Compound Verbs in Proto-Drem:

 

Verb Compounds:

 

Verb compounds in Proto-Drem work three ways, Verb+Noun, Noun+Verb or Verb+Verb.

 

VERB + NOUN

 

XXX

To go+LOC+heart

To enter+heart

To understand

 

XXX

[to be/is] good+heart

To be happy

 

XXX

To arrange+To meet+CNVA

To arrange+Meeting

To mate, be mated

 

XXX

To do+work

To work

 

XXX

To fall+heart

To be shocked

 

XXX

To rotate+head

To be dizzy

 

NOUN + VERB

 

XXX

Heart+hot

To be impatient

 

XXX

Mouth+Sweet

To flatter

 

XXX

Heart+good

To be kind

 

XXX

Heart+cool

To be calm

 

XXX

Mouth+not+good

Mouth+bad

To be malicious

 

XXX

Head+[to be/is] difficult

To be stubborn

 

VERB + VERB

 

XXX

To receive + knowledge

To know

 

XXX

REDUP To change

To change (change + change)

 

XXX

REDUP To compare

To compare

 

XXX

To see+To watch

To look after

 

XXX

To fall+To go+LOC

Fall+descend

To agree

 

XXX

To walk+To play

To go for a walk

 

XXX

To speak+To play

To joke (speak + play)

 

Negating a verb compound is easy. Just put ‘na’ in front of the compound to negate it.

na + VERB COMPOUND

 

Resultive verbs:

 

Resultive verb compounds are a bit different in that the verbs are a result of the action. And they are negated a bit differently

 

XXX

To lie down+To sleep

To sleep

 

To negate a resultive verb, use Verb phrase + na + resultive verb. In the above examples, one sees tha sleep occurs because of the lying down, and seeing is the result of ‘looking at’.

VERB + na + RESULTIVE VERB

 

Directional Verbs:

 

The verbs ho (to go) and g’ed (to come) are used after verbs and verb phrases to show a direction. The direction verbs indication if the action is toward or away from the speaker. These verbs occur commonly with gban (to walk), gbaŋ’ed (to return), hondeh (to move home), b’ana (To call), mol (to take), bobon (To change), g’anu (to send), mbowa (to disappear), gbaŋa (to forget)

 

VERB+lә + VERB+lә to covey a sense of ‘back and forth’ where the verb is repeated.

 

Directional verbs

particle

English gloss

XXX

Seaward (going to the ocean)

XXX

Landward (going from the ocean)

XXX

Left

XXX

right

XXX

Eastward (toward-sun-rise)

XXX

Westward (toward-sun-fall)

XXX

Southward (towards-fishing-people)

XXX

Northward (towards-plains-people)

 

Directional verbs are not negated, although they can be used as a resultive verb.

 

Serial Verbs in Proto-Drem:

 

The broad definition of this type is where two (or more) verbs or verb phrases are put together without any of the tiny words that link them together. A hallmark of Proto-Drem is the stringing together of several verbs together in chains. It is very common to see two or three verbs together. Seriel verb constructions or SVC’s for short always seem to add meaning to the events in the SVC. These additional meanings are often fused together by alternate (non-SVC) constructions. The fusing of the events brings about a complex by relatively undifferentiated meaning to the whole SVC. SVC’s at least have two ‘sub-events’ which are basically preformed by the same agent and occur simultaneously. There are several types of SVC’s such as manner, pose and directional SVC’s which we will see in better detail below. Note that the ‘sub-events’ are unseperable in an SVC. Things usually seen with SVC’s are that the second ‘sub-event’ is usually the intended consequence or result from the first one. The SVC is a detailed description of the events that occurred, and that there are several alternate ways to work these events. First are the seriel verb constructions. Next are coordinate constructions, then subordinate constructions and lastly constructions using prepositional phrases using means or manner.

 

SVC’s are different from the alternate constructions in several ways. SVC’s main focus is having a complex set of events that are fused together as a single whole, while the alternates have the events broken up somehow usually by conjunctions or a prepositional phrase. The sub-events in an SVC are usually seen in two ways. First, the events are done at the same time and occur at the same time. Therefore these events represent a single ‘event’. Next, the sub-events occur at the same place and in a sequence with no time in between the events. One thing to remember about SVC’s is that they must follow a general set of rules and any needed additional rules that apply between verbs. There are two other things to note about seriel verbs. First, the events must occur by real possible scenarios and events in the real world, and that SVC’s are very culturally based.

 

Conditions for SVC construction

 

The conditions about SVC’s were looked at a bit above, and will be reemphasized due to their importance. The two main things here is the need to be culturally bound, so that the way a culture thinks, speaks, and sees their world will be an important focus on how an SVC should work. Next the scenes must be legitimate and actually events that can occur in their culture. So therefore, when one hunts, one must have the skills to hunt first so that there is a natural sequence of events that must occur. Semantically, SVC’s are associated in two main ways. First, like I mentioned above, the events must be possible to realistically take place. Lastly, the scenarios must be conventional and thus are natural events that can occur. Below are the constraints that SVC’s in Proto-Drem will generally use. Note that the constraints affect tones, negation, modifiers, clause affects, sharing and agreement. 

 

  • Agreement constraint: Both subject clitics agree with the substantive subject in nominative case.

·         Interpretation constraint: Co-extensive interpretation: an event involving simultaneous action: i.e. walk+enter (Torag entered, walking…); this acts like English with ‘walked into…’

·         Single-event/Multi-event constraint: This constrait is called ‘proper vs. coordination distinction’ is used with SVC’s detailing a single event vs. a sequential event.

·         Telic/Atelic distinction; telic being an activity (search) and atelic being a goal/accomplishment (search successfully)

·         Single subject constraint: SVC contains only one subject

·         Sameness constraint: All the verbs must share the same subject (will be discussed in more detail under sharing)

  • Tone constraint: The sharing of the high tone that signals negation suggests that the negative high tone renders the SVC a unit.
  • Tone constraint: The two verbs fall under a single intonation contour.

·         Tense/Aspect constraint: All verbs within SVC share the same tense or aspect, whereas the tense or aspect marker is either on all or one of the verbs, for instance: The requirement for negation in SVC is that negation always applies to the whole string.

·         Polarity constraint: All the verbs must be either all affirmative or all negative; no individual negation possible.

·         Connector constraint: There must be no connectors, links either overt or covert in the SVC.

  • Clause constraint: The two verbs belong to a single clause. There is therefore no syntactic marking of a clause boundary between the verbs, such as conjunctions, complementisers, and connective adverbs.
  • No Modification constraint: Neither verb is subordinate to the other, nor modifies the other.
  • Argument constraint: The two verbs share at least one argument. In particular, the subject of the second verb is interpreted as being identical to the subject, object or recipient of the first verb, depending on the construction.
  • Verb Sequence constraint: The sequence of verbs is semantically interpretable as referring to sub-parts of a single, complex event. Therefore, a sequential chain of events or an SVC showing purpose or a result will be seen this way.
  • V-V compound constraint: The SVC in all cases, except for one type of SVC will be a series of two verbs. Commonly seen SVC’s of this will be directional, causative and resultive SVC’s. Note that a verb-noun compound is still considered a single verb for a V-V chain (see verb-binding below)
  • Limited verb set constraint:  one of the two verb slots in each construction appears to be restricted to a limited set of verbs, while the other is more open.

 

SVC types and structural categories

SVC type

Overlapping

Sequential

Purposive

Simultaneous

Causative

Resultive

Motion

y

 

y

 

 

 

Take

 

y

y

 

 

 

Open

 

y

y

 

 

 

Give

 

y

y

 

 

 

Posture

 

 

 

y

 

 

Causative

 

 

 

 

y

 

Resultive

 

 

 

 

 

y

 

Proper vs. Coordination

 

Proper SVC’s are called mono-clausal and therefore treated as it were a single event. Coordination SVC’s are multi-event, nearly all sequential events, no matter if two verbs or more

 

Proper – single event

 

XXX
1P+go+hunt
I went hunting

Coordination – multiple events

 

XXX
1P+hunt+go+hut
I hunted, then went home.

