1. Serial verbs

'Serial verb constructions' do not show morphological markers of coordination or subordination within the sentence: 

1.	Ï-de	poáno	noá	baá
	3s-take	table	the	come
	"(S)he brings the table."

The two predicates de and baá are interpreted as referring to components of a single action or process. In the case of example (1), the composite meaning of the series can easily be inferred from the meaning of its component parts: 'take' + 'come' => 'bring'.

In other cases, however, the composite meaning of the serial verb construction cannot be made transparent by considering the meanings of the individual verbs of which it is made up:

2.	Me-gyeá	no	dä
	1s-receive	3sOBJ	eat
	"I believe him."

In (2), the interpretation 'believe' is an idiomatic one, which cannot be derived in any obvious way by combining the meanings 'receive' and 'eat' which are usually assigned to the verbs when they occur by themselves. This suggests that at least some 'serial' combinations, e.g. (2), have been 'lexicalised': they function as semantic units in their own right and will appear in the dictionary as separate lexical entries.

Other instances of serial verb constructions (SVC) refer to component actions or processes which are understood to be part of a larger unit of action:

3.	Yñ-sõreá-eà	ntñám	kõ-õ	fäe
	1p-get_up-PAST	quickly	go-PAST	home
	"We got up quickly and went home."

As can be seen from examples (1-3), the subject of a SVC is only expressed once, namely at the beginning of the series. It is not repeated before the non-initial verbs belonging to the series. 

By contrast, each verb of a series may take its own complements:

4.	Ï-de	sikaá	noá	tõ-õ	kwaduá	ma-a	mmõfraá	noá	di-i-e
	she-take	money	DET	buy-PAST	banana	give-PAST	children	the	eat-PAST-SUF
	"With the money, she bought bananas for the children to eat."

Here, the money is the object of de 'take'; bananas, explicitly introduced as complement of tõá 'buy', are implicitly understood to be the object of buying, giving and eating, whereas the children are the complement (or beneficiary) of giving.

There is also a typical change of subject in this series: the person who buys the bananas and those who eat them are not identical. As said above, the subject of a series is only expressed once, at the beginning of the series. On the other hand, within a series, the object of a preceding verb may become the subject of the following one:

5.	Kaáaà	bõ-õ	abõfraá	noá	hwe-e	faám
	car	strike-PAST	child	DET	fall-PAST	to=soil
	"The child was knocked down by a car."

Here abõfraá noá 'the child' is both the object of the preceding verb bõá 'knock down' and the subject of the following verb hweá 'fall down'.

In some cases, more than one reading of participant roles is possible:

6.	Aémmaá	frñá-ñà	Kofä	ba-a-e
	Amma	call-PAST	Kofi	come-PAST-SUFF
	a) "Amma called Kofi and he came."
	b) "Amma called Kofi and came."

1.1. Function and purpose of serial verbs

Serial constructions carry a heavy functional load, doing for example the work done by prepositions and case markers in other languages.

At the same time, verb serialisation participates in productive lexical processes, allowing for the expansion of the lexicon through idiomatic collocations (cf. example 2 above).

The following are just a few examples illustrating the multi-purpose use of serial verb constructions:
 

a) Instrumental constructions using de 'take'

b) Dative and benefactive marker using maá 'give'

Or as a benefactive marker:

9.	Aémmaá	yñá	adwuáma	maá	Kofä
	Amma	do	work	give	Kofi
	"Amma works for Kofi."

c) Comparative constructions using sene/kyñn 'surpass'

2. Tense-Aspect-marking in serial verbs

But note the following:

• Habitual and Past forms are identical on each successive verb of a SVC. The end form of the Past (cf. Unit 3.6) occurs on a SVC-final verb which is not followed by a complement (e.g. baae and diie in the examples 4 and 6 above).
• Perfect, progressive and future tense-aspect is marked in the usual way on the first verb of a series (except for the verb 'take', see below). All non-initial verbs of the series take the consecutive prefix -aà (which often becomes -aá! by tonal assimilation) which functions as a tense-aspect agreement marker, see examples 13ab/15ab/18ab/24 below).
• In a negated sequence, each successive verb takes the negative marker -nà, see examples 12ab / 14ab / 17ab / 19ab / 21ab / 23ab below.
• In the optative, each successive verb takes the optative marker -ná, see examples 22ab / 23ab below.
• SVC-initial imperatives are Low-toned, non-initial ones carry inherent tone.
• Quite frequently, a SVC starts with the verb de/fa 'take' which expresses, among other things, instrumentality ("do A with B" -> "take B do A"). The verb de is invariant in all tenses and aspects: it does not take any tense-aspect marker at all. If a SVC begins with de, its tense or aspect is initially marked on the second verb of the series. See examples 11b/13b/15b/16b/18b below.
• Moreover, de 'take' is limited to the affirmative paradigm of tenses and aspects. In the negation, the imperative and the optative, de is replaced by the verb fa 'take', which functions like any other verb. See examples 12b/14b/17b/19b/20b/21b below.

2.2. Habitual negative (cf. tenses and negation in Unit 3.6)

2.2. Progressive (cf. tenses in Unit 3.6)

13a.	Aémmaá	re-yñá	adwuáma	aá-ma	Kofä
	Amma	PROG-do	work	CONS-give	Kofi
	"Amma is working for Kofi."

