Chapter 19 Subordinate clauses
Complement clauses
A complement clause is a clause used as the object of another predicate. In "I know that they left," the departure is the thing known. Phi encloses that content with one of two matched pairs.
Embedded statements: tha ... tho
tha opens an embedded statement and tho closes it before the main predicate. The pair reports propositional content rather than exact wording.
mia tha shia to wepu tho sano.
1SG DECL.COMP 3SG PST go DECL.COMP.CLOSE know.
mia tha sileta sulae nai tho sano.
1SG DECL.COMP sun warm be DECL.COMP.CLOSE know.
shia tha thia so kamo tho haolu.
3SG DECL.COMP 2SG FUT arrive DECL.COMP.CLOSE speak.
The embedded clause keeps ordinary word order and its own tense. After tho, the surrounding clause resumes with sano or haolu. Without the closer, the listener could not tell which predicate governs the framed content merely by waiting for a pause.
Nesting
A declarative frame may contain another declarative frame. Each tha requires one tho, and the innermost pair closes first:
mia tha thia tha shia to wepu tho to haolu tho sano.
1SG DECL.COMP 2SG DECL.COMP 3SG PST go DECL.COMP.CLOSE PST speak DECL.COMP.CLOSE know.
The first tho completes "that they left." The past haolu then completes "you said that they left," and the second tho returns the sentence to mia ... sano. Nesting is regular, though a second sentence may be kinder to working memory when the frames begin to breed.
Embedded questions: pha ... pho
pha turns a question into the object of a larger clause. pho closes the question before the main predicate. A question with no gap-word asks whether its proposition holds:
mia pha shia to wepu pho phaelo.
1SG INT.COMP 3SG PST go INT.COMP.CLOSE feel.
shia pha mia so kamo pho ma sano.
3SG INT.COMP 1SG FUT arrive INT.COMP.CLOSE NEG know.
shia pha mia to nila pho to thilou.
3SG INT.COMP 1SG PST see INT.COMP.CLOSE PST inquire.
An embedded question never takes wa. wa announces a direct yes-or-no question addressed to someone; pha ... pho announces a question held inside another clause.
Embedded content questions
A content question keeps the gap-word that identifies what is unknown. The interrogative stands where its answer would stand, inside the same pha ... pho boundary used by every embedded question. The gap-word and the frame are not doing the same work: one names the missing role, while the other tells the listener exactly where the inner question begins and ends.
mia pha sua to wepu pho sano.
1SG INT.COMP who PST go INT.COMP.CLOSE know.
mia pha ne sulae kua nai pho ma sano.
1SG INT.COMP NAME sulae where be INT.COMP.CLOSE NEG know.
shia pha thela peloru thuroa pho shelomu.
3SG INT.COMP how flower grow INT.COMP.CLOSE understand.
The surrounding clauses are statements. sua, kua, and thela occupy the unknown roles inside their framed questions, while the predicates after pho say what the matrix subjects know or understand. Without that closing word, a listener would again have to guess which inner predicate belongs to which outer one.