 

V-V Compounds:

 

V-V compounds mainly include resultative, directional and causative constructions: First, V-V compounds are constructions which only have one subject and object (thus no intervening NPs). Semantically, they are used to express resultatives and causatives. The first verb in the V-V compounds (call it V1) always expresses a verbal action (in resultatives) or an initiation of causation (in causatives) whereas the second verb (V2) expresses the result of that particular verbal action or the causal event. This type of serial verbs being common are also negated and questioned, as the below examples show.

 

Resultative:

 

XXX

3P+TAM+wash-clean+clothes

She washed the clothes clean

 

Negative resultive

 

XXX

3P+TAM+wash-clean+clothes

She didn’t wash the clothes clean

 

Questioned resultive

 

XXX

3P+TAM+wash-clean+clothes+QUAFF

Why did she wash the clothes clean

 

Causative:

 

XXX

2P+TAM+make+cry+he

You made him cry

 

Negative causative

 

XXX

NEG+2P+TAM+make+cry+he

You didn’t made him cry

 

Questiojed causative

 

XXX

2P+TAM+make+cry+he+QUAFF

Why did you made him cry?

 

Directional:

 

XXX

Small+cat+TAM+run+come

The small cat came running (towards the speaker)

 

Negative directional

 

XXX

NEG+Small+cat+TAM+run+come

The small cat didn’t come running (towards the speaker)

 

Questioned directional

 

XXX

Small+cat+TAM+run+come+QUAFF

Why the small cat did come running (towards the speaker)?

 

Verb-NP-Verb SVC’s

 

The term "splitting" is applied here to refer to the fact that the two verbs forming the complex can be "split" by an intervening NP object. Those who hold this view regard the verb pairs as single lexical items. These "splitting" verbs, though they are not single syntactic units, form single semantic units. The verb splitting seemed to be on the wane as not even the creative Eastern Foresters really continued its’ practice. Over all, the V-NP-V usage was dropped as the usage became a strict V-V usage. One can see from the examples that negative and questioned V-N-V SVC’s can be used as well.

 

XXX

2P+drink+water+die

He died by drinking water'

 

XXX

2P+drink+die+QUAFF

'What did he drink and die of?'

 

XXX

NEG+2P+drink+water+die

He did not die by drinking water'

 

XXX

2P+beat+child+flee

He beat the child and fled'

 

XXX

2P+beat+flee+QUAFF

'Who did he beat and (then) fled'

 

XXX

NEG+2P+beat+child+flee

He did not beat the child and flee'

 

Verb-Binding in SVC’s

 

There is a structure of V-NP-V where the NP is a complement and so not as seemingly ungrammatical as ‘splitting SVC’s’. These complements can be TAM or a verb-noun compound. There are aspectual readings in the V-V-NP-V structure, where the fentence final verb acts like an aspect marker. Nearly all uses for this type of SVC style is done with a V-N compound. Below are some examples that can be used in SVC’s.

 

XXX                   eat something                "eat"

XXX                   kill heart                        "annoy"

XXX                   hurt stomach                 "annoy"

XXX                   run race                        "run"

XXX                   remain behind                "be late"

XXX                   cook thing                     "cook"

XXX                   sing song                      "sing"

XXX                   drink water                    "drink"

 

The controversy is whether the BVCs are syntactic objects of the verbs or whether they compound lexically with the verb root to form true intransitives. I suggest that the BVCs are syntactic objects to the verbs concerned in 17-20 above. Consider the following sentences.

 

XXX

3P+cook-thing+eat

'He cooked and ate the thing'

 

XXX

Fetch+water-drink

'He fetched water and drank it'

 

XXX

3P+cook-yam+eat

'He cooked yam and ate'

 

In the above examples, the nouns act as complements to the so-called bound verbs in grammatical SVCs. This class of verb-complement pairs is more or less idiomatic expressions that behave like single verbs and true intransitives in that no NP can occur in place of the BVCs in these examples. As intransitives they cannot take direct objects. They can, however, take other verbs in SVCs.

 

XXX

Child-the run race go

'The child ran away'

 

XXX

Hunter+remain+behind+come+hut

'The hunter was late coming home.

 

Aspectual construction in SVCs

 

There are several words which can act as an aspect marker, and all depend on their position within the SVC. The general structure of an aspectual SVC is SUB+A1+V1+A2+A3+V+(OBJ). The aspectual meanings only deal with certain time references. Those would be a completed (near past), uncompleted (near future) or ‘in the process of being completed, which is called semi-perfective. Note that these aspect markers can be add-ons to the normal two verbs of a serial verb construction. There are three general groupings of these ‘so-called’ aspect markers, notice how the A1 group is before the subject and verb, while the others are all after the verb. Note too that these aspect constructions can be negated and questioned like most SVC’s shown.

 

AM1: za (Progressive [CNVA]), sa ‘be about to’, njun ‘start’ (Inchoative), bo ‘experience/do’, mba ‘must’.

 

AM2: nә ‘get (permissive, ability)’, hob’ň Semi-perfective-SPFV (lit. ascend), homb’ě SPFV (lit. descend), honjŕ Imperfective-IMPFV (lit. enter), hob’ě SPFV (lit. exit),

G’ob IMPFV (lit. be located), ŋelo ‘progress, continue’, len ‘finish’, ho IMPFV (lit. go), ho Perfective-PFTV (lit. go), ŋkə PFTV (lit. lose something).

 

AM3: g’ed Perfect-PFCT (lit. come).

 

Group 1

 

Standard

 

XXX

1P+ASP+go
I am going

 

2P+ASP+go
you are about to go

XXX

2P+ASP+go
you must go

 

Negative

 

XXX

NEG+1P+ASP+go
I am not going

 

NEG+2P+ASP+go
you are not about to go

XXX

NEG+2P+ASP+go
you musn’t go

 

Questioned

 

XXX

1P+ASP+go+QUAFF

Why am I going?

 

2P+ASP+go+QUAFF
Why are you about to go?

XXX

2P+ASP+go+QUAFF
Why must you go?

 

Group 2

 

Standard

 

XXX

1P+ASP+go
I am continuing to go.

 

2P+ASP+hunt
you should finish hunting

XXX

2P+ASP+go
you must be going (soon)

 

Negative

 

XXX

NEG+1P+ASP+go
I am not continuing to go. (Implying the person is finished going someplace)

 

XXX

NEG+2P+ASP+hunt
you shouldn’t finish hunting

XXX

NEG+2P+ASP+go
you musn’t be going (soon)

 

Questioned

 

XXX

1P+ASP+go+QUAFF
Why am I continuing to go?

 

XXX

2P+ASP+hunt+QUAFF
Why should you finish hunting?

XXX

2P+ASP+go+QUAFF
Why must you be going (soon)?

 

Group 3

 

Standard

 

XXX

1P+ASP+go+hut
I came to the hut

 

Negative

 

XXX

NEG+1P+ASP+go+hut
I didn’t come to the hut (I went somewhere else)

 

Questioned

 

XXX

1P+ASP+go+hut+QUAFF
How did I come to the hut?

 

TAM in SVC’s

 

Tense, aspect, mood, modals, conversion affixes, all of these are used for a variety of derivations on verbs to add meaning. Nearly all of these will be before the verb chain, except for one, which is the ‘Stative CNVA” which is at the end, yet instead of making a specific verb a stative, it colors the entire sentence and makes the whole sentence as a stative, progressive, present tense unit. So care must be taken as these can be used in colloquial, but are mostly found in formal speech.

 

Tense and Aspect:

 

Verbs in a serial construction are often said to agree in tense and aspect. Do to the general ‘current time’ or ‘near past’ time thinking used with SVC’s, sometimes it is needed to show a tense, especially in formal speech. Aspect or Mood is used sometimes too, also in formal speech. When used, tense/aspect/mood inflections are preffixed before the verb chain: Note that since the CNVA is rarely used, especially –za (progressive), this is seen at the end of the sentence to show the progressive aspect for the whole sentence, not just on an individual verb. Note that the above section on ‘aspectual’ constructions do not actually use aspect markers, in this section is where one would see how TAM is used.

 

Tense

 

XXX

1P+TAM+go+hunt+day

I will go hunting (soon) today

 

Aspect – using progressive aspect to also show implied present tense:

 

XXX

1P+go+hunt+CNVA

I am (currently) going hunting

 

Mood

 

XXX

NEG+Imp+go+hunt

Don’t go hunting!

