This character is the famous Ayekpa who tells stories and cheats people in trading. The matrix verb is the locational copular verb and the nominalized clause in brackets is the complement which is the
subject of the final matrix clause. 18.204 olaphi-
raŋ-ki taŋ-e imel di thop-tɕuŋ. Olavi-self-ERG send;VBZR-NMLZ;Q-GEN email DEF receive-PST.EXP
le maŋ ʈhaa-ni [ imel ta-loŋ ] mat-juŋ. TE95 work a.lot become-NFNT2 email look.at[NPST]-PUNC NEG-come[PST]
‘I did receive the email which you Olavi sent me. Because I had so much work, there wasn’t a moment to look at the emails.’
18.205 ni u-ki naŋ-tu tɕii sø-na ɕak-ni [sik di
that-GEN inside-LOC trigger make-NFNT1 leave-NFNT2 leopard DEF u-tu
naŋ-la ɕuu-loŋ mik-la ] that-LOC inside-DAT enter[PST]-PUNC moment-DAT
khor-ki gottsek di thak roo- raŋ
trap-GEN door DEF right.away 3SG-self t
ɕhet ɖo-ken bet. TE50 snap go-NMLZ;CONJ AUX
‘After one has made a trigger inside the trap, the door of the trap suddenly closes by itself right at the moment the leopard enters inside.’
The underlined part is a postpositional phrase whose complement is the nominalized clause naŋla
ɕuuloŋ.
18.11.5 Complementizer -le
This complementation typically combines with agentive verbs. The meaning is to improve the outcome of the verbal action or motion or to make addition to it. The syntactic characteristics are as follows:
• The verb t ɕhit- is the matrix verb.
• The complement-clause verb is nominalized with the marker -le. This nominalizing marker may have actually come from the noun le ‘work’ or from the verb le ‘to remain, be left’ through
grammaticalization. • The subject of the complement clause is governed by the main clause verb.
• The subject of the complement clause and the subject of the main clause are co-referential and the rest of the complement clause is the object of the main clause.
As two of the examples below demonstrate, the main clause may also be in imperative. Consider the following examples markers are underlined.
18 .206 ŋik-ki [ laŋkak so-le ] tɕhi-pen.
1PL.EXCL-ERG path make-NMLZ do;VBZR-1PST ‘We improved the trail.’
18.207 [ khulak ʈʏt-le ] tɕhi-let.
clothes wash-NMLZ do;VBZR[IMP]-SCI ‘Wash the same clothes again’
Clothes are not clean enough. Wash them cleaner, redo it
18 .208 ŋ-e [ khulak tsim-le ] tɕhi-pen.
1SG-ERG clothing sew-NMLZ do;VBZR-1PST ‘I improved the sewing of my clothing.’
Speaker may have made it larger or smaller. He improved the work of someone else because it did not fit.
18.209 [tuwa sa-le] mit-t ɕhit.
food eat-NMLZ NEG-do;VBZR[NPST] ‘I eat no more.’ Or: ‘I do not eat additional portion of food.’
Speaker refuses to eat more though someone has suggested that he do so. 18.210 [tam
ɕøt-le ] tɕhi-let. message speak-NMLZ do;VBZR[IMP]-SCI
‘Tell us some more’ Speaker has finished speaking and some hearers did not quite grasp and they ask for more in order
to undestand better.
18.11.6 Complementizer -ro
Aid or co-operation complementation entails the idea of helping someone to accomplish the activity or action. It also entails a joint action or shared activity. It has the following syntactic characteristics:
• The complement-clause verb is nominalized with ‘aid’ marker -ro. • The main verb is t
ɕhit ‘do;VBZR’ with all its finite markings. • Complement-clause verbs are typically agentive verbs.
• Subjects are co-referential and the rest of the complement-clause is the object of the main clause. • The main verb has all the inflections of an agentive verb, e.g. t
ɕhi-pen. This ‘aid’ marker combines also with imperative but I have treated that in sections 18.3 and 18.4.
Consider the following examples complementizer -ro and the main verb are underlined and the complement clause is in square brackets.
18.211 u-la ŋ-e [ khur-ro] tɕhi-pen.
that-DAT 1SG-ERG carry-AID do;VBZR-1PST ‘I made it possible for him to carry his load.’
I carried part of it and he carried part of it. Load is left implicit in this example. 18.212 roo-ki [ khur-ro ] t
ɕhi-tɕuŋ. 3SG-ERG carry-AID do;VBZR-PST.EXP
‘He helped and carried part of my load.’ Or: ‘He made it possible for me to carry the load.’ Speaker was helped by this other person and it was a typical joint activity.
18.213 d ʑaa-p-ʏ khim di-tu matɕik sik-ken di-la
king-M1-GEN house DEF-LOC aunt say-NMLZ;CONJ DEF-DAT [ khulak
ʈʏt-ro ] tɕhe. TE21 clothes wash-AID do;VBZR[PST]
‘Inside the king’s palace the ugly one helped the woman who was called his aunt to wash clothes.’
It is the “ugly one” who is the hero in this story but he is left implicit in this sentence. He washed the clothes of the royal family together with so called “aunt.” They did it together.
18 .214 ni joŋma sompu khajet di tshemmu dit-na
other alive plural DEF night chase-NFNT1 te-na [
ɕʏli ɖo-ro] tɕhi-moŋ si-kuk. TE60 look.after-NFNT1 at.all go-AID do;VBZR-NEG.PST.EXP say-PROG;VIS
‘He says, “At night in the darkness I chased and looked after the others, those that were alive but they did not go with me at all.”
A sheep shepherd is telling about his work. The whole flock had dispersed into darkness and he tried to get the others together and in a safe place but they did not co-operate at all.
18.11.7 Complementizer -t
