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    Transitive stative construction
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    Two kinds of transitive stative constructions combine with a complementive, where the complementive takes the object of the clause as its logical subject upon which it predicates something. One set of transitive stative constructions has a clear evaluative complementive, and combines with verbs like vind to find, beskou to consider, ag to regard, and noem to call. This is illustrated by example (1), where the complementives are highlighted.

    1
    a. Ek vind dié bewering belaglik en beledigend.
    I find this allegation ridiculous and insulting.
    TK
    b. Mense noem hom 'n pessimis.
    People call him a pessimist.
    TK

    The other set of transitive stative constructions is similar to copular constructions in that a general relationship between the complementive and its logical subject is postulated, but in the context of the overall construction, the main clause introduces an experiencer, who perceives or experiences the particular relationship between the object and the complementive. Typical verbs in this construction are hê to have, hou van to like, skat to guess and verkies to prefer. The construction is illustrated by example (2).

    2
    a. My pa hou van sy brood liggies gerooster.
    My dad likes his bread lightly toasted.
    TK
    b. Sy skat hom in sy laat twintigs.
    She guesses him (to be) in his late twenties.
    TK

    The two semantic possibilities of the transitive stative construction, evaluative or not, should best be construed as a scale, and not dichotomous. Syntactically, there is not clear difference, so one should guard against drawing a too sharp distinction. What is crucial about this construction, is that the complementive encodes an attribute that is either perceived or ascribed to the direct object of the verb, and that semantically, we are not dealing with a resultative, which is a separate construction. The transitive stative construction points to the awareness of a human perceiver, rather than a change of state that takes place in the world (material, abstract or imaginary) as a result of the activity of the subject. Further discussion of this construction is also found in the exposition of the predicative uses of adjectives.

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    [+]Syntactic relationship between verb, direct object and complementive

    The syntactic relationship between the verb, the direct object and the complementive is such that the direct object and complementive form a constituent, which forms an argument of the verb as a whole. Thus, the direct object is in the accusative case, but it does not function semantically as an independent argument of the verb. In example (1), for instance, it is not the case that an allegation is found or that somebody is mentioned. What is found, is that the allegation has a certain attribute, which presupposes that the allegation is already known in (1a); and that the man who is already discouse-old information, has the quality of being a pessimist in example (1b).

    The verb takes an entire proposition as its argument. The transitive stative construction is therefore, at least for some verbs, interchangeable with a finite complement clause, as illustrated in example (3) by complement clause variants of the examples in (1) and (2), which are repeated for ease of reference. Where the interchange is possible, it is clear that both the object and the complementive become constituents of the complement clause.

    3
    a. Ek vind dié bewering belaglik en beledigend.
    I find this allegation ridiculous and insulting.
    TK
    a.' Ek vind [dat dié bewering belaglik en beledigend is].
    I find that this allegation is ridiculous and insulting.
    b. Mense noem hom 'n pessimis.
    People call him a pessimist.
    TK
    b.' Mense noem [dat hy 'n pessimis is].
    People mention that he is a pessimist.
    c. My pa hou van sy brood liggies gerooster.
    My dad likes his bread lightly toasted.
    TK
    c.' My pa hou daarvan [dat sy brood liggies gerooster word].
    My dad likes it that his bread is toasted lightly.
    d. Sy skat hom in sy laat twintigs.
    She guesses him (to be) in his late twenties.
    TK
    d.' Sy skat [dat hy in sy laat twintigs is].
    She guesses that he is in his late twenties.

    Not all verbs allow the interchange of the transitive stative construction with a complement clause construction, as the pairs in example (4) illustrate.

    4
    a. Ek het dit maar swaar met hom.
    I have it but difficult with him.
    I have quite some difficulty with him.
    TK
    a.' *Ek het [dat dit maar swaar is met hom].
    I have for.COMP it but difficult be.PRS with him
    I have it that it is quite difficult with him.
    b. Hulle hou die kinders rustig.
    They keep the children calm.
    b.' *Hulle hou [dat die kinders rustig bly].
    They keep that the children remain calm.
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      About this article
      Author(s): Bertus van Rooy
      Category: Afrikaans Syntax
      Keywords: complementivetransitive stative construction
      Version: 1.0, May 2020
      Version history:
      version editor(s) date remarks
      1.0 Bertus van Rooy May 2020
      This is a beta version.
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