Ronc Tyu/Serial verb constructions

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

tú

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:

Nà

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

xù

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.

Nà

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

zò

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 zò ‘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

zò

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’:

Nà

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

kú

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

kè

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

nè

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

nà

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

nà

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

kù

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

bù

float

do

come_to.3I

nú

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’, té ‘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

té

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, zò ‘put, place’ is added to the first part of the ECM construction.

Ndźí

3A.PL

zò

put

lá

build

ruoc

megalith

té

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:

Nà

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

nè

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.

Nà

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.

Nà

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.

Nà

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)