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Do clausal objects usually occur in the same position as nominal objects?

Summary

This feature involves a comparison of the word order in transitive clauses with nominal objects with order in clauses with clausal objects. By clausal objects here we mean clauses that are directly governed by a finite verb (often verbs of ‘wanting’, ‘saying’, etc.). In other words, complement clauses are a specific type of subordinate clauses and are not relative clauses. For example, the objects in I like apples (nominal object) and I like that you play the piano every morning (clausal object) are in the same position (SVO). Many of the languages that do not place clausal objects in the same position as nominal objects are SOV languages that use SVO order for (long) clausal objects. This question aims to discern whether these clausal objects are treated like prototypical nominal direct objects (not indirect or obliques). This is not always explicitly stated by the descriptive work, but an investigation into the examples and perhaps even appended text of the grammar should typically reveals evidence for answering this question.

Procedure

  1. Find the word order of transitive clauses involving nominal objects (often mentioned explicitly).
  2. Find the word order of transitive clauses involving clausal objects (often inferable from examples if not discussed explicitly).
  3. Code 1 if clausal objects occur in the same position or same set of possible positions as nominal objects.
  4. Code 0 if clausal objects always occur in a different position (or set of positions) than the pragmatically unmarked position(s) of nominal objects.
  5. Code 0 if clausal objects occur in a fixed position while nominal objects can occur in several different positions in a language with relatively free word order.
  6. Code 1 if clausal objects occur in the same position(s) as nominal objects in pragmatically unmarked present tense clauses, but may occur in a wider range of positions in other conditions (e.g. more pragmatically marked constructions or other TAM conditions). If in any observed context (e.g. a particular TAM category) the possible orders for clausal objects include VO but the possible orders for nominal objects do not, please provide a comment with details.
  7. If no information on clausal objects can be found and insufficient examples are provided to determine whether clausal objects occur in the same position(s) as nominal objects, code ? and provide a comment regarding the lack of evidence.

Examples

Assiniboine (ISO 639-3: asb, Glottolog: assi1247)

Assiniboine clausal constituents that serve as the objects of transitive verbs occur before the verb, and may precede or follow the subject, as shown below.

(a) John  [mnatkí̜-kte-ší̜         žé]    snok-0-yá
    John  [0-1SG.A-drink-POT-NEG COMP]  know-3SG.A-know
    ‘John knows [that I'm not going to drink it].’ (Cumberland 2005: 415)

(b) [mnatkí̜-kte-ší̜         žé]    John  snok-0-yá
    [0-1SG.A-drink-POT-NEG COMP]  John  know-3SG.A-know
    ‘John knows [that I'm not going to drink it].’ (Cumberland 2005: 415)

This matches the SOV and OSV orders that are possible for transitive clauses with intransitive nominal objects.

(c) John  tʰápa  žé    a-0-0-pʰá
    John  ball   that  hit-3SG.P-3SG.A-hit
    ‘John hit the ball.’ (Cumberland 2005: 374)

(d) tʰápa  žé    John  a-0-0-pʰá
    ball   that  John  hit-3SG.P-3SG.A-hit
    ‘John hit the ball.’ (Cumberland 2005: 374)

Assiniboine is coded 1.

Djeebbana (ISO 639-3: djj, Glottolog: djee1236)

Word order is relatively free in Djeebbana, with several unmarked orders possible for nominal objects (McKay 2000: 283–284). However, clausal objects must occur after the main verb, as in the example below.

N-bárdbana       nja-rra-bé-na,          nga-mi-Ila                    ka-kkó-ya
3-MIN.M-shallow  1-AUG-REAL-go-DIST.PST  1.MIN.A+3.MIN.O-see-DIST.PST  3.MIN.M-kó-lie
‘We went into shallow water and saw (a dugong (mlirnun)) lying (in the water eating grass).’ (McKay 2000: 311)

Because not all main clause orders are possible in complement clauses, Djeebbana is coded 0.

English (ISO 639-3: eng, Glottolog: stan1293)

I like apples. (nominal object) versus I like that you play the piano every morning. (clausal object) are in the same position (SVO). English is coded 1.

Further reading

Dryer, Matthew S. 1979. The positional tendencies of sentential noun phrases in Universal Grammar. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan. (Doctoral dissertation.)

Hawkins, John A. 2014. Cross-linguistic variation and efficiency. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Schmidtke-Bode, Karsten & Holger Diessel. 2017. Cross-linguistic patterns in the structure, function, and position of (object) complement clauses, Linguistics, 55(1). 1–38.

References

Cumberland, Linda A. 2005. A grammar of Assiniboine: A Siouan language of the Northern Plains. Bloomington: Indiana University. (Doctoral dissertation.)

McKay, Graham. 2000. Ndjébbana. In R. M. W. Dixon & Barry Blake (eds), Handbook of Australian languages, 155–356. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Related Features

Patron

Hannah J. Haynie