
bite
nròc
hunter
dzó
same.A
xù.
shout
The lion bites the hunter and roars.
mother
tyòu
eat
nyá
SGV\pear
dzó
same.A
láo
watch
dànc
PL\child
The mother eats a pear and watches the children.

Lexicalized sequential serials

Many combinations of sequential serial verbs are lexicalized, usually referring to common, culturally recognized activities. As a guideline, the longer a SVC, the more likely it is to have acquired a specialized and often idiomatic meaning.

Gèn
Gèn
bwác
suffer
fwi.
burn
Gèn is ill with a fever.
Pei
boy
beanc
laugh
nu
push
nonc.
girl
The boy is making fun of the girl.
Tśi
3A.SG
tei
say
put
ronc
language[POSS]
hei
1PL
wonc
BEN
dànc.
PL\child
She's teaching our language to her children.
Mwì
PL\man
vei
from
màc
village
tyuc
talk_about
pyec
continue
pwo
answer
ndáo
PL\thing
gwóun.
ATTR\important
The men of the village negotiate important matters.

A special type of lexicalized SVC is synonymous verb serialization, which is mostly found as a stylistic device in storytelling and ritualized speech. It consists of a conventionalized series of two verbs with roughly the same meaning:

Fwéc
PL\warrior
ndà
slay
móc
kill
na
all
twín
PL\person
vei
from
màc.
village
The warriors brutally killed all the people of the village.

Some lexicalized SVC contain fossilized morphemes that are not used elsewhere in the language. The status of these so-called ‘cranberry morphemes’ is somewhat ambivalent: they behave like ordinary verbs within their SVC, but they can't be passivized or attributed, and they do not appear in other typical environments for verbs either.

Záe
Záe
li
pull
hmi
squeeze
tsín
ewe
hka.
lactate¹
Záe is milking the ewe.
Trá
Q
yec
think²
pou
find
mun
2SG
sei
words
gyào
REL.I
pyè
grandfather
tei
say
to
3I.COLL
wonc
BEN
nac?
1DU
Do you remember what grandfather said to us?

¹) hka ‘lactate, provide milk’ appears in two lexicalized serial verb constructions, but nowhere else: li hmi ... hka ‘milk (an animal)’ and hka gónc ‘nurse, breastfeed’.
²) yec ‘think’ appears only in the two lexicalized serial verb constructions yec pou ‘remember’ and yec prei ‘suspect, suppose’.

Grammatical use of serial verbs

Causatives

Ronc Tyu forms causative statements as serial verb constructions. Most typically an ECM structure is used, with the causative event in the first slot and the caused state or event in the second slot. If the causative event is not described in detail, the verb soc ‘give’ can function as a generic causative verb. Causatives which involve movement of some sort often use ‘put, place’ instead.

Blóun
lion
kónc
bite
nròc
hunter
ma.
die
The lion bites the hunter to death.
Ne
1SG
soc
give
myè
father
nàc
take
kàc
carry
tsì
come_to.1
glà
firewood
blo
go_from.3I
lenc.
deciduous_forest
I made father bring in firewood from the forest.
Fec
warrior
put
rugwá
CAUS-descend
wóu
bow_and_arrow
lin
lie
xònc
on
śo-gonc.
table
The warrior puts down his bow and arrow onto the table.


By adding one of these generic causative verbs, it also becomes possible to form semantically causative statements from intransitive verbs:

Danc
PL\child
nyoun
play
soc
give
ne
1SG
yunc.
awake
I was woken up by the children playing.


ECM causatives cannot be nested directly. Instead, the causer of the inner causative event is expressed as an oblique participant, usually marked with the preposition ta ‘by’:

mother
soc
give
li
pull
hmi
squeeze
tsín
ewe
hka
lactate
ta
by
Záe.
Záe
Her mother made Záe milk the ewe.
(lit. the mother had the ewe being made to give milk by Záe)


If only two participants are relevant for a semantically causative statement, a sequential SVC is preferred. Some verbs have a lexical causative equivalent that is frequently encountered in such constructions (often formed with the derivational prefix rV- whose vowel harmonizes with the main syllable; note that verbs with this prefix cannot fill a slot in a verb phrase on their own and thus must appear adjacent to another verb).

