Everything here is stolen from Serial Verbs by M. Sebba in
Concise Encyclopedia of Grammatical Categories (pp.344--347).
I have just collected useful bits and pieces (and added some mistakes, probably).
I. Introduction
"There is no agreed upon definition of serial verbs, but generally constructions which
are so labeled are those which allow two or more verbs (other than auxiliaries) within a single
noncomplex sentence or clause, with no overt signs of coordination."
Examples:
Akan (a Kwa language of Ghana)
Ta- s/he
tia-ntian daily
hùi-kè receive-guest
xi( write
xìn letter
Every day she receives visitors and writes letters.
II. Typology
"come"/"go" as directional complement: The most common, appearing
in every serializing language.
other complements to motion verbs
instrumental constructions using "take"
object marking with "take"
"give" as dative/benefactive marker
comparative constructions (e.g. "pass"/"surpass")
lexical idioms
III. Reanalysis
Verbs in serial verb constructions often become reanalyzed as prepositions, complementizers,
conjunctions, tense markers, etc.
For example, in Chinise, so called "coverbs" are ambiguous between verb and preposition.
IV. Dichotomy
Some languages (e.g. English) allow only one main verb per sentence, but allow verbs to
have several arguments.
Other languages (e.g. Ijo of Nigeria) allow more than one verb per sentence
but have tighter restrictions on the number of arguments per verb (for example, only 2).