Verbal clauses are divided into two types: transitive and intransitive. A transitive verb generally has two nominal complments. One is the Agent and the other the Patient. Their corresponding macroroles are “actor” and “undergoer”. An intransitive verb contains only one nominal complement. If the macrorole of this complement is an “actor', the intransitive verb is a dynamic verb; however, if the macrorole of this complement is an “undergoer”, the intransitive verb is a stative verb.

5.2.1 Intransitive constructions

Intransitive constructions usually contain only a single complement. The verb precedes the nominal complement. Yami intransitive verbs include: dynamic verbs with the traditionally called AF (Agent Focus) affixes ( -om-, mi-, ma-, maN-, maka-, maci- ), stative ma- verbs, and involuntary ka-…-an verbs. A detailed discussion of all verbal affixes can be found in Section 6. In (13)-(15), the single complement ko ‘I' or o kanakan ‘the child' is in the Nominative case.

5.2.1.1 Single complement intransitive clauses

(13) om-oli ko simararaw.

AF-go.home 1.S.NOM noon

‘I will go home at noon .'

(14) má-bsoy ko na.

SV-satiated 1.S.NOM already

‘I was full already.'

(15) ka-cimoy-an o kanakan.

VF-rain-VF NOM child

‘The child is soaked (lit. got rained on).'

5.2.1.2 Double complement intransitive constructions

Some intransitive constructions contain double complements. One is in the Nominative case, while the other is in either Oblique or Locative cases depending on the verbs. This construction is called antipassive in ergative languages. The order of the complements in relation to the verb varies depending on whether they are a Nominative pronoun or a full noun phrase.

5.2.1 .2.1 With a nominative pronoun

The Nominative pronoun follows the verb, while the other complement is placed after the verb. In (16) and (17), the Nominative pronoun ka ‘you' follows the verb. The NP preceded by the determiner so in Oblique case follows the Nominative pronoun. In (18), the verb is followed by the Nominative pronoun sira ‘they'. The complement preceded by the determiner do in the Locative case is placed at the end.

(16) man-zaneg ka so alibangbang.

AF-cook 2.S.NOM OBL flying.fish

‘You will cook flying fish.'

(17) maka-kan ka so wakay?

AF.able-eat 2.S.NOM OBL sweet.potato

‘Are you able to eat sweet potatoes? (I bet you won't).'

(18) ma-níring sira do tao am.

AF-speak 3.P.NOM LOC human PAR

‘They spoke to a person.'

5.2.1 .2.2 With a nominative full noun phrase

A Nominative full NP is placed at the end of the sentence, such as o kanakan ‘the child' and si Akay ‘Grandfather' in (19) and (20).

(19) ni-k-om-an so kadai o kanakan.

PA<AF>eat OBL millet NOM child

‘The child ate millet'

(20) ma-níring jiaken si Akay.

AF-speak 1.S.LOC NOM Grandfather

‘Grandfather said to me.'

5.2.2 Transitive constructions

Transitive verbs include those traditionally called PF (Patient Focus), LF (Locative Focus), and IF (Instrumental Focus) verbs with -en , -an , i- , respectively, potential ma- verbs and involuntary ka-…-an verbs with expressed “actor”. One of the two complements in the transitive constructions should be the Agent or actor macrorole, while the other is the Patient or undergoer macrorole. The Agent is marked with the Genitive case, while the Patient is marked with the Nominative case.

5.2.2.1 Two-complement transitive constructions

5.2.2.1.1 With two nominal complements

The Genitive Agent occurs before the Nominative Patient in a two complement transitive construction. In (21), no mehakay ‘by the man' precedes o mavakes ‘the woman'. Similarly, in (22), no kanakan ‘by the child' precedes o ino ‘the dog'.

(21) ni-ka-miying no mehakay o mavakes a.

PA.IF-VF-laugh GEN man NOM woman PAR

‘The man laughed at the woman.'

(22) kala-en no kanakan o ino.

Look.for-PF GEN child NOM dog

‘The child looked for the dog.'

5.2.2.1.2 With two pronominal complements

The enclitic Genitive pronoun (Table 13) as the Agent immediately follows the verb, while the Nominative free pronoun as the Patient occurs at the end of the sentence. In (24), the enclitic Genitive pronoun na ‘by him' occurs before the free form imo ‘you'. When the monosyllabic enclitic adverbs na ‘already' or pa ‘still, yet' occur in the transitive constructions with two pronominal complements, the enclitic Genitive pronouns precede the adverbs. The Genitive enclitic pronoun mo ‘by you' as in (23), and namen ‘by us but not including you', as in (25), precede the adverb pa .

