Chapter 19 Subordinate clauses
Subordinate clauses
A sentence can hold another sentence inside it: something known, something heard, something hoped for. Coordination joins equals; subordination gives one clause a role inside or beside another.
Phi uses complementizer frames for clauses that occupy an argument position. Clause relators handle time, cause, purpose, and concession. The two groups have different boundaries and deserve separate patterns.
Clause relators
pheo, phoe, lao, shai, and lila precede a dependent clause, which is followed by the main clause:
[relator] [dependent clause] [main clause]
lao shia to wepu mia nuhe phaelo.
BECAUSE 3SG PST go 1SG sadness feel.
The verb wepu completes the reason introduced by lao. The main clause, mia nuhe phaelo, states what that reason explains. Purpose keeps the same order: lila opens the intended outcome before the action it explains. Chapter 19 closes with all five relators.
Complementizer frames
A complement clause occupies the object position of a verb such as sano. Its opener announces the kind of content, and its required closer marks where that content ends.
[subject] [opener] [embedded clause] [closer] [main verb]
mia tha shia to wepu tho sano.
1SG DECL.COMP 3SG PST go DECL.COMP.CLOSE know.
tha opens the embedded statement and tho closes it. The main verb sano then states what the subject does with that proposition. A pause cannot replace the closer: the frame keeps a hand at each end of the inner thought, and nothing enters or leaves it unmarked.
Both constructions keep modifier-first order. Their boundaries differ: a clause relator opens a dependent frame before the main clause, while a complementizer encloses an argument inside a larger clause.