 

Passives in SVC’s

 

*XXX

He Passive dog bite

‘He was bitten by a dog.’

 

XXX

He suffer dog bite

‘He suffered (from the experience that) a dog bit (him).’

 

The construction in (11) is surely not a serial verb construction since the second verb kaÝt ‘bite’ does not share the same subject with the first verb thuÝůk. This verb has its own subject, which is ma&ů ‘dog’. The embedded clause ma&ů kaÝt ‘dog bit’ is the complement of the verb thuÝůk.

 

  • Nd’ilu has a relatively neutral meaning.
  • Na- The negatation affix uses a negative reading.
  • The intensifier ‘-ju’ gives a more positive connotations.

 

XXX

wolf+PASSIVE+hunter+catch

‘The wolf was trapped by the hunter.’

 

XXX

child+PASSIVE+hunter+scold

‘The child was scolded by the hunter.’

 

XXX

1P+PASSIVE+clanmate+invite+already

‘I’ve already been invited by my clanmate.’

 

Adversive passives

 

In some languages, the passive clause arises diachronically from, and still resembles structurally, an adversive serialverb construction. In the process of grammaticalization, an adversive serial verb such as 'suffer' first becomes the grammaticalized marker of an adversive passive. Such a construction may eventually expand its functional scope to later become a generalized passive:

 

XXX

2P+suffer+hunter+shoot

She suffered (when) the hunter shot her

 

The adversive serialverb clause has a topicalized patient and, most commonly, also a detopicalized, nonreferring agent.

 

XXX

1P+go+make+bread

‘We went and made bread.’

 

XXX

2P+run+ascend+to+mountain

‘He ran up to the mountains.’

 

SVC CAUSATIVE STUFF

 

In Proto-Drem, there are three main causatives, bo ‘make’, gbare ‘give’ and bogebare ‘make give’, which imply different amounts of causation or control on the part of the controller when used. The required word order for these constructions is Causer+gbare/bo+V+Causee. The causative verb which expresses the most direct control on the part of the causer is bo ‘do, make.’ Causatives with this verb can express direct or indirect causation:

 

    • Pattern 1 with an initial verb bo ‘make, do’
    • Pattern 2 with an initial verb gbare ‘give’
    • Pattern 3 with an initial verb gbare ‘give’
    • Pattern 4 with a resultative second verb

 

Standard causative:

 

XXX

Student+break+vase

‘The student broke the vase’ (intentionally or unintentionally)

 

Very strong causative: - using bo ‘make/do’

 

XXX

3P+CAUS+eat+eggplant+clanmate+DEG+small

‘She made my little clanmate eat all his eggplant’

 

XXX

3P+force+CAUS+clanmate+DEG+eat+meat

‘She forced my little clanmate to eat some meat’

 

XXX

3P+persuade+CAUS+clanmate+DEG+eat+meat

‘She persuaded my little sibling to eat sweets’

 

XXX

3P+tell+CAUS+clanmate+DEG+eat+meat

‘She told my little clanmate to eat sweets’

 

Weak Causitive: permissive – using gbare ‘give’

 

XXX

3P+CAUS+eat+meat+clanmate+DEG

She let my little clanmate eat meat

 

XXX

3P+CAUS+sleep+clanmate+DEG

She let my little clanmate sleep

 

XXX

3P+CAUS+play+clanmate+DEG

She let my little clanmate play

 

Causatives with bň ‘make, do’:

 

Most of these causatives deal with attributive verbs, or verbs that are ‘caused, instead of given’.

 

XXX                   ‘die, dead’

XXX

‘cause to die’, ‘kill’

 

XXX                               ‘tired, lazy’

XXX

‘make/become tired’

 

XXX                               ‘dirty’

XXX

‘make/become dirty’

 

XXX                   ‘bride-price’

XXX

‘bring-in the bride-price’

 

XXX                               ‘short’

XXX

‘shorten’

 

XXX                               ‘wet’ [to be wet & to become wet]

XXX

‘to make wet’

 

XXX                   ‘bleed’,

XXX

‘to make bleed’

 

Causatives with gbare ‘give’:

 

XXX                   ‘brave, dare’

XXX

‘embolden’

 

XXX                               ‘eat’

XXX

‘feed’

 

XXX                               ‘bathe’

XXX

‘bathe (someone else)’

 

XXX                               ‘wear, dress’

XXX

‘dress (someone else)’

 

XXX                               ‘drink’

XXX

‘give drink to’

 

XXX                               ‘err’,

XXX

‘accuse’

 

XXX                               ‘suck’,

XXX

‘breastfeed’

 

Examples:

 

XXX

2P+give-eat+baby

‘She feeds the baby.’

 

XXX
XXX
XXX

 

Jagbarentaresi

Person+give-know+3P

‘The person informed the others

 

Recipient of gbare ‘give’ is presented as the agent of the second verb. gbareXXX ‘give-eat’ is interpreted primarily in terms of feeding someone (such as an baby) who cannot feed themselves.

 

XXX

2P+give+water+child+drink

‘She gave the child water to drink (and he drank it).’

 

In contrast, the below is interpreted primarily in terms of the recipient themselves eating the bread.

 

XXX

1P+give+bread+2P+eat

‘I gave you bread to eat (and you ate it).’

 

Causative with resultative second verb:

 

In addition to serialisation with bo ‘make, do’ and gbare ‘give’, there is a third set of serial verbs for which the subject of the second verb corresponds to the object of the first verb. In these, it is the second slot that appears to be lexically restricted; this verb specifies the result of the activity described by the first verb. Verbs that can fill the second slot include a.) Directionals, ndemu ‘die, dead’, g’ob ‘stay, reside’ and ‘transition’ verbs (e.g. of giving, putting, leaving, or throwing), to indicate that the object remains in the new location, at least temporarily. If needed, in the structure of Sub-V-V-OBJ, the second verb can take attributive verb-like modifiers or complements.

 

XXX

3P+chase+exit+2P+space

‘They chased him out of the area.’

 

XXX

Take+stay+child+hut+LOC

‘Take the child to the hut

 

XXX

1P+chase+exit+3P

‘We chased them out.'

 

XXX

Snake+encircle+until+dead+2P

‘The snake wound around him until he died.’

 

Verb Placement in SVC’s

 

Verbs that Tend to Precede Other Verbs in Series: V1 verbs

 

The following verbs or classes of verbs tend to precede other verbs or classes of verbs in series:

 

XXX                                                       “follow”                          comitative

XXX                                                       “be first”                        sequential

XXX                                                       “take”                            accompanimental/instrumental

stative verbs (gbewa, etc.)                       “exceed, fail, etc.”          comparative

XXX                                                       “able”                            abilitative

dynamic verbs (nčbč, bň, etc.)                “make, do, etc.”             benefactive

XXX                                                       “agree”                          refusal

XXX                                                       “start, begin”                  durational

dynamic verbs ( )                                   “eat, look, etc.”              simultaneous

positional verbs ( )                                 “run, throw, etc.”            locative

 

Verbs that Tend to Follow Other Verbs in Series: V2 verbs

 

The following verbs or classes of verbs tend to follow other verbs or classes of verbs in series:

 

XXX                                                       “go, come”                     comitative

dynamic/stative verbs (we, XXX, etc.)       “eat, be big, etc.”           sequential

XXX                                                       “go, come”                     accompanimental

mbumbo, ndobe                                     “surpass, reach”             comparative

dynamic verbs (bň etc.)                         “go, do, etc.”                  abilitative

XXX                                                       “give”                             benefactive

dynamic verbs (bň, etc.)                         “do, go”                         refusal

dynamic verbs (bň, )                               “do, walk, etc.”               durational

XXX                                                      “walk, etc.                     simultaneous

positional verbs ( )                                 “go, etc.”                       locative

 

SVC Grouping:

 

SVCs with grammaticalized/nongrammaticalized serial verbs

 

In SVC’s in general, there are two varieties to look at. There are nongrammaticalized and grammaticalized SVC’s. The Nongrammaticalized SVC’s are in which all the verbs contain their full lexical meaning. On the otherhand, the grammaticalized SVC’s are ones where one (or more) of the verbs have been grammaticalized. Note that these two varieties can also be negated with the common na- at sentence initial position.

