theoretical linguistics Theoretical linguistics is a term in linguistics which, like the related term general linguistics, can be understood in different ways. Both can be taken as a reference to theory of language, or the branch of linguistics which inquires into the ...

, a converb (

abbreviated An abbreviation (from Latin ''brevis'', meaning ''short'') is a shortened form of a word or phrase, by any method. It may consist of a group of letters or words taken from the full version of the word or phrase; for example, the word ''abbrevia ...

) is a

nonfinite verb A nonfinite verb is a derivative form of a verb unlike finite verbs. Accordingly, nonfinite verb forms are inflected for neither number nor person, and they cannot perform action as the root of an independent clause. In English, nonfinite verb ...

form that serves to express

adverb An adverb is a word or an expression that generally modifies a verb, adjective, another adverb, determiner, clause, preposition, or sentence. Adverbs typically express manner, place, time, frequency, degree, level of certainty, etc., answering ...

ial subordination: notions like 'when', 'because', 'after' and 'while'. Other terms that have been used to refer to converbs include ''adverbial participle'', ''conjunctive participle'', ''

gerund In linguistics, a gerund ( abbreviated ) is any of various nonfinite verb forms in various languages; most often, but not exclusively, one that functions as a noun. In English, it has the properties of both verb and noun, such as being modifiab ...

'', ''

gerundive In Latin grammar, a gerundive () is a verb form that functions as a verbal adjective. In Classical Latin, the gerundive is distinct in form and function from the gerund and the present active participle. In Late Latin, the differences were large ...

'' and ''verbal adverb'' (Ylikoski 2003). Converbs are differentiated from

coverb A coverb is a word or prefix that resembles a verb or co-operates with a verb. In languages that have the serial verb construction, coverbs are a type of word that shares features of verbs and prepositions. A coverb takes an object or compleme ...

s, verbs in

complex predicate In linguistics, a compound verb or complex predicate is a multi- word compound that functions as a single verb. One component of the compound is a '' light verb'' or ''vector'', which carries any inflections, indicating tense, mood, or aspec ...

s in languages that have the

serial verb construction 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.Tallerman, M. (1998). ''Understanding Syntax''. London: ...

. Converbs can be observed in

Turkic languages The Turkic languages are a language family of over 35 documented languages, spoken by the Turkic peoples of Eurasia from Eastern Europe and Southern Europe to Central Asia, East Asia, North Asia ( Siberia), and Western Asia. The Turki ...

Mongolic languages The Mongolic languages are a language family spoken by the Mongolic peoples in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, North Asia and East Asia, mostly in Mongolia and surrounding areas and in Kalmykia and Buryatia. The best-known member of this language ...

(especially Mongolian), and

Tungusic languages The Tungusic languages (also known as Manchu-Tungus and Tungus) form a language family spoken in Eastern Siberia and Manchuria by Tungusic peoples. Many Tungusic languages are endangered. There are approximately 75,000 native speakers of the doz ...

Etymology

The term was coined for Mongolian by Ramstedt (1903) and until recently, it was used mostly by specialists of Mongolic and

to describe non-finite verbs that could be used for both

coordination Coordination may refer to: * Coordination (linguistics), a compound grammatical construction * Coordination complex, consisting of a central atom or ion and a surrounding array of bound molecules or ions * Coordination number or ligancy of a cent ...

and subordination. Nedjalkov & Nedjalkov (1987) first adopted the term for general typological use, followed by Haspelmath & König (1995).

Description

A converb depends syntactically on another verb form, but is not its

argument An argument is a statement or group of statements called premises intended to determine the degree of truth or acceptability of another statement called conclusion. Arguments can be studied from three main perspectives: the logical, the dialecti ...

. It can be an adjunct, an

adverbial In English grammar, an adverbial ( abbreviated ) is a word (an adverb) or a group of words (an adverbial clause or adverbial phrase) that modifies or more closely defines the sentence or the verb. (The word ''adverbial'' itself is also used as an ...

, but it cannot be the only

predicate Predicate or predication may refer to: * Predicate (grammar), in linguistics * Predication (philosophy) * several closely related uses in mathematics and formal logic: **Predicate (mathematical logic) **Propositional function **Finitary relation, o ...

of a simple sentence or clausal argument. It cannot depend on predicates such as 'order' (Nedjalkov 1995: 97).

Examples

* ''On being elected president, he moved with his family to the capital.'' * ''He walks the streets eating cakes.'' Khalkh Mongolian: The converb ''-megc'' denotes that as soon as the first action has been begun/completed, the second action begins. Thus, the subordinate sentence can be understood as a temporal adverbial. There is no context in which the argument structure of another verb or construction would require ''-megc'' to appear, and there is no way (possibly except for afterthought) in which a ''-megc''-clause could come sentence-final. Thus, ''-megc'' qualifies as a converb in the general linguistic sense. However, from the viewpoint of Mongolian philology (and quite in agreement with Nedjalkov 1995 and Johanson 1995), there is a second converb in this sentence: ''-ž''. At its first occurrence, it is modified by the

''ehel-'' ‘to begin’ and this coverb determines that the modified verb has to take the suffix. Yet, the same verbal suffix is used after the verb ‘to beat’ which ends an independent non-finite clause that temporally precedes the following clause but without modifying it in any way that would be fit for an adverbial. It would be possible for ''-ž'' to mark an adverbial: Such "polyfunctionality" is common. Japanese and Korean could provide similar examples, and the definition of subordination poses further problems. There are linguists who suggest that a reduction of the domain of the term converb to adverbials does not fit language reality (e.g. Slater 2003: 229).

References

* Haspelmath, Martin & König, Ekkehard (eds.) 1995. ''Converbs in cross-linguistic perspective''. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. * Johanson, Lars (1995): On Turkic Converb Clauses. In: Haspelmath & König 1995: 313–347. * Nedjalkov, Vladimir P. & Nedjalkov, Igor’ V. (1987): On the typological characteristics of converbs. In: Toomas Help (ed.): ''Symposium on language universals''. Tallinn, 75–79. * Nedjalkov, Vladimir (1995): Some Typological Parameters of Converbs. In: Haspelmath & König 1995: 97-136. * Ramstedt, Gustav John (1902): ''Über die Konjugation des Khalkha-Mongolischen''. Helsingfors: Finnischen Litteraturgesellschaft. * Slater, Keith (2003): ''A Grammar of Mangghuer''. London: RoutledgeCurzon. * Ylikoski, Jussi (2003)
"Defining non-finites: action nominals, converbs and infinitives."
''SKY Journal of Linguistics'' 16: 185–237. {{lexical categories, state=collapsed Parts of speech