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Verb-Verb constructions in the Indo- -Portuguese creole of the Malabar Hugo C. Cardoso Universidade de Lisboa
Vector verbs -Or ‘explicator (compound) verbs’ (e.g. Abbi & Gopalakrishnan 1991; Abbi 2001) or ‘light verbs’ (Butt 2003; Butt & Lahiri 2013); -Participate in complex monoclausal V+V constructions, where they modulate the meaning of the main verb; -Well-established in the long-standing languages of South Asia –seen as an important feature of the South Asian Sprachbund; -Less well-documented in the ‘newcomers’ to the region (but see Nordhoff 2012 for Sri Lanka Malay).
Indo-Portuguese Creoles
Indo-Portuguese Creoles Gujarati Marathi M\alayalam Tamil + Sinhala Konkani Kannada(+ Konkani) Tamil Telugu Oriya Bengali
Cannanore Vypeen The Creoles
Vector verbs in Malayalam (1) a. Malayalam [Asher & Kumari 1997:347] aaʃaari meeʃakaɭ uƞʈakki taɭɭi. carpenter table-PL make-PP push-PST ‘The carpenter made the tables (intensively).’ b. Malayalam [Asher & Kumari 1997:348] ɲaan avaņņə raƞʈə pustakam ayaccukoʈuttu. 1s 3s.m-DAT two book send-give-PST ‘I sent him two books (for his benefit).’
Vector verbs in Malayalam (1) a. Malayalam [Asher & Kumari 1997:347] aaʃaari meeʃakaɭ uƞʈakki taɭɭi. carpenter table-PL make-PP push-PST ‘The carpenter made the tables (intensively).’ b. Malayalam [Asher & Kumari 1997:348] ɲaan avaņņə raƞʈə pustakam ayaccukoʈuttu. 1s 3s.m-DAT two book send-give-PST ‘I sent him two books (for his benefit).’ V1V2 (non-finite, main verb, contributes core semantics of the predication) (finite, light verb, modulates core semantics of the predication)
V2in Malayalam LEXICAL MEANING VALUE(S) PUT PERFECTIVE/COMPLETIVE GO PERFECTIVE/COMPLETIVE ; REGRET/CENSURABILITY; IRREVERSIBILITY THROW PERFECTIVE/COMPLETIVE; SURPRISE; REGRET/CENSURABILITY TAKE DURATIVE; PERMISSIVE LOSE CONCESSIVE CONTAIN HUMILITY PUSH CONTEMPT GRACE RESPECT DESTROY ANGER/DISGUST/EXASPERATION GIVE ALTER -BENEFACTION KEEP ANTICIPATORY ACTION V2in Malayalam (adapted from Abbi & Gopalakrishnan 1991; Jayaseelan 2004)
Malabar Indo-Portuguese -Invariant verbs (with few exceptions, e.g. vay ‘go(es)’ vs. foy ‘went’); -Tense-Aspect-Mood marked by operators that do not implicate the morphology of the verb; -Despite MIP’s overall SOV basic word order, most operators precede the (main) verb:
The post-verbal slot: BEGIN (11) [Cannanore; free-flowing speech, field data] olotəvini okotobər mezəlo-fazɐ kumsa. 3p wine october month FUT-make begin ‘They would start making wine in the month of october.’
The post-verbal slot: KEEP (12) [Vypeen; free-flowing speech, field data] yo poros ũ present ja-pidi garda. 1 2.OBL one present PST-buykeep ‘I’ve bought a present for you (in advance).’
The post-verbal slot: SIT (13) [Vypeen; free-flowing speech, field data] el beva, tud dia lo-beva, tud dia lo-beva sãta. 3s drink all day IRR-drink all day IRR-drink sit ‘He drank, every day he would drink, he kept drinking every day.’
V2in MIP LEXICAL MEANING VALUE GO REGRET/CENSURABILITY; IRREVERSIBILITY GIVE ALTER -BENEFACTIVE BE/HAVE PERFECT FINISH COMPLETIVE BEGIN INCEPTIVE KEEP ANTICIPATORY ACTION SIT DURATIVE (PEJORATIVE?)
Tense-Aspect marking V 1 V 1+ V2 V 2TOTAL GO - 4 8 12 GIVE 9 4 - 13 BE/HAVE 15 2 - 17 FINISH 6 - - 6 BEGIN 1 - - 1 KEEP 3 - - 3 SIT 1 - - 1
To determine... -Different grammatical/functional categories and/or -Different chronologies (proposed VO → OV shift) [V operators]1V[V operators]2