Seuna serial verb construction

The serial verb construction (SVC) is used when two verbs (on occasion it can be more than two verbs) can be thought of as representing one single action. Some example ;-

he telephoned (to this location) = wire-speakori mə

he telephoned (from this location) = wire-speakori gə

he returned your call = wire-speakori gwə

In the above examples, mə represents "come", gə represents "go" and gwə represents return". The normal final vowel has been replaced with the shwa. In Seuna, the only place that you find the shwa is in non-initial verbs in SVC's. The person/mood/tense information is only given on the initial verb.

Note ;- In the Seuna writing system the shwa is represented by the active verb symbol (i.e. "r") unadorned with a vowel subscript.

Often Seuna uses SVC where English would use a preposition. For example ;-

she ran across the street = ranori cwɘ street

he walked along the street = walkori dwɘ street

the barrel roled down the hill = barrel roleori jɘ hill

she took an axe and hit it = oyori axe hitə it

she hit it with an axe = hitori it useə axe

Notice that in the above two examples, the two verbs of the SVC do not stand next to each other.