Datapoint Bislama/Complementizer with verbs of knowing

'Know' strongly favours se; semantic constraints on olsem have been discussed in Meyerhoff (2002, 2008).

Values

Complementizer identical to bare ‘say’ Frequency: 53.8%

Example 23-152:
Oli save se wanem we gavman hemi mekem ino stret.
Oli
agr
save
know
se
comp
wanem
what
we
comp
gavman
government
hemi
3sg.agr
mekem
make
ino
agr.neg
stret.
straight
They know that what the government is doing is wrong.
Confidence:
Very certain

No complementizer Frequency: 23.1%

Example 23-154:
mi save man ia i nogud nating
mi
1sg
save
know
man
man
ia
def
i
agr
nogud
no.good
nating
nothing
I know that man's completely awful.
Example 23-170:
all black man savey, no kidnapping now
all
all
black
black
man
man
savey,
know
no
neg
kidnapping
kidnapping
now
now
Melanesians know that there's no kidnapping now.

Source: Moresby 1876: 96

Confidence:
Very certain

Complementizer not synchronically related to ‘say’ Frequency: 23.1%

Example 23-63:
mi luk olsem bubu ia i kakae fulap tumas
mi
1sg
luk
look
olsem
comp
bubu
grandparent
ia
def
i
agr
kakae
eat
fulap
full.up
tumas
very
It seems to me that/like this grandmother eats too much.

Source: Meyerhoff nd

Example 23-153:
mi harem olsem mi sore long pikinini ia
mi
1sg
harem
feel
olsem
comp
mi
1sg
sore
sorry
long
for
pikinini
child
ia
def
I felt like I was sorry for the child.

Source: Meyerhoff nd

Confidence:
Very certain