Kalam Serial Verb Constructions

by Jonathan Lane

Speakers of Kalam, a language of the Highlands of Papua New Guinea, use serial verb constructions extensively. In Kalam, these constructions take the form of one or more bare verb stems followed by an inflected verb. Serial verb constructions in Kalam, as with other serialising languages, resemble single clauses in some ways and sequences of clauses in others. It is at the ‘single-cause' end that Kalam serial verb constructions are most similar to their equivalents in most other serialising languages. For instance, Kalam speakers combine stems to express new words – useful in Kalam, which has only around 100 verb stems. The stems meaning ‘give', ‘get' and ‘stay' often take on grammatical functions within the constructions. However, Kalam serial verb constructions are unusually long and complex, sometimes up to nine or ten verb stems in length. Kalam speakers like to talk about things that happen according to detailed formulas, describing, for instance, where a person went, what they did when they got there, and what they did with the result. Serial verb constructions allow speakers to express such formulas in a single clause, and because many verb stems consist of just one syllable, they can utter them at breakneck speed. And that speed in turn helps speakers combine stems into new words and grammatical markers.

151 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2008