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continue to gloss this word as IN to distinguish it from the preposition in and the Voice
head in that were discussed in section 5.3.3 of chapter 5. There is no evidence that the
infinitival in is the same morpheme as the preposition or the Voice head. Instead, this
seems to be a case of simple homophony, although I do not rule out the possibility that
these words are historically related. The grammatical category and distribution of in will
be discussed in section 6.5. For now, it suffices to state that this morpheme is necessary
with some matrix verbs, possible with others, and impossible with yet others.
There is another morpheme that may intervene between the matrix and embedded
verbs, although its distribution is less restricted. This word is n#an 'for the purpose of' or
'in order to':
(534) Bamle eo e-ar koba n#an keemem-e nin#nin#
family the.s 3s.agr-T(past) gather in.order.to celebrate.first.birthday-obj baby
eo.
the.s
'The family gathered in order to celebrate the first birthday of the baby.'
(535) Rūturi-ō r-ar i-tok n#an mōn#ā i
neighbor-1s.gen 3pl.agr-T(past) come-toward.speaker in.order.to eat.intrans at
mweo im-ō.
the.house dwell.poss-1s.gen
'My neighbors came (toward where I am) in order to eat at my house.'
Like in, n#an is homophonous with a preposition. As a preposition, n#an means 'to' or 'for':
(536) I-naaj i-lok n#an Disneyland.
1s.agr-T(fut) go-away.from.both to Disneyland
'I will go (away from where we are) to Disneyland.'
(537) Leo e-ar man piik eo n#an pade eo.
the.man 3s.agr-T(past) kill.trans pig the.s for party the.s
'The man killed the pig for the party.'
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