Deborah Cunningham & Stephen Self AL 5406 Phinnemore 6 February 2013

Grammar Assignment 4: Serial Verbs

1. Introduction
It is easy to find evidence of clusters of verbs sharing one or more arguments and acting as a single unit in Mandarin in such a way that could be characterized as serial verb behavior. It is, unfortunately, far more challenging to find a coherent and widely agreed upon definition for what serial verb constructions (henceforth SVCs) actually are. For example, Li and Thompson (1989:595-621) include in the category serial verbs everything from multi-verb constructions indicating temporal consecution, purpose, alternatives, and circumstance to control complements and descriptive clauses. For the purposes of this assignment, we shall adopt the characteristic and diagnostic features of SVCs defined in Kroeger (2004:229-230), including such properties as argument sharing with only one grammatical subject, no overt coordination or subordination, single event interpretation, word order iconicity, and only one specification for tense, aspect, and modality. Our purpose, however, is not to provide detailed syntactic evidence in defense of every decision to designate given constructions in Mandarin as SVCs. Rather, we aim merely to use Kroegers characteristics and example sentences as guides in pointing out constructions in Mandarin that appear to belong to the same category of construction, namely the SVC. 1.1 Types of SVCs in Mandarin Kroeger (2004:227-228) lists several functions of canonical SVCs, most all of which are exemplified in our Mandarin data. SVCs in Mandarin function to express: 1) instrument of action; 2) beneficiary; 3) goal or direction of motion/action; 4) result or extent of action; 5) purpose; 6) accompaniment; and 7) location. Adopting concepts and terminology from Foley and Olsons (1985:33-39) discussion of SVCs from the framework of Role and Reference Grammar (henceforth RRG), we also note that Mandarin SVCs exhibit both nuclear juncture (i.e. complete sharing of all arguments among the verbs in the SVC) and core junction (i.e. sharing of only one argument, namely the subject). 1.2 SVCs versus PPs as competing encoding of adjuncts It has been recognized that one of the chief motivations behind the SVC is the ability to encode what are often expressed in languages that do not permit SVCs as adjuncts in prepositional phrases (Schiller 1989:410-11). That is, SVCs are one possible method (prepositional phrases being the other) of encoding adverbial notions like instrument, beneficiary, goal, accompaniment, purpose, location, and the like. It is for this reason that we concluded that to allow an adjunct element such as one of these into the VP of a SVC was ultimately not a serious impediment to the SVC analysis of a number of Mandarin constructions. After all, even in languages that have prepositions instead of SVCs, simple adverbs, adjuncts par excellence, are routinely counted as parts of VPs.

2. Instrument
In Grammar Assignments 1 and 2, we have already given examples of instrumental phrases using the verb ju use. Example 2 below illustrates this structure again with the constituent structure given in Figure 1.

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Deborah Cunningham & Stephen Self

(1)

/nan - n ju k uaitsi ti fan/ male person use chopsticks eat meal The man eats the meal with chopsticks.

S NP
[SUBJ]

VP V' V NP
[OBJ]

V' V NP
[OBJ]

N nann man ju use k uaitsi t i chopsticks eat

N fan meal

Figure 1: Constituent structure for 2

Note that, in this sentence, the two verbs inside the Vs of the SVC share only one of their arguments: the external subject man. This core juncture in the RRG parlance is indicated in the constituent structure by the pairing of each V with its own unique NP[OBJ]. As we noted in Grammar Assignment 2, reversing the order of the V constituents, placing the adjunct instrument after the act of eating, destroys the single event interpretation of the whole SVC. The utterance in 2 is interpreted by the LC as comprising two clauses, expressing two separate ideas, exemplified in constituent structure in Figure 2. (2) /nan - n ti fan ju kuaitsi/ male person eat meal use chopsticks The man eats the meal (and) he uses chopsticks.

