Properties of Events Expressed by Serial Verb Constructions in Thai

1. Properties of Events Expressed by Serial Verb Constructions in Thai Kingkarn Thepkanjana Chulalongkorn University

2. What are serial verb constructions (SVCs)? • Broad definition: A type of construction in which two or more verbs (verb phrases) are put in juxtaposition without any linker.

3. Examples (1) khaw takoon tp he shout answer ‘He answered by shouting.’ (2) khaw cut burii suup he lit cigarette smoke ‘He lit a cigarette to smoke.’ (3) khaw yiap kl bn he step on box flat ‘He stepped on a box and it became flat.’

4. (4) khaw yn rphlee he stand sing ‘He stood singing.’ (5) khaw yàak pay man̂k he want go abroad ‘He wanted to go abroad.’ (6) khaw rə̂əm tham kaanbâan he began do homework ‘He began to do homework.’

5. (7) khaw sak sa sa?aat he wash shirt clean ‘He washed a shirt and it became clean.’ (8) khǎw kin khâaw yùu he eat rice live, be located (durative asp.) ‘He is eating.’ (9) khǎw khít wâa khǎw tham thùuk he think say (comp) he do right ‘He thought he did the right thing.’

6. (10) khǎw mây dây pay he not get (past tense) go ‘He did not go.’ (11) khǎw pay mây dây he go not get (able) ‘He can’t go.’ (12) khǎw thûuk rót chon he come into contact with (passive) car hit ‘He got hit by a car.’

7. (13) khǎw khàp rót hây chǎn he drive car give (benefactive) I ‘He drove the car for me.’

8. SVCs in Thai are not a unified phenomenon.

9. Major types of SVCs 1. SVCs with grammaticalized/ nongrammaticalized serial verbs

10. Nongrammaticalized vs grammaticalized SVCs • Nongrammaticalized SVCs = SVCs in which all verbs have full lexical meanings. • Grammaticalized SVCs = SVCs in which one verb is grammaticalized.

11. Examples of grammaticalized verbs in SVCs Verbslexical meaningsgrammatical function yùulive, be located atdurative aspect marke wâasay complementizer dâyget past tense marker, able thûukcome into contact passive marker with hâygive benefactive marker

12. Examples of grammaticalized serial verbs (14) khǎw kin khâaw yùu he eat rice live, be located (durative aspect) ‘He is eating.’ (15) khǎw khít wâa khǎw tham thùuk he think say (comp) he do right ‘He thought he did the right thing.’ (16) khǎw mây dây pay he not get (past tense) go ‘He did not go.’

13. Major types of SVCs 2. SVCs with complement-taking verbs / noncomplement-taking verbs

14. Complement-taking verbs = verbs which are not semantically complete in themselves, such as yàak‘want’, rə̂əm‘begin’

15. Non-complement-taking verbs = verbs which do not need other verbs to complete their meanings, such as yn ‘stand’, takoon‘shout’

16. Example of SVCs with complement-taking verbs (17) khaw yàak pay maŋn̂k he want go abroad ‘He wanted to go abroad.’ (18) khaw rə̂əm tham kaanbâan he began do homework ‘He began to do homework.’

17. Major types of SVCs 3.Basic vs nonbasic SVCs • Basic SVCs = SVCs with two verbs or verb phrases • Nonbasic SVCs = SVCs with embedded basic SVCs

18. Objectives of the study • Examine the properties of events expressed by SVCs in Thai. • Compare and contrast SVCs with their semantically related but syntactically different constructions.

19. Scope of the study Nongrammaticalized, non-complement-taking, basic types of SVCs.

20. Semantic classification of SVCs

21. 1.Manner SVCs The first verb expresses the manner of performing an action denoted by the second verb. (19) khaw kwak m riak chan he wave hand call I ‘He called me by waving his hand.’ (20) khaw phayaknaa henduay he nod agree ‘He agreed by nodding.’

