Chapter 7: Complex Clauses and Serialization in Shilluk

Abstract

This chapter describes a variety of complex clause constructions, ranging from those closest to clauses headed simply by an inflected verb, to those closest to sequences of two clauses. At the bottom end of this scale are clauses with a particle associated with the head of the predicate; this particle constrains the selection of the verb inflection. Then come light verb constructions, in which a semantically rich verb serves as an argument to a light verb. These appear in a variety of morphosyntactic constructions, as the semantically rich verb may appear in various core and peripheral argument positions. A particular light verb construction is the one with the marker bɛ̄ɛ, which expresses purpose, specifically in relation to intransitive and ambitransitive motion verbs. Constructions with the auxiliary {cɛ̀k} are structurally identical to light verb constructions; the crucial difference being the fact that {cɛ̀k} lacks semantic content. Finally, there are serializations, where we can distinguish between more coordinate constructions, in which the two verbs are comparable in lexical content (symmetric serialization), and constructions in which the first of the two predications has more of a grammatical function (asymmetric serialization and complement-clause serialization). Negations involving verbs are expressed through constructions that are structurally indeterminate: the negation markers behave mostly like particles, but in some constructions they appear to head the predicate.