13b.	Aémmaá	de	seákan	re-twaá	paáaànooá
	Amma	take	knife	PROG-cut	bread
	"Amma is cutting bread with a knife."

2.3. Progressive negative

14a.	Aémmaá	reá-nà-yñá	adwuáma	m-maá	Kofä
	Amma	PROG-NEG-do	work	NEG-give	Kofi
	"Amma isn't working for Kofi."

14b.	Aémmaá	reá-mà-faá	seákan	n-twaá	paáaànooá
	Amma	PROG-NEG-take	knife	NEG-cut	bread
	"Amma is cutting bread with a knife."

2.4. Future (cf. tenses in Unit 3.6)

15a.	Aémmaá	bñá-yñ	adwuáma	aá-ma	Kofä
	Amma	FUT-do	work	CONS-give	Kofi
	"Amma will work for Kofi."

15b.	Aémmaá	de	seákan	bñá-twa	paáaànooá
	Amma	take	knife	FUT-cut	bread
	"Amma will cut bread with a knife."

2.5. Future negative (= Habitual negative)

2.6. Past (cf. tenses in Unit 3.6)

16a.	Aémmaá	yñ-ñ	adwuáma	ma-a	Kofä
	Amma	do-PAST	work	give-PAST	Kofi
	"Amma worked for Kofi."

16b.	Aémmaá	de	seákan	twa-a	paáaànooá
	Amma	take	knife	cut-PAST	bread
	"Amma cut bread with a knife."

2.7. Past negative (cf. tenses in Unit 3.6)

17a.	Aémmaá	an-yñá	adwuáma	aámà-maá	Kofä
	Amma	PAST.NEG-do	work	PAST.NEG-give	Kofi
	"Amma didn't work for Kofi."

17b.	Aémmaá	am-faá	seákan	aánà-twaá	paáaànooá
	Amma	PAST.NEG-take	knife	PAST.NEG-cut	bread
	"Amma didn't cut bread with a knife."

2.8. Perfect (cf. tenses in Unit 3.6)

18a.	Aémmaá	a-yñá	adwuáma	aá-ma	Kofä
	Amma	PAST/NEG-do	work	CONS-give	Kofi
	"Amma has worked for Kofi."

18b.	Aémmaá	de	seákan	a-twaá	paáaànooá
	Amma	take	knife	PERF-cut	bread
	"Amma has cut bread with a knife."

2.9. Perfect negative (cf. tenses in Unit 3.6)

19a.	Aémmaá	n-yñ-ñ	adwuáma	m-maá-aà	Kofä
	Amma	NEG-do-PERF	work	NEG-give-PERF	Kofi
	"Amma hasn't worked for Kofi."

19b.	Aémmaá	m-fa-a	seákan	n-twaá-aà	paáaànooá
	Amma	NEG-take-PERF	knife	NEG-cut-PERF	bread
	"Amma hasn't cut (the) bread with a knife."

2.10. Imperative (cf. Unit 6.5)

20a.	Aémmaá,	yñ	adwuáma	maá	Kofä!
	Amma	IMP-do	work	IMP-give	Kofi
	"Amma, work for Kofi!"

20b.	Aémmaá,	fa	seákan	twaá	paáaànooá
	Amma	IMP-take	knife	IMP-cut	bread
	"Amma, cut (the) bread with a knife!"

2.11. Prohibitive (= Imperative negative, cf. Unit 6.5)

21a.	Aémmaá,	n-yñá	adwuáma	m-maá	Kofä!
	Amma	PROH-do	work	PROH-give	Kofi
	"Amma, don't work for Kofi!"

21b.	Aémmaá,	m-faá	seákan	n-twaá	paáaànooá
	Amma	PROH-take	knife	PROH-cut	bread
	"Amma, don't cut (the) bread with a knife!"

2.12. Optative (cf. Unit 6.5)

22a.	Aémmaá	ná-yñ	adwuáma	má-ma	Kofä
	Amma	OPT-do	work	OPT-give	Kofi
	"Amma should work for Kofi."

22b.	Aémmaá	má-fa	seákan	ná-twa	paáaànooá
	Amma	OPT-take	knife	OPT-cut	bread
	"Amma should cut bread with a knife."

2.13. Optative negative (cf. Unit 6.5)

23a.	Aémmaá	ná-nà-yñá	adwuáma	má-mà-maá	Kofä
	Amma	OPT-NEG-do	work	OPT-NEG-give	Kofi
	"Amma shouldn't work for Kofi."

23b.	A!mmaá	má-mà-faá	seákan	ná-nà-twaá	paáaànooá
	Amma	OPT-NEG-take	knife	OPT-NEG-cut	bread
	"Amma shouldn't cut bread with a knife"

Non-past and non-habitual tense-aspects may be combined in the same SVC, e.g.:

24.	Kwasä	aá-'baá	re-dädi
	Kwasi	PERF-come	PROG-eat
	"Kwasi has come and is eating."

(Example taken from an unpublished paper by L.A. Boadi 'Mood in Serial Verb Constructions', Oct. 1996)
 
 

-> Selected bibliography for verb serialisation
-> Bibliographic references for verb serialisation