# Serial Verb Constructions in Papiamentu: Historical, Synchronic and Comparative Observations

Bart Jacobs

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DOI: 10.4000/lla.12603
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Date of publication: December 31, 2015
Number of pages: 59-79
ISSN: 2429-2230

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Bart Jacobs, "Serial Verb Constructions in Papiamentu: Historical, Synchronic and Comparative Observations", *Linguistique et langues africaines* [Online], 1 | 2015, Online since 28 September 2023, connection on 01 October 2023. URL: http://journals.openedition.org/lla/12603; DOI: https://doi.org/10.4000/lla.12603

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Une nouvelle voix
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- Sur l'origine du suffixe du pluriel dans le groupe Nyun-Buy

- L'indexation du sujet et de l'objet dans les langues atlantiques nord

- Serial Verb Constructions in Papiamentu: Historical, Synchronic and Comparative Observations

- A Note on the (Non-Existing) Passive in Matengo

- Notes et documents - Bure Verbs

- Comptes-rendus de lecture

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#01

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Linguistique et Langues Africaines :
une nouvelle voix pour les langues
et les cultures d'Afrique (Paulette Roulon-Doko,
Nicolas Quint & Loïc-Michel Perrin) 11

1. Sur l'origine du suffixe du pluriel dans le groupe Nyun-Buy (Sylvie Voisin) 13

2. L'indexation du sujet et de l'objet dans les langues atlantiques nord (Alain-Christian Bassène) 43

3. Serial Verb Constructions in Papiamentu: Historical, Synchronic and Comparative Observations (Bart Jacobs) 59

4. A Note on the (Non-Existing) Passive in Matengo (Jenneke van der Wal) 81

Notes et documents - Bure Verbs (Gian Claudio Batic) 101

## Comptes-rendus de lecture

Sandra Bornand et Cécile Leguy, *Anthropologie des pratiques langagières*. Paris, Armand Colin, Collection U-Sciences humaines et sociales, 2013, 205 p.

par Paulette Roulon-Doko

Gregory D. S. Anderson, *Auxiliary Verb Constructions in the Languages of Africa. Studies in African Linguistics 40 (1 & 2)* [Special issue], 2011, 409 p.

par Maximilien Guérin
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**Comité scientifique**

Emilio BONVINI (LLACAN, CNRS), Denis CREISSELS (DDL, Université Lyon 2), Claude HAGÈGE (EPHE), Bernd HEINE (University of Cologne), Larry HYMAN (University of California - Berkeley), Sambieni KOFFI (Université d'Abomey-Calavi), Jérémie KOUADIO (Université d'Abidjan), Friederike LÜPKE (SOAS, University of London), Gudrun MIEHE (University of Bayreuth), Maarten MOUS (Leiden University), Papa Alioune NDAO (Université Cheick Anta Diop de Dakar), Margarida PETTERS (Universidade de São Paulo), Thilo SCHADEBERG (Leiden University), John MCWHORTER (Columbia University).

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Paulette ROULON-DOKO (LLACAN, CNRS), Nicolas QUINT, Loïc-Michel PERRIN (LLACAN, INaLCO).

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# Sommaire

Linguistique et Langues Africaines, une nouvelle voix pour les langues et les cultures d'Afrique .................................... 11
Paulette ROULON-DOKO, Nicolas QUINT & Loïc-Michel PERRIN

1. Sur l'origine du suffixe du pluriel dans le groupe Nyun-Buy ................................................................. 13
Sylvie VOISIN

2. L'indexation du sujet et de l'objet dans les langues atlantiques nord .................................................... 43
Alain-Christian BASSÈNE

3. Serial Verb Constructions in Papiamentu: Historical, Synchronic and Comparative Observations .................... 59
Bart JACOBS

4. A Note on the (Non-Existing) Passive in Matengo ................................................................. 81
Jenneke VAN DER WAL

## Notes et documents

Bure Verbs .................................................................................................................... 101
Gian Claudio BATIC

## Comptes-rendus de lecture

Sandra Bornand et Cécile Leguy : *Anthropologie des pratiques langagières* ............................................ 113
par Paulette ROULON-DOKO

Gregory D. S. Anderson : *Auxiliary Verb Constructions in the Languages of Africa* .................... 118
par Maximilien GUÉRIN
# Serial Verb Constructions in Papiamentu: Historical, Synchronic and Comparative Observations

Bart JACOBS<fnref n="1" />

**Abstract**

This paper is concerned with the nature and origin(s) of serial verb constructions (SVCs) in Papiamentu, the Creole language of Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao, also known as the ABC-Islands. First I outline the most dominant types of SVCs in Papiamentu and then draw a comparison with Cape Verdean Creole, of which I think Papiamentu is a direct descendent, highlighting both differences and some striking correspondences. Finally, I claim that the presence of certain SVCs in Papiamentu versus their absence in Cape Verdean Creole has implications for the debate on substrate influence in creolization.

**Keywords**

serial verb construction, Papiamentu, Creole languages

**Résumé**

Cet article traite de la nature et de l'origine des séries verbales (SV) en papiamento, la langue créole des îles ABC (Aruba, Bonaire et Curaçao). Tout d'abord, je décris les principaux types de séries verbales attestés en papiamento. Puis je compare ces SV avec celles attestées en créole capverdien (dont je pense que le Papiamento est historiquement issu), en soulignant à la fois les principales différences et les ressemblances frappantes qui existent entre ces deux langues. Enfin, je développe l'idée que le fait que certains types de SV présents en papiamento ne se retrouvent pas en capverdien a une incidence directe sur la question – très débattue – du rôle joué par les langues de substrat dans le processus de créolisation.