22. 2.Sequential SVCs The serial verbs express a sequence of actions. (21) khaw cut burii suup he lit cigarette smoke ‘He lit a cigarette to smoke.’ (22) khaw yip khanompa kin he grab, pick up bread eat ‘He picked up a piece of bread to eat.’

23. 3.Resultative SVCs The serial verbs express a causing action and a resulting event. (23) khaw paa kw tk he throw glass broken ‘He threw a glass and it became broken.’ (24) khaw yiap kl bn he step on box flat ‘He stepped on a box and it became flat.’

24. 4.Posture SVCs The first verb expresses a posture of the body while the same subject of the verb is performing an action. (25) khaw na aan nas he sit read book ‘He sat reading a book.’ (26) khaw yn rphlee he stand sing ‘He stood singing.’

25. 5.Directional SVCs The serial verbs express directions of a single path. The notions of basic and nonbasic SVCs do not apply. (27) khaw dəən ̀k pay he walk exit go ‘He walked out and away.’ (28) khaw dəən troŋ y́n klàp ̀k pay he walk go straight reverse return exit go ‘He walked straight out away to this starting point.’

26. Properties of events of the five semantic types of SVCs

27. 1. Manner SVCs (29) khaw kwak m riak chan he wave hand call I ‘He called me by waving his hand.’ (30) khaw phayaknaa henduay he nod agree ‘He agreed by nodding.’ (31) khǎw takoon tɔ̀ɔp he shout answer ‘He answered by shouting.’

28. The first verb expresses the manner of performing an action denoted by the second verb. • This type of SVC consists of “primary action” verb + “non-primary action” verb.

29. Primary action verbs are verbs which denote events which are carried out by an exact physical means and manner, such as dn‘walk,’ prop (m)‘clap (hands),’ na‘sit,’ yn ‘stand,’ phe‘gaze’, kin‘eat’. • Non-primary verbs are vague as to the means and manner of carrying out the actions expressed by them, such as pay ‘go,’ maa ‘come,’ riip‘hurry,’ fk‘practice,’ kl‘pretend,’ khit‘think,’ wikhr?‘analyze.

30. The first verb expresses the exact physical means and manner of carrying out the action expressed by the second verb. • The actions indicated by the two verbs were performed by the same agent, and took place at the same place and time but referred to different aspects of the same “objective” event.

31. This type of SVC expresses multiple “event-facets” which are not separable from one another. • They are overlaid to form a detailed description of a single objective event. • The first action is considered the means/manner of performing the second action. • At the same time, the second action is considered the goal of performing the first action.

32. Comparison with monoverbal sentences with prepositional phrases indicating means and manner. (32) khaw riak chan dooy kaan kwak m he call I by nominalizer wave hand ‘He called me by waving his hand.’ (33) khaw henduay dooy kaan phayaknaa he agree by nominalizer nod ‘He agreed by nodding his head.’ (34) khǎw tɔ̀ɔp dooy kaan takoon he answer by nominalizer shout ‘He answered by shouting.’

33. Comparison with sentences with purposive clauses (35) khaw kwak m ph̂a riak chan he wave hand in order to call I ‘He waved hand in order to call me.’ (36) khaw phayaknaa ph̂a henduay he nod in order to agree ‘He nodded in order to agree.’ (37) khǎw takoon ph̂a tɔ̀ɔp he shout in order to answer ‘He shouted in order to answer.’

34. What happens? • The new sentences are grammatical but sound awkward. • Reason: The two verbs which express closely related actions and which constitute prototypical scenes in the real world are split and connected by a preposition or a purposive subordinator.

35. What happens? • The constructions with dooy‘by’ and ph̂a‘in order to’ explicitly express the means/manner and the purpose in performing an action, respectively. • They are not normally used to connect two closely related actions which constitute a prototypical scene in the real world. • This means there must be something special about events expressed by SVCs.

36. 2. Sequential SVCs (38) khaw cut burii suup he lit cigarette smoke ‘He lit a cigarette to smoke.’ (39) khaw yip khanompa kin he grab, pick up bread eat ‘He picked up a piece of bread to eat.’ (40) khǎw thɔ̂ɔt plaa kin he fry fish eat ‘He fried fish to eat.’