Trùc
shaman
twè
cut
tóc
remove
nínc.
beard
The shaman shaves off his beard. (lit. the shaman cuts his beard, removing it)
Nonc
girl
ravae
CAUS-fall
destroy
an.
amphora
The girl drops the amphora, breaking it.
Gèn
Gèn
li
pull
soc
give
tsì
come_to.1
pàn.
rope
Gèn pulls the rope this way.

It should be noted that sequential causatives (in contrast to ECM causatives) merely describe the intended or expected result of the causative action, not necessarily the actual result. This is explicit in the following example:

Blóun
lion
kónc
bite
móc
kill
tśi,
3A.SG
but
nròc
hunter
pec
NEG
ma.
die
The lion bites him [in a way expected to result in death], but the hunter doesn't die.

Comparison

Comparative statements are made with serial verb constructions using the verb nwa ‘exceed, surpass’, which is simply added after the verb(s) expressing the compared quality:

Gèn
Gèn
mbrinc
brave
nwa
exceed
fye.
brother
Gèn is more courageous than his brother.

Superlatives are formed by using a totality of referents as the object of the clause:

Gèn
Gèn
mbrinc
brave
nwa
exceed
every
tsyún.
person
Gèn is more courageous than everyone else.


When comparing the amount of involvement of several participants in a transitive verb, an ECM construction is used with competing subjects, and complement clauses are used with competing objects:

Ngwèi
PL\woman
nwa
exceed
mwì
PL\man
mbùn
good
faen
sing
śin.
song
Women sing better than men.
Záe
Záe
nwa
exceed
sa
sister
bwín
love
nà.
mother
Záe loves her mother more than her sister does.
Tenc
SUB
Záe
Záe
bwín
love
mother
nwa
exceed
tenc
SUB
Záe
Záe
bwín
love
sa.
sister
Záe loves her mother more than she loves her sister.

In examples like the last one above, the subject and verb of the second clause are commonly replaced with a generic phrase like dzó śac ‘the same one does’ (animate) or hto ko ‘the same one affects’ (inanimate):

Tenc
SUB
Záe
Záe
bwín
love
mother
nwa
exceed
tenc
SUB
dzó
same.A
śac
do
sa.
sister
Záe loves her mother more than she does her sister.
Tenc
SUB
wo
INSTR
ki
this
htsao
knife
twè
cut
faonc
skin
krùo
ATTR\dry
nwa
exceed
tenc
SUB
wo
INSTR
hto
same.I
ko
touch
toc.
wood
This knife cuts leather better than it cuts wood.


Non-predicative comparison is expressed by directly attributing the compared quality to the comparand, and placing the comparative verb within a relative clause:

Gèn
Gèn
tác
possess
htsao
knife
kśie
ATTR\sharp
gyào
REL.I
wo
INSTR
to
3I.SG
nwa
exceed
htsao
knife
yu
of
fye.
brother
Gèn has a knife which is sharper than his brother's one.
(lit. Gèn has a sharp knife which exceeds the knife of his brother)


All types of comparisons can be expressed from an opposite viewpoint by using psòn ‘be less than’ instead of nwa:

Wo
INSTR
mao
strawberries
va
sweet
psòn
less_than
rèi
juice[POSS]
rae.
bees
Strawberries are not as sweet as honey.

It is also possible to use nòn ‘match, be equal’ to indicate that the two things to be compared are judged as equivalent with regard to the compared quality, or bwá ‘be similar, resemble’ to indicate that they are only slightly different from each other.

Fye
brother
mbrinc
brave
nòn
match
Gèn.
Gèn
Gèn's brother is just as courageous as Gèn is.
Wo
INSTR
ki
this
moc
SGV\rock
dóc
heavy
bwá
resemble
that
moc.
SGV\rock
This stone is about as heavy as that one.


If there is nothing to compare against, a high degree of a desirable quality can be expressed through serialization with nyac ‘win, be victorious’, and a high degree of an undesirable quality through serialization with htroa ‘lose, fail’.

Tśinc
PL\horse
ráon
quick
nyac.
win
Horses are very fast.
Ne
1SG
yéi
then.PST
źù
afraid
htroa.
lose
I was extremely scared.

Motion verbs

Direction and deixis

Ronc Tyu has a set of nine deictic motion verbs marking not only origin/destination, but also person and animacy of the reference point:

Origin (go away from) Destination (come towards) No direction (move)
1st person kein ‘go away from speaker’ tsì ‘come towards speaker’
2nd person kèi ‘go away from listener’ mya ‘come towards listener’
3rd person animate pei ‘go away from someone
other than speaker or listener’
dźi ‘come towards someone
other than speaker or listener’
3rd person inanimate blo ‘go away from something’ do ‘come towards something’ kòun ‘go nowhere in particular,
move around, roam, wander’

All of these deictic motion verbs are technically intransitive:

Ne
1SG
kèi.
go_from.2
I'm leaving [you].


