306 Chapter 10 Modifications to argument structure
b. Ja' labang-nga e-pa-becce'-a are Sennen e-janji-agi Anom
COMP door-DEF OV-CS-good-IRR day Monday OV-promise-AGI uncle
ka Bibbi'.
to aunt
‘Uncle promised Auntie that the door would be fixed by Monday.’
The embedded clauses in (95a) and (96a) do not take the preposition characte-
ristic of nominal subject matter arguments, but cross-linguistically fully in-
flected clauses resist prepositional marking. Regardless, when the clausal sub-
ject matter occurs as subject, (95b) and (96b), the -agi suffix is generally
obligatory. An exception to this is the verb bala ‘say’, with which -agi is op-
tional. Thus, both (97b) and (97c) are acceptable.
(97) a. Ina a-bala ka Satimma ja' ter-dhokter juwa ng-obad-i
Ina AV-say to Satimma COMP RED-doctor that AV-medicine-LOC
ana'-na Marlena.
child-DEF Marlena
‘Ina said to Satimma that those doctors cured Marlena’s child.’
b. Ja' ter-dhokter juwa ng-obad-i ana'-na Marlena
COMP RED-doctor that AV-medicine-LOC child-DEF Marlena
e-bala'-agi Ina ka Satimma.
OV-say-AGI Ina to Satimma
‘Ina said to Satimma that those doctors cured Marlena’s child.’
c. Ja' ter-dhokter juwa ng-obad-i ana'-na Marlena e-bala
COMP RED-doctor that AV-medicine-LOC child-DEF Marlena OV-say
Ina ka Satimma.
Ina to Satimma
‘Ina said to Satimma that those doctors cured Marlena’s child.’
Also, in the case of bala, it is possible to use the inchoative ka- prefix, as in
(98).
(98) Ja' ter-dhokter juwa ng-obad-i ana'-na Marlena e-ka-bala
COMP RED-doctor that AV-medicine-LOC child-DEF Marlena OV-KA-say
Ina ka Satimma.
Ina to Satimma
‘Ina said to Satimma that those doctors cured Marlena’s child.’
The effect of suffixing -agi to verbs of communication can be viewed as
essentially the same as its use with transitive verbs–an indication that the sub-
ject matter argument (instead of beneficiary) is a core argument.