S NP
[SUBJ]

VP V t i eats NP
[OBJ]

Conj V

VP NP
[OBJ]

N nann man

fan meal

ju use

k uaitsi chopsticks

Figure 2: Constituent structure for 2

We can also add another verbal combination that likewise serves to indicate the instrument of action. Instead of ju use, this structure employs the compound verb la ki pick up. An example sentence is given in 2 with constituent structure in Figure 3.

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Deborah Cunningham & Stephen Self

(3)

/nan - n laki tuitsi kiau sui pwni/ male person pick.up hammer knock break window The man knocks and breaks the window with a hammer.

S NP
[SUBJ]

VP V' V NP
[OBJ]

V' V' V kiau knock V sui break NP

[OBJ]

N nann man lak i pick.up t uitsi hammer

N puni window

Figure 3: Constituent structure for 2

Notice that in the constituent structure above, the verbs knock and break both share all of their arguments (i.e. both subject and object). In the RRG parlance, this complete argument sharing is known as nuclear juncture; it is indicated in the phrase structure tree by the close conjunction of the sister Vs under a single mother node which is itself a sister to the shared NP[OBJ].

3. Beneficiary
Example 3 illustrates the use of a SVC in Mandarin to express a beneficiary. Here, the implication is that the act of buying has taken place on behalf of the woman, who might herself be disposing of the book in any number of different ways. There is no implication of the books being given by the proxy buyer to the woman. Figure 4 shows the constituent structure. Here again, we have core juncture or core serialization. (4) /nan - n ki ny - n mai le i p n male - -person give female person buy CLAS book The man bought a book for (i.e. on behalf of) the woman. u/ PFV one

S NP
[SUBJ]

VP V' V NP
[OBJ2]

V' V ASP CP Num C pn CLAS NP

[OBJ]

N nann man nyn woman

NP N u book

ki give

mai buy

le PFV

i one

Figure 4: Constituent structure for 3

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Deborah Cunningham & Stephen Self Owing to the principle of iconicity of word order in SVCs, which argues that the internal word order of a SVC reflects the order of actions in the conceptual world (Tai 1985:49-50), the sentence in example 3 is quite different from that in example 3, though they are of equivalent phrase structure. The different ordering of the verbs gives rise to a purposive interpretation of 3, such that the clear implication is of the mans actually giving the purchased book to the woman. For more on purpose relations in Mandarin SVCs, see section 6 below. (5) /nan - n mai le i p n u male - -person buy PFV one CLAS person The man bought a book to give to the woman. ki book ny - n/ give female

S NP
[SUBJ]

VP V' V ASP CP Num C pn CLAS u book ki give nyn woman NP

[OBJ]

V' V N NP
[OBJ2]

nann man 4. Goal/direction

mai buy

le PFV

i one

Figure 5: Constituent structure for 3

Example 4 illustrates a SVC in Mandarin serving to express the goal or direction of action. Figure 6 shows the constituent structure with nuclear juncture or nuclear serialization. (6) /nan - n fi tau peiki/ male person fly go.to Beijing The man flies to Beijing.

S NP
[SUBJ]

VP V' V V tau go.to peiki Beijing NP

[goal]

N nann man 5. Result

fi fly

Figure 6: Constituent structure for 4

Example 5 illustrates the use of a SVC in Mandarin to express the result of action. Note that, in this sentence, the two verbs inside the SVC share all of their arguments. Again, this nuclear juncture is indicated in the constituent structure in Figure 7 by the closer juncture of the two Vs as daughters of the V, which is itself a sister to the shared object NP.

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Deborah Cunningham & Stephen Self (7) /ny - n si nan - n/ woman shoot kill man The woman shoots the man dead.

