Serial verb constructions

Abstract

The Nordic languages have the possibility of so-called pseudo-coordination, as in (1) (see e.g. Josefsson 1991, Brandt 1992, Wiklund 1996, Johannessen 1998, Lødrup 2002, Vannemo 2003, Bjerre & Bjerre 2007, Kvist Darnell 2008, Nielsen 2011). Pseudo-coordination is typically used to express imperfective aspect (Tonne 2007). The first verb is either a positional verb like Sw. sitta ‘sit’, a verb of assuming a position (e.g. Sw. lägga sig ‘lie down’), change of location verbs like Sw. komma ‘come’ or gå ‘go’, the verb ta ‘take’ or a particle verb like hålla på ‘carry on’ (see further Lødrup 2002:122). [...]