Getting serious about serial verbs: Evidence from Croatian

Abstract

We put forth here the novel claim that certain Croatian multi-verb constructions are to be analyzed as instances of serial verb constructions (SVCs), based on the fact that they show characteristics, such as shared arguments, restrictions on selection of verbal elements, limitations on modification, and so on, that are associated with SVCs cross-linguistically. We contrast Croatian SVCs with coordinate structures and control/non-control subordinate constructions, and offer a formalization of the differences among these structures.