Prolepsis 357
6. Prolepsis
Most verbs that take clausal object complements can also occur in structures in
which an argument of the complement is a dependent of the matrix clause.
Thus, alongside the basic structure, in which the matrix predicate is in actor
voice, as in (98a) and (99a) are sentences such as (98b) and (99b).^7
(98) a. Siti ngera ja' Ina mangkat ka Jakarta are Kemmes.
Siti AV.think COMP Ina leave to Jakarta day Thursday
‘Siti thinks that Ina left for Jakarta on Thursday.’
b. Ina e-kera (bi') Siti ja’ mangkat ka Jakarta are Kemmes.
Ina OV-think by Siti COMP leave to Jakarta day Thursday
‘Siti thinks that Ina left for Jakarta on Thursday.’
(99) a. Ina a-bala ka Ebu' ja' Nabun a-berri' konce juwa dha' Sa'diyah.
Ina AV-say to mother COMP Nabun AV-give key that to Sa'diyah
‘Ina said to Mother that Nabun gave the key to Sa'diyah.’
b. Nabun e-bala'-agi (bi') Ina ka Ebu' ja' a-berri' konce juwa
Nabun OV-say-AGI by Ina to mother COMP AV-give key that
dha' Sa'diyah.
to Sa'diyah
‘Ina said to Mother that Nabun gave the key to Sa'diyah.’
In (98b):
the matrix verb kera ‘think’ is in object voice,
the actor of kera is postverbal, optionally in a prepositional phrase headed
by bi' ‘by’, and
the subject of kera, Ina, corresponds to the embedded subject of (98a).The sentence in (99b) shows the same constellation of facts with bala in the
object voice, the actor Ina in postverbal position, and the subject of bala the
same as the embedded subject of (99a).
Similar structures in closely related languages have been analyzed as rais-
ing structures in which the matrix subject of the b-sentences either raises from a
base position in the embedded clause or is shared between the matrix and em-
(^7) Some verbs, such as yaken ‘be sure’ take no voice marking in the basic structure.