Abstract
Abstract This article bears on directional Serial Verb Constructions (SVCs) in French-based creoles. Starting with a working definition of our topic of study, we present a detailed description of the data in Martinican Creole (MQ) – whose grammar is similar in the relevant respects to that of Haitian (HC). Four different structural patterns are distinguished. Our results bring partial support to Aboh’s (2015) assumption that the emergence of Haitian SVCs might have resulted from congruence between Gbe SVCs (analysed as ‘causative-like’) and French Clause Union. We argue that this idea finds further confirmation in cross-creole comparison, but only concerns one type of (directional) SVC.
Published Version
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