However, the origin and destination verbs may also take a complement. This is especially common with the third person inanimate forms. With verbs that have an animate reference point, an overt complement that is not a matching pronoun will be interpreted to be possessed or accompanied by the given person.

Tśi
3A.SG
do
come_to.3I
myèc.
SGV\village
He/she goes towards the house.
Tśi
3A.SG
mya
come_to.2
myèc.
SGV\village
He/she goes towards your house.

When there is an overt complement, clauses with deictic motion verbs count as transitive and therefore require marking inanimate subjects with the instrumental preposition wo:

Wo
INSTR
twí
spear
do
come_to.3I
mba
SGV
pínc.
oaks
The spear is moving towards the oak tree.


While deictic motion verbs may be used on their own, they are much more frequently encountered in serial verb constructions, generally ordered according to the iconic sequence of events (i.e. cause → motion away from → motion towards → result).

Wo
INSTR
twí
spear
htào
PASS\throw
do
come_to.3I
mba
SGV
pínc.
oaks
The spear is thrown towards the oak tree.
Mun
2SG
tào
throw
kèi
go_from.2
twí.
spear
You throw the spear [away from yourself].
Ne
1SG
kein
go_from.1
do
come_to.3I
ngò.
hills
I go towards the hills.

Although somewhat contrived, the following example is grammatical:

Myè
father
pei
go_from.3A
mya
come_to.2
kèi
go_from.2
tsì
come_to.1
kein
go_from.1
mya
come_to.2
kèi
go_from.2
dźi
come_to.3A
nya.
home[POSS]
Our father left his house and came to yours, left yours and came to mine, then went back to yours and left it to return to his house.

(Note that each destination is explicitly left by the father before moving on to the next one. Stringing together several origin verbs or several destination verbs immediately after one another would be ungrammatical.)

Manner of motion

Verbs indicating the manner of motion in Ronc Tyu usually do not specify a direction, so they are often combined with directional verbs. Manner-of-motion verbs are placed between origin and destination verb if both are present; otherwise they appear before the directional verb.

Pyè
grandfather
zúc
walk
kòun.
move_around
Grandfather goes for a stroll.
Ne
1SG
kein
go_from.1
ráon
quick
do
come_to.3I
ngò.
hills
I run towards the hills.

(Compare to pyè zúc ‘grandfather is on foot’ or ne ráon ‘I am fast’.)


This strategy is also used to convert verbs of stationary movement to verbs of motion:

Kuc
3A.DU
pei
go_from.3A
float
do
come_to.3I
other
syáe
SGV\shore
yu
of
fwenc.
river
The two of them swim to the other bank of the river.

Verbs of motion can also be formed from posture verbs. This is done by placing the directional verb kòun ‘go nowhere in particular, move around, roam, wander’ after them and adding an origin and/or destination verb.

Fec
warrior
ngóu
COP
lin
lie
kòun
move_around
do.
come_to.3I
The warrior is crawling over there.

There are a few non-deictic motion verbs which do specify a direction (e.g. kwá ‘go down, descend’ or pùnc ‘be/move parallel to’). These are often used like manner-of-motion verbs too:

Htsí
now
minc
2DU
ta
IMP
kwá
descend
tsì.
come_to.1
I expect you two to come down here [to me] right now!


Many strings of motion verbs combined with other verbs are lexicalized, often not really describing a certain type of motion, but a conventional activity which involves movement in some way. (Note that the motion verbs themselves must always match the person and animacy of their referents though.)

Pwanc
child
zúc
walk
kòun
move_around
fae
fall
fae.
fall
The child is learning how to walk.
(lit. the child is walking around and keeps falling)
Dźé
1PC
ndzu
rise
kein
go_from.1
tyòu
eat
yenc
sleep
do
come_to.3I
nùn.
ocean
This small group of us is traveling to the ocean.
(lit. the few of us rise, leave, eat, sleep, and come to the ocean)

Source and target

The origin and destination verbs can also be used as coverbs to add an argument in the role of source or target respectively, increasing the valency of the main VP:

Myè
father
nàc
take
kàc
carry
tsì
come_to.1
glà
firewood
blo
go_from.3I
lenc.
deciduous_forest
Father brings home firewood from the forest.
Nròc
hunter
li
pull
tào
throw
nrìn
arrows
dźi
come_to.3A
mae.
deer
The hunter shoots arrows at the deer.

