In 38 the pronoun yehe ‘SHE in contrast to others’ refers to the twelfth wife of a certain king in a story. The other wives had all given birth to girls, but the twelfth wife yehe by contrast gave birth to a
boy, throwing the other wives into fits of jealousy. 38
Yabo bakaage booshi bakabuta
baana banyere. Si wi kumi na babiri
Those wives all
gave birth to children girls. But of ten
and two
yehe akabuta umwana mutabana.
SHE gave birth to child boy.
‘All those wives, they gave birth to girl children, but the twelfth SHE gave birth to a boy child.’ In 39 a woman had protected a leopard from hunters by hiding it in her house. By describing the
leopard with the contrastive pronoun yohe ‘IT in contrast to others’ the speaker is focusing on the fact that the leopard, by contrast, would not later protect the woman.
39 Yewe mukazi Wabisha iyo ngwi.
Haliko ugaabona yohe itagakubisha
Oh my woman You have hidden that leopard but you will see IT
will not hide you
kiri ulusiku luguma.
even day one.
‘Oh my woman You hid i.e. protected that leopard. But you will see IT will not hide you not even one day’
3.4 Function of alternative pronouns
The alternative pronouns have a very distinct meaning: they point to the fact that the referent is not the one who is mistakenly assumed, but another. Alternative pronouns are often used at crucial turning
points in the plot of a story. In 40 the first character boastfully employs the contrastive pronoun yehe ‘HE, saying that it was
impossible for anyone to trick him implying that others could be tricked. The second person reciprocates with a boast of his own, signified by the additive naye
‘and he also’. Then by employing the alternative pronoun yeki
HE in contrast to what was mistakenly expected, the author communicates that HE will trick the first person, in contrast to the mistaken assumption that no one would be able to
do so. Note that each of these pronouns could be removed and it would still be clear who the referents were.
40 Muguma anabwira uwabo kwo yehe ndaaye
uwabo mundu uwangamúteba
One told
his fellow that HE there is no fellow person who would trick him.
Naye, uwabo anamúbwira kwo yeki anagamúteba.
And he fellow told him that HE
would trick him.
‘A certain person told his fellow that HE there’s no other person who would be able to trick him. And that fellow told him that HE unexpected alternative would be the one who would trick him.’
3.5 Function of exclusive pronouns
The exclusive pronouns -nyene and -ngwa denote ‘selfselves to the exclusion of others’.
12
They emphasize either a that the referent or group of referents is unaccompanied, i.e. ‘by himself’, or b
that the referent ‘himself as opposed to any other’, is being referred to. In 41 a lion has promised a certain cow that he will not eat it. The lion’s friends, an eagle and a
leopard, are trying to figure out how they might get the lion to kill the cow anyway as they would get to share in the meal The scheming eagle asks if the lion wouldn’t agree to eat the cow if the cow itself
were to ask him to eat it. Eagle thus refers to the cow with the exclusive pronoun yonyene ‘it itself’.
41 Iyi ngaavu,
iri yangadeta yonyene kwo ugilye
ho wangafwa
na yugu
This cow if it would say itself
that you eat it instead of you would die from hunger
ko utangagilya?
would you not eat it ?
‘This cow if it itself would say itself that you should eat it, rather than dying from this hunger, wouldn’t you eat it?’ T12
In 42 the second-person singular exclusive pronoun wenyene ‘yourself.
SG
’ is used, in the context that someone has judged for himself.
42 Keera wayitwira ulubaaja wenyene kwo mushosi atakizi
buta.
Already you have cut yourself judgment yourself that a man does not give birth.
‘Already you yourself have judged for yourself, that a man does not habitually give birth.’ In 43 the first-person singular pronoun nienyene ‘myself’ focuses attention on the fact that the
speaker is living all by himself, unaccompanied. 43 Uleke
tutuulanwe mukuba naani nduuziri
nienyene.
You allow we live together because and me I am living by myself.
‘Allow that we live together, because me, I’m living all by myself.’ T6 The alternate form of the exclusive pronoun niengwa, originally borrowed from Kiviira, is
exemplified in 44. The alternate form occurs very infrequently in the corpus of our texts, but it is commonly used in Fuliiru conversation. In