--- title: "A Phase-Theoretic Approach to Serial Verb Constructions in Semitic — Altamimi 2025" description: "The paper treats serial verb constructions in Arabic, Hebrew and Aramaic, which it describes as asymmetric, contiguous and with matching marking on both…" authors: ["Mansour Ibrahim Altamimi", "Jacob Willson"] year: 2025 venue: "Forum for Linguistic Studies" source: "https://doi.org/10.30564/fls.v7i10.11016" doi: "10.30564/fls.v7i10.11016" licence: "CC BY-NC (per OpenAlex/publisher; Forum for Linguistic Studies)" licence_url: "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/" summary_licence: "Elamur Cosmic License" canonical: "https://research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/altamimi-2025-phase-theoretic-approach-serial-verb/" --- [Elamur Research](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/altamimi-2025-phase-theoretic-approach-serial-verb/) [home](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [papers](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/) / [2025](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/2025/page/3/) / A Phase-Theoretic Approach to Serial Verb Constructions in Semitic # A Phase-Theoretic Approach to Serial Verb Constructions in Semitic **Authors:** Mansour Altamimi and Jacob Willson · **Year:** 2025 · **Venue:** Forum for Linguistic Studies 7(10), 438–451 **Link:** [doi.org/10.30564/fls.v7i10.11016](https://doi.org/10.30564/fls.v7i10.11016) · **Licence:** [CC BY-NC 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) — cited and summarised only [**0** citations](https://openalex.org/works?filter=cites:W4414553000) OpenAlex, 2026-10-14 · [Forum for Linguistic Studies](https://openalex.org/S4210197498) · [licence](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) - [Publisher's page](https://doi.org/10.30564/fls.v7i10.11016) - [PDF](https://journals.bilpubgroup.com/index.php/fls/article/download/11016/7084) - [DOI 10.30564/fls.v7i10.11016](https://doi.org/10.30564/fls.v7i10.11016) - [OpenAlex](https://openalex.org/W4414553000) **Authors (2)** 1. [Mansour Ibrahim Altamimi](https://openalex.org/A5030470940) [ORCID](https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7628-9750) · [Semantic Scholar](https://www.semanticscholar.org/author/72291779) · h 1 · 4 citations · 8 works 2. [Jacob Willson](https://openalex.org/A5046642514) [ORCID](https://orcid.org/0009-0009-7410-0606) · [Semantic Scholar](https://www.semanticscholar.org/author/2382535291) · h 1 · 2 citations · 3 works Citations and author metrics: OpenAlex, 2026-10-14; authors with the same name are not always told apart. ## What it is about The full text is not in the library; this card rests on the abstract on the journal page, and its ideas are provisional. The paper treats serial verb constructions in Arabic, Hebrew and Aramaic, which it describes as asymmetric, contiguous and with matching marking on both verbs (same person, number and tense). In a minimalist (phase-theory) frame it compares two derivations: two clauses sharing one null subject, still biclausal and with a slot for a coordinator, which the authors call pre-canonical; and a single clause, which accounts for the asymmetry and is the canonical serial verb. They propose that the two are stages of one development, the move to one clause being driven by economy (fewer phases). ## For Mova - I1. For the Torah trees, the practical question is how to attach the second verb of pairs like וַיָּקָם וַיֵּלֶךְ "he arose and went", וַיֹּסֶף … לָלֶדֶת, הָלוֹךְ וְ־: list the verb pairs that recur back to back with the same subject and no intervening argument, count them, and decide one UD convention (conj for the linked wayyiqtol pair, `compound:svc` only where there is no conjunction). The paper's two-stage view supports keeping the conjoined type as coordination. - I2. In `prag` and the world reader, treat the first verb of a frequent pair (קוּם, הָלַךְ, שׁוּב, מָהַר) as aspectual or motion colouring of the second event, not as a separate event, so that "arose and went" yields one going event with an onset. I1 is a count on the Torah trees and a decision for [languages/hbo/08-syntax.md](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/languages/hbo/08-syntax/) (coordination) and chapter 13, section 6 (UD conventions), compared with PTNK's choice. I2 is a rule for the event reading in `tools/macula/src/prag.rs` or the world layer; the list of first verbs goes into `06-verb.md`. The licence is non-commercial: we cite, we do not copy. ## Institutions [🎓**University of Arizona** Tucson · United States 15 works · 9,997 citations](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/universities/university-of-arizona/) · [🎓**Imam Mohammad ibn Saud Islamic University** Riyadh · Saudi Arabia 6 works · 12 citations](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/universities/imam-mohammad-ibn-saud-islamic-university/) Topics[Hebrew & Aramaic](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/topics/hebrew-aramaic/) · [Semitic languages](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/topics/semitic-languages/) ## Cite Cite as Mansour Ibrahim Altamimi and Jacob Willson. 2025. A Phase-Theoretic Approach to Serial Verb Constructions in Semitic. Forum for Linguistic Studies. The paper itself, not this card. BibTeX from the library's record of the work. [DOI 10.30564/fls.v7i10.11016](https://doi.org/10.30564/fls.v7i10.11016) ```bibtex @article{altamimi2025phase, title = {{A Phase-Theoretic Approach to Serial Verb Constructions in Semitic}}, author = {Mansour Ibrahim Altamimi and Jacob Willson}, journal = {Forum for Linguistic Studies}, year = {2025}, doi = {10.30564/fls.v7i10.11016}, url = {https://doi.org/10.30564/fls.v7i10.11016} } ``` - [← previous A New Hebrew Universal Dependency Treebank: The First Treebank of Post-Rabbinic Historical Hebrew](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/tal-2025-new-hebrew-universal-dependency-treebank/) - [next → A Survey of Semantic Representation Methods for Natural Language Understanding](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/zhang-2025-semantic-representation-methods/) — (面向自然语言理解的语义表示方法综述) - [↑ back to papers of 2025](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/2025/page/3/)