Posture and orientation

Posture can be expressed by means of serializing the copula ngóu with one of the positional verbs pùn ‘stand’, ‘sit’, lin ‘lie’, or tśèin ‘hang, be suspended’.

Gèn
Gèn
ngóu
COP
pùn.
stand
Gèn is standing upright.

In this usage, the positional verbs can also be used pseudo-transitively, which means that they can take a complement NP describing the location of the subject (but note that such sentences are not fully transitive because of the copula, and therefore do not require marking inanimate subjects with wo). An overt preposition is only necessary in order to specify more detailed spatial relationships than a generic ‘at, on’.

Mba
SGV
pínc
oaks
gwae
ATTR\fall
ngóu
COP
lin
lie
kwé.
ground
A fallen oak tree is lying on the ground.
Ruoc
megalith
ngóu
COP
sit
gao
amid
śou-zèi.
meadow
The megalith stands (lit. sits) in the middle of the meadow.


Posture constructions can be extended with the coverb pyó ‘face, be oriented towards’, which introduces an additional directional complement. Other verbs of orientation like láo ‘watch, look at’, pùnc ‘be parallel to’, bòu ‘be perpendicular to’, and pèin ‘be diagonal to’ may also be used in this function.

Gèn
Gèn
ngóu
COP
pùn
stand
poun
above
oc
rock
pyó
face
ne.
1SG
Gèn is standing on top of the rock, facing me.

Note how the coverb phrase in the example above semantically relates to the subject of the posture predicate (so it is Gèn who is facing the speaker), in contrast to the following sentence, where the adnominal preposition nge ‘before, in front of, across from, facing’ is used instead, and relates to the immediately preceding noun phrase (so it is the rock which is facing the speaker):

Gèn
Gèn
ngóu
COP
pùn
stand
poun
above
oc
rock
nge
before
ne.
1SG
Gèn is standing on top of the rock which is facing me.


In order to describe a change of posture and/or orientation, the copula ngóu is replaced by an appropriate movement verb such as fae ‘fall’, ndzu ‘rise’, ko ‘touch, get in contact with’, mic ‘turn around’ or similar. Because the copula is not used, this construction is regarded as fully transitive and thus requires the instrumental preposition wo with inanimate subjects.

Wo
INSTR
mba
SGV
pínc
oaks
fae
fall
lin
lie
kwé
ground
bòu
perpendicular
fwoc.
path
The oak tree falls down so that it lies on the ground, blocking the path.
Gèn
Gèn
mic
turn_around
pùn
stand
láo
watch
kè.
mountains
Gèn turns around to stand facing the mountains.


Descriptions of posture and/or orientation can also be used as part of a larger predicate. In this case, the positional verb (series) appears as the second part of an ECM construction, with any additional complements following it. If causation is involved, ‘put, place’ is added to the first part of the ECM construction.

Ndźí
3A.PL
put
build
ruoc
megalith
sit
gao
amid
śou-zèi.
meadow
They put up the megalith in the middle of the meadow.

Aspect

Verbs in Ronc Tyu may be interpreted fairly flexibly with regard to aspect, although the default reading is typically perfective. However, there are several constructions which overtly specify a certain type of aspect by means of verb serialization.

Progressive aspect is expressed by using the copula ngóu as an auxiliary verb.

Nonc
girl
ngóu
COP
faen
sing
śin.
song
The girl is singing a song.

Note that transitive sentences where ngóu is used to indicate progressive aspect do require marking an inanimate subject with the instrumental preposition wo, unlike sentences where ngóu is used as a copula:

Wo
INSTR
sun
water
ngóu
COP
hléc
PASS\waste
yie
fall_on
kwé.
ground
Water is dripping on the floor.


Inceptive aspect is expressed with the verbs lo 'become' (preferred for states) or tou 'start, begin' (preferred for events), used in auxiliary position. Similar semantics may also be achieved with causative or factitive formations resulting in a stative predicate.

Nonc
girl
tou
begin
faen
sing
śin.
song
The girl is starting to sing a song.
Blóun
lion
lo
become
yoc.
hungry
The lion is becoming hungry.


A prospective aspect is formed with the auxiliary verb ndèin ‘be about to’.

