Verb-verb compounds: Delimiting the concept and approaching the study of ordering principles
DOI:10.30842/alp23065737202408447
Vinyar Alexey I. Verb-verb compounds:
Delimiting the concept and approaching the study of ordering
principles. Acta Linguistica Petropolitana. 2024. 20(2):
408–447.
This study is devoted to verb-verb compounds or monoclausal complex predicates with two or more verbal stems integrated in a single grammatical word. I critically assess earlier approaches to these constructions in terms of their relations to serial verb constructions, a broader family of monoclausal complex predicates. First, I provide a framework to analyze verb-verb compounds and a comparative concept for cross-linguistic study of these structures. Second, based on a small cross-linguistic sample of 12 languages from 6 macro-areas, I present a pilot study of Head-Modifier relations and their ordering principles in three semantic types of these constructions: Manner-of-Motion, Directional and Mental Process Constructions. The findings show that there is no single principle for deriving the component ordering of stems in verb-verb compounds: in Mental Process Verb-Verb Compound Constructions, the ordering follows the general principles of Head-Modifier ordering standard for the morphology and syntax of a given language, while the ordering in Manner-of-Motion and Directional Verb-Verb Compound Constructions the Path Verb is heavily attracted to the position in the end of compound sequence, for which I provide provisional cognitive and diachronic explanations. Different principles governing the Head-Modifier ordering in different types of verb-verb compounds suggest that these compounds do not represent a universal framework. Moreover, a comparison with the principles formulated for Head-Modifier ordering in serial verb constructions in earlier studies suggests a functional affinity of some types of verb-verb compounds and some types of serial verb constructions with less close-knit components.
Keywords
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