This week, Will Johnston will present a talk titled: “Verb serialization as event-building: Evidence from Hmong”. (This is a 20-minute practice talk for MOTH; abstract follows.) Fieldwork Lab meets on Thursdays, though due to the unusual class schedule, Fieldwork Lab will exceptionally begin at 4:15 this week.
Abstract: I examine two common and highly productive types of serial verb construction in Hmong (Hmong-Mien). These are the so-called ‘Attainment’ SVCs, which express telicity, and ‘Cause-Effect’ SVCs, which express direct causation. I argue that both are reflexes of the same underlying system: both are formed by merging multiple verbal roots within the event-building portion of the verbal projection. I then discuss the extent to which this treatment might apply to other types of SVCs in Hmong.