25 Serial Verbs
| hiyáʔ ʔúx̣ʷ ɬcú. | ‘Go down (toward water).’ |
| hiyáʔ ʔúx̣ʷ cúŋ. | ‘Go up (away from water).’ |
| hiyáʔ ʔúx̣ʷ xʷíyəŋ. | ‘Go downward.’ |
| hiyáʔ ʔúx̣ʷ c̓áʔ. | ‘Go upward.’ |
| hiyáʔ ʔúx̣ʷ ƛ̓čaʔəwíyəŋ. | ‘Go underneath.’ |
| hiyáʔ ʔúx̣ʷ q̓taʔáw̓əɬ. | ‘Go around.’ |
| hiyáʔ ʔúx̣ʷ c̓éʔyəŋ. | ‘Go up on top.’ |
| hiyáʔ yaʔ cn wáʔ ʔúx̣ʷ t̓ákʷi t̓úk̓ʷ. | ‘I went along (with someone) across (the strait) over to home.’ |
► 1 Each of the models has the verb hiyáʔ ‘go, leave’ and the verb ʔúx̣ʷ ‘go to,’ which are familiar to you from §23 and §24. Neither of these verbs is really necessary. You could get the same English translation with only the last verb in each sentence. The English translation does not give the fine meaning distinctions that Klallam does. The hiyáʔ adds the notion that the subject is leaving or going away; the ʔúx̣ʷ adds the idea of moving in a particular direction. The last word is the one that specifies the direction.
► 2 Notice that the first two models specify a direction with respect to the water. This could be toward or away from the salt water of the strait or the ocean, or the fresh water of a large river or a lake. If you scan the list of directed motion verbs in Appendix D, you will see that many of them have a water orientation. Traditionally, the water has been the most important means of transportation and source of food for the Klallam people. This importance is reflected in the language.
► 3 The final model shows that a number of verbs can be combined in series. The order is generally flexible. That is, the verbs in the model can be shifted around, and you will still get basically the same meaning. However, there are some restrictions as to which words can come first. Generally, if hiyáʔ is there, it comes first. The verb ʔúx̣ʷ never comes before hiyáʔ—in fact that would be ungrammatical.
► 4 As is always the case, the subject and the other speech act particles follow only the first word in the sentence. This is shown in the final model sentence, which has yaʔ and cn following the first verb.
► 5 Typically all of the verbs in a series are intransitive, but this is not necessarily the case. For example:
hiyáʔ ʔúx̣ʷ t̓ákʷi kʷənáŋəc. ‘He goes across to help me.’
go go to go across help me
In this sentence, the final verb is transitive with the -c object suffix, and the subject of each verb is the same: ‘he’ is the subject of hiyáʔ, ʔúx̣ʷ, t̓ákʷi, and kʷənáŋəc. In other words, it is ‘he’ that is going (to and across) and helping. Compare that sentence to:
kʷənáŋət cn hiyáʔ ʔúx̣ʷ t̓ákʷi. ‘I help him go across.’
In this sentence, the subject of hiyáʔ, ʔúx̣ʷ, and t̓ákʷi is ‘him,’ the object of the first verb, kʷənáŋət. It is not ‘I,’ the subject of the first verb, that is going across; it is ‘him,’ the object.
In general, the rule is that the subject of all of the verbs in a series is the same unless one is transitive. In that case, the subject of all of the following verbs is the same as the object of the transitive. Here is one more example:
kʷənáŋəc hiyáʔ ʔúx̣ʷ t̓ákʷi. ‘Help me go across.’
Notice that the object of the first verb (‑c) is ‘me.’ The (unstated) subject of all of the following verbs refers to that object—I go, I go to, I go across.
► 6 The most common and useful location verb is ʔiyá. You will remember from §23.4 that this verb basically means ‘be there,’ as in ʔiyá yaʔ cn ‘I was there.’ It is more commonly used in serial verb constructions, as in ccíɬəŋ cn ʔiyá ŋaʔk̓ʷaʔcút ‘I was standing there waiting.’ It is frequently used to specify a place, as in mán̓ yaʔ ʔuʔ ŋə́n̓ ʔəycɬtáyŋxʷ ʔiyá ʔaʔ cə nəcə́t ‘Many people were there at my father’s place.’
 | hiyáʔ u cxʷ ʔúx̣ʷ ɬcú. | ‘Are you going to the beach?’ |
 | ʔáw. ŋaʔk̓ʷaʔcút cn ʔáɬaʔ | ‘No. I’m waiting here |
| ʔaʔáʔiŋ. | at home.’ | |
| hiswáʔ či ʔənʔá ɬcú ʔiʔ | ‘Come along to the beach and |
| ŋaʔk̓ʷaʔcút cácu. | wait on the shore.’ | |
| ʔə́y̓. hiyáʔ st cáw̓ ʔiʔ ŋaʔk̓ʷaʔcút ʔaʔ cə cáwŋən. | ‘Good. We’ll go down and wait on the beach. |