Download Nominal Complements: Subjective and Objective Complements

Draft September 2012
Chapter ##
SUBJECTIVE AND OBJECTIVE
COMPLEMENTS
A
verb phrase may include words or phrases that are complements of other nouns in
the sentence rather than complements of the verb, e.g. he looks sick, she became a
lawyer, where “sick” and “a lawyer” are complements of the subjects, and I
painted the chair red, we elected Bill president, where “red” and “president” are
complements to the objects “chair” and “Bill” respectively. We use the traditional terms
“subjective complement” for the former and “objective complement” for the latter.
1. Subjective Complements
Setting aside sentences in which the predicate itself is a noun or adjective (##), we
can distinguish at least two sentence types with subjective complements: (1) sentences
with verbs that express a transformation in the state of the subject and (2) sentences with
a verb followed by an expression that describes the subject.
Verbs of transformation typically have non-transformative base meanings. Below is a
list of the most common Bole transformative verbs, followed by some examples
containing these verbs.1 The “base” meaning is first. The transformative meaning
follows the semicolon:
bòngìru
ɗowu
mā
nguru
ī
‘turn around; turn into’
‘sit, stay; become’
‘return; turn into’
‘remain, be left behind; become’
‘make, do, be done; become, be too...’
As the examples below show, the subjective complement may be a noun or an
adjective, though for verbs with the sense ‘turn into, metamorphose into’, only a noun
would be pragmatically appropriate. There are several variants with verbs and subjective
complements. The simplest form is VERB+COMPLEMENT. Verbs of transformation are all
intransitive and hence allow use of the Intransitive Copy Pronoun (ICP—##), comprising
j-+pronoun. For most verbs of transformation, the word bṑ “in the guise of, as” can
optionally introduce a subjective complement. There is a tendency to use either the ICP
or bṑ, though it is not ungrammatical to use both. The verb ī ‘become, be too...’ cannot
use bṑ. Not all possible variants are given for all the verbs.
1
See the chapters on adjectives (##), ideophonic adjectives (##), and statives (##) for further examples.
1
Subjective and Objective Complements
2
mḕmù mā zònge = mḕmù mā b˘ zònge = mḕmù mā jnì zònge
person return hyena
= mḕmù mā
person
person return as hyena
person
jnì b˘ zònge
return ICP hyena
return ICP as hyena
‘the man has turned into a hyena (zònge)’
˘shi bòngìraj jto mḕmù = ˘shi bòngìrab b˘ mḕmù2
goat transform
ICP person
goat transform
as
person
‘the goat (ṑshi) turned into a human (mḕmù)’
à ɗòwa mbùkùm = à ɗòwa jnì mbùkùm = à ɗòwa b˘ mbùkùm
‘he will become blind (mbùkùm ‘blind person’)’
b ka umbùlin, à ngùra jnì kùrḕɗì
‘if you throw it down, it will become a snake’
ī jnì s˘ma (*ī b˘ s˘ma)
‘he became deaf (s˘ma ‘deaf person’)’
àmma ī jnì njùrùl lai (*...ī b˘...)
‘the water has become very cold (njùrùl lai)’
àtti ī jnì ɓènèm sòmsòm
‘the gruel has fermented’, i.e. ‘the gruel has become sour indeed (ɓènèm sòmsòm)’
Even though subjective complements directly follow the verb, as do direct objects,
verbs with subjective complements are intransitive and thus bear a different syntactic
relationship to the complement than the relationship between verb and direct object.. The
most obvious evidence that the verb is intransitive is that transformative verbs can use an
ICP. By definition, ICP’s occur only with intransitive verbs. The verb ī ‘become’ seems
to require the ICP in affirmative sentences when a subjective complement follows.3 For
other verbs, the ICP is not grammatically required, and its use would be ungrammatical in
all the following negative sentences (##).
mḕmù à bòngìrà (b˘) zònge sa
‘a person cannot turn into a hyena’
ka ɗòwa (b˘) mbùkùm sa ~ ka ngura mbùkùm sa
‘you will not become a blind person’
àmma ī njùlùr sa
‘the water has not become cold’
(kob) àtti ài ɓènèm sa4
‘don’t let the kunu go sour’
Tonal evidence also shows that the syntactic constituency of verb + subjective
complement differs from that of verb + direct object, even though both constructions
directly juxtapose a verb and a noun phrase. Low Tone Raising (LTR—##) DOES apply
between a verb and a direct object, but not between a verb and a subjective complement.
