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Great! That's about how I've been using it, except without the strictly serial syntax limitation (the coverb with its object can move around). I'll also try the archives later. -----Original Message----- From: John Cowan <jcowan@hidden.email> To: engelang@yahoogroups.com <engelang@yahoogroups.com> Date: Friday, October 18, 2002 09:57 Subject: Re: [engelang] coverb >And Rosta scripsit: > >> > When I was looking through the archives, I noticed someone use the term >> > "coverb". I happen to have been using this term, but I'm not at all sure >> > if my usage is anywhere near conventional. Does anybody want to >> > volunteer a definition? >> >> Can you remember the context? It strikes me as a nonce-term without >> any standard conventional meaning. > >It's a standard term in Chinese linguistics (and perhaps other languages too) >for the non-head verb in a serial verb construction. It may be defined as >a verb which has an object but is not the main verb of its clause. >Li and Thompson give this example: > > Yue1han4 huan2 -le yi4 ben3 shu1 gei3 Ma3li4 > John return PFV one CLASS book give Mary > >where "gei3" is the coverb. Functionally, gei3 can be seen as a dative >marker, but unlike typical markers, it is a semantically unbleached verb >which, as a main verb, means "give". > >-- >We call nothing profound jcowan@hidden.email >that is not wittily expressed. John Cowan > --Northrop Frye (improved) http://www.reutershealth.com