Verbal clauses 161
‘bored’ (70) can occur only with an overt preposition.
(68) a. Ebu' peggel bi' Toni.
mother angry with Toni
‘Mother is angry with Toni.’
b. *Ebu' peggel Toni.
(69) a. Hosen tako' ka lar-olar.
Hosen afraid to RED-snake
‘Hosen is afraid of snakes.’
b. *Hosen tako' lar-olar.
(70) a. Ina busen bi' buku-na.
Ina bored with book-DEF
‘Ina is bored with her book.’
b. *Ina busen bukuna.
The difference appears to be that those verbs for which an overt stimulus
is obligatory (65-67) allow preposition omission (for those speakers who accept
the structure). The verbs that do not allow preposition omission (68-70) are
those that can quite naturally occur without an overt stimulus.
(71) Ebu' peggel.
mother angry
‘Mother is angry.’
(72) Ika tako'.
Ika afraid
‘Ika is afraid.’
(73) Ina busen.
Ina bored
‘Ina is bored.’
The obligatorily transitive verbs can also occur without an overt stimulus. How-
ever, in these cases it is assumed that there is a null pronominal object that in-
duces the state of affairs in the experiencer, as is reflected in the translations in
(74-76).