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Article published In:
Studies in Language
Vol. 48:1 (2024) ► pp.65–120

The constructional categorization of Saisiyat multi-predicate sentences

ORCID logo | Hubei Polytechnic University

This study investigates the constructional categorization of multi-predicate sentences in Saisiyat. This type of complex sentences simultaneously involves features of serial verb construction and complementation in Saisiyat, which give rise to indeterminacy in constructional categorization. In order to solve this problem, the current study probes into the categorization between serial verb construction and complementation regarding Aarts’ (2007) constructional gradience and semantic relations (Van Valin & LaPolla 1997). The investigation demonstrates a discrete boundary between the two constructions with convergence on each other, while subtypes of multi-predicate sentences are aligned on the convergence based on intra- and inter-categorical relations. Two structural dependencies are proposed to carry out a taxonomy of Saisiyat complex sentences. A theoretical implication derives from this study that Saisiyat multi-predicate sentences are manifestations of formalized morphosyntactic configurations with a pairing of particularized semantic relations instead of coinage based on analogic conventionalization (Fillmore 1997; Goldberg 2019).

Keywords: serial verb construction, complementation, complex sentence, Saisiyat, construction grammar
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.A grammatical sketch for multi-predicate sentences and related constructions in Saisiyat
  • 3.Constructional categorization of complex sentences and the research scope
    • 3.1The types of syntactic structures investigated
    • 3.2The diagnostic features for intra- and inter-categorical relations
  • 4.Characteristics of prototypes in Saisiyat SVC and complementation
    • 4.1Prototypical instances of SVC in Saisiyat
    • 4.2Prototypical instances of complementation
  • 5.Intra-categorical relations of multi-predicate sentences in Saisiyat
    • 5.1The characteristics of non-prototypical members of Saisiyat SVC
      • 5.1.1Non-prototypical Saisiyat serial verbs which only involving SVC features
      • 5.1.2Non-prototypical serial verbs involving complementation
        • 5.1.2.1SVC traits of non-typical serial verbs
        • 5.1.2.2The complementation traits of non-typical serial verbs
      • 5.1.3Interim summary
    • 5.2The characteristics of non-prototypical members of complementation
      • 5.2.1Non-prototypical complementation
      • 5.2.2The SVC features observed in the non-prototypical complementation
      • 5.2.3Interim summary
  • 6.The boundary between SVC and complementation in Saisiyat
    • 6.1On inter-categorical relations
    • 6.2The status of multi-predicate sentences regarding constructional boundaries between the SVC and complementation
  • 7.Structural dependency and taxonomical classification of Saisiyat multi-predicate sentences
  • 8.Concluding remarks
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • Abbreviations and glossing conventions
  • References
Published online: 8 March 2023
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/sl.21034.wan
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