 

XXX

2P+eat

He is eating.

 

XXX

2P+think+do+correct+2P

He thought he did the correct thing.

 

XXX

NEG+2P+go               

He did not go.

 

SVCs with complement-taking verbs / noncomplement-taking verbs

 

This section looks over a group of SVC’s that are called complement-taking SVC’s. This area is with verbs that are not semantically complete in themelves, and therefore, need a boost to fully add to the meaning of the SVC. Certain verbs in the SVC’s that show up are such as dә ‘want’, njun ‘begin’

 

XXX
He+want+go
he wanted to go

 

XXX
2P+begin+go
he began to go

 

Negation:

 

XXX
NEG+2P+want+go
he didn’t want to go

 

XXX
NEG+2P+begin+go
he didn’t begin (yet) to go [other meaning: he’s not ready to go]

 

Here, we look at the next group of SVC’s. This group are for non-complement-taking verbs, and therefore, these verbs are complete and do not need to take on any other additional items to complete the meanings. Certain verbs in the SVC’s that show up are such as ndogu ‘stand’, B’aŋuma ‘shout’. There are two general ‘styles’ of these verbs we will see below. First are called basic SVC’s. The basic SVC’s contain two verbs or verb phrases. Next are called non-basic SVC’s. These SVC’s use embedded basic SVC’s in them and is also called complex SVC’s.

 

XXX

He+stand+sing

He stood singing.

 

XXX

He+shout+talk

He answered by shouting

 

Semantic Types of SVC's:

 

 

  • Time

o        Sequential

o        While

o        Durational

  • With

o        Comitative

o        Instrumental

o        Accompiament

  • Place

o        Directional

o        Locative

o        RU/Focus

  • Physical/Body

o        Manner

o        Posture

  • Consequential

o        Resultive

o        Refusal

o        Benefactive

o        Applicative

  • Miscellaneous

o        Abilitative

o        Comparison

o        Modal complements

 

‘Time’ Class SVC’s:

 

Sequential SVC's:

 

This SVC’s like the title says is about sequential series of events. Thus, this SVC consists of two primary actions. These are clear as to means or manner about how the actions are done. They also express the physical actions and are both preformed by the same agent or doer. The two actions will occur in close sequence without a noticeable time lapse or amount of time between them. Of the two actions, the second is usually thought of as the purpose for carrying out the first action. The two actions are also considered ‘sub-events’ which comprise of one single complex event since they are done by the same agent and are always thought of as a sequemce of events that basically occurred at basically the same time. The sequential SVC structure is generally SUB+VP+(NP)+VP+NP, where the VP+NP complex represents an event.

 

Sequential SVC

 

Sequential SVC

 

XXX

2P+lit+pipe+smoke

He lit a pipe to smoke.

 

XXX

2P+take+piece+meat+eat

He picked up a piece of meat to eat.

 

Negative Sequential SVC

 

XXX

NEG+2P+cook+fish+eat

He didn’t cook fish to eat.

 

Comparison constructions:

 

Comparison between coordinated construction and conjunction 'and then'

 

XXX

He+lit+pipe+and then+smoke

He lit a pipe and then smoked.

 

XXX

He+take+piece+meat+and then+eat

He picked up a piece of bread and then ate.

 

XXX

He+cook+fish+and then+eat

He cooked fish and then ate.

 

What’s the difference here is small yet noticeable. The events seen in the alternate constructions do not necessarily happen right after one another and so do not imply a sequence. There might be a time span between events, or at different places or times. They are thought of as totally separate events, and so the alternate constructions do not have the same powerful concise usage as the SVC.

 

‘While’ SVC's:

 

This SVC deals with simultaneous events at the same time, though the structure is nearly the same as a sequential SVC, the intent is different. There are two basic styles of usage here, the first is the purposive, and the other is just the standard simultaneous action. The difference between the two is just a decision to do the actions at the same time on purpose. So when one is ‘reading a book while eating their food’, that is an action done on pupose, while when someone happns to see you and comes over to talk to you, this action is more of a chance, accidental meeting and so not really done on purpose. The initial verb in ‘while’ SVCs must indicate

the posture of the body such as sitting, standing, or walking. Such verbs of body posture indicate actions, which presumably last for a while. During the time when the agent’s body is in a particular position, the agent carries out an action.Here the meaning is for the events to be at the same time, and so ‘action X, while action Y…’ is commonly used. The structure used is SUB+V+while+V+(OBJ)

 

Standard simultaneous

 

‘While’ SVC

 

XXX
2P+come+talk+with+1P

He came over to talk with me

negative ‘while’ SVC

 

XXX
NEG+2P+come+talk+with+1P

He didn’t came over to talk with me

 

Purposive meaning

 

‘While’ SVC

 

XXX
2P+word+while+eat
He is working while/at the same time as he’s eating

negative ‘while’ SVC

 

XXX
NEG+2P+word+while+eat
He isn’t working while/at the same time as he’s eating

 

Durational SVC

 

The durational SVC as one in which “…the action or state of the first verb continues until the action or state of the second verb is attained”, the structure of these are: SUB+begin+V+do+OBJ. technically this is a three verb SVC due to ‘begin’ and ‘do’. There is also a clause structure that uses a TIMEAFF instead of a verb to portray a time reference when the work was started. In both cases, the meaning is ‘until the X is/was done’. The time references commonly used are ‘dawn, before, after, at night’ and so on. Since durational SVC’s deal with duration of time, negation is a bit tricky, since it leaves some ambiguity to determine if the action was actually finished, or if it just took a different duration than what was stated.

 

Durational SVC

 

XXX

2P+begin+V+do+work

XXX

 

Negative durational

XXX

NEG+2P+begin+V+do+work

XXX

 

Time reference clause:

 

XXX
2P+begin+TIME+do+work

He works from dawn til the work is done

 

Negative time reference clause


XXX
NEG+2P+begin+TIME+do+work

He didn’t work from dawn til the work was done

 

 

‘With’ Class SVC’s:

 

Comitative SVC

 

The comitative SVC expresses the meaning of “go together with”. The subject NP of the initial verb goes with the object NP of the same verb to some destination:

 

Comitative

 

XXX

2P+follow+go+1P

He went with me”

 

Negative comitative

 

XXX

NEG+2P+follow+go+1P

He didn’t go with me”

 

Accompanimental SVC

 

This SVC has the meaning of ‘take along with’. The subject NP of the initial verb takes the second NP of the same verb to some location. This SVC in Degema differs from the comitative in which the subject NP of the initial verb goes with the object NP of the same verb to some destination: Accompiament SVC’s can be done easily.

 

Accompiament

 

XXX

2P+take+come+clothes

He brought some clothes along”

 

Negative accompiament

XXX

NEG+2P+take+come+clothes

He didn’t bring any clothes along”

 

‘Place’ Class SVC’s:

 

Directional SVC's:

 

Directional SVC’s are considered complex SVC’s due to usage of embedded basic verbs within it. So, what makes a directional SVC different if anything from regular SVC’s? The serial verbs in this SVC show a single path or thought, and so the notions of notions of a basic SVC do not apply to this SVC type at all. This SVC can have anywhere from two to five verbs in the construction and all show differing directions of a single thought or path of motion. Thus the differing paths can all represent differing perspectives. Yet, all the differing perspectives must follow and obey a single order to express the direction in a single thought or path. Due to the complexity of this SVC, locatives can be used as a ‘verb’ to continue the singleness of thought. In this case the locative is considered one of the (up to) five verbs within a directional SVC.

 

  • The initial verb: motion verbs
  • The geometric shape of the path: gbeŋka ‘circle’, gbambo ‘go straight’, etc.
  • The direction with respect to the previous path: gbaso ‘reverse’, laaso ‘retreat, back up’, etc.
  • The direction with respect to the outside world: mb’a ‘pass, cross’.
  • The direction with respect to speech act participants: ho ‘go’, g’ed ‘come.

 

Motion SVC

 

There are two types of the motion SVCs regarding to the set of verbs that occur in the sequence: motion SVCs and motion-directional SVCs. The set of the first verb in the motion SVCs is limited to the manner-of-motion verbs such as gban ‘walk’, lan ‘run’, and the set of its second verb is limited to the verbs: g’ed ‘come’ and ho ‘go’, the verb g’ed ‘come’ shows the direction towards the speaker’s viewpoint, and ho ‘go’ shows the direction away from the speaker’s viewpoint.

