Datapoint Nicaraguan Creole English/Complementizer with verbs of speaking

According to Holm (1978: 247) the Nicaraguan Creole English complementizer with verbs of speaking, perception and judgement se can 1) follow the verb se ‘to say’ and 2) co-occur with dat as a sequence: se dat (e.g. after the verb tel 'to tell'). There is no evidence for these structures in my present-day data in which dat or zero increasingly replace se. It is difficult to estimate relative frequencies.

Values

Complementizer identical to bare ‘say’ Frequency: 45.5%

Example 11-293:
Ai haftu taak se Ai stiil dis ring.
Ai
1sg
haf.tu
have.to
taak
talk
se
comp
Ai
1sg
stiil
steal
dis
dem
ring.
ring
I have to tell [you] that I stole this ring.

Source: nd

Confidence:
Very certain

Complementizer not synchronically related to ‘say’ Frequency: 27.3%

Example 11-294:
Ai haftu se dat Gaad toch im.
Ai
1sg
haf-tu
have-to
se
say
dat
comp
Gaad
God
toch
touch
im.
3sg
I must add that God touched him (= he has become a Christian).

Source: nd

Confidence:
Very certain

No complementizer Frequency: 27.3%

Example 11-295:
Deh se dem iz uol taim ting.
Deh
3pl
se
say
dem
3pl
iz
cop.prs
uol
old
taim
time
ting.
thing
They say those are things of the past.

Source: nd

Confidence:
Very certain