Perception verb complements in Akatek, a Mayan language

226 6. TYPOLOGY OF PERCEPTION VERB COMPLEMENTS
a universal. This cognitive extension is a prerequisite for the occurrence
of proposition denoting PVC types. Furthermore, I took into
consideration clues provided by the PVC predicate (e.g. whether it expresses
something perceptible or not, or whether it describes a process
as opposed to a state) and from the translation. Finally, the results
regarding PVC types and their semantic interpretations in English and
Akatek (see Table 1), along with Correlations 1 and 2, which are repeated
here for ease of reference from chapter 2, constituted a means to
distinguish event denoting from proposition denoting PVC types.
Table 1. English and Akatek PVC systems
Complement English Akatek Semantic
types PVCs PVCs types
IND that-PVC type1 (tzub'il) proposition (event)
SUB | type1 (tol) proposition (event)
INF to-PVC | proposition
INF NI-PVC | event
INF ing-PVC | event
NMLZ PNOM type2 event
(1) Correlation 1
If the event denoting PVC has a complementizer, then the
proposition denoting PVC also has a complementizer.
(2) Correlation 2
a. If a nite/ independentPVC denotes events, then a nite/
independent PVC also denotes propositions.
b. If a non- nite/ dependent PVC denotes propositions,
then a non- nite/ dependent PVC also denotes events.
The investigation of di erent complement types for event denoting
and proposition denoting PVCs in sections 2 and 3 is based on the
typology of complementation presented in chapter 2. The complement
types of this typology are reviewed in section 1. Languages investigated
in this chapter are Cayuga, Mohawk, Nez Perce, Japanese,
Cambodian, Fijian, Malagasy, Russian, Modern Greek, the Albanian
dialect Arberesh, Romance languages (French, Italian and Spanish),
and German.
1. PVC types
The typology of complementation presented in chapter 2, section
4, distinguishes six complementtypes: indicative complements (INDs),