**Mots-clés**

séries verbales, papiamento, langues créoles

<footnote n="1">1. Leiden University Centre for Linguistics.</footnote>
**1. Introduction**

The aim of this paper is threefold. First I outline the most dominant types of SVCs in Papiamentu, the creole language of Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao, also known as the ABC-Islands (section 2). Secondly, I draw a comparison between SVCs in Papiamentu and Cape Verdean Creole in the context of the hypothesis that these two creoles are genetically related (v. Quint 2000; Jacobs 2009 and elsewhere), highlighting both parallels and differences and accounting for those differences (section 3). Thirdly and finally, I claim that the presence of certain SVCs in Papiamentu versus their absence in Cape Verdean Creole has implications for the debate on substrate influence in creolization (section 4).

**2. SVCs in Papiamentu**

This paper follows Bussmann's (1996: 1066) definition of serial verb constructions (SVCs): an SVC is a construction in which “[a] series of verbs or verb-object complexes are juxtaposed without any kind of conjunction, certain verbs having more abstract or grammaticalized meaning, e.g. Yoruba **ó gbé e wá** lit. 'he carry it come,' i.e. 'he brings it'

'''' (v. Holm 1988: 183 with specific regards to creoles). Modal and other auxiliary verb phrases with a direct equivalent in the standard versions of the two main lexifier languages of Papiamentu – Spanish and Portuguese – will not be considered here. (Maurer 1988 provides an exhaustive overview of modal and auxiliary constructions in Papiamentu.)

As Aikhenvald's (2005) typology of SVCs makes abundantly clear, it is not easy to coherently classify SVCs: there is a wide variety of types and, although generalizations can of course be made, many SVCs are ambiguous as to which type they belong. For Papiamentu, to my knowledge no attempts have yet been made to classify SVCs. Here, I will propose a distinction between two broad types, based on both formal and semantic criteria (v. Aikhenvald 2005). This classification is tentative and open for future refinement:

A. *Sequencing SVCs*: SVCs expressing a sequence of actions / sub-events, which are tied and perceived of as one coherent event. The number of verbs chained in such SVCs is potentially unlimited;

<footnote n="2">2. A potentially valuable source on Papiamentu SVCs is Bendix (1972). Unfortunately, however, this concerns an unpublished manuscript which I could not get hold of. My only access to it has been through the references to, and treatment of that work in Sebba (1987).</footnote>
B. *Modifying SCVs*: SVCs in which the meaning of V2 influences that of V1, that is, V2 modifies, specifies or qualifies the event expressed by V1. This class consists exclusively of two-verb SVCs.

The difference between both types seems to roughly correspond to Aikhenvald's (2005) distinction between 'symmetrical' (type A) and 'asymmetrical' SVCs (type B). In symmetrical SVCs, the order of the verbs (or verb-object complexes) is iconic, "reflecting the temporal sequence of subevents" (Aikhenvald 2005: 22). All verbs in such SVCs enjoy equal syntactic status. Asymmetrical SVCs, on the other hand, are so-called 'headed' constructions in the sense that they consist of two verbs, one of which provides "modificational specification" – e.g. the direction, temporal-aspectual meaning, or effect – of the event expressed by the other verb (Aikhenvald 2005: 21). The modifying verb is to be labeled the 'minor', the modified verb the 'major' (or 'head') verb (e.g. Aikhenvald 2005). Note, however, that, at least for Papiamentu, it is not always obvious which verb modifies which, and the modification sometimes seems to go both ways (V1 → V2; V2 → V1).

Types A and B are not always clearly distinguishable and overlap to a certain extent, in the sense that some SVCs display characteristics of both types. Below, I will provide examples as clear-cut as possible and a discussion of both types.

## 2.1 Type A: Sequencing SVCs (symmetrical SVCs)<fnref n="3" />

This type allows the expression of one coherent event by means of a sequence of semantically specific sub-events, each verb within the SVC expressing one sub-event. The translation of such SVCs into Indo-European languages typically requires coordinating conjunctions. These SVCs may be transitive (2, 3, 4) or intransitive (1) and the number of verbs or verb-object complexes sequenced within one SVC is potentially infinite. If the SVC contains two transitive verbs, these may share the same object (3, 4) or have different objects (2). If two verbs share the same object, this object is normally repeated after the second verb (Maurer 1988: 257), e.g. by means of a resumptive pronoun (3). However, examples can also be found where this is not the case (4), although this could be a transcription error.

<footnote n="3">3. Abbreviations used in this paper are 1sg : first person singular pronoun; 2sg : second person singular pronoun; 3sg : third person singular pronoun; 1pl : first person plural pronoun; CAS : Casamancese Portuguese Creole; CVC : Cape Verdean Creole; FOC : focus marker; PAP : Papiamentu; PAST : imperfective past marker; PERF : perfective aspect marker; PROG : progressive aspect marker; REL : relative pronoun; SVC : serial verb construction.</footnote>
(1) El a <u>kore</u> pasa drenta bira sali den
3sg PERF run pass enter turn leave in
un fregâ di wowo
a blink of eye

S/he passed running, entered, turned around [and] left in the blink
of an eye. (Munteanu 1996: 372)

(2) El a kohe e hacha kap e palu
3sg PERF take the axe cut the tree
He took the axe [and] cut the tree. (Sebba 1987: 172)

(3) El a kue e karni kort' é
3sg PERF take the meat cut it
He took the meat [and] cut it. (Maurer 1988: 257)

(4) Cha Tiger a hala stul pone na mesa
Cha Tiger PERF drag chair put on table
Cha Tiger dragged the chair onto the table.

