Article published in:
Language Description Informed by Theory
Edited by Rob Pensalfini, Myfany Turpin and Diana Guillemin
[Studies in Language Companion Series 147] 2014
► pp. 263–282

Serial verbs in Wambaya

Australian languages are traditionally not thought of as having serial verb constructions (although cf. Goddard 1988; Wilkins 1988), and are therefore rarely discussed in the extensive typological and theoretical literature on verb serialization. However, in recent work Laughren (2009, 2012) has reported on the existence of serial verb constructions in Waanyi, a non–Pama-Nyungan language of northern Australia. In this paper I show that serial verb constructions are also present in Wambaya, another non–Pama-Nyungan language which shares some areal and lexical similarities with Waanyi. I show that the serial verbs in Wambaya exhibit many of the key morphosyntactic and semantic properties described as characteristic for serial verb constructions in the literature (e.g. Sebba 1987; Durie 1997; Aikhenvald 2006a). A particularly interesting property of Wambaya serial verb constructions, and one that is highly unusual cross-linguistically, is that the verbs need not be ordered iconically. I suggest that this anti-iconic ordering may be related to Wambaya’s nonconfigurational clausal structure and its free word order possibilities, highlighting the need for consideration of the full typological range of language structures in the analysis of verb serialization cross-linguistically.
Published online: 28 January 2014
https://doi.org/10.1075/slcs.147.11nor
References

References

Aikhenvald, Alexandra Y.
2006a. Serial verb constructions in typological perspective. InAikhenvald & Dixon (eds), 1–68.
2006b. Serial verb constructions in Tariana. InAikhenvald & Dixon (eds), 178–201.
Aikhenvald, Alexandra Y. & Dixon, Robert M.W.
(eds). 2006. Serial Verb Constructions: A Cross-linguistic Typology . Oxford: OUP.Google Scholar
Andrews, Avery & Manning, Christopher
. 1999. Complex Predicates and Information Spreading in LFG . Stanford CA: CSLI.Google Scholar
Austin, Peter
. 1981. A Grammar of Diyari, South Australia . Cambridge: CUP.Google Scholar
(ed.). 1988. Complex Sentence Constructions in Australian Languages . [Typological Studies in Language 15]. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Crowley, Terry
. 1987. Serial verbs in Paamese. Studies in Language 11(1): 35–84. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
. 2002. Serial Verbs in Oceanic: A Descriptive Typology . Oxford: OUP. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Dixon, Robert M.W.
1972. The Dyirbal Language of North Queensland . Cambridge: CUP. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
1977. A Grammar of Yidiny . Cambridge: CUP. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Donaldson, Tamsin
. 1980. Ngiyambaa: The Language of the Wangaaybuwan . Cambridge: CUP.Google Scholar
Durie, Mark
. 1997. Grammatical structures in verb serialization. In Complex Predicates , Alex Alsina, Joan Bresnan & Peter Sells (eds), 289–354. Stanford CA: CSLI.Google Scholar
Evans, Nicholas
. 1995. A Grammar of Kayardild . Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Foley, William A. & Olson, Mike
. 1985. Clausehood and verb serialization. In Grammar Inside and Outside the Clause , Johanna Nichols & Anthony C. Woodbury (eds), 17–60. Cambridge: CUP.Google Scholar
Foley, William A. & Van Valin, Robert D. Jnr
. 1984. Functional Syntax and Universal Grammar . Cambridge: CUP.Google Scholar
Goddard, Cliff
. 1988. Verb serialization and the circumstantial construction in Yankunytjatjara. InAustin (ed.), 177–192.
Green, Ian & Nordlinger, Rachel
. 2004. Revisiting proto-Mirndi. In Australian Languages: Classification and the Comparative Method [Current Issues in Linguistic Theory 249], Claire Bowern & Harold Koch (eds), 291–311. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Hale, Kenneth
. 1982. Some essential features of Warlpiri verbal clauses. In Papers in Warlpiri Grammar: In Memory of Lothar Jagst , Stephen M. Swartz (ed.), 271–315. Darwin: SIL-AAB.Google Scholar
. 1983. Warlpiri and the grammar of non-configurational languages. Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 1: 5–47. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Harvey, Mark
. 2009. Proto-Mirndi: A Discontinuous Language Family in Northern Australia . Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.Google Scholar
Harvey, Mark, Green, Ian & Nordlinger, Rachel
. 2006. From prefixes to suffixes: Typological change in northern Australia. Diachronica 23: 289–311. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
LaPolla, Randy
. 2008. ‘Transitivity harmony’ in the Rawang language of northern Myanmar. Paper presented at the Australian Linguistic Society conference, July 2008, Sydney University.Google Scholar
Laughren, Mary
. 2009. Preliminary study of serial verbs in Waanyi. Paper presented at the Australian Language Workshop, ANU Kioloa, NSW, March 2009.Google Scholar
. 2012. Adverbial verbs in Waanyi serial verb constructions. Paper presented at the Australian Language Workshop, Stradbroke Island, Qld, March 2012.Google Scholar
Meakins, Felicity
. 2010. The development of asymmetrical serial verb constructions in an Australian mixed language. Linguistic Typology 14(1): 1–38. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Nordlinger, Rachel
. 1998a. A Grammar of Wambaya, Northern Territory (Australia) . Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.Google Scholar
. 1998b. Constructive Case: Evidence from Australian Languages . Stanford CA: CSLI.Google Scholar
. 2001. Wambaya in motion. In Forty Years on: Ken Hale and Australian Languages , Jane Simpson, David Nash, Mary Laughren, Peter Austin & Barry Alpher (eds), 401–413. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.Google Scholar
. 2006. Spearing the emu drinking: subordination and the adjoined relative clause in Wambaya. Australian Journal of Linguistics 26 (1): 5–29. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
. 2010. Complex predicates in Wambaya: Detaching predicate composition from syntactic structure. In Complex Predicates: Cross-linguistic Perspectives on Event Structure , Mengistu Amberber, Brett Baker & Mark Harvey (eds), 237–258. Cambridge: CUP. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Pensalfini, Robert
. 2003. A Grammar of Jingulu: An Aboriginal Language of the Northern Territory . Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.Google Scholar
. 2011. Jingulu: Texts and Dictionary . Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.Google Scholar
Reid, Nicholas
. 2002. Sit right down the back: Serialized posture verbs in Ngan'gityemerri and other Northern Australian languages. In The Linguistics of Sitting, Standing and Lying [Typological Studies in Language 51], John Newman (ed.), 239–268. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Schiller, Eric
. 1990. The typology of serial verb constructions. CLS 26: 393–406.Google Scholar
Schultze-Berndt, Eva
. 2000. Simple and Complex Verbs in Jaminjung. An Investigation of Event Categorisation in an Australian Language. PhD dissertation, Max Planck Institute of Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen.
Sebba, Mark
. 1987. The Syntax of Serial Verbs [Creole Language Library 2]. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Simpson, Jane
. 1991. Warlpiri Morpho-syntax: A Lexicalist Approach . Dordrecht: Kluwer. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Van Valin, Robert D., Jnr
. & La Polla, Randy. 1997. Syntax: Structure, Meaning and Function . Cambridge: CUP. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Wilkins, David
. 1988. Switch-reference in Mparntwe Arrernte (Aranda): Form, function, and problems of identity. InAustin (ed.), 141–176.
Cited by

Cited by 1 other publications

No author info given
2021.  In Linguistic Categories, Language Description and Linguistic Typology [Typological Studies in Language, 132], Crossref logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 04 june 2021. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.