Control 353
coercion is impossible. The sentences in (79) and (80), the actor voice counter-
parts of (77) and (78), are unacceptable.
(79) *Maleng gila rowa nyoba' polisi nangkep.
thief crazy that AV.try police AV.catch
(That crazy thief tried to get caught by the police.)
(80) *Ebu' a-lantor na’-kana’ dhokter juwa mareksa.
mother AV-allow RED-child doctor that AV.examine
(Mother allowed the children to be examined by the doctor.)
As null objects are permitted in Madurese, the unacceptability of (79) and (80)
cannot be attributed to the non-overt objects here. Thus, in a minority of cases,
coreference in terms of matrix argument and embedded subject can be stipu-
lated.
Some speakers allow an overt pronoun to occur in the complement clause
with select matrix predicates. Thus, while the majority of speakers reject (81), a
minority consider it acceptable.
(81) %Wati e-paksa (bi') Eppa' aba'eng melle maen-an kaangguy
Wati OV-force by father he AV.buy play-NOM for
Ale'.
yngr.sibling
‘Father forced Wati to buy a toy for Little Brother.’
In (81), aba'eng in the complement corefers with Wati in the matrix clause, and
(81) is taken to be synonymous with (76) with greater emphasis placed on the
fact that it is Wati who is forced to do the buying. Regardless of the degree of
acceptability of the sentences with overt pronouns in complement clauses, they
are not preferred structures and not universally accepted.
Finally, many of these predicates such as coba' ‘try’, jajal ‘try’, terro
‘want’, and others permit the embedded object to occur as the matrix subject, as
illustrated in (82b) and (83b).
(82) a. Bibbi' terro melle-ya motor se anyar.
aunt want AV.buy-IRR car REL new
‘Auntie wants to buy a new car.’
b. Motor se anyar terro e-belli-ya Bibbi'.
car REL new want OV.buy-IRR aunt
‘Auntie wants to buy a new car.’