 

XXX

2P+run+come

‘She ran (towards the speaker).’

 

XXX

2P+walk+go

‘She walked away (from the speaker).’

 

The final verb denotes an intentional action such as j’una ‘hit’ and Ŋkuŋko ‘sing’, which can cause ambiguity. They can be interpreted either as the overlapping temporal interpretation (meaning (1)) or as the purposive interpretation (meaning (2)).

 

XXX

2P+run+come+hit+tree

(1) ‘While she was running (towards the speaker), she hit a tree.’ (overlapping)

(2) ‘She ran (towards the speaker) to hit the tree.’ (purposive)

 

XXX

2P+walk+go+sing

(1) ‘While she was walking away (from the speaker), she sang.’ (overlapping)

(2) ‘She walked away (from the speaker) to sing (purposive).’

 

XXX

2P+walk+come+find+1P

When Kanda was walking (towards the speaker), she found me.’ (overlapping)

 

Directional SVC

 

Directional

 

XXX

He+walk+LOC+go

He walked out and away.

 

XXX

He+walk+go+straight+LOC+return+LOC+go

He walked straight out away to this starting point.

 

Negative Directional

 

XXX

NEG+2P+walk+go+straight+LOC+return+climb+go

He didn’t walk away straight back up the slope.

 

XXX

NEG+2P+run+make+detour+return+LOC+come

He didn’t run back out taking a detour towards the speaker.

 

Comparison constructions

 

Comparison with related coordinate systems containing conjunction 'and'

 

XXX

He+walk+and+return

He walked out and returned

 

XXX

He+run+and+come

He ran and came back

 

Directional SVC with attributive verb predicate:

 

Standard

 

XXX

Mali walk exit circle return reverse go with light footsteps

‘Mali walked out, circling, back, away from the speaker, with the light footsteps.’

 

Negation

 

XXX

Mali walk exit circle return reverse go with light footsteps

‘Mali walked out, circling, back, away from the speaker, with the light footsteps.’

 

Directional verb with ‘sameness’ intent:

 

This version of directional SVC’s being two complete directionsl SVC’s, can be independently negated, so if the both are begated, then the negation is at the beginning og the sentence like normal. If the second SVC is negated, then the negation comes after the conjunction. The first SVC cannot be the only one negated, since the whole meaning is that the second person either did, or did not do the ‘same as’ the first person. Below are the examples showing the negation.

 

XXX

1P+run+reverse+return+exit circle+go CONJ 2P+do+same+descend+go+straight+come

I ran back out away, circling, and you did the same down straight towards the speaker.

 

Negation of ‘sameness’ intent SVC’s

 

Whole statement:

 

XXX

NEG+1P+run+reverse+return+exit circle+go CONJ 2P+do+same+descend+go+straight+come

I didn’t ran back out away, circling, and you did the same ( as I did) down straight towards the speaker.

 

2nd SVC only

 

XXX

1P+run+reverse+return+exit circle+go CONJ NEG+2P+do+same+descend+go+straight+come

I ran back out away, circling, and you didn’t do the same down straight towards the speaker.

 

Directional verbs types:

 

Manner-of-motion verbs

 

XXX                   – run

XXX                   – walk

XXX                   – take

 

Geometric shape of the path

 

XXX                   – circle

XXX                  – go straight

 

Direction with respect to the previous path

 

XXX                   – reverse

XXX                   – retreat

 

Direction with respect to the outside world

 

Object located in the outside world:

 

XXX                   – pass

XXX                   – cross

XXX                  – return

 

Interaction between the path and the outside world:

 

XXX                   – enter

XXX                   – exit

XXX                   – ascend

XXX                   – descend

 

Direction with respect to speech act participant

 

XXX                   – go (away –ntů)

XXX                   – come (towards –ndě)

 

The below chart presents a short, incomplete list, yet commonly used verbs used in directional SVC’s. V1, being the manner or direction, and V2 which is the actual directional verb, together, these pairings show a manner and direction. Any of the V1 verbs can be combined with any of the V2 list to form roughly 80 combinations.

 

V1 (manner verb)

V2 (directional verb)

XXX ‘walk’

XXX ‘enter’

XXX ‘run’

XXX ‘raise’, ‘lift’

XXX ‘jump’

XXX ‘cross’, ‘through’

XXX ‘swim’

XXX ‘approach’, ‘towards’

XXX ‘fly’ 

XXX ‘exit suddenly’’

XXX ‘leak’, ‘drip’

XXX ‘return’ 

XXX ‘flow’

XXX ‘go’

XXX ‘deliver’

XXX ‘come’

XXX ‘arrive’; XXX ‘arrive unexpectedly’

XXX ‘raise’, ‘lift’

 

Locative SVC

 

Locative is an SVC which describes the direction or spatial orientation of the action or state expressed by the verb. The direction or spatial orientation depicted by the verb(s) may be towards or away from the speaker. The structure is SUB+V+V+to+OBJ. In some ways, the SVC is considered a manner SVC since the manner is usually to run, walk, swim or other physical action going towards a place. Locative SVC’s can be negated.

 

Locative SVC:

 

XXX

1P+run+go+to+market

“I ran to the market”

 

Negative Locative:

 

XXX

NEG+1P+run+go+to+market

“I didn’t run to the market (rather, I walked there)”

 

RU Locative/Focus SVC

 

The ru- locative usage in these SVC’s is a ‘be at’ to show a focusing of action, i.e. I AM eating. The additional bit of information of this SVC is the object being a locative such as ‘here’ or ‘there’ or a place name. The structure of this SVC is SUB+RU+V+LOC/PLACE. This SVC has an inherent present tense feel with no need for a TAM marker. Take care of the focus between the standard and negative, since the negative version is focusing on the negation of the act.

 

Standard Ru SVC

 

XXX
1P+RU+eat+LOC
I AM eating here

 

Negative Ru SVC

 

XXX
NEG+1P+RU+eat+LOC
I am NOT eating here

 

Physical/Body SVC’s:

 

Manner SVC:

 

The manner SVC is a commonly seen construction. The SVC expresses a manner of doing an action or event which is spoken of by the second verb. There are two verbs in these SVC’s. The two verbs that are in this SVC are called the ‘primary action’ for V1 (first verb) and secondary action’ verb for V2 (second verb). The first action is always considered the means and manner of doing the second action. At the same time, the second action is considerd the goal of doing the first action. Primary actions verbs are the verbs which speak of the event. The event is usually carried out via physical means and manner. Verbs that are ‘primary action’ and commonly used are gban ‘walk,’ rer ‘clap (hands),’ lad ‘sit,’ ndogu ‘stand,’ ndo ‘see/look’, wč ‘eat’. ‘Secondary action’ verbs that are commonly used are ho ‘go,’ g’ed ‘come,’ wah ‘hurry,’ Ŋәnj’e ‘dream,’ ntema ‘think,’ Ntemantare ‘study. Note that the first verb speaks of the exact physical means for carrying out the action of the second verb. Also important, that for these verbs, the same agent or ‘doer’ must perform the actions at the same place and time. The two verbs are thought of as differing aspects of the same ‘event’. Further, this type of SVC sees this event as having ‘multiple facets’ but are unseperable from one another due to the fact that they are all part of the same event. The event also stresses a detailed and concise description of the single event. Manner SVC’s like others can be easily negated.

 

Manner SVC

 

Manner SVC

 

XXX

He+wave+hand+call+1PS

He called me by waving his hand.

 

XXX

He+nod+agree

He agreed by nodding.

 

Negative Manner SVC

 

XXX

NEG+2P+nod+agree

He didn’t agree by nodding.

 

Comparison Constructions

 

Comparison with 1 verb sentences w/ prepositional phrase

 

XXX

He+call+by+wave+hand+I

He called me by waving his hand.

 

XXX

He+agree+by+nod

He agreed by nodding his head.

 

XXX

He+talk+by+shout

He answered by shouting.

 

Comparison with sentences with purposive clauses

 

XXX

He+wave+hand+in order to+call+1PS

He waved hand in order to call me.