(Kouwenberg & Muysken 1995: 214)

No use is made of coordinating conjunctions, though in principle the
Papiamentu conjunction i ‘and’ can be inserted between the verbs or
verb-object complexes without any change in meaning, i.e. for merely
stylistic purposes (Maurer 1988: 257). This stylistic option is indicative
of the symmetrical nature of these SVCs (viz. of the equal syntactic status
of each participating verb). Thus, (5) would be a semantic equivalent of,
and stylistic alternative to (3).<fnref n="4" />

(5) El a kue e karni i kort' é
3sg PERF take the meat and cut it
He took the meat [and] cut it. (Maurer 1988: 257)

## 2.2 Type B: Modifying SVCs (asymmetrical SVCs)

In modifying SVCs, V2 modifies and/or specifies the action, direction,
effect, or tense-aspectual character of an event expressed by V1. The
translation of such modifying SVCs into non-serializing languages such
as English typically requires other morphosyntactic and/or lexical tools,
such as -ing complements, adverbs, prepositional phrases or particle
verbs. In SVCs of this type, unlike in SVCs of type A, the Papiamentu
conjunction i ‘and’ cannot be inserted between the verbs or verb-object
complexes without causing a change in meaning. This seems to be a logi-
cal result of the asymmetrical syntactic relationship between the two
verbs.

<footnote n="4">4. As noted by Sebba (1987: 161), the alternative with conjunction (3b) is more typical of modern, urban Papiamentu, whilst the serialized variant is more commonly found in rural areas and older forms of Papiamentu.</footnote>
Type B SVCs can roughly be subdivided into two subtypes (which again contain several smaller types), based on the valency – transitive or intransitive – of the SVC.

### 2.2.1 Intransitive modifying SVCs

A frequently occurring pattern is that a semantically more specific, intransitive motion verb endows a semantically more general verb (often, but not necessarily an intransitive motion verb) with some kind of aspectual value. It is not always clear which verb modifies which; for instance, judging merely by the translation, V1 seems to be modified by V2 in (6), whilst the reverse seems to be the case in (7).<fnref n="5" /> When the roles of modifying vs. modified verb are more clearly allocated (as in 8-13), the modified verb can alternatively be referred to as the ‘head’ (or ‘major’) verb and the modifying verb as the ‘minor’ verb.

(6) **Hose** **a** **kai** **sinta** **riba** **e** **stupi**
hose PERF fall sit on the sidewalk

*Hose sat down on the sidewalk.* (Muller 1989: 364)

(7) **E porta** **a** **dal** **sera**
the window PERF hit close

*The door slammed shut.* (Maurer 1988: 263)

Two verbs that frequently assume the role of modifying (or ‘minor’) verb in such SVCs are **kore** (8) and **bula** (9). The resulting SVCs often develop into fixed, lexicalized expressions; the original lexical meaning of the modifying verb is sometimes eroded or even completely lost, as suggested by the serial use of the verb **bula** ‘to fly’ in the adverbial sense of ‘suddenly’ (9) and of **kaba** ‘to finish’ in the sense of ‘already’ (10)<fnref n="6" />. Kouwenberg & Muysken (1995: 214) furthermore comment that certain such two-verb SVCs “are lexicalized to the extent that [they] can undergo predicate clefting together” (11).

(8) **kore** **bai**
run go

‘to go running / to run off’

**kore** **sali** **afó**
run leave outside

‘to run out(side)’

**kore** **bini**
run come

‘to come running’

(9) **bula** **bai**
fly go

‘to go/leave suddenly’

**bula** **bisa**
fly say

‘to suddenly say’

<footnote n="5">5. Admittedly, my syntactic interpretation is based on the translation.</footnote>

<footnote n="6">6. The verb ‘to finish’ used in the sense of ‘already’ is a widely-recognized phenomenon across the Atlantic creoles.</footnote>
bula lanta

fly stand.up

‘to jump up’

(10) M' a kome kaba
1sg PERF eat already

I've already eaten. (Maurer 1988: 109)

(11) Ta bula bai nos ta bula bai Hulanda
FOC fly go we IMP fly go Holland

We really fly to the Netherlands.

(Kouwenberg & Muysken 1995: 214)

In directional SVCs (sometimes referred to as ‘lative’ SVCs), a minor verb (V2) modifies the direction of the head verb (V1), thus assuming a role that in many Indo-European languages is assumed by prepositions. Papiamentu **bai** ‘go’ and to a lesser extent **bin** ‘come’ are particularly frequent in this role (12, 13).<fnref n="7" />

(12) El a bai verhuis bai Zwolle
3sg PERF go move go Zwolle

He (went and) moved to Zwolle.

(Jacobs & Muysken forthcoming)

(13) Mi ta lastra -bo bai fiernu
1sg IMP drag 2sg go hell

I drag you to hell. (Kouwenberg & Muysken 1995: 215)

### 2.2.2 Transitive modifying SVCs

A second type of modifying SVCs consists of two transitive action verbs conveying a cause-effect relationship, in which the clause-final verb (V2) indicates the effect V1 has on the object (14, 15) (v. Aikhenvald 2005: 16).

(14) Korta e barika habri
cut the belly open

Cut the belly open. (Sebba 1987: 201)

(15) El a konopá e saku bon duru sera
He PERF button the sack good tight close

He buttoned the sack (closing it) very tightly. (Baart 1983)

Note that the concepts conveyed by this type often correspond to Dutch particle verbs, as illustrated in Table 1. In fact, Lenz (1924: 183) and Hesseling (1933: 45, 46) claimed these SVCs to be calques on Dutch. However, while contact with Dutch may have reinforced the frequency of certain such SVCs, there seems no need to classify them as Dutch

<footnote n="7">7. Directional SVCs are highly frequent in Papiamentu and in fact in most serializing languages (Aikhenvald 2005).</footnote>
calques: many Atlantic creoles which have not been in contact with Dutch display similar SVCs.<fnref n="8" />

<table><caption>Table 1. Papiamentu modifying SVCs and semantically equivalent particle verbs in Dutch</caption><thead><tr><td>Papiamentu</td><td>Dutch</td><td>Meaning</td></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>korta habri<br>cut-open</td><td>opensnijden<br>open-cut</td><td>'to cut open'</td></tr><tr><td>konopa sera<br>button-close</td><td>dichtknopen<br>closed-button</td><td>'to button up'</td></tr><tr><td>dal sera<br>hit-close</td><td>dichtslaan<br>closed-hit</td><td>'to slam shut'</td></tr><tr><td>dal mata<br>hit-kill</td><td>doodslaan<br>dead-hit</td><td>'to hit to death'</td></tr></tbody></table>

In the same subclass we should mention so-called “shoot/hit/beat-kill” SVCs. Found in many Atlantic creoles, these also occur in Papiamentu, where they have the form [subject + V1 + object + **mata** ‘to kill’] (16). The V1 position can be taken by verbs such as **dal** ‘hit’ (16), **tira** ‘hit’, **benta** ‘throw’, **kima** ‘burn’, etc. (v. Sebba 1987: 201).

