Verb Phrases
The serial verb construction, also known as (verb) serialization or verb stacking, is a syntactic phenomenon in which two or more verbs or verb phrases are strung together in a single clause.
Serial Verb Constructions
Below is an example of a serial verb construction in Igala.
aladi | kpa | adʒuwɛ | dʒɛ |
aladi | kill | chicken | eats |
Alali killed and ate the chicken (D:22). |
Cognate Objects
A cognate object (or cognate accusative) is a verb's object that is etymologically related to the verb. More specifically, the verb is one that is ordinarily intransitive (lacking any object), and the cognate object is simply the verb's noun form.
Below is an example sentence with a cognate object in Igala.
u | l(e) | t(i) | ona | dʒidʒi | ɛrɛ |
1SG | walk(V) | to | path | long | trek |
He walked a long walk (D:207). |
Alice Tremblay (2021) notes that cognate objects in Igala only occur with unergative verbs, and not with unaccusatives.
ū | r(a) | úlɛ́ |
1SG | run(V) | run(N) |
'I ran' (Tremblay 2021). |
Tremblay (2021) writes that an important characteristic of cognate objects in Igala is their ability to be modified, including in relative clauses.
ū | t(a) | ídő | (u)jɔ̀ |
1SG | dance(V) | dance(N) | cheerful/joy |
‘I danced a cheerful dance’ (Tremblay 2021). |
Split Verb Constructions
The split verb is a verb that sentence-finally appears as one word, however can be split so part of the verb appears earlier in the sentence.
Below is an example sentence containing a split verb in Igala.
dorkas | kp | lɛ | ɔna | fɔ |
Dorcas | break | door | DEF.DIST | break |
Dorcas, break the door! (D:?). |