 

XXX

He+nod+in order to+agree

He nodded in order to agree.

 

XXX

He+shout+in order to+answer

He shouted in order to answer.

 

So, here we see a slight difference. The alternates sounded basically awkward. The reason is that the two verbs which are closely related actions are separated and split by a preposition or subordinator. For this reason, constructions with Nj’ә ‘by’ and Ŋuŋ ‘in order to’ are used to express the means/manner and the purpose in performing an action, respectively. Due to this, the usage of SVC’s shortens the sentence overall into a neat, concise whole.

 

Posture SVC's:

 

With posture SVC’s, the main thought is what is the speaker doing physically. The first verb always shows the posture of the body while the second verb always shows the performing action. Thus, like the other SVC’s, we have two ‘sub-events’ consisting of one complex event. Both ‘sub-events’ once again are to be preformed by the same agent or doer, at the same time and place. So this SVC is very much like a manner SVC. Posture SVC’s like others can be negated.

 

Posture SVC

 

Posture:

 

XXX

He+sit+see+lake

He sat looking at the lake.

 

XXX

He+stand+sing

He stood singing.

 

Negative Posture SVC’s

 

XXX

NEG+2P+lie+listen+bird

He’s not lying (there) listening to the bird.

 

Comparison constructions

 

Comparison with related coordinate systems containing conjunction 'and'

 

XXX

He+sit+and+see+lake

He sat and looked at the lake.

 

XXX

He+stand+and+sing

He stood and sang.

 

XXX

He+lie+and+listen+bird

He lay and listened to the bird.

 

There are few differences here in the alternate constructions, yet noticeable. The main thought is that the coordinate construction implies that the two events do not take place at the same time and/or place. Thus the alternate constructions cannot be considered as a SVC due to that needed requirement of SVC’s

 

Consequential/Choice SVC’s:

 

Resultative SVC's:

 

This SVC details two actions, one is a causing action, and the other is the resulting event. The two events occur in close sequence without a noticeable time lapse between them, so in some ways, this SVC is very similar to the sequential SVC. The events are separated into two ‘sub-events’. The first ‘sub-event’ is a causing action and so the cause of the action. The second ‘sub-event’ is always thought of as the process or result of the causing action. So this SVC is a cause-result relationship with the sequence of events occurring right after each other at the same place. Like the other SVC’s, the two ‘sub-events’ are considered one single complex event. Due to this SVC, verb serialization confirms the resulting event, which is implied in the causing verb.

 

V-V resultative compounds

 

Since they are the most common usage of SVC, Consider the following examples in Mandarin and Cantonese: I call these ‘extended resultatives’ and contend that they are related to V-V resultatives in a profound way. The extended resultatives are mainly marked by the addition of an extent morpheme, ‘until’. Note that the resultive SVC’s can be negated as the regular style shows a time aspect to it with the intent ‘yet’. The ‘until’ version of the resultive interestingly enough is not able to be negated, as some speculate due to it already having an inherent ‘time’ aspect with the use of ‘until’.

 

Regular V-V

 

XXX

2P+eat-full+rice

‘He had meal and as a result became full’

 

Negative regular V-V

 

XXX

NEG+2P+eat-full+rice

‘He didn’t eat his meal yet to become full’

 

V-until-V

 

XXX

2P+eat+until+full+rice

‘He had meal until he became full’

 

Resultive SVC’s and transitivity

 

Transitive V1+Intransitive V2

 

XXX

2P+beat+die+he

‘You beat him and as a result he died’

 

XXX

2P+beat+until+die+he

‘You beat him until he died’

 

Transitive V1+Transitive V2

 

XXX

2P+study+understand+subject+DEMO

‘He studied this subject and as a result he understood it’

 

XXX

2P+study+until+understand+subject+DEMO

‘He studied this subject until he understood it’

 

Intransitive V1+Transitive V2

 

XXX

2P+walk+go+hut

‘He walked to the hut’

 

XXX

He+walk+until+go+hut

‘He walked (until) to the hut’

 

Intransitive V1+Intransitive V2

 

XXX

3P+cry+wet+shirt

‘He cried and as a result the shirt became wet’

 

XXX

He+cry+until+wet+shirt

‘He cried until the shirt became wet’

 

Resultive SVC intent/meaning:

 

The main issue with resultive SVC’s is the issue of meaning and the speakers’ intent due to ambiguity. In these SVC’s the structure being NP-V-V-NP can lead one to see easily the second verb as the result of the object that follows. The meaning in English can also be assumed to include an ‘until’ while the structure of NP-V-V-until-NP makes the ambiguity of ‘until’ clear.

 

Normal intent, with implied ‘until’:

 

XXX

2P+throw+break into pieces+rock

He threw a rock and it became broken.

He threw (until it) broke into pieces, a rock

 

XXX

2P+step+on+flat+container

He stepped on a container and it became flat.

He stepped on (until it became) flat, a container

 

XXX

bandit+strike+die/dead+hunter

The bandit struck the hunter (dead).

The bandit struck (until it was) dead, a hunter

 

Meaning with clear intent of 'until/to the extent’

 

XXX

He+throw+to the extent that+broken+rock

He threw a rock until it was broken.

 

XXX

2P+walk+on+to the extent that+flat+container

He stepped on a box until it was flat.

 

XXX

bandit+kill+to the extent that+die/dead+hunter

The bandit killed the hunter until he was dead.

 

Refusal SVC

 

The refusal SVC expresses the fact that the action or state of the verbs in series was deliberately not initiated. Therefore the V. to agree as part of the V-V chain to make it clear that the action was agreed upon the therefore when it’s negated, it’s actually a refusal to be honorable and stick to the agreement. The structure is generally NEG+SUB+agree+V+OBJ. Most of the time, the second verb is usually ‘do’, ‘make’, ‘start/begin’ or ‘end/finish’. Note that a refusal SVC cannot be negated, as a refusal SVC is only used when there is proof that an agreement is being broken.

 

XXX

NEG+2P+agree+do+work

“He refused to work”

 

Applicative SVC

 

What is called the applicative, in reality is more of a sub-class of the benefactive SVC in that were dealing with obligation, self-sacrifise for an object. Ndebi ‘for’ has a meaning which implies something more like obligation, self-sacrifise and service to the object rather than the benefactive meaning of ‘give’ gbare. The applicative like the other SVC’s types can be negated. The structure is generally SUB+V+BEN+OBJ

 

Applicative

 

XXX

dog die BEN owner

‘The dog died for his owner.’

 

Negative applicative

 

XXX

NEG+dog+die+BEN+owner

‘The dog didn’t die for his owner.’

 

Gbare – ‘Give’ SVC’s

 

In serial verbs, there is still a discussion if gbare is either a verb or a ‘linker’, the examples below wil show that gbare can act both ways. In complex constructions, gbare has a tendancy to act as an imperative, with a ‘have/had’ stronger imperative feel, while the ‘let’ is a seemingly weaker imperative. The first example shows this multiple-meaning gbare, while the next three examples are standard usage of gbare. Note that gbare constructions can be negated and questioned as examples below will show.

 

Complex Constructions:

 

a)       Have (someone do something)

b)       Let (someone do something)

 

XXX

2P+give+arrow+repair+2P+before+sleep

She had him repair and arrow before going to sleep.

She let him repair the arrow before going to sleep.

 

XXX

2P+tell+give+2P+repair+arrow

He told her to repair the arrow.

 

XXX

2P+want+sit+give+2P

He wanted her to sit (down).

 

XXX

2P+hit+branch+give+be broken

He hit the branch in order for it to be broken.'

 

Gbare can also be used to ‘change’ possession as in X gave (something) to Y, and so has an inherent benefactive meaning like the English ‘for’.

 

XXX

2P+give+arrow+2P

She gave the arrow to him

 

XXX

2P+RU+do+hunt+give+2P

He is doing some hunting for us

 

This problem is crucial for classifying construction types as serial verb construction since serial verb constructions are defined as constructions in which series of verbs or verb phrases are juxtaposed without any overt marker for clausal relations, still representing a single event. Notice the second example uses a V-V-N-V structure, it is still argued, that the sentence final verb ‘grows’ acts as an aspect marker for the sentence.

 

XXX

2P+make+go+2P+hut

He made him go to the hut

 

XXX

Rain+fall+make+plants+grow

'Rain falls so that the crops grow.'