(16) **Outo** **a** **dal** **e** **mata**
car PERF hit 3sg kill

*A car hit her / him / it killing her / him / it.*

(Kouwenberg & Murray 1994: 48)

## 2.3 Other observations

It has been suggested that Papiamentu displays structures that could be interpreted as instrumental SVCs, also known as “take” constructions. For instance, Sebba (1987: 173) translates (17) as ‘he cut the meat with the knife’. While (17) is, admittedly, ambiguous, there is little doubt that instrumental clauses are normally expressed in Papiamentu by means of a prepositional phrase with **ku** ‘with’. Example (17) should thus be translated as two consecutive events, i.e. ‘He took the knife and cut the meat’, similar to e.g. (2). This interpretation is shared by Maurer (1988: 256).

(17) **El** **a** **tuma** **e** **kuchu** **korta** **e** **karni**
3sg PERF take the knife cut the meat

*He took the knife and cut the meat.* (Sebba 1987: 159)

<footnote n="8">8. Dutch particle verbs have certainly been calqued into Papiamentu. These calques, however, typically take the form of [verb + preposition], e.g. Pap. **lanta riba** get.up-up ‘to get up’ calqued on Dutch **opstaan**. Often, the Dutch preposition is borrowed wholesale into the Papiamentu idiom: e.g. Pap. **bai om ku** go-around-with ‘to deal with’ calqued on Dutch **omgaan met**.</footnote>
As noted previously, the two main types (A and B) discussed in the foregoing may combine within one chain of verbs. In (18), **[kohe-mi]** and **[tene ranka-mi]** are symmetrical aligned (SVC type A), whilst **tene** modifies **ranka** in **[tene ranka-mi]** (SVC type B). Similarly, in (19), **lanta**, **sali** and **[kore bai]** are symmetrically serialized, whilst **kore** modifies **bai**.

(18) **Un** **di nan** **tabata** **[kohe-mi]** **[tene ranka-mi]B**A
one of them PAST catch-me hold pull-me
**na** **man**
in hand

*One of them caught me [and] pulled me holding my hand.*

(Bendix 1972: 45, in Sebba 1987: 159)

(19) **El** **a** **[lanta** **sali** **[kore** **bai]B**A
3sg PERF stand.up leave run go

*He stood up, left and ran away.* (Maurer 1988: 40)

Examples (3) and (20) convey the same meaning, but belong to type A and type B respectively on strictly syntactic grounds. In (3) the object is repeated, creating two syntactically symmetric constituents which can optionally be conjoined by Pap. i ‘and’ without changing the meaning (v. (5)). In (20), on the other hand, the two verbs are in an asymmetric relation to each other, **kortà** modifying the verb **kue**. The object is not repeated; the insertion of the conjunction i ‘and’ would thus yield an intransitive reading of **kortà** and change the meaning of the sentence (v. Maurer 1988: 257).<fnref n="9" />

(3) **El** **a** **kue** **e** **karni** **[i]** **kort'** **é**
3sg PERF take the meat and- cut it

*He took the meat [and] cut it.* (Maurer 1988: 257)

(20) **El** **a** **kue** **e** **karni** **[*i]** **kortà**
3sg PERF take the meat and cut

*He took the meat and cut it.* (Maurer 1988: 257)

Sebba (1987: 160) reflects on the same syntactic contrast, providing two examples (21, 22) whose translations better illustrate the difference between the sequencing and the modifying type.

(21) **M'** **a** **tir'** **e** **[i]** **mat'** **e**
1sg PERF shoot 3sg and kill 3sg

*I shot him and killed him.* (Sebba 1987: 160)

(22) **M'** **a** **tir'** **e** **[*i]** **mata**
1sg PERF shoot 3sg kill

*I shot him dead.* (Sebba 1987: 160)

<footnote n="9">9. While (3) and (20) can be translated identically, (20) arguably has a more purposive meaning – taking the meat with the purpose of cutting it – than (3) does.</footnote>
While the SVCs discussed in this section set Papiamentu apart from its lexifier languages Spanish and Portuguese, it is important to acknowledge that “the total range [of SVCs in Papiamentu, BJ] is more limited than in some other Caribbean Creoles, it appears.” (Kouwenberg & Muysken 1995: 215). Indeed, of the five types of SVCs identified by Parkvall (2000: 70) as typical of the Atlantic Creoles – *benefactive*, *lative*, *dative*, *instrumental* and *comparative* SVCs –, we only find latives (12, 13) grammaticalized in Papiamentu.<fnref n="10" /> Parkvall (2000: 71) therefore lists Papiamentu together with the Upper Guinea Portuguese Creoles as creoles which “have few serials or lack them altogether”.

