Working Paper on Irrealis, Imperative Mode and Complementation ...

Discussion:
(n) d-in-ĕlĕ-dĕlö-n COMP UV2-regard intently-IRR “(in the meantime) when (the
Matter) had been closely considered (by him)”
In this case COMP follows a temporal adverbial does not follow Uhlenbeck’s pattern. The
pro3 sira here refers to the patient, the person who “is being considered intently” to be sent as
an envoy, while the erstwhile agent of the UV2 clause (Abhimanyu) is carried over from the
previous verse by means of the 0-anaphora supported by COMP.
Note that DEF ng forms a type of relative clause in this example: sira ng utusĕn lumampaha,
“he (hon) who was to be sent to go out as an envoy”.
ng in-utus-ĕn DEF-UV2-send as envoy-IRR “the one (who) was to be sent as
an envoy”
I am not entirely satisfied with using DEF (definite) as a designation for ng, for I would
prefer to follow Irwin (2005:237-9) in using DEF for 3rd person pronouns in the form –nya
(found inter alia in OJ, Old Malay, Malay, Standard Indonesian and Colloquial Indonesian
with the same, or very similar, functions). For purposes of this <strong>Working</strong> <strong>Paper</strong> I will use
provisionally use DEF for ng and pro-3 for –nya. While –nya is contrastive in OJ in
sociolinguistic terms with –nira, I will mark only the latter as HON (honorific) and assume
that it is understood that –nya is non-honorific.
It is also not yet certain that ng always implies definiteness of a following NP or gerund, and
more work needs to be done on this point. One thing that is very clear here, however, is that
one form of relative clause can be formed with ng. In this example, as in many others (and
also as an element in sang) the morpheme ng forms a simple relative clause with the general
meaning “the one who x”. Here it is quite clear that ng utusĕn means “the one who was to be
sent as an envoy”.
l-um-ampah-a AV2-go out, walk along-IRR “(who) should go out (as an
envoy)”
25) HW 4.6
Yan alūnga sinwam ing aśoka winisikan i gĕntĕr ing patĕr
ḍatĕnge hulĕm haku hanisa sumilib iri tambwang ing wulan
yan inge lwir elika sĕkar ning asana kinirim-kirim riris
kayuhĕnkwa ta pwa rurahĕn sakahanan ika tan tahĕn langö"
“If the tendrils of the asoka
send forth fresh shoots
when whispered to
T. Hunter, ISLOJ <strong>Working</strong> <strong>Paper</strong>, 29 May 09, page 30