S NP
[SUBJ]

VP V' V V si kill shoot NP

[OBJ]

N nyn woman 6. Purpose

N nann man

Figure 7: Constituent structure for 5

Example 6 illustrates the use of a SVC in Mandarin to express the purpose of action. V2 states the purpose for the motion described in V1. A phrase structure tree showing the constituent structure follows in Figure 8. Note that here we have core serialization with each V inside the Vs having its own unique object. (8) /nan - n tau kuyn tu u/ male person go.to park read The man goes to the park to read a book. book

S NP
[SUBJ]

VP V' V NP
[OBJ]

V' V NP
[OBJ]

N nann man 7. Accompaniment tau go.to kuyn park tu read

N u book

Figure 8: Constituent structure for 6

Example 7 illustrates the use of a SVC in Mandarin to express accompaniment or the comitative function. Figure 9 shows the constituent structure. Here again we have core juncture.

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Deborah Cunningham & Stephen Self

(9)

/nan - hai kn pju ky kuyn/ male child follow friend go.to park The boy goes to the park with [his] friend.

S NP
[SUBJ]

VP V' V NP
[OBJ]

V' V NP
[goal]

N nanhai boy 8. Location kn follow p ju friend ky go.to

N kuyn park

Figure 9: Constituent structure for 7

Example 8 illustrates a SVC in Mandarin serving to indicate location. Figure 10 shows the constituent structure with core serialization. (10) /nan - xai tsai na k xyixiau xyixi hanjy/ male child be.in what CLAS school study Chinese In what school does the boy study Chinese?

S NP
[SUBJ]

VP V' V CP Interrog C k CLAS xyixiau school xyixi study Hanjy Chinese NP N V V' NP
[OBJ]

nanhai boy

tsai be.in

na what

Figure 10: Constituent structure for 8

Again, reversing the order of the V constituents, placing the adjunct location after the act of studying, destroys the single event interpretation of the whole SVC. The utterance in 8 is interpreted by the LC as comprising two clauses, expressing two separate ideas, exemplified in constituent structure in Figure 11. (11) /nan - xai xyixi hanjy tsai na k male child study Chinese be.in what CLAS The boy studies Chinese? (and) In what school? xyixiau/ school

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Deborah Cunningham & Stephen Self

S NP
[SUBJ]

VP V NP
[OBJ]

Conj V

VP NP CP Interrog C k CLAS xyixiau school N

nanhai boy

xyixi study

Hanjy Chinese

tsai be.in

na what

Figure 11: Constituent structure for 8

9. Conclusion
In this paper, we have used the characteristic and diagnostic features of SVCs as adumbrated in Kroeger (2004) along with his example sentences drawn from genetically unrelated languages spread across the globe as guides in pointing out structures in our Mandarin data that match quite closely the canonical definitions and uses of SVCs as expressing: 1) instrument of action; 2) beneficiary; 3) goal or direction of motion/action; 4) result or extent of action; 5) purpose; 6) accompaniment; and 7) location. We have not attempted detailed syntactic analysis of the Mandarin sentences to show strict monoclausality or to conclusively prove that they are not covert coordinate structures, as such analysis falls well outside the scope of this modest project. Instead, we believe we have been able to demonstrate the high probability that the structures presented here do in fact qualify for the label SVC under the rather stringent criteria applied by Kroeger (2004). Much work and more detailed analysis remain to be done in order to offer conclusive syntactic evidence.

10. References
Foley, William A. and Mike Olson. 1985. Clausehood and verb serialization. Grammar inside and outside the clause, ed. by Johanna Nichols and Anthony C. Woodbury, 17-60. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Kroeger, Paul R. 2004. Analyzing syntax: A lexical-functional approach. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Li, Charles N. and Sandra A. Thompson. 1989. Mandarin Chinese: A functional reference grammar. Berkeley: University of California Press. Schiller, Eric. 1989. On the phrase structure of serial verb constructions. Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Chicago Linguistics Society (CLS) 25:405-419. Tai, James H.-Y. 1985. Temporal Sequence and Chinese Word Order. Iconicity in Syntax, ed. by John Haiman, 49-72. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

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