### 3. Comparison: SVCs in Papiamentu and Cape Verdean Creole

Following Quint (2000), I have argued (e.g. Jacobs 2009 and elsewhere) that Papiamentu is a direct descendant of an early variety of Cape Verdean Creole which was partially relexified towards Spanish soon after the arrival of speakers of that early variety on Curaçao. The relexification affected a large share of the basic content vocabulary, but left largely intact the original morphosyntactic strategies and function words, including the TMA/verbal system (see Quint 2000: 134-156; Jacobs 2012 Chapters 3-5). The claim of kinship is gradually finding acceptance in the literature (e.g. Hagemeijer & Alexandre 2010; McWhorter 2010; Schwegler 2010; Baptista 2011; Bakker et al. 2011: Clements 2012). However, in spite of the abundant similarities between the grammars of the two creoles, one aspect in which the two creoles show discrepancies concerns (the frequency of) the use of SVCs.

#### 3.1 Sequencing SVCs

To retain the terminology applied in this paper, it can be said that especially sequencing SVCs (type A) are, although not absent, much rarer in Cape Verdean Creole than in Papiamentu and, if they occur, hardly ever exceed a number of two verbs within one chain. Quint (2008: 37-39) provides the following sequencing SVCs in Cape Verdean Creole (Santiago variety) (23, 24).

(23) CVC

Mudjer tra midju, da -i
woman take corn give 3sg

*The woman took the corn [and] gave it to her.* (Quint 2008: 37)

<footnote n="10">10. Some authors (e.g. Holm et al. 1999: 306) have suggested that Papiamentu has dative serial verbs. Indeed, sentences like *kumpra pan duna e yu* buy-bread-give-the-child ‘buy bread for the baby’ (Holm et al. 1999: 306, drawing on native speaker data) is very suggestive of a dative serial construction. To my knowledge, this dative construction is not highly grammaticalized, however; prepositional datives with *pa* ‘for’ (< Sp./Port. *para idem*) are more common, at least in mainstream varieties of the language. More research is desirable to scrutinize this issue.</footnote>
(24) CVC

Kel trés partidu djunta, fasi um grupu di skérda
Those three party join make a group of left

*Those three parties joined [and] made a left-wing party.*

(Quint 2008: 38)

Quint (2008: 38) notes that most sequencing SVCs occur when the subject is a nominal phrase with at least one noun (23, 24). If the subject is a pronoun, it is usually repeated before the second verb (25). This difference is further illustrated by the bracketed parts in (26), an example taken from the famous Cape Verdean folktale about the adventures of a hyena (Semedo 2005).

(25) CVC

E toma nabádja e da kunpanheru na odju
3sg take knife 3sg give comrade in eye

*He took the knife and stabbed the other in the eye.* (Lang 2013)

(26) CVC

Dispós ki Nhordés dja rasebê-s, [Nhu Lobu
When God already receive-3pl Hyena
pánha troka] si garáfa ku di Xibinhu,
take change his bottle with of Xibinhu
má Diós komu dja sabi di tudu kusa

but God as already know of all thing
[e pánha, e distroka]
3sg take he unchange

*“When God had received them, the Hyena took [and] changed his bottle with Xibinhu’s but as God knows about everything, he took, he (un)changed [the bottles again]”* (Semedo 2005: 9)

Sporadically, one may also find the omission of the pronominal subject in the second verb phrase (27).

(27) CVC

Ês pára, _ máta djáki
3pl stop, kill bull-calf

*They stopped and killed the bull-calf.* (Quint 2008: 37)

Note that, while sequencing SVCs exist in Cape Verdean Creole, they seem quite a bit rarer than in Papiamentu. Furthermore, the number of verbs per sequence hardly ever exceeds two. There also appears to be a difference between Papiamentu and Cape Verdean Creole on a prosodic level: there is generally a short pause between the two sequenced verbs in Cape Verdean Creole (orthographically indicated by a comma); in Papiamentu there is no such pause between serialized verbs.
## 3.2 Modifying SVCs

With regards to asymmetrical, modifying SVCs (type B), here too we can observe that in general Papiamentu uses them (much) more abundantly than Cape Verdean Creole. A comparison of techniques does, however, yield several interesting results, which I will summarize below.

* The modifying SVC **mánda fla** send-tell is used in Cape Verdean Creole in the sense of ‘to tell’, with the restricted purpose of introducing reported speech (28a) (Quint 2000: 179). Interestingly, the same construction is very frequent in conservative forms of Papiamentu. Example (28b) is from the 1996 version of the Papiamentu Bible, which contains dozens of similar examples.

(28) a. CVC
**Na bu kárta, bu mánda fla ma (...)**
in your card you send tell REL
*In your card, you say that...* (Quint 2000: 179)

b. PAP
**El a manda bisa Moisés: '(...)'**
3sg PERF send say Moses
*He said to Moses: '...'* (Papiamentu Bible 1996)

* Quint (2000: 158) points out the causative use of ‘to put’ in the two creoles (29a, 29b):

(29) a. CVC
**E po -m kumi pom**
3sg put me eat bread

b. PAP
**El a pone mi kome pan**
3sg PERF put me eat bread
*He made me eat bread.* (Quint 2000: 158)

* In both creoles we find the idiosyncractic imperative structure exemplified in (30a, 30b) and described by Quint (2000: 155) as follows: “Comme le badiais [Cape Verdean Creole, Santiago variety, BJ], le Papiamento peut employer plusieurs verbes à l’impératif à la suite, en mentionnant le pronom sujet à partir du deuxième verbe”<fnref n="11" />. (The same feature has been described for Casamancese Portuguese Creole, v. Biagui 2012).

(30) a. CVC
**Xinta bu kumi!**

<footnote n="11">11. “Like Cape Verdean Creole (Santiago variety), Papiamentu can employ several imperative verbs in series, mentioning the subject pronoun from the second verb onwards” (translation mine).</footnote>
b. PAP

Sinta bo kome!

sit 2sg eat

*Sit down and eat!* (Quint 2000: 155)

* Both Papiamentu and Cape Verdean Creole use the verb ‘to come’ in the sense of ‘finally’ (see Jacobs 2012: 241-246) (31 & 32).

