Permission Olo has a verb than can readily be translated usa ‘allow’ or ‘let’. It can just as readily be translated,
‘leave’, ‘throw’, or ‘get rid of’. The central core of the word is best thought of as ‘leave alone’. This gives examples like 130.
130 Ø-
usa-ne. n-inau.
2s-leave.alone-3f 3f-dislike
Leave her alone She doesn’t like it.
This central meaning of leaving alone can be used as part of a serial clause construction to create sit- uations that would relate to when English speakers would use words like ‘let’.
131 le
l-usa-ne n-au
ratei uf
he 3m-let-3f
3f-come live
village He let her come live in the village.
The suffix on usa does not refer to the action of coming, or living, but to the person who comes. The sense of the verb is that he did not interfere with her. This construction is a case of serial clause con-
struction, with the object of the first being the subject of the second. Cognition
Olo has a single verb of cognition, retai ‘know’. While this verb can take a clause as one of its argu- ments, this is a fairly rare occurrence. This verb occurs more often without any object. It occurs more
often without suffixal inflection 61 percent than with 39 percent.
16
The suffixal inflection, when it occurs, refers to the object of cognizance.
132 ki
k-reta-ne ningio
pe-le I
1s-know-3f daughter
f-3m I know his daughter.
The object of cognizance can be a speech act, working much the same way as the quotatives. 133
Abraham l-irpei-ye,
“ye, ma
reta-pe Ø
-olpepei, ye
ma Abraham
3m-tell-
EMP
you.
SG IR
know-3p 2s-like.this
you
IR
nou kesi-Ø
ninge le-iki
Ø -ila-Ø
Ø -e
tef l-epe
kolo, olo.”
again pull-3m
son m-1s
2s-carry-3m 2s-go ground
3m-this
NEG
no Abraham strongly said, “You should know this, you may not take my son back to this land, no.”
2.3.7.6 Clause subordination and relative clauses
Olo has a general clause subordinator, wuso, that is placed in the initial position. If the clause is ut- terance initial it is normally treated as a conditional as in 134.
134 wuso
ki k-ulu-wo,
ki ma
k-irpo-wo. if
I 1s-see-3m I
IR
1s-speak-3m If I see him, I will tell him.
The position alone is not an indicator since a subordinated clause can occur internal to another clause as in 135.
44 The Olo Language
16
This count reflects a corpus of 317,900 words. The total occurences of all forms of retai is 596.
135 fouri
le-le, wuso
ne n-alei,
miso teingi.
seed m-3m
if she
3f-eat.3m
APT
good.m Its seed, if she ate it, would be good.
This same subordinate clause structure can be used to identify a noun, which is the function of the relative clause. It is introduced by a subordinate clause marker wuso and normally concluded with a
demonstrative l-epe. The demonstrative agrees with the gender of the noun which the relative clause modifies. An example of this is given in 136.
136 m-uluwe-pe
weli twange
wuso fale
l-epe 1p-see-3p
fire smoke
which arrive 3m-herethis We saw the smoke which went up here.
A second form of a subordinate clause uses a different initial marker. The same demonstrative mor- pheme occurs in the final position; however, it is functioning internal to the final NP as shown by its
agreement with a noun internal to the NP.
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This form of subordinate clause is used in identification where the action is customary or habitual. An example is given in 137.
137 fei
ku w-ulu-wo
metine l-iti
l-esi-ene nafle
n-epe now
1p 1d-see-3m
man 3m-
ASS
3m-hold-3f bird
3f-thishere Now we saw the man who flew this plane
In both cases the subordinate clause comes after the numeral position in the noun phrase. Example 138 shows that the subordinate clause comes in a different position from the adjective. Adjectives oc-
cur before numbers, but subordinate clauses occur after numbers.
138 ku
m-irpe-nge mete
li-ngi winges
wuso t-ile
t-epe 1p
1p-say-3md man
big-md two.m
who 3md-stand
3md-thishere We spoke to the two big men who stood here.
2.4 Summary
In this chapter we have laid the foundation for understanding the problem of reference in relation to the Olo language. We have looked at the phonology and a general overview of the grammar. We have
examined general word classes, phrases, and clause constructions. Particular attention has been paid to the serial clause construction. In this section we have delineated the different ways a referent can be
realized in Olo. Table 2.14 gives a summary of the possibilities.
Table 2.14. Morphosyntactic forms that realize referents in Olo verbal affixes
free pronouns common nouns
proper names modified noun phrases
possessive noun phrase genitive noun phrase
noun phrases with a subordinate clause
2.4 Summary 45
17
This is shown by the initial n- ‘feminine’ on the demonstrative. This agrees with nafle ‘birdplane’ which is feminine.
