Abstract

LOCATELL, Christian. The earliest Serial Verb Constructions in Aramaic? Verb-verb constructions with hlk 'go' and ?th 'come' in Old Aramaic. SPiL plus (Online) [online]. 2023, vol.65, pp.89-103. ISSN 2224-3380.  http://dx.doi.org/10.5842/65-1-971.

This paper presents examples in which hlk 'walk, go' and ?th 'come' appear in multi-verb constructions conforming to the definition of asymmetrical serial verb constructions (SVCs). In these constructions, hlk and ?th do not appear to be used with their concrete lexical senses as verbs constituting the predicate of a separate clause. Rather, they are found in the V1 position and appear to be used as minor verbs contributing an aspectual nuance of immediacy to the major verb in the V2 position. Broader usage of these verbal forms in Old Aramaic and cognate languages is consistent with a source of such SVCs from the fusion of bi-clausal constructions.

Keywords : Serial verb constructions; Old Aramaic; grammaticalization; historical linguistics.

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