(31) CVC

N [ben sai] di vila

1sg come leave of city

*I ended up leaving the city.* (Baptista 2002: 114)

(32) PAP

nos a [bin sali] nuebor

1pl PERF come leave nine.o’clock

*[We had agreed to leave at eight, but] we ended up leaving at nine.*

(van Wel Heuvel & van der Wal 1989: 113)

* Both Papiamentu and Cape Verdean Creole frequently combine the verbs ‘to (re)turn’ + ‘to come’ and ‘to (re)turn’ + ‘to go’ in the sense of ‘to come / go (back) again’, ‘to return’ (for Cape Verdean Creole, see Parkvall 2000: 71, drawing on Meintel 1975), either independently (CVC **torna ben** ‘to come back’ = Pap. **bolbe bin** idem), with verbal complements, or with directional complements (33a, 33b). (Jacobs (2012: 241-246) discusses additional serial / adverbial uses of ‘come’ in the two creoles.) Especially the correlation between Cape Verdean verb phrases of the type [motion verb+‘come/go’+directional complement] and the (albeit much more grammaticalized) directional SVCs in Papiamentu –illustrated supra (12, 13)– is quite evident: the lack of a directional preposition between [‘come/go’] and the directional complement allows [‘come/go’] to be reinterpreted as a preposition. Note furthermore that directional SVCs with ‘come’ and ‘go’ are common also in Guinea-Bissau and Casamancese Portuguese Creole (33c).

(33) a. CVC

E pode [torna bai Práia]

3sg can turn go Praia

*He might go back to Praia.* (Lang 2002: 720)

b. PAP

El a [bolbe bai Galilea]

3sg PERF return go Galilea

*He went back to Galilea.* (Papiamentu Bible 1996)

c. CAS

Joŋ [koré bay Sicor]

John run go Ziguinchor

*John went at once to Ziguinchor.* (Biagui & Quint 2013)
* Syntactically, Cape Verdean transitive structures of the type **el bebi di sel seka** 3sg-drink-of-it-dry ‘he drank it fully empty’ (with **seka** ‘to dry’) (Quint 2000: 179) equal Papiamentu modifying SVCs of the transitive type described in section 2.2.2., e.g. (8) Pap. **korta e barika habri**, although it is unclear to me how common such structures are in Cape Verdean Creole.

Finally, I briefly draw attention to the following correspondence: in both creoles, imperfective [ta + V] complements can occur in series expressing a series of events (34a, 34b). Although their status as SVCs seems doubtful, such constructions do show a typological similarity between the two creoles in terms of the organization of verb phrases in general and the expression of a series of events in particular.

(34) a. CVC

<table><tr><td>El</td><td>ta</td><td>ficâ</td><td>na</td><td>ratrato</td><td>ta</td><td>abri</td><td>odjo</td></tr><tr><td>3sg</td><td>IMP</td><td>stay</td><td>on</td><td>picture</td><td>PROG</td><td>open</td><td>eye</td></tr><tr><td>ta</td><td>fitchâ,</td><td>ta</td><td>abri</td><td>boca</td><td>ta</td><td>fitchâ</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>PROG</td><td>close</td><td>PROG</td><td>open</td><td>mouth</td><td>PROG</td><td>close</td><td></td></tr></table>

*He appears on the pictures opening and closing his eyes, opening and closing his mouth.* (Macedo 1979: 205, v. examples in Baptista 2002: 78)

b. PAP

<table><tr><td>Tur</td><td>dia</td><td>mi</td><td>ta</td><td>tendé</td><td>-bo,</td><td>ta</td><td>pasa</td></tr><tr><td>All</td><td>day</td><td>1sg</td><td>IMP</td><td>hear</td><td>2sg</td><td>IMP</td><td>pass</td></tr><tr><td>ku</td><td>piská</td><td>ta</td><td>grita</td><td>riba</td><td>kaya</td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>with</td><td>fish</td><td>IMP</td><td>scream</td><td>on</td><td>street</td><td></td><td></td></tr></table>

*Every day I hear you passing by with fish screaming on the street.* (Lenz 1928: 265; v. examples in Maurer 1988: 262, 264)

### 3.3 Summary of the comparison

As the brief comparison provided above shows, the two creoles share some correspondences especially in the domain of two-verb modifying SVCs (type B). However, Cape Verdean Creole lacks particular modifying SVCs which have a grammaticalized, idiomatic function in Papiamentu, including most of the structures illustrated in § 2.2. Moreover, where Papiamentu has the possibility to create lengthy chains of verbs of type A and B as well as to combine the two types, Cape Verdean Creole has no such options (e.g. 1). Thus, in addition to some idiosyncratic correspondences, there are important, both qualitative and quantitative, differences between the two creoles in the domain of SVCs.

Quint (2000: 179), who discusses SVCs in a section on differences between Papiamentu and Cape Verdean Creole, summarizes the discrepancies as follows: “il semble que, d’une manière générale, le badiais [Cape Verdean Creole, Santiago variety, BJ] soit moins enclin que le
papiamento à produire de telles séries verbales. En particulier, je n'ai jamais relevé en badiais de successions de quatre ou cinq verbes comme on en trouve en papiamento"<fnref n="12" />.

**3.4 Accounting for the differences between Papiamentu and CVC**

The absence of heavy verbal serialization in Cape Verdean Creole (as well as in the sister varieties of Guinea-Bissau and Senegal for that matter, see Biagui & Quint 2013) in contrast to many other Atlantic creoles has frequently been commented on in creolistic literature and has been accounted for by pointing out that its substrate consists of languages from the Mande and West-Atlantic branches which are comparatively poor in SVCs (see the discussion in Holm (1988: 183-190) and the references therein; see also Holm et al. 1999). The Atlantic creoles with more heavy serialization, on the other hand, typically have in their substrate a number of Kwa languages, which are generally rich in SVCs (see Ameka 2005 for an excellent overview).