37. This type of SVC consists of two primary action verbs. They are not vague as to the means and manner of carrying out the actions indicated by them. • The two verbs express two physical actions performed by the same agent. • The two actions occur in close sequence without a noticeable time span in between.

38. The second actions are typically interpreted as the purpose of carrying out the first actions. • The two actions are considered two subevents which constitute a single complex event because they were performed by the same agent, are interpreted as an action-purpose sequence of events, and occurred at more or less the same time and place.

39. Comparison with the coordinated construction containing the conjunction lǽæw k̂‘and then’. (41) khaw cut burii lǽæwk̂ suup he lit cigarette and then smoke ‘He lit a cigarette and then smoked.’ (42) khaw yip khanompalǽæwk̂ kin he grab, pick up bread and then eat ‘He picked up a piece of bread and then ate.’ (43) khǎw thɔ̂ɔt plaa lǽæwk̂ kin he fry fish and then eat ‘He fried fish and then ate.’

40. What happens? • In the coordinate constructions, the two events do not necessarily happen right after each other. There may be a time span between the two events. They may happen at different times and places. • The two events are perceived to be independent from each other. • The sense of purpose is not implied.

41. 3. Resultative SVCs (44) khaw paa kw tk he throw glass broken ‘He threw a glass and it became broken.’ (45) khaw yiap kl bn he step on box flat ‘He stepped on a box and it became flat.’ (46) phûuráay khâa tamrùat taay criminal kill police die/dead ‘The criminal killed the police (dead).’

42. The two verbs express two subevents occurring in close sequence without any noticeable time span between them. • The first subevent is interpreted as a causing action whereas the second one is interpreted as either a process or a resulting state of an entity affected by the causing action.

43. This type of SVC is interpreted as a cause-result sequence of events occurring right after each other at the same place. • The two subevents constitute a single complex event. • In (46), verb serialization serves to confirm the realization of the resulting event, which is semantically inherent in the causing verb.

44. Comparison with the semantically related subordinate construction containing the subordinator conkrathâŋ ‘until, to the extent that’ (47)?khaw paa kw conkrathâŋ tk he throw glass until, to the extent that broken ‘He threw a glass until it was broken.’ (48)?khaw yiap klconkrathâŋ bn he step on box until, to the extent that flat ‘He stepped on a box until it was flat.’ (49)*phûuráay khâa tamrùat conkrathâŋ taay criminal kill police until, to the extent that die/dead ‘The criminal killed the police until he was dead.’

45. What happens? • Sentence (49) is ungrammatical. • Sentence (47) implies that the subject kept throwing a glass until it was broken. • Sentence (48) implies that the subject kept stepping on a box until it was flat. • The oddness of the two sentences arises from the unlikelihood of those events to take place in the real world.

46. What happens? • The construction with conkrathâŋ‘until, to the extent that’ implies that the agent performs an action repeatedly, intensively or long until another event takes place. • In (47) and (48), the resulting events are not perceived as expected events of the causing ones.

47. 4.Posture SVCs (50)khaw na aan nas he sit read book ‘He sat reading a book.’ (51) khaw yn rphlee he stand sing ‘He stood singing.’ (52) khaw nɔɔn faŋ wítthayú? he lie listen to radio ‘He lay listening to the radio.’

48. In this type of SVC, a person performs an action denoted by the second verb while being in a certain posture. • The two subevents are performed by the same agent and happen at the same time and place. • This type of SVC expresses multiple event-facets which provide a detailed description of one event.

49. Comparison with the semantically related coordinate construction containing the conjunction lǽ? ‘and’ (53)khaw nalǽ? aan nas he sit and read book ‘He sat and read a book.’ (54)khaw yn lǽ? rphlee he stand and sing ‘He stood and sang.’ (55)khaw nɔɔn lǽ? faŋ wítthayú? he lie and listen to radio ‘He lay and listened to the radio.

50. What happens? • The coordinate construction suggests that there are two events which may not take place at the same time and place.