 

Gbare as a verb of possession transfer:

 

As a verb of possession transfer, gbare is followed by two arguments, a theme followed by a recipient. This order is fixed, and cannot be changed to stay grammatical. The standard structure is SUB+gbare+V+OBJ. Below I also show how negation and questions are used with these.

 

Standard usage

 

XXX

2P+give+arrow+2P

She gave the arrow to him

 

Negative usage

 

XXX

NEG+2P+give+arrow+2P

She didn’t give the arrow to him

 

Questioned usage

 

XXX

2P+give+arrow+2P+QUAFF

Why did she give the arrow to him?

 

Negative question usage

 

XXX

NEG+2P+give+arrow+2P+QUAFF

Why did she not give the arrow to him?

 

Gbare as a beneficiary marker:

 

There are technically three types of beneficiary meanings with gbare. The first is called deputative beneficiary. Thus the person receives the gift without doing any action. The second are split into intermediate and ultimate beneficiary meanings and normally called recipient. Thus, the recipient of the gift is also doing the action of receiving the gift. The intermediate is for when there is an intermediary in possession transfer. i.e. X -> Y -> Z, while with ultimate, there is no intermediate in the possession transfer. Like above these can be negated and questioned to add detail as needed. Notice on the third and fourth examples, the position of the question affix. Due to the examples being two complete sentences in effect, the quaff can be at the end of the first sentence.

 

Deputative:

 

XXX

2P+wash+always+clothes+give+kid. CONJ NEG+kid+wash+self+able

She always washes clothes for her kid. Thus, her kid does not know how to wash clothes her/himself.

 

Negative deputative

 

XXX

NEG+2P+wash+always+clothes+give+kid. CONJ NEG+kid+wash+self+able

She doesn’t always washes clothes for her kid. Even though her kid does not know how to wash clothes her/himself.

 

Questioned deputative

 

XXX

2P+wash+always+clothes+give+kid+QUAFF. CONJ NEG+kid+wash+self+able

Why does she always wash clothes for her kid? Even though, her kid does not know how to wash clothes her/himself.

 

Questioned negative deputative

 

XXX

NEG+2P+wash+always+clothes+give+kid+QUAFF. CONJ NEG+kid+wash+self+able

Why doesn’t she always wash clothes for her kid? Even though, her kid does not know how to wash clothes her/himself.

 

Intermediate:

 

XXX

2P+take+pot+3P+Poss+give+2P+because+2P+ask+look

She grabbed the bowl that is hers and gave it to him because he asked to see it.'

 

Negative intermediate

 

XXX

NEG+2P+take+pot+3P+Poss+give+2P+because+2P+ask+look

She didn’t grab the bowl that is hers and gave it to him because he asked to see it.'

 

Questioned intermediate

 

XXX

2P+take+pot+3P+Poss+give+2P+because+2P+ask+look+QUAFF

Why did she grab the bowl that is hers and gave it to him because he asked to see it?

 

Questioned negative intermediate

 

XXX

NEG+2P+take+pot+3P+Poss+give+2P+because+2P+ask+look+QUAFF

Why didn’t she grab the bowl that is hers and gave it to him because he asked to see it?

 

Ultimate:

 

XXX

2P+make+food+give+kid+because+kid+want+eat

She made some food for her kid because her kid wanted to eat.

 

Negative ultimate

 

XXX

NEG+2P+make+food+give+kid+because+kid+want+eat

She didn’t make some food for her kid because her kid wanted to eat.

 

Questioned ultimate

 

XXX

2P+make+food+give+kid+because+kid+want+eat+QUAFF

Why did she make some food for her kid because her kid wanted to eat?

 

Questioned negative ultimate

 

XXX

2P+make+food+give+kid+because+kid+want+eat

Why didn’t she make some food for her kid because her kid wanted to eat?

 

Gbare in ‘Jussive-like’ constructions:

 

Jussive constructions involve a command, request or demand made by one participant toward another participant in order for the latter would perform an action. Such verbs are wə 'persuade', əm 'ask for a favor', b’ana ‘tell’, and əl 'order'. Note that three of the four are mood affixes, normally the mood affixes show up after a verb, but in these serial verbs, these will show up as the first verb (V1) and be followed by gbare, which is in V2 position. The structure is generally seen as SUB+MOOD+gbare+OBJ. These can be negated and questioned like above. Examples are as follows:

 

XXX

2P+tell+give+sit+2P

She told him to sit (down).

 

XXX

NEG+2P+tell+give+sit+2P

She didn’t tell him to sit (down).

 

XXX

2P+tell+give+2P+eat

She told him to eat.

 

XXX

2P+tell+give+2P+eat+QUAFF

Why did she tell him to eat?

 

XXX

2P+tell+go+give+hunt+2P+with+other

She told him to go hunting with the others.

 

XXX

NEG+2P+tell+go+give+hunt+2P+with+other+QUAFF

Why didn’t she tell him to go hunting with the others?

 

XXX

2P+tell+give+be hungry+2P

She told him to be hungry (for supper).

 

Also, a final verb acting as an aspect marker or a sentence final politeness marker can add detail to the jussive construction. Notice in the examples using the final verb, which the standard form shows the person stating the action is being observant, while in the questioned form, the person is being told what to do is to be observant. In these cases, ambiguity can show up, so one is not quite sure on clarity here. See the examples below.

 

Final verb:

 

XXX

2P+tell+give+sit+2P+observe

She told him to sit (down) observantly.

 

Negative FV

 

XXX

NEG+2P+tell+give+sit+2P+observe

She didn’t tell him to sit (down) observantly.

 

Questioned FV

 

XXX

2P+tell+give+sit+2P+observe+QUAFF

Why did she tell him to sit (down) observantly?

 

Politeness marker:

 

XXX

2P+tell+give+2P+eat+POL

She told him to eat politely.

 

Negative POLmkr

 

XXX

NEG+2P+tell+give+2P+eat+POL

She didn’t tell him to eat politely.

 

Questioned POLmkr

 

XXX

2P+tell+give+2P+eat+POL+QUAFF

Why did she tell him to eat politely?

 

Propositional attitude constructions:

 

Propositional attitude constructions involve the expression of a participant's attitude, judgment or opinion regarding a state of affairs. The verb of psych-action are such as wah ‘want, desire, need, hope, wish’. The general structure seen is SUB+wah+gbare+V+OBJ. An example of this type of construction is shown below:

 

Standard usage

 

XXX

2P+want+give+go+hunt+2P

He wants him to go hunting

 

XXX

2P+want+go+hunt+with+2P

He wants to go hunting with him

 

XXX

Storm+want+blow+way+DEMO

'The storm wants to blow towards that direction.'

 

XXX

2P+want+give+2P+eat

She wants him to eat

 

Negative propositional

 

XXX

NEG+2P+want+give+go+hunt+2P

She doesn’t want him to go hunting

 

XXX

NEG+2P+want+go+hunt+with+2P

He doesn’t want to go hunting with him

 

Questioned propositional

 

XXX

Storm+want+blow+way+DEMO+QUAFF

Why does the storm want to blow towards that direction?

 

XXX

2P+want+give+2P+eat+QUAFF

Why does she want him to eat?

 

Questioned negative propostional

 

XXX

NEG+2P+want+give+go+hunt+2P+QUAFF

Why doesn’t she want him to go hunting?

 

XXX

NEG+2P+want+go+hunt+with+2P+QUAFF

Why doesn’t he wants to go hunting with him?

 

Purposive constructions

 

Purposive constructions involve an action performed with the intent of realizing another state of affairs. The common verbs used are: namol 'release', gbanisa 'push', b’ogundi 'pull', and j’una 'hit'. Like the above, the sentences can show negation and being questioned.

 

XXX

2P+push+give+2P+fall+water

He pushed her in order for her to fall into the water.'

 

XXX

Storm+RU+blow+market+LOC

'The storm is blowing towards the village.'

 

XXX

Storm+blow+be damaged+3Poss+hut

'The storm blew & damaged his hut.

