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45. Rumoh nyoe lbn-neuk-vue=karat=peugot bak tokang.
House this 1-want ask hurry make to carpenter
'I want to ask the carpenter to hurry to finish
this house.'
Longer series of verbs are also possible. It seems that
only human memory constraints affects the length of lines of
serialized verbs. An eight-verb line, as below, is still
easy to understand (in Acehnese, at least).
46. Lon-n,euft-1ak.-.Vba-ci-VVe «lakee-peurunoe-meu'en
1-want go try try order ask teach play
bhan aneuk kepala sikula bak guru olah-raga.
ball child head school to teacher gymnastic
X want to try to ask the gymnastic teacher to
ask (the headmaster) (to allow him) to teach his
(the head master's) child to play soccer.'
Based on our definition of verb serialization, not all
verbs occurring side by side are serialized verbs. One such
example is shown by the following sentence.
47. Lon-sanoka pajbh bu nyoe mantong.
1-think eat rice this only
' I thought (we) were supposed to eat only this
rice.'
The sequence sangka oaioh 'think eat' in this sentence
satisfies the formal characteristics for the verbs to be