Now, if Papiamentu descends from Cape Verdean Creole, which I believe it does, it means Papiamentu shares its substrate with Cape Verdean Creole. The (much) more pronounced use of SVCs in Papiamentu as opposed to Cape Verdean Creole thus requires an explanation. Certainly, as noted, some Papiamentu structures (such as the directional ‘come’ and ‘go’ SVCs) can be explained as the further development – or grammaticalization – of syntactic-semantic structures already present in the early Cape Verdean ancestor variety. However, an internal explanation does not do justice to the broader qualitative and quantitative discrepancies between the two creoles.

Fortunately, we only have to look at the history of Curaçao’s slave trade to see that the discrepancy in the domain of serialization does not pose any obstacle to the hypothesis of kinship between the two creoles. After all, it is well known (see e.g. the figures in Parkvall 2000: 137, based on Postma 1990) that Curaçao received great amounts of slaves from the Gold and Slave Coasts – i.e. from Kwa-speaking areas – until the mid-18th century. This means that the frequent use of SVCs in Papiamentu (a) is very likely to be a rather unspectacular result of shift-induced language change (v. Thomason & Kaufman 1988) and (b) should not be analyzed as a substrate feature, but rather as a post-formative contact-induced feature. In the final section (§ 4), we will look at the consequences these assumptions may have for the debate on substrate influence in creolization.

**4. Implications for the debate on substrate influence in creolization**

A long-standing debate in the field of creole studies concerns the role and
contribution of (African) substrate languages in the process of creoliza-

<footnote n="12">12. “it seems that, generally, Cape Verdean Creole (Santiago variety) is less inclined than Papiamentu to use such serial verbs. Particularly, I have never come across series of four or five verbs in Cape Verdean Creole such as found in Papiamentu”.</footnote>
tion. Focusing on the Atlantic realm, we know for a fact that African
slaves were demographically dominant in those places where creoles
emerged in the colonial period. However, there is massive disagreement
as to which parts of the creole grammar – if any – can be attributed to the
African substrate.

Scholars arguing in favor of an important substrate contribution in
creole formation have, in search of evidence, traditionally focused on the
morphosyntax (v. Migge & Smith 2007: 2,3). Such an option was due to
obvious reasons: the influence of African languages on the basic lexicon
of most Atlantic creoles is negligible.<fnref n="13" /> Some morphosyntactic features
found across creoles that have typically been ascribed to the African sub-
strate include *for*-complementation, verbal adjectives, preverbal Tense,
Mood and Aspect (TMA) marking and, indeed, the (heavy) use of SVCs
(Veenstra 2008: 223). In fact, SVCs are seen by some as irrefutable evi-
dence of the role played by substrate influence (see e.g. McWhorter &
Parkvall 2002), the central argument being that SVCs are found exactly
in those creoles whose substrate has them (e.g. most Caribbean Creoles),
but not in creoles whose substrate lacks them (e.g. the Upper Guinea
Portuguese Creoles) (v. Lefebvre 2011: 20).

In his renowned Language Bioprogram Hypothesis (v. Veenstra's
2008 comprehensive summary discussion), Bickerton (1981 and esle-
where) systematically contests the influence of African languages on
creole formation. According to Bickerton, the remarkable morphosyntac-
tic correspondences between creoles spoken in different parts of the
world cannot be explained by means of sub- or superstrate theories, for
the simple reason that not all those creoles have the same sub- and/or
superstrate. In Bickerton's framework, rather, the correspondences result
from the fact that creole grammars are in essence the outcome of a uni-
versal, innate language creation capacity among children; the influence of
(African) substrate languages on creole formation is thus, *strictu senso*,
non-existent. It is implied that Bickerton also rejects the idea that SVCs
are a substrate-induced feature. To support that idea, he provides
evidence from Hawaiian English Creole and Tok Pisin –both creoles *with*
SVCs but *without* serializing substrate languages– and argues that the
SVCs in those creoles result from universal processes of language
creation.

The Papiamentu-Cape Verdean Creole data might shed new light on
this debate. I argue that they do not support either Bickerton's view of
SVCs as universals or the view of SVCs as substrate-induced features.
Rather, they suggest a third possibility which, to my knowledge, is hardly
ever considered in the creolistic literature: namely that SVCs in the
Atlantic creoles are the mere result of regular processes of language
contact.

<footnote n="13">13. There are exceptions, such as the Portuguese-based creole Angolar, whose basic vocabulary contains an estimated 30% of Bantu words.</footnote>
Before advancing, it should be noted that one’s view on substrate influence will depend on one’s very definition of the term ‘substrate’ and, indeed, on one’s particular view on creole genesis. I should therefore first define what I understand by ‘substrate (influence)’ and ‘creolization”.

To start with the former, the use of the term ‘substrate’ in creole studies differs from its original meaning in the broader field of contact linguistics, where it generally refers to “the native language of an indigenous people influenced by the language of a dominant people as well as [...] its influence upon the dominating language” (thus Bussmann 1996: 1134). In this definition, for its use in creole studies, we need to replace the term “indigenous” by “socio-economically subordinate” and “the dominating language” by “the creole language”. But what do we mean when we say “influence upon the creole language”? Unfortunately, linguists dealing with substrate influence in creoles too rarely reflect on that question; hardly ever do they state explicitly whether they apply the label “substrate influence” only to features that entered a creole *during* creolization (which is clearly what Bickerton had in mind when he rejected the idea of substrate influence on creolization), or also to features that entered a creole *after* creolization, i.e. postformatively.<fnref n="14" /> In this context, I will follow Muysken (2009: 84): “In the absence of clear definitions, I will [...] take substrate influence as characteristic of creolization”. Accordingly, I will not label features that have entered a given creole *after* creolization as substrate features, but rather treat them as regular contact-induced features.

