2.6 Simple main clauses 17pronominal complement. A clitic boundary is represented as -\ instead of just
the hyphen -, and instead of = (not available in my phonetic font). When both
subject and object are expressed by nouns, the subject noun precedes the object
noun.(13) anhaey-asn medd-asn elu
see.PerfP-3MaPlS man-MaPl elephant
'The/Some men saw the/an elephant.'A subject or object noun (but not both) can form an accentual phrase with
a preceding verb. Default and secondary accents are applied from right to left.
Thus, in (13), [anhsey-ajn medd-aen] is an accentual phrase, with a lexical
accent on the e of medd-asn and a secondary accent on the second syllable to
its left. In isolation, the verb is anhaey-aen with default accent on the
antepenult. If the noun medd-aen is omitted in (13), we would get [anhsey-asn
elu], where the object noun now forms an accentual phrase with the verb. Two
adjacent nouns are never grouped accentually, so as (13) stands elu has no
accentual interaction with medd-aen.
If the clause is future or negative, there is a preverbal particle (Future ad or
allomorph [including a-], or Negative wser), and any clitics attach to this
particle, hence [preverb(-\clitics) verb (subject) (object) ...]. In (14) I
illustrate the [preverb(-\clitics) verb] sequence, with a pronominal object
(3MaSg) plus a directional (Centrifugal) in the clitic cluster.
(14) a-\tt-\in Itaw-asY
Fut-\3MaSgO-\Centrif forget.Shlmpf-lsgS
Ί will forget him.'
Other constituents (e.g. adverbials, including PPs with nominal
complement) come at the end of the clause, though as noted above pronominal
PPs are usually cliticized.
(15) a. i-la-\faell-l aslhaeqq
3MaSgS-have.Reslt-\on-lSg right
'It (=animal) has a right on me.' (='I have an obligation to it.')
b. i-tatt maesseku dar
3MaSgS-eat.LoImpfP sweet.potato too
'He eats sweet potato too.'c. 3waet-aey-\d9r-3s edi
hit.PerfP-lSgS-\Instr-3Sg dog
Ί hit the dog with it.'