Advances in Role and Reference Grammar

Serial Verbs and Complement Constructions

in Mandarin: A Clause Linkage Analysis*

Mark Hansell

Carleton College

0. Introduction

This paper proposes a unified analysis of Mandarin serial verb constructions
and complement constructions in terms of clause linkage. The syntactic and
semantic characteristics of both types of constructions are discussed, along
with the pros and cons of treating them as similar vs. distinct phenomena.
In section 5 several concepts from Role and Reference Grammar are intro­
duced that allow analysis of the two types of construction as clause linkage
of different degrees of tightness. In sections 5 and 6 tightness of syntactic
linkage is correlated with degree of semantic connection, especially involv­
ing the concept of causation.

1. Serial verb constructions

What are commonly known as Serial Verb Constructions (henceforth

SVCs) in Mandarin are series of two or more VPs, sharing common argu­

ments and exhibiting zero anaphora, with no overt marking of linkage. The

three most basic types (Tao 1984) are:

1. Juxtaposition of full VP's that express separate events.


2. Pivot construction.


3. Coverb construction.