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One issue that just about every language needs to tackle is how to combine multiple clauses
into a single sentence.
Let’s say we have two verbs: “I ran” and “I fell”.
We could express them using two separate sentences, but if they’re related to each other or
happened one after the other, most languages will have some strategy for combining the
two verbs into one sentence.
Some languages, like Mandarin, are perfectly happy to simply place the two verb phrases
in apposition, while others, like English, demand a conjunction or other connecting element.
But another fairly common strategy found in many of the world’s languages is to use
a converb construction.
To put it simply, a converb is a form that turns a verb stem into an adverb, such that
a verb like “to run” becomes a word that means something along the lines of “runningly”
or “while running” or “in the manner of running”.
And once a verb stem has been made into a converb, it can be used to modify another
verb in the same sentence, which for our example, we can clumsily translate as: “I runningly
fell” or “Or I fell while running”.
If the converb has any arguments or adjuncts, then the entire phrase gets interpreted as
an adverb modifying the main verb, in this case becoming something like: “I fell while
running to the shop” or “I fell in the manner of running to the shop”.
Not only that, but many languages have multiple types of converbs that each specify a different
kind of temporal or causal relationship between the two clauses.
There might be separate forms to imply that the two clauses happened simultaneously, or
sequentially, or that one clause happened as a result of the other.
Using these sorts of converb constructions we can string together as many clauses as
we want.
About 35% of the world’s languages use converbs in some capacity, but the exact way they’re
used can vary significantly from language to language.
The most commonly attested pathway to the development of converbs is for them to evolve
from other non-finite verb forms, usually verbal nouns, like gerunds or infinitives,
or verbal adjectives, like participles.
If we wanted to combine the phrases “The man was going to the shop” and “the man
saw a dog”, one way we could do it would be to turn the first verb into a noun, with
a meaning of “the act or state of going to the shop”, and then using an adposition
or even a case marker to convey a spatial relationship, which may get interpreted as
something like “The man, in the act of going to the shop, saw a dog”.
And over time, the combination of the verbal noun plus the case marker gets reanalysed
as its own distinct verb form, and its meaning is interpreted as having an adverbial sense.
Alternatively, another common way for converbs to evolve is from participles, which, in languages
like Ancient Greek and Latin, are used in much the same way as converbs for the purposes
of combining clauses.
Crucially though, participles are adjectives, and therefore they modify a specific noun
in the clause, not the verb itself like a converb does.
But with time, the participle may be reanalysed as describing the clause as a whole rather
than any particular noun within it.
Some languages are content to let participles serve double duty in this way, sometimes giving
them the rather confusing term “adverbial participle”.
But just like with converbs that derive from verbal nouns, it’s quite common for these
participles to combine with case markers or other adpositional morphology to form new
full-fledged converbs.
Each of the language’s case markers may independently combine with the various verbal
nouns or participles, or sometimes even other converbs, to give rise to a different type
of converb, with the case marker’s original meaning being metaphorically extended to describe
the relationship between the converb clause and the main clause.
In our earlier example, we used a locative case marker to encode that the action of the
converb happens at the same time as the main verb, having a similar function to the English
conjunctions “while” or “when”.
This simultaneous or imperfective converb is one of the most cross-linguistically common
types of converb, and usually evolves from case markers with some sort of locative function.
Meanwhile the ablative or a similar case often gives rise to a perfective or anterior converb,
which signals that the converb clause was completed before the action of the main verb
phrase, roughly approximated in English with “having done” or “after”.
Many languages also distinguish a specific converb for sequential or consecutive actions,
denoting that the converb clause and the main clause happened one after the other.
The Purposive converb indicates that the main verb was carried out in order to complete
the action of the converb clause.
This form usually evolves from the dative, allative, or sometimes instrumental cases.
Conversely, the Causal converb signifies that the main clause was carried out as a result
of the converb clause, and usually evolves from the Instrumental or occasionally the
ergative case.
Many languages will also have a distinct conditional converb, which sets up the converb clause
as a condition under which the main verb happens, equivalent to the English word “if”.
This converb most often comes from an ablative or locative case, which when combined with
the verbal noun or participle may lead to an interpretation of “in the event of”.
The Concessive converb is used to draw a contrast between the converb clause and the main clause,
similar to “although” in English.
This usually comes from ablative case morphology, although it’s also sometimes formed from
the conditional converb.
Those are some of the most common types of converbs, but individual languages will often
mix and match case markers and verb forms to create some very specific interpretations.
Some languages have a terminative converb that marks the converb clause as the condition
under which the main verb will end, some have a converb that emphasizes that the two clauses
happen one immediately after the other, some have a converb that defines that the two clauses
as happening in the same location, or any number of other specialized interpretations.
Languages may vary in the number of converbs they distinguish, ranging only a handful,
like Turkish, to as many as several dozen like Korean or Akhvakh.
However, just as how case markers usually fill various non-canonical functions, any
given converb will typically be used in a variety of ways beyond its default interpretation.
Even in languages with very large converb inventories, some converbs will have a much
broader or more general sense than others.
Equally, however, a language may also have multiple different converbs that all serve
the same or a very similar function, only distinguished from each other by what specific
contexts they’re allowed to be used in.
Since converbs usually evolve from non-finite verb forms, most of the marking for person,
number, and tense will go on the main verb of the sentence, while the converbs usually
won’t take any of the typical verb morphology, or if they do, they’ll only take a reduced
or limited set, although there are occasional exceptions to this.
Most often, the subject of the converb clause will be assumed to be the same as the subject
of the main verb unless otherwise specified.
Once converbs have evolved, they’re very likely to become grammaticalized into new
constructions.
Beyond the clause chaining we discussed earlier, converbs serve as a very convenient way to
combine multiple verb meanings into a single lexeme.
If a specific converb phrase sees especially frequent use, its constituents may end up
fusing into a single adverb.
In Finnish, the word for “clearly” or “visibly” derives from a converb clause
meaning “in the manner of seeing with eyes”, while the word meaning “in fact” or “honestly”
comes from the converb phrase “while speaking the truth”.
Converbs can also give rise to new tenses, aspects, or moods when used in auxiliary verb
constructions.
Once again, the auxiliary will typically take all the marking for person and tense while
the lexical verb will be rendered as a converb and left without any such marking.
Further evolution may result in the auxiliary fusing with the converbs to become new verb
morphology.
Converbs may also evolve into new adpositions, conjunctions, or discourse markers.
A cross-linguistically common development is for the verb “to say” in converb form
to evolve into a complementizer for verbs of speech and thinking.
In Manchu, the two different words that roughly translate to “until” are derived from
a combination of the terminative converb and the verb stems “to reach” and “to become”.
And in Turkish, the converb form of “to come” can be used as a sort of topic marker.
The ability of converbs to turn any verb phrase into a modifier makes them incredibly useful
and versatile, and so a language that employs converbs to any degree will likely have them
manifest in many areas of its grammar.
So, in summary, if you want to include converbs in a conlang: Decide what types of converbs
you want to include, combine non-finite verb forms with case markers, adpositions, or other
particles to create converb morphology, extrapolate additional meanings and uses for each of your
converbs based on the case markers they evolved from, and grammaticalize converbs into new
compounds, adpositions, discourse markers, and verb morphology.
Overall, converbs can be immensely useful for deriving all manner of grammatical constructions,
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