Needless to say, we now need to define the term creolization, otherwise the definition of substrate influence provided above is still meaningless. Defining creolization in a non-simplified manner clearly surpasses the length and purpose of this paper. Suffice it to note here that I am compelled by the evidence put forward by e.g. Parkvall & Goyette (forthcoming) in favor of a pidgin-creole cycle. By extension, I believe that creolization consists of the nativization of a pidgin and should thus be seen as a rapid (rather than gradual) process which may be accomplished in the timespan of one or two generations.

Importantly, the Papiamentu / Cape Verdean Creole data confirm the rapid creolization hypothesis. The nature of the correspondences between Papiamentu and Cape Verdean Creole (Quint 2000; Jacobs 2012) suggests not only that the former descends from the latter, but also that the early variety of Cape Verdean Creole brought to Curaçao in the mid-17th century was a *fully-fledged* creole language, rather than a pidgin or jargon (see Jacobs 2012: 312-316). Put differently, based on comparative linguistic evidence, I strongly believe that the Cape Verdean precursor of Papiamentu had already nativized viz. creolized prior to its emergence on Curaçao.

<footnote n="14">14. A reason why creolists so rarely take a clear stance in this respect, I think, is because they refuse to take a stance on the sensitive topic of rapid versus gradual creolization.</footnote>
Returning to SVCs, the facts and assumptions laid out above logically
imply that I believe that the SVCs found in Papiamentu and not in Cape
Verdean Creole were added to the Papiamentu grammar *after* creolization
(most likely through contact with speakers of Kwa-languages who, as
noted above, were imported into Curaçao in great numbers up to the mid-
18th century). The case of Papiamentu thus suggests that SVCs can be
added by means of regular language contact (in this case likely through
shift-induced change). Now, it seems unlikely to me that anybody would,
has ever or will ever deny that SVCs can spread or be borrowed through
regular contact. However, to my knowledge not many creolists seem to
have ever seriously envisaged this possibility. Rather, as noted, the pres-
ence of SVCs in the Atlantic creoles is usually uncritically assumed to be
a case of substrate transfer.

If we extend our view to a heavy serializing creole language such as
Haitian Creole, we see that here too a scenario of regular (i.e. post-
formative) language contact should be considered when accounting for
the presence of SVCs in that creole. Although the documentation of slave
imports into Haiti is fragmented, we know that slaves from Kwa-speaking
areas continued to arrive until the late 18th century:

> “later arrivals, who came after Creole had become established, were mostly
> from Lower Guinea. Six ships are documented from before the 1690s [...],
> all of which came from Senegambia. No shipping is attested for the following
> decade, and the only three vessels recorded from between 1700 and 1710
> were all from the Slave Coast”. (Parkvall 2000: 129)

Of course, these demographic data do not disprove that SVCs may
have been introduced into Haitian Creole during creolization. However,
they show that there is no *a priori* reason to assume this is what happened
and therefore they compel us to consider the idea that SVCs may have
been introduced into the creole *after* creolization through regular
processes of language contact. The same reasoning can be extended to
e.g. Jamaican Creole and indeed to many other Atlantic Creoles with
heavy verbal serialization.

To be sure, I am aware that the topic of substrate influence in creole
formation is extremely complex; the discussion in this paper perhaps does
not do justice to that complexity. It is not always clear how to weigh the
different pieces of evidence, and one's view on substrate influence will
correlate closely with one's definition of the term 'substrate' and one's
particular view on creole genesis. Still, I believe the dogmatic view of
SVCs as a substrate-induced feature must be reconsidered in the light of
the Papiamentu-Cape Verdean Creole data. The idea that SVCs in creole
languages might at least in some cases result from regular language con-
tact must be entertained more seriously in future literature on substrate
influence in creole languages.
**5. Conclusion**

The SVCs that characterize the grammar of Papiamentu can roughly be divided into a symmetrical sequencing and an asymmetrical modifying type. The first type allows for the sequencing of a series of sub-events which are conceived of as one event. The asymmetrical type consists of two verbs one of which modifies viz. specifies the action or event expressed by the other verb. We were able to identify some interesting, more or less idiosyncratic serialization techniques shared between Cape Verdean Creole and Papiamentu mainly in the domain of asymmetric two-verb serialization. However, we also pointed out three important differences between the two creoles:

1. Papiamentu substantially exceeds Cape Verdean Creole in terms of the overall frequency of SVCs;

2. certain subtypes found in Papiamentu are either absent in Cape Verdean Creole or (much) less grammaticalized/lexicalized;

3. Papiamentu allows for lengthy symmetrical verbal chains, whilst in Cape Verdean Creole such chains normally do not contain more than two verbs;

We may summarize that Papiamentu makes (a) relatively little use of SVCs when compared to other Atlantic Creoles, but (b) relatively heavy use of SVCs when compared to Cape Verdean Creole. This connects well with the hypothesis that Papiamentu descends from an early, ‘SVC-poor’ creole variety transferred from the Cape Verde islands to Curaçao. Once arrived on Curaçao, this early variety came in close contact with speakers of ‘SVC-rich’ Kwa languages –possibly including speakers of the Gulf of Guinea Portuguese Creoles (see e.g. Maurer 1988 and elsewhere) – and thus amply extended its inventory of SVCs through regular processes of shift-induced change.

The pronounced presence of SVCs in the Caribbean creoles is traditionally (and correctly, I believe) ascribed to the strong presence of speakers of Kwa languages among the slaves imported into the Caribbean in the 16th to 19th centuries. Debatable, though, is whether this Kwa-influence must necessarily be considered *substrate* influence, as is generally assumed in creolistic literature. In this paper, I argued that the case of Papiamentu and its genetic relatedness to Cape Verdean Creole rather suggests that the Kwa-induced serial verbs in Caribbean creoles may just as well be considered a ‘regular’ contact- (viz. shift-)induced phenomenon.

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