Aspectual predicates 355
(86) Kaka' terros ng-eccet bengko rowa.
eld.brother continue AV-paint house that
‘Big Brother continued to paint the house.’
The sentences in (85) and (86) have the same surface appearance as the control
predicates coba' ‘try’, jajal ‘try’, and terro ‘want’ in section 11.4: subject - verb
- verb (-object) There is no possibility of complementizers ja' or mon preced-
ing the second verb. Additionally, it appears that the matrix subject is coreferen-
tial with the complement clause actor.
In addition to the complementizer and coreferentiality restrictions, like
coba' ‘try’, jajal ‘try’, and terro ‘want’, a complement object can occur as ma-
trix subject, provided the embedded predicate is in object voice.
(87) Sorad-da Ebu' molae e-baca (bi') Ina.
letter-DEF mother start OV-read by Ina
‘Ina started to read Mother’s letter.’
(88) Bengko rowa terros e-eccet (bi') Kaka'.
house that continue OV-paint by eld.brother
‘Big Brother continued to paint the house.’
Also, when the complement object is matrix subject, it is possible to reorder the
agentive PP to sentence-initial position.
(89) Bi' Ina, sorad-da Ebu' molae e-baca.
by Ina letter-DEF mother start OV-read
‘Ina started to read Mother’s letter.’
(90) Bi' Kaka', bengko rowa terros e-eccet.
by eld.brother house that continue OV-paint
‘Big Brother continued to paint the house.’
In (89), the agent of reading, bi' Ina, occurs in sentence-initial position, as is the
agent of painting, Kaka' ‘Big Brother’, in (90). Embedded agents of coba' ‘try’,
jajal ‘try’, and terro ‘want’ can also be fronted under the same conditions.
(91) Moso Bibbi', motor se anyar terro e-belli-ya.
by aunt car REL new want OV.buy-IRR
‘Auntie wants to buy a new car.’
(92) Bi' Ali, sapedha motor-ra e-coba' e-pa-becce' bi' obing.
by Ali motorcycle-DEF OV-try OV-CS-good with screwdriver
‘Ali tried to fix his motorcycle with a screwdriver.’