Please join us for Lauren Schneider’s PhD defence on Wednesday, July 31, 9:00am – 12:00pm. The defence will take place in Room 7402 of Robert C. Brown Hall, SFU Burnaby Campus.

Lauren’s work, titled Serial verb constructions in Hul’q’umi’num’ Salish, presents an account of Hul’q’umi’num’ Salish constructions in which multiple verbal elements are stacked together. She examines the use of these serial verb constructions (SVCs) in great detail, including a survey of the various word orders available and the limits of SVC flexibility in Hul’q’umi’num’ Salish.

Abstract

Serial verb constructions (SVCs) are an understudied phenomena in Salish languages. Hul’q’umi’num’ is the Vancouver Island dialect of Halkomelem Salish and this language makes frequent use of SVCs in narratives. Using data from elicitations and a corpus of texts, I present an account of constructions in which multiple verbal elements are stacked together. I begin by reviewing the relevant literature in SVC typology, Salish language syntax, motion semantics, discourse strategies, etc.

I examine in greater detail the use of SVCs to encode motion semantics, paying particular attention to the order of the verbs. During this study, I found two patterns of grammaticalization of verbs that are likely moving toward dependent verb forms. The first is the verb huye’ ‘leave’ which is serialized more often than any other verb and exhibits a strong preference for occurring as the first verb; this verb is in the process of becoming an auxiliary. The second is the verb nem’ ‘go’ which frequently occurs as the end of a serial string to introduce goal or location information; this verb is in the process of developing coverb function.

Hul’q’umi’num’ SVCs can be composed of any combination of intransitive and transitive verbs. I survey the various word orders available to these constructions and probe the limits of their flexibility. Next, I expand the scope of my examination to the entire oral paragraph, revealing how the discourse context plays a significant role in the realization of the syntax of SVCs. Finally, I conduct a preliminary survey of serialization and alternative patterns in the other Salish languages.

Committee Members

• Dr. Donna Gerdts, Supervisor and Professor SFU
• Dr. Nancy Hedberg, Professor SFU
• Dr. Réjean Canac-Marquis, Associate Professor SFU
• Dr. Daisy Rosenblum, Assistant Professor, UBC