Semi-embedded clauses in Aisi

Abstract

Abstract This paper examines a construction in Aisi (Trans New Guinea) which consists of a formally subordinate clause that expresses asserted meaning. This construction is called ‘semi-embedding’. The construction is more restricted than subordinate clauses, and serves a specific discourse function: it presents the information in the matrix clause as a surprising climax. The paper argues that semi-embedding arose when the backgrounding function of subordinate clauses was extended to allow assertions to serve as backgrounds for certain highlighted events. As this happened, the relationship between the semi-embedded clause and its matrix became more coordinate, which allowed longer strings of semi-embedded clauses to occur in what is called disengagement (Cristofaro 2016). Fully insubordinate clauses can then occur when the main clause no longer has to be uttered. At this point, the foregrounded meaning that originally centered on the main clause attached, instead, to the newly insubordinate one.