(23) pa-na-nala-en mo pa yaken.

VF-RED-wait-PF 2.S.GEN first 1.S.NOM

“You will wait for me first.”

(24) koan na imo?

say 3.S.GEN 2.S.NOM

‘What did he say to you?'

(25) kan-en namen pa ya.

eat-PF 1.P.GEN.EXCL first this

‘We will eat this up first.'

5.2.2 .1.3 With pronominal genitive and full noun nominative complements

The pronominal Genitive complement usually precedes the full noun Nominative complement. In (26), mo ‘by you' precedes o ayob ko ‘my clothes'. In (27), ta ‘by us including you' precedes o mogis nio ‘your rice'.

(26) apis-an mo pa o ayob ko.

wash-LF 2.S.GEN first NOM clothes 1.S.GEN

‘You will wash my clothes first.'

(27) ma-kala ta o mogis nio?

PF.able-find 1.P.GEN.INCL NOM rice 2.P.GEN

‘Could we manage to find your rice?'

5.2.2 .1.4 With full noun genitive and pronominal nominative complements

If the pronominal Nominative complement occurs before the full noun Genitive complement, an obligatory Genitive pronoun indicating agreement with the full noun Genitive complement must occur either after or before the verb depending on the tense/aspect of the verb. In ( 28a , b), na ‘by her' functions as a cataphoric pronoun, referring to ni ina mo ‘your mother'. The Genitive pronoun na ‘by him' occurs after the verb in ( 28a ) to indicate the future tense, but before the verb in (28b) to indicate the progressive aspect.

(28) a. i-panci na imo ni ina mo.

IF-summon,tell 3.S.GEN 2.S.NOM GEN mother 2.S.GEN

‘Your Mother will call you.'

(28) b. na i-panci imo ni ina mo.

3.S.GEN IF-summon,tell 2.S.NOM GEN mother 2.S.GEN

‘Your mother is calling you.'

5.2.2.2 Three-complement transitive constructions

If there are three complements in the transitive constructions, the first two complements should be in the Genitive and the Nominative cases. The third complement is in either the Oblique case, as so kayo ‘with an ax' in (29), or the Locative case, as do mavakes ‘to a woman' in (30), depending on the verbs. The semantic of the third complement should be either indefinite or partitive. The order of the noun phrase complements after the verb is generally free. In (29) the Genitive noun phrase complement is ordered before the Nominative noun phrase complement, whereas in (30), the order of these two complements is reversed.

(29) ni-pa-nba na no tao o zaig na so kayo.

PA.IF-VF-cut 3.S.GEN GEN person NOM ax 3.S.GEN OBL tree

‘The man cut a tree with his ax.'

(30) i-pa-cita na do mavakes o karam no mehakay.

IF-CAU-see 3.S.GEN LOC woman NOM mouse GEN man

‘The man showed (cause-to-see) the mouse to a woman.'

5.2.2 .3 With pronominal agreement marking of genitive and nominative arguments

As indicated in (28)-(30), the pronominal agreement marker na ‘by her/him'always precedes the other noun phrase complements. Its word order in relation to the verb depends on the tense/aspect of the verb. In the following, we discuss the agreement marking in intransitive and transitive constructions, respectively.

5.2.2.3.1 Intransitive constructions with agreement marking

Since there is no form for the third person singular Nominative pronoun in Yami, only the third person plural Nominative Agent will serve as an agreement marker. In (31), sira ‘they' agrees with the Nominative noun phrase complement o kanakan ‘the children'.

(31) ni-t-om-anek sira o kanakan.

PA<AF>stand 3.P.NOM NOM child

‘The children stood up.'

5.2.2.3.2 Transitive constructions with agreement marking

A pronominal agreement marker that marks the Agent precedes the one that marks the Patient. The corresponding noun phrase complements are ordered in the same way: Agent before Patient. In (32), na ‘by her' agrees with no ina da ‘by their mother' and sira ‘they' agrees with o ananak na ‘her children'.

(32) i-ka-rílaw na sira no ina da o an-anak na

IF-VF-pity 3.S.GEN 3.P.NOM GEN mother 3.P.GEN NOM RED-child 3.S.GEN

‘Mother pitied her children.'