ABSTRACT
The use of the quotative markers is optional when the verb in the matrix clause is one of the speech verbs, e.g., mha? ‘say’, bol ‘speak’, and sa?g ‘tell’, etc. One of the most interesting features of the quotative markers asa and mha?un is that these two can be used to introduce both direct and indirect speech. When the quotative markers introduce indirect/reported speech, they seem to function like the usual complementizer ki. However, while ki always precedes the subordinate clause (i.e., matrix clause ki + subordinate clause), asa and mha?un always occur after the subordinate clause. Adverbials generally occur immediately preceding the verb. Non-finite adverbial clauses may precede the matrix clause or immediately precede the verb in the matrix clause. Adverbials generally do not occur post-verbally unless the adverbial provides only a piece of additional information as the result of the afterthought.
