Serial verb constructions and echo-reference constructions in the languages of Northwest Malekula: V'ënen Taut, Tape, and Tirax

Abstract

The Northwest Malekula language subgroup consists of three closely related languages V’ënen Taut, Tape, and Tirax (Lynch, 2016). Each language has been documented previously; however, two of the languages, V’ënen Taut and Tape, lacked comprehensive analyses of complex predicates and multi-verb constructions; more specifically serial verb constructions (Part One) and echo-reference constructions (Part Two). This work seeks to address this descriptive gap in the literature. Part One describes serial verb constructions in the Northwest Malekula languages. It begins in Chapter Two with a typological overview of serial verb constructions leading to the identification of three main grammatical properties of serial verb constructions. These properties are: monoclausality, independent verbhood, and shared arguments. Chapter Three employs the identified properties to present a survey of serial verb constructions in six Central Vanuatu languages and finds that most languages display two kinds of serial verb constructions, nuclear and core, which are identified by grammatical marking. The survey also identifies coverbial constructions and object incorporation as two further types of complex nuclei distinct from nuclear serial verb constructions, and auxiliary verb constructions as a distinct type of construction separate from core serial verb constructions. Chapter Four presents a comprehensive analysis of serial verb constructions in the Northwest Malekula languages, analyzing them in terms of argument sharing type and semantic function. Nuclear serial verbs constructions, coverbial constructions, switch-function and ambient core serial verb constructions are identified in all Northwest Malekula languages. Same-subject core serial verb constructions are present in Tape and Tirax but noticeably absent form V’ënen Taut; such functions are expressed using echo-reference constructions in that language. Part Two presents an analysis of echo-reference constructions in the Northwest Malekula languages, focusing on V’ënen Taut. Chapter Five identifies echo-reference constructions as a type of non-canonical switch-reference system that uses the reduction of morphological subject marking on non-initial verbs to signal same-subject person identity between it and an initial fully inflected verb on the same clausal level. Chapter Five also presents a survey of echo-reference constructions Southern Vanuatu, where they are well established in literature. The survey finds echo-reference constructions are relatively uniform in their form and function in the languages of Southern Vanuatu. Chapter Five also surveys several Central Vanuatu languages, and finds that echo-reference have been, or could be, identified in several languages from this region. The function of echo-reference in the Central Vanuatu languages is consistent with that found in Southern Vanuatu; however, the form of the echo-reference morpheme varies much more than those used in Southern Vanuatu. A new analysis of echo-reference constructions in the Northwest Malekula languages is presented in Chapter Six. It finds that echo-reference constructions form predictably under subject-person identity but that there are six constraints which can prevent echo-reference constructions from forming, even where subject-person identity between sequential verbs occurs. These constraints concern changes in the number of participants in an action sequence, polarity and illocutionary force continuity, clause embedding, and the temporal and narrative flow of text. Chapter Seven analyses the use of echo-reference constructions in nine extended excerpts of speech in V’ënen Taut. The thesis concludes in Chapter Eight which presents a grammatical and functional comparison between serial verb and echo-reference constructions. It finds that the two types of construction share many grammatical properties in the Northwest Malekula languages but that they differ in two key areas. Firstly, verbs in echo-reference constructions can only display same-subject argument sharing while serial verb constructions can also display switch-function and ambient argument sharing. Secondly, serial verb constructions are monoclausal while echo-reference constructions are multi-clausal. Serial verb and echo-reference constructions appear analogous in their semantic function, with echo-reference constructions being used to express the same types of semantic functions as same-subject core serial verb constructions. A brief discussion of the diachronic development of echo-reference constructions is offered, noting that there is a clear pathway from coordination to echo-reference constructions attested in the Southern Vanuatu languages but that such a pathway is less evident in the Central Vanuatu languages.