Verb serialization and object position

This paper discusses the phrase-structure configuration of resultative seri al-verb constructions and the position of the object in these constructions . It is argued that the analysis involves a VP-shell configuration in which the second VP is an adjunct to the first VP (cf. Larson 1991). As such, se vial-verb constructions are instances of "pseudo-complementation," as defin ed in Seuren (1991). The object is part of the first predicate and the argu ment sharing effect is obtained through operator movement inside the second predicate. The evidence is based on a careful examination of sandhi phenom ena, case-licensing mechanisms, extraction patterns (argument as well as ad junct), placement of ideophones, and the (un) availability of parasitic gap s. If serial-verb constructions do reduce to secondary-predication construc tions, then the study of verb serialization can shed some new light on art old controversy of linguistic theory, namely the syntactic structure of sec ondary predication. It is argued that the analysis proposed in this paper c an be extended to secondary-predication constructions in nonserializing lan guages.