In the first two examples below, where the verb can only be used intransitively,
application of LTR is unacceptable. In the third example, the verb bòngìru used
Because the verb has a transitive meaning ‘turn, rotate’, ?*˘shi bòngìram mḕmù, with no overt mark of
intransitivity or subjective complement status, is marginal because it sounds like ‘the goat turned a person’.
3
Without the ICP, the tendency would be to interpret the verb ī in its transitive sense ‘make, do’, i.e. ī
s˘ma would be interpreted ‘he made a deaf person’, not ‘he became deaf’. Subjective complements after ī
must be distinguished from transitive ī followed by a quality word. Thus, in tāsà emē ī kumbe ‘this bowl
is too small’ (‘bowl this does [ī] constrictedness [kumbe]’), the word kumbe ‘constrictedness’ is not a
subjective complement because it is a noun, not an adjective describing a quality of the bowl or a noun
stating something that the bowl has become.
4
Kob is a prohibitive operator rather than a negator. Thus, (kob) àtti ài jnì ɓènèm ‘don’t let the kunu
go sour’, with the prohibitive and without the negator sa is grammatical with the ICP . See ##.
2
Subjective and Objective Complements
3
intransitively with a subjective complement and no LTR is in contrast with the verb used
transitively with LTR.
à ɗòwa mbùkùm ≠ *à ɗòwa mbukùm ‘he will become blind (mbùkùm ‘blind person’)’
sùwā ka ɗowi pùkàra ≠ *sùwā ka ɗowi pukàra ‘you should become a student (pùkàra)’
mḕmù à bongiro ˘shi
‘the man turns into a goat’ (subjective comp.)
cf. mḕmù à bongiro ‰shi
‘the man turns the goat around’ (DO)
(This contrast would not be available for a construction with overt ICP, which could not
take a grammatical direct object.)
Some constructions optionally allow a subjective complement to be part of a phrase
introduced by b˘ ‘in the guise of, in the capacity of’ (cf. use of this word below with
OBJECTIVE complements). This does not seem to be possible for the verb ī ‘become’, and
it is not required with any verb.
mḕmù mā jnì b˘ zònge = mḕmù mā b˘ zònge ‘the man has turned into a hyena’
bòngùrū jnì (b˘) zònge = bòngìrū (b˘) zònge ‘he turned into a hyena’
The second type of subjective complement construction mentioned at the beginning
of this section comprises a verbal expression including a complement to the subject. The
verbal expression is typically an unergative intranstive verb, but transitive verbal
constructions are also possible. The complements are typically statives (##), but
adjectives (##) and ideophonic adjectives (##) are also possible. Such sentences differ
from sentences with transformative verbs in that the subjective complement is
syntactically optional., i.e. ??bòngìrū jnì ‘he transformed’ would not be felicitous5
whereas à j rùwè ‘he is wandering about’ (see first example below) is a complete
sentence.
à j rùwè sànkalnì
Àbu pàtā sùlwainì
kùrḕɗì ye pèten zengileŋ
an bàrà ī ta wāshi dìɓɓànì
ɗìnkaí íotto ɗòwatò
karài ye ɗòwan pḕtìlà pok
lwò rùkkū njālūlū
nonti yāwi aj jo zòngìlòŋ
àwo kàwā r‰ɗīɗī
‘he is wandering about irresponsibly’
‘Abu went out naked’
‘the snake emerged (looking) long and thin’
‘the warrior continued fighting (while) stabbed’
‘she cooked the food (while) seated’
‘the clothes became (washed) snow white’
‘the boy lost weight (becoming) very lean’
‘the ostrich ran (looking) tall’
‘the stomach swelled (looking) protruding and round’
We draw attention here also to a construction akin to sentences with subjective
complements, viz. sentences with change of state verbs containing an ideophone (##) or
ideophonic adjective (##) that seems to comment on the state of the subject.
kulà
tòɓɓu
porot
‘the calabash has a hole in it’
calabash be-pierced ideophone
srò bàkkū jnì murus
grass
5
burn
ICP
‘the grass burned to a crisp’
ideophone
This sentence would be acceptable in the sense ‘he turned around’.
