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The bridge complement is realised as a Verb-Final clause
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The Verb-Final clause is a very common clause type, generally speaking, but also when bridge verbs are involved. Written language features more Verb-Final clauses following bridge verbs than spoken language does. Furthermore, Verb-Final clauses are strongly associated with syntactic subordination. The Verb-Final construction will not be discussed any further. Instead, we will focus on a very specific construction with complementiser deletion in a context which is semantically subjunctive.

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The complement to a bridge verb may be realised as a Verb-Final clause (indirect speech):

1
Pier sei dat syn swurd ruostich wie
Pier said that his sword rusty was
Pier said that his sword was rusty

The complementiser may be reduced in spoken Frisian, but it may not be absent:

2
*Pier sei syn swurd ruostich wie
Pier said his sword rusty was
Pier said that his sword was rusty

The complementiser seems to be absent in first person subjunctive clauses following the past tense of the bridge verb wolle want, as can be seen in the example below:

3
'K woe 'k in sûpke hie
I wanted I a drink had
I wish I had a drink

This construction is grammatical in Modern Frisian, but it occurred in 17th and 18th century Frisian especially. There is some evidence that, although the construction developed due to phonological deletion processes, it was syntactically reanalysed in the Middle Frisian period.

extra
Literature

More details can be found in Hoekstra (1993).

References
  • Hoekstra, Jarich1993Ik woe ik ien zoepke hie: winskjende sinnen sûnder dat yn it MidfryskTydskrift foar Fryske Taalkunde8 (1-2)34-42
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