Nròc
hunter
ndèin
about_to
li
pull
tào
throw
nrìn
arrows
móc
kill
mae.
deer
The hunter is about to shoot a deer.


A habitual or iterative aspect can be formed by repeating a verb (effectively: serializing it with itself).

Nonc
girl
faen
sing
faen
sing
śin.
song
The girl always sings songs.

In certain contexts, a resumptive interpretation is more appropriate:

mother
yéi
then.PST
gundùn
sew
gundùn
sew
swi.
coat
Then his mother resumed sewing the coat.
[said after describing how she stopped sewing for a while, e.g. in order to talk to someone]

When applying the habitual/iterative aspect to serial verb constructions, normally only the first non-auxiliary verb is repeated.

Ne
1SG
zúc
walk
zúc
walk
do
come_to.3I
kyá
arrive
màc
village
yu
of
ndźí.
3A.PL
I walked on and on until I reached their village.
Ne
1SG
pec
NEG
ao
want
tyuc
talk_about
tyuc
talk_about
pyec
continue
pwo
answer
táo
thing
gabra
ATTR\same
nù.
really
I don't want to keep discussing the same issue over and over.

However, relatively short verb series that describe a conventional sequence of events are often repeated as a whole. This is especially common with instances of synonymous verb serialization.

Gèn
Gèn
mic
turn_around
myen
look
mic
turn_around
myen
look
pyu
because
tśi
3A.SG
źù.
afraid
Gèn keeps turning and looking around because he is afraid.
Fwéc
PL\warrior
ndà
slay
móc
kill
ndà
slay
móc
kill
every
tsyún.
person
The warriors keep massacring everyone.

In ECM constructions, both parts of the construction can be repeated individually.

Záe
Záe
twi
allow
twi
allow
sa
sister
ngúoc
gather
mao.
strawberries
Záe keeps allowing her sister to pick strawberries.
Záe
Záe
twi
allow
sa
sister
ngúoc
gather
ngúoc
gather
mao.
strawberries
Záe allows her sister to keep picking strawberries.


An experiential aspect, which indicates that the subject has been involved in an event of this type before, can be formed by using tùc ‘know how to do sth.’ (in the sense of French savoir) as an auxiliary verb.

Gèn
Gèn
tùc
know
móc
kill
blóun.
lion
Gèn has killed a lion before. / Gèn knows how to kill a lion.
Ne
1SG
pec
NEG
tùc
know
tyòu
eat
nyu
see
ki
this
ric
type[POSS]
gonc.
food
I’ve never tasted this kind of food before.


A completive aspect, which indicates that an event has been successfully completed, can be marked with the defective verb syéi ‘has been done already’, which is placed at the end of an intransitive verb series, or at the beginning of a transitive one, but cannot form a valid predicate on its own without another verb.

mother
syéi
already
gundùn
sew
swi.
coat
Mother has finished sewing the coat.

With verbs of motion, the completive aspect is instead formed with the verb kyá ‘reach, arrive’ in series-final position.

Ne
1SG
do
come_to.3I
kyá
arrive
màc
village
ya
previous
man.
day
I arrived in the village yesterday.

For extra emphasis (i.e. meanings such as ‘only just completed’, ‘completed earlier than expected’, or ‘completed against all odds’), the verb series may be circumfixed with syéi ... śac ‘has been done and finished already’ or syéi ... kyá ‘has gone and arrived already’.

Ne
1SG
htsí
now
syéi
already
do
come_to.3I
kyá
arrive
màc.
village
I only just arrived in the village. / I’ve reached the village already [earlier than expected].

Completive aspect can also be expressed by using dzac ‘finish, complete’ in series-final position, which is used in this function almost exclusively to refer to future events that will have been completed at some point.

mother
gundùn
sew
dzac
finish
swi
coat
yen
next
man.
day
Mother will have finished sewing the coat by tomorrow.


A cessative aspect, which indicates that an event stopped before being completed (and thus carries an implication of failure when used with telic verbs), can be formed with màonc ‘stop, cease’ in series-final position.

mother
gundùn
sew
màonc
stop
swi.
coat
Mother has stopped sewing the coat.
Pyè
grandfather
zúc
walk
kòun
move_around
màonc.
stop
Grandfather has stopped walking around.
Gèn
Gèn
tei
say
ndè
keep
màonc.
stop
Gèn has broken his promise. (lit. Gèn has stopped keeping what he said)