Subjective and Objective Complements
4
mbormi pòííū jnì kàkkìɗàk
‘the ebony fruit dried up and became hard’
karàinì
‘his clothes are greasy and dirty’
ebony
dry
ICP
ideophonic adj.
jàttū jnì ndòkkòm
clothes-his spoiled ICP
ideophonic adj.
Such sentences are on the borderline between sentences with unequivocal subjective
complements and sentences with manner adverbs (##). In examples like those above, the
ideophone seems to apply both to the event expressed by the verb and to the state of the
subject. In those where the complement word is labeled ideophone, analysis as a subject
complement seems untenable because the ideophone alone could not serve as a predicate,
e.g. one could not say *kulà porot ‘the calabash is pierced’, but for words labeled
ideophonic adjectives (##), this is possible, e.g. mbormi (ye) kàkkìɗàk ‘the ebony fruit
is hard’.
Bole does not have direct counterparts to many expressions using subjective
complements in English. For example, English expressions using verbs that relate a
subject to its complement through the senses, such as feel (good), look (sick), sound
(silly), smell (bad), taste (salty) would generally take one of the following forms:
kùmā ‘feel’ + nominal OBJECT expressing
the sensation that one feels:
kùmā zòi ëhe felt goodí (zòi ‘pleasure’)
ita à j kùmè kàwa ëshe is feeling shyí
(kàwa ‘modesty, shyness’)
Unitary verb:
mùskùɗu ‘feel nauseous’
kòlwu ‘feel better’ (after illness)
Equational sentence with a “sense” noun as
subject and a descriptive word as predicate:
bjin otto zòi ëthe food smells goodí
(“the odor of the food is pleasant”)
An idiom:
duwt ìdinì ëhe doesnít look happy í
(“he beat his eyes”)
The sense verb kùmā ‘feel’ differs from its English counterpart in that the Bole verb
is transitive, whereas Bole verbs that require subjective complements are all intransitve.
The words that express the counterparts of English adjectival complements like good or
shy are nominal direct objects in Bole. Aside from the fact that they would be anomalous
as predicates (??Lengì kàwa would mean ??‘Lengi is shyness’), they undergo LTR, as do
all nominal objects of verbs.
sùwā shi kume kawa sa
‘you shouldn’t feel shy’
2. Objective Complements (“Small Clauses”)
Verbs that take objective complements are transitive verbs that can be roughly
grouped into three categories, listed with exemplifying verbs from Bole:
(1) Verbs that change the state of an object into the form expressed by the complement
ɗlu
ī
‘install, turban (a chief)’
‘make (into)’ (cf. intransitive use of this verb to mean ‘become’)
Subjective and Objective Complements
mtu
5
‘change to, turn into’ (cf. intransitive mā ‘turn into, become’)
In addition to these specific verbs, there is a fairly open-ended class of verbs of
transformation, such as paint (X red), grind (X smooth), cook (X mushy), dig (X deep)—
see examples below
(2) Verbs that state a relationship between an object and its complement6
ḕsu
ndolu
‘call (someone something)’
‘want (object in the capacity of complement)’
(3) Verbs of discovery or perception of a relationship between an object and its
complement
bolu ‘find, come across’
deyu ‘leave’
ìnnā ‘see’
Most verbs of types (1) and (2) can (at least optionally) use a phrase headed by b˘ ‘in
the capacity of, in the guise of’ as the objective complement. For verbs of type (3), it is
possible that there are actually two syntactic constructions, viz. those with a direct object
and an objective complement and those where the apparent object is actually the SUBJECT
of a complement clause like I saw [that] THE GOAT [was] tied up, where the bracketed
items would not have overt expression in Bole in any case. Note, however, that for ALL
verbs of type (3), a pronominal object is a clitic on the verb, not a free pronoun, showing
that even if object + complement is an underlying clause, the complement subject has
been coppied as the grammatical object of the complementizing verb when it is a pronoun
(see ## for discussion of copying semantic subjects of embedded propositions as objects
of matrix verbs).
(1) Verbs changing the state of an object
ɗlan Àbārì b˘ Moi
ɗlan-nì-n b˘ wokkìl moi
mtantùn bòno ye (b˘) pḕtìlà
ɓìllū gbìn ye (b˘) pḕtìlà
an gùwa ī kàsìkàr ye (*b˘) gàraŋ
òppan bòzò (b˘) gàraŋ
òppū wùyo (*b˘) zùrkùlùk
mtat tagàrda b˘ kùmbà
rḕtū g‰rò b˘ bòlou
‘they have installed Abari as Moi’
‘they made him (nì) the chief’s representative’
‘they painted (“turned”) the house white’
‘he painted the room white’
‘the blacksmith made the sword long’
‘they dug the hole deep (gàraŋ adj.)’
‘he dug the hole deep (zùrkùlùk id. adj.)’
‘she made the paper into a fan’
‘he divided the kola in two’
An important subcategory of type (2) verbs comprises the verbs of comparison íyā ‘exceed’, àlā ‘be equal
to’, ī ‘be up to, be the equal of’, mànā ‘be equal to, be as...as...’, ksu ‘be less than’, all of which can be
used with a complement that expresses a standard to which the object is measured, i.e. .‘...exceed OBJECT
(with respect to) STANDARD’. Chapter ## covers expressions using these verbs and hence they are omitted
from the present chapter.
6
Subjective and Objective Complements
6
(2) Verbs stating a relationship between an object and its complement
à j ḕsà Bamoi (*b˘) an shiri
ǹ ndolū Bamoi b˘ s‰bà
ndol-kā b˘ s‰bà
Bamoi ndolū Lengì b˘ mòndù
Bamoi ndolshī b˘ mòndù
‘they are calling Bamoi a thief (an shiri)’
‘I want Bamoi as a friend’
‘he wants you as a friend’
‘Bamoi wants Lengi as a wife’
‘Bamoi wants you as a wife’
(3) Verbs of perceiving a relationship between and object and its complement
dewu ˘shi ye ngòratò
‘he left the goat tied up’
dei-kā ka ngòrakò
‘he left you (kā) tied up’
ìn ìnnā gam ngòranì
‘I saw the ram tied up’
ǹ ìnnā kùrḕɗì ye gàndànì mbìlàilài
‘I saw the snake lying (gàndànì) stretched out (mbìlàilài)’
mu innankun mǎ gàndàku
‘we saw you (pl.) lying down’
wal lwò ye kèwḕnì
‘they found the child well-fed’
wannan ǹ kèwḕno
‘they found me well-fed’
wankan ka rukkàko
‘they found you emaciated’
bòlannaí íǹ njālūlū
‘she came upon me teeny-weeny’
bolshī shi ɗowashì
‘he came upon you seated’
Akin to objective complements with verbs of type (2) are constructions involving
ideophones and ideophonic adjectives such as the following, parallel to those with
nominal complements (see end of §1). As with constructions such sentences differ from
sentences with straightforward objective complements, first, because the ideophone
seems to describe the action or state of the entire verb + object, and second, because,
unlike words that appear as objective complements, the ideophone could not be the
predicate of an equational sentence (##), directly equating the noun which appears as
grammatical and the predicate.
ka zùmā-tù kok-ko ɗalɗal
‘you shaved your head bald’
ngor-t wula taitai
‘he tied the load securely’
òssū
‘he ground the flour to a soft consistency’
you shave-tot
tie-tot
load
head-your ideophone
ideophone
bìɗiki ndalar
ground flour
ideophone
zùmā konnì sulsul
‘he shaved his head smooth’