Serial Verb Constructions and Motion Events in Malagasy

Abstract

This article investigates how Malagasy, an Austronesia language of
Madagascar, expresses path and manner in motion event
expressions, and situates Malagasy within a motion event typology
introduced by Talmy (1985) and expanded by Slobin (2004) and
Zlatev & Yangklang (2004). I argue that Malagasy is a verb-framed
language within Talmy’s (1991) verb framing/satellite-framing
typology. I examine Malagasy dual-verb constructions and show
points of comparison and contrast to canonical serial verb
constructions (SVCs). While it is debatable whether Malagasy dualverb
constructions are legitimate SVCs, I argue that Malagasy does
not align with a third category unique to SVC languages proposed by
Slobin (2004) and Zlatev & Yangklang (2004), but instead behaves as
a verb-framed language. Additionally, I examine a phenomenon in
verb-framed languages whereby the telicity of a path phrase changes
depending on whether the associated verb is a path verb.
Consequently, I propose a new definition of the boundary-crossing
constraint. This article constitutes the first investigation of Malagasy
motion event expressions in comparison with SVC languages and its
findings motivate a reconsideration of presumed universal
properties of motion event expressions in SVC languages.