Lahu compound and complex sentences

251 a 55 lo 31 m ɣ 33 ba 31 loŋ 55 ga 33 a 55 lo 31 m ɣ 33 le 33 lai 55 whenever not hot I whenever go P ‘Whenever it’s not hot, I will go.’ 11.2.1.6 Contrasting-clause sentences Contrasting clauses meaning ‘but’, ‘even though’, or ‘although’ can use either of two lexical items meaning ‘but’ at the boundary between the clauses. 11.2.1.7 Cause-effect sentences Cause-effect sentences sometimes use no conjunction between the adjacent clauses, which have the cause clause before the effect clause Xu 2001:153. The conjunctions meaning ‘because’, or either of two meaning ‘therefore’, can also be placed at the boundary of the two clauses Xu 2001:153.

11.2.2 Lahu compound and complex sentences

11.2.2.1 Lahu compound sentences 11.2.2.1.1 Particles at boundaries between the two clauses Compound sentences can be classified according to the types of particles at the boundary between the two clauses, where the initial clause ends as follows: • in a naked verb or a verb with a single verb particle, • in a verb followed by any of the six universal unrestricted P univ particles: the indicative nominalizer similar to gerund clauses, temporal nominalizer ‘the time that…’, extentive ‘to the extent that…’, minimizer ‘only’, causal ‘because’, and emphatic ‘really’ particles, • in a verb followed by both a verb particle and any of the six universal unrestricted particles, • in a verb followed by any of the eight nonfinal unrestricted P unf particles: conditional ‘if’, suspensive ‘whileafter…’, two topicalizers ‘as for…’, and four concessive-conjunctives ‘also’ or ‘even’, • in a verb followed by both a verb particle and any of the universal unrestricted particles andor any of the nonfinal unrestricted particles Matisoff 1973:403–432. 11.2.2.1.2 Co-occurrence restrictions on the six universal unrestricted particles Table 24. Six universal unrestricted particles: Co-occurrence restrictions Matisoff 1973:406–407; 432: Gerund-like nominal ‘Really’ ‘really’ gerund-like nominal causal gerund-like nominal ‘to the extent that’ ‘only’ causal ‘whenthe time that’ ‘really’ causal ‘to the extent that’ ‘only’ causal 11.2.2.1.3 Co-occurrence restrictions on the eight nonfinal unrestricted particles Table 25. Eight nonfinal unrestricted particles: Co-occurrence restrictions Matisoff 1973:412, 433 ‘if’ ‘even if’ 1 ‘even if’ colloquial ‘even if’ 2as to V -ing ‘emphatic’ ‘comment coming’ topical ‘after V -ing…’ suspensive ‘and then’ emphatic ‘comment coming’ topical ‘if’ ‘after V -ing…’ suspensive ‘comment coming strongly’ topical 11.2.2.1.4 Further restrictions on particles in clauses Universal unrestricted particles are regularly followed by nonfinal unrestricted particles in ordinary speech Matisoff 1973:433. They are also regularly followed by final unrestricted particles in ordinary speech Matisoff 1973:433. These final particles are charted in table 23 in section 9.7.4.2.7 . When the initial clause ends in a naked verb or verb with a single verb particle, the verbs of the two clauses are always the same. In the following example, the initial verb ‘give’ is not followed by any particles i.e., it is “naked”. 252 chi qhe Khè-mèw à ʔ pî Lâhū aʔ pî ve this way Meo some give Lahu some give P univ NOM l ɛ̀ yà ʔ dà ʔ ve tí yò P unf TOP fight each other P univ NOM P univ only P uf DECL ‘This way, giving some to the Meo and giving some to the Lahu, there’ll just be fighting with each other.’ Matisoff 1973:404 The universal unrestricted particles have a variety of effects on initial clauses. The indicative nominalizer makes the initial clause nominal and the topic of the following clause. Extentive and causal particles make the initial clause adverbial and subordinate to the following clause. The temporal nominalizer sometimes creates a nominal topic and sometimes creates a subordinate clause. The minimizing ‘only’ and emphatic ‘really’ particles depend on another adjacent unrestricted particle to determine the relationship of the clauses Matisoff 1973:406. A particular use of the final unrestricted particles is that they follow reduplicated verbs to express repetition of an action to the extent that it affects that which is described in the final clause. 253 š ɨʔ tà ch ɔ-chɔ l ɛ ɔ̀-pa g ɛ q ɔ̀ʔ yù qay ve cê stick chop-chop suspensive father with do take back go NOM P unf P univ ‘One after the other they chopped of sticks and brought them back to their father’ Matisoff 1973:420. 254 Phu mâ c ɔ̀- c ɔ̀ kà ʔ tèʔ chí mâ hêʔ money not have have if… ‘Even if you continue not to have any money, it’ll be all right’ Matisoff 1973:420. 255 3 y ɔ̂ hɨ qòʔ e tù ve th ɔ̂ ŋà mâ qòʔ e šē they go motion if NOM even I not go motion yet V P v P v P univ P unf NEG V P v P v ‘Even if they will go back, I’m not going back yet’ Matisoff 1973:432. Example 253 containing a nonfinal ve, creates an embedded nominalized clause that is “strictly speaking, …not compound since the ve-clause is functioning quite analogously to a natural NP ” Matisoff 1973:441, which would make it complex. 11.2.2.2 Lahu complex sentences In Lahu, complex sentences involve four main types of embedding Matisoff 1973:435: • nominalized clauses • purpose clauses and “to the extent that” clauses, each of which is subordinate to the sentence’s main verb • quotative clauses, which complement the main clause’s ‘saying’ verb • relative clauses, which modify some noun 11.2.2.2.1 Nominalized clauses Matisoff does not consider nominalized final clauses to be embedded, since they are not inside any larger clause Matisoff 1973:435. Nominalized clauses are frequently used as the topic of the matrix clause in Lahu conversation Matisoff 1973:440. 256 n ɔ̀ í kâ ʔ l ɔ̂ p�́ ve ŋà mâ šī you swim able NOM I not know ‘I didn’t know that you could swim.’ Matisoff 1973:440. 11.2.2.2.2 Causative clauses Causative clauses are one form of purpose clause where multiple embedding is possible. 257 ɔ̀-e yâ-mî thà ʔ ɔ-yâ-pā thàʔ ɔ̄ câ c ɨ ve mother daughter ACC son acc rice eat CAUS NOM ‘The mother had her daughter feed her son rice.’ Matisoff 1973:438.

11.2.3 Lalo compound and complex sentences