550 Muanke’a de
sukni la
patke’a de
male that like
of female
that ‘That guy likes that girl.’
551 M-olin-doini hadena
2s-let go-COMP that one there
‘Let go off that.’ 552 Musti
hade sukni
a’u must
that like
me ‘It must be he likes me.’
6.1.2 Active intransitive
The following chart illustrates the structure of the active intransitive clause. The subject NP, as a result of being presupposed or known information, may be reduced simply to the required pronominal prefix
on the verb. The oblique slot can be reduced to locative la or even to nothing at all.
Table 32. Active intransitive clause CLAUSE
Core Oblique
Periphery ActorUndergoer
Nucleus
Subject Np Predicate VP
PP NPPP
1. A puou mamni awnu ida ema rdopaldoinia
la our boat wood one
as if fell COMP off
‘A piece of wood from our boat fell off.’ 2. Polisi
rlol meni-meni la’a Rwawna liewnu
Police went anywhere
in Rwawna area ‘The police went everywhere in Rwawna area.’
3. ∅ Amawal
lia liwu ralamni 2p return
to harbor insides ‘We returned inside the protected harbor.’
4. ∅ Amhopalnan to’a
mela ida, lera ida 2p sail ABIL just
night one, day one ‘We were able to just keep on sailing for one night and one day.’
5. Kapli nmai
lia noha Rwawna boat
came to island Rwawna
‘The boat came to Rwawna island.’ 6. ∅
Amuat lia iskola reirieini
1s die for school’s cause
‘I suffer extremely in order to get an education.’ 7. ∅
Amai wia ∅
2p come already ‘We already came’
6.1.3 Non-active intransitive
In non-active intransitive predicates there is a single pre-verbal core argument. This is semantically undergoer, rather than actor Grimes 1991:345. The non-active verbs tend to deal with physical
properties or states Grimes 1991:345.
Table 33. Non-active intransitive clause CLAUSE
Core Periphery
Undergoer Nucleus
Subject NP Predicate VP
NPPP 1. Garni
nherieri wa ‘younger sibling’
‘3s quiet PERF’ ‘The younger sibling was quiet.’
2. Patke’ de enapupanu
‘woman that’ ‘3s pregnant’
‘The woman is pregnant.’ 3. ∅
namno’a-namrara ‘3s wounded-bloody’
‘He was disfigured.’ 4. ∅
a’uwoki ‘1s cold’
‘I am cold.’
6.1.4 Compound clauses
Compound clauses occur in Luang in ritual speech. They are considered compound clauses rather than compound verbs because although they have the same subject as actor each verb has a different
undergoer. The whole compound clause describes actions that are closely linked together. In the following examples the compound clauses are linked by hyphens to indicate that they are considered a
unit. However the English free translation does not reflect this as English does not work this way.
553 Yoma n-dudni-i’ina-n-woknihi-tgo’a
because 3s-gather?-fish-3s-gather-saguer
‘Because they gathered fish and palm wine.’
554 Er la
r-kor-lai-r-tati-dari are go
3p-scratch sand-3p-throw-net
‘They were fishing.’
555 R-tikil-rer-lia-yeh-tan-mera-r-hapar-rer-lia-hlor-wew-nihi 3s-step-DUR-on footstep-dirt-red-3s-set-DUR-on-path?-leaf-teeth
3s-step on the red dirt footprint-3s-step on the path between plants ‘They follow in their footstepsexample.’
6.1.5 Reflexive clause