 

XXX

Storm+blow+give+be damaged+3Poss+hut

'The storm blew in order to damage his hut

 

XXX

2P+push+give+roll+rock+roll+CNVA

He pushed the rock to keep it rolling

 

XXX

2P+hit+give+be broken+branch

He hit the branch to break it

 

XXX

2P+stir+give+melt+metal

He stirred the metal (molten copper) to melt it

 

XXX

2P+pull+both+hide+give+meet+each other

She pulled both hides for then to meet each other

 

Negative purposive

 

XXX

NEG+2P+push+give+2P+fall+water

He didn’t push her in order for her to fall into the water.'

 

XXX

NEG+Storm+RU+blow+market+LOC

'The storm isn’t blowing towards the village.'

 

Questioned purposive

 

XXX

Storm+blow+be damaged+3Poss+hut+QUAFF

Why did the storm blow & damage his hut?

 

XXX

Storm+blow+give+be damaged+3Poss+hut+QUAFF

Why did the storm blow in order to damage his hut?

 

Questioned negative purposive

 

XXX

NEG+2P+push+give+roll+rock+roll+CNVA+QUAFF

Why didn’t He push the rock to keep it rolling?

 

XXX

NEG+2P+hit+give+be broken+branch+QUAFF

Why didn’t he hit the branch to break it?

 

Ungrammatical sentences: In the first, it is clear, that the hut cannot receive a gift as it is an inanimate object. The second example shows that ‘fun’ is not an object, but an emotion. The third example shows us how the sun cannot give us its’ sunlight. The last example shows how the person cannot give someone their gladness, which is an emotion. So with serial verbs, care must be used in properly constructing them.

 

XXX

2P+paint+give+hut

He painted for the hut

 

XXX

2P+cry out+song+give+fun

She sang a song for fun.'

 

XXX

Sunlight+shine+give+3P

'The sunlight shines for us.'

 

XXX

2P+be glad+give+2P

He was glad for her

 

Miscelaneous SVC’s

 

Abilitative SVC

 

This SVC is used to express the notion of “ability”, so that the subject carries out the action of the second verb. The structure is SUB+able+V+(NP) as the NP is sometimes a locative

 

Abilitative

 

XXX

2P+able+go+LOC

He can go there”

 

Negative abilitative

XXX

NEG+2P+able+go+LOC

He can’t go there”

 

Comparative SVC

 

In this type of SVC, two NP’s are compared to determine which of them has more or less attributes than the other, as in (25). The subject NP of the initial verb has more or less attributes than the second NP. The initial verb in this SVC is always a stative verb: The comparative words used are usually ‘exceeds’, ‘fails’, and ‘equals’ and so the context can be used for a variety of translations. The structure is generally SUB+V+COMP+OBJ

 

Comparitive

 

XXX

2P+be good+exceed+2P

He is better than you”

 

Negative comparitive

XXX

NEG+2P+be good+exceed+2P

He isn’t better than you”

 

Complements of modality verbs

 

Standard complement usage

 

XXX

Suri want quit do work

‘Suri wanted to quit the job.’

 

XXX

Suri try get up morning

‘Suri tried to get up early.’

 

Negative complements

 

XXX

NEG+Suri want quit do work

‘Suri didn’t want to quit the job.’

 

XXX

NEG+Suri try get up morning

‘Suri didn’t try to get up early.’

 

Archaic SUB-V-NP-V SVC’s

 

XXX– ‘Take’ SVCs:

 

Usually uses a sequential or a purposive interpretation, and can be negated and questioned. The general structure is unlike most SVC classes in that it is SUB+use+DO+V+IDO, where the V is the action to use againt/for the IDO. The DO of course is the noun to be used. Some scholars feel that this SVC is not really an SVC due to the needed V-V rule, while others feel that this SVC is an archaic form when V-N-V was still being used. The ‘take’ and ‘use’ SVC’s for this archaic class that is still being used but is considered in some ways ‘ungrammatical’ by current standards.

 

XXX

2P+take+knife+cut+meat

(1) ‘She took the knife (and) cut the meat.’ (Sequential)

(2) ‘She took the knife to cut the meat.’ (Purposive)

 

XXX

2P+take+clothes+put+basket

(1) ‘She took the cloth (and) put them into the basket.’ (Sequential)

(2) ‘She took the clothes to put them into the basket.’ (Purposive)

 

Negative ‘Take’

 

XXX

NEG+2P+take+knife+cut+meat

‘She didn’t take the knife (and) cut the meat.

 

XXX

NEG+2P+take+clothes+put+basket

‘She took the clothes (and) put them into the basket.

 

Questioned ‘Take’

 

XXX

2P+take+knife+cut+meat+QUAFF

‘Why did she took the knife (and) cut the meat.

 

XXX

2P+take+clothes+put+basket+QUAFF

‘Why did she took the cloth (and) put them into the basket.

 

XXX – ‘Use’ SVCs

 

Usually uses a sequential or a purposive interpretation, and can be negated and questioned. The general structure is unlike most SVC classes in that it is SUB+use+DO+V+IDO, where the V is the action to use againt/for the IDO. The DO of course is the noun to be used. Some scholars feel that this SVC is not really an SVC due to the needed V-V rule, while others feel that this SVC is an archaic form when V-N-V was still being used.

 

XXX

2P+use+knife+cut+meat

You cut the meat with the knife.’

 

When the Use-SVCs is added more verb phrase, which is the verb that denotes the intentional action, it has either the sequential or purposive interpretation.

 

XXX

2P+use+knife+cut+meat+give+sister

(1) She cut the meat with the knife (and) gave (it) to her sister.’ (Sequential)

(2) She cuts / cut the meat with the knife to give (it) to her sister.’ (Purposive)

 

Like a verb mol ‘take’, a verb mul ‘use’ cannot occur without the second verb, except when it has the specific meaning of ‘carry’.

 

XXX

2P+use+pot+new

She carried a/the new pot.

 

The differences between the XXX-SVCs and the XXX-SVCs

 

At the first glance, it seems that the verb mol ‘take’ and the verb mul ‘use’ can occur interchangeably.

 

XXX

2P+take+knife+cut+meat

She took the knife to cut the meat

 

XXX

2P+use+knife+cut+meat

She cut the meat with a knife.’

 

However, there are some contexts that the verb mol ‘take’ can occur, but the verb mul ‘use’ cannot.

 

XXX

2P+take+clothes+put+basket

She put the clothes into the basket.’

 

If we want to use the verb mul ‘use’ instead of the verb mol ‘take’, we need to reverse the order of the arguments.

 

XXX

2P+use+basket+put+clothes

She used a basket for containing clothes.

 

Negative Mol

 

XXX

NEG+2P+take+knife+cut+meat

She didn’t take the knife to cut the meat (she used something else)

 

XXX

NEG+2P+use+knife+cut+meat

She didn’t cut the meat with a knife. (she cut it with something else)

 

Questioned Mol

 

XXX

2P+take+knife+cut+meat+QUAFF

Why did she take the knife to cut the meat?

 

XXX

2P+use+knife+cut+meat+QUAFF

Why did she cut the meat with a knife?

 

Poorly formed SVC's

 

XXX

He+raise+hands+thank

He raised his hand to thank us

 

XXX

He+nod+bid farewell

He nodded to bid us farewell

 

In these two examples, the first verbs do not express conventional means and manner in performing the actions indicated by the second verbs.

 

XXX

XXX
XXX

 

XXX

XXX

XXX

 

In these two examples, we have issues in which the actions expressed by the first and the second verbs are performed simultaneously.

 

XXX

He+cook+fish+swallow

He cooked the fish then swallowed it

 

XXX
XXX

XXX

 

These two examples express plausible sequences of events but the events did not occur right after each other.

 

XXX
XXX
XXX

 

This sentence does not express conventionalized scenes or prototypical sequences of events in the real world.

 

XXX

He+cook+herb+boil

She cooked the herbs, and then boiled it.

 

XXX

He+smoke+pipe+lit

He smoked the pipe and lit it.

 

These two examples do not express conventionalized sequences of causing and resulting events. The sequences of events are practically not possible to take place.

 

XXX

He+walk+fall+asleep

He walked then fell as he was asleep

 

XXX

He+sleep+repair+spear

He slept as he fixed his spear

 

The sequences of events in these two sentences are practically impossible to perform simultaneously by the same person. Therefore, It is impossible for the two events to take place simultaneously in the real world.