Conlangery #134: Converbs

Today, Matt Pearson joins George and William to talk about non-finite “adverbial” verb forms called converbs.

Top of Show Greeting: Old Niveni

Links and Resources:

• Imperative Converb in Archi (conference abstract)
• Expressing adverbial relations in clause linkage with converbs: definitional and typological considerations (workshop slides)

• Ylikoski, J. (2003). Defining non-finites. Action nominals, converbs and infmitives. Journal of Linguistics, 16(2003), 185–237.

• Ahland, M. (2015). The Functions of Non-Final Verbs and Their Aspectual Categories in Northern Mao (Omotic) Narrative. Beyond Aspect: The Expression of Discourse Functions in African Languages, 109(81), 1–40.

• Creissels, D. (2010). Specialized converbs and adverbial subordination in Axaxdərə Akhvakh. In I. Bril (Ed.), Clause Linking and Clause Hierarchy: Syntax and pragmatics (pp. 104–142). John Benjamins.

• Asfawwesen, D. (2016). 2:916718/FULLTEXT01.pdf">The inceptive construction and associated topics in Amharic and related languages. (Doctoral dissertation, Department of Linguistics, Stockholm University).
• Vandewalle, J. (2016). On Uzbek Converb Constructions Expressing Motion Events/Devinim Anlatan Özbekçe Ulaçli Yapilar Üzerine. Bilig, 78, 117.
• Coupe, A. R. (2017). On the diachronic origins of converbs in Tibeto-Burman and beyond. Sociohistorical Linguistics in Southeast Asia: New Horizons for Tibeto-Burman Studies in honor of David Bradley, 211.

• Forker, D. (2013). Microtypology and the Tsezic languages: A case study of syntactic properties of converbal clauses. SKY Journal of Linguistics, 26(i), 21–40.

• Amha, A., & Dimmendaal, G. J. (2006). Converbs in an African perspective. Trends in Linguistics Studies and Monographs. 167, 393.