Function and grammaticalisation in Alor-Pantar asymmetrical verb serialisation

The concatenation of fully lexical verbs within a predicate, or verb serialisation, is prevalent in all Alor-Pantar languages (Klamer 2014: 27-9). This study provides a comparative overview of this serialisation in two parts: (i) it describes the functions that may be carried out by Alor-Pantar serial verbs and (ii) it investigates the function and grammaticalisation of participant-introducing verbs. The functions carried out by Alor-Pantar serial verbs were compared to Aikhenvald’s (2006) function hierarchy. It was found that Alor-Pantar serial verbs do not fit Aikhenvald’s hierarchy particularly well, as it shows numerous breaches. Furthermore, it was found that stages of grammaticalisation exclude verbs from being classified as serial verbs, which would otherwise fit the hierarchy well. It was also found that the hierarchy is non-exhaustive, as Alor-Pantar serial verbs show myriad other functions. Verbs that serve to introduce clausal participants, as noted by (Schapper 2014a: 15...Show moreThe concatenation of fully lexical verbs within a predicate, or verb serialisation, is prevalent in all Alor-Pantar languages (Klamer 2014: 27-9). This study provides a comparative overview of this serialisation in two parts: (i) it describes the functions that may be carried out by Alor-Pantar serial verbs and (ii) it investigates the function and grammaticalisation of participant-introducing verbs. The functions carried out by Alor-Pantar serial verbs were compared to Aikhenvald’s (2006) function hierarchy. It was found that Alor-Pantar serial verbs do not fit Aikhenvald’s hierarchy particularly well, as it shows numerous breaches. Furthermore, it was found that stages of grammaticalisation exclude verbs from being classified as serial verbs, which would otherwise fit the hierarchy well. It was also found that the hierarchy is non-exhaustive, as Alor-Pantar serial verbs show myriad other functions. Verbs that serve to introduce clausal participants, as noted by (Schapper 2014a: 15), are prone to grammaticalisation. The second part of this study provides an overview of these verbs, with a focus on their degree and direction of grammaticalisation as well as the kinds of clausal participants they may introduce. It was found that the degree of grammaticalisation varies greatly both within and across languages, and that grammaticalisation occurs in two directions, resulting in the formation of postpositions with a nominal complement and the formation of VP-incorporated postpositions and applicatives. It was also found that VP-internal postpositions have different functions from postpositions heading their own PP, and that these functions tend to become more idiosyncratic in time.Show less

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Function and grammaticalisation in Alor-Pantar asymmetrical verb serialisation