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The Tokulauan language makes use of complementizers pe, ke, oi, and ona. The complementizer pe is used for indicative complements, while ke, oi, and ona are used for non-indicative complements.
Pe: Complement used in sentences pertaining to knowledge.
Example: Ko taku fakatatau lava pe na maua lava te vaiaho.
TOP 1sg.POSSguess INT COMPT/A obtain INT DET week
'My guess was that a full week had passed.'[1]
Ke: Complement used in sentences pertaining to purpose.
Example: Kua fiu foki ke-iru-au a!
T/A fed-up indeed COMP drink 1sg EXCLM
‘[They] were tired of trying to get me to drink.'[1]
Ona: Complement used in sentences pertaining to “phasal, modal, and commentative predicates.”
Example: Kua tatau ono fai he fale.
T/A necessary COMP make a house
'It had become necessary to acquire a house'[1]
Oi: Complement used in sentences pertaining to items of sequence.
Example: Kuo toeitiiti ol nofo mti te fet0 tEia.
T/A be-soon COMP sit DIR DET star DEM
'Very soon that star will be in the ascendant.'[1]
The Tokelauan language also must take into mind the systematics of its complements. There is a bonding hierarchy between the complements and its sentences. According to Hooper’s research, there are four elements that in Tokelauan semantics that determine the strength of the bond between the complement and rest of the sentence. In the binding system, the complements act inversely to the verb of the sentence. Therefore, if the strength of the verb is higher on the binding scale, the complement is unlikely to appear as its own separate clause. The four elements are: Subject/agent case marking, Verb modalities, Fusion or co-lexicalization, and Separation.[1]
Subject/agent case marking: “‘The higher the main verb is on the binding scale, the less likely is the subject/agent of the complement to display the case-marking characteristics of subjects/agents of main clauses.’”[1]
Verb modalities: “‘The higher the main verb is on the binding scale, the less likely is the complement verb to display the tense-aspect-modality markings characteristics of main-clause verbs.’”[1]
Fusion or co-lexicalization: “‘The higher the main verb is on the binding scale, the more likely is the complement verb to co-lexicalize with the main verb.’”[1]
Separation: “‘The higher the main verb is on the binding scale, the less likely it is that a subordinating morpheme would separate the complement clause from the main clause.’”[1]
Tokelauan is a quite free flowing language as the sentence structures can vary greatly. Although there is a preferred method of ordering the phrase (i.e, argument, subject, case complement), the language allows for different variations. There are certain rules when it comes to sentence permutations when it comes to “subject shifting” or “case scrambling.” Generally, across these sentence permutations, the parts of speech, such as argument, subject, and case complements, have to stay together. Meaning, the argument is one section that would shift together and subject is its own unit.[2]
Subject shift:
na havali mai te fale i te auala te teine
argument case complement subject
Walked from the house along the road the girl[2]
na havali te teine mai te fale i te auala
argument subject case complement
Walked the girl from the house along the road[2]
Case scramble:
na kai te ika e au i te hiipuni
na kai e au te ika i te hiipuni
na kai e au i te hiipuni te ika
All of which still mean, The fish was eaten by me with a spoon.[2]
Complement (linguistics) Need to find someplace to add the language permutations to