What are serial verbs good for?

Abstract

Serial verb constructions can express a multitude of grammatical meanings—including directionality, aspect, comparison, increasing valency, and many more. These meanings may be expressed with affixes in other languages. Using a serial verb may help express definiteness and focus. Detailed portrayal of various facets of one single event is a function of symmetrical serial verbs. Languages with serial verbs—or ‘serializing’ languages—are not exclusively associated with any particular type of language. Serial verbs are a major means of expressing grammatical meanings in languages with few if any bound morphemes. Many of these languages are highly analytic and isolating in their profile. Languages with little verbal morphology tend to rely on serial verbs for expressing the relevant meanings. Prolific use of serial verbs is a corollary of the language having a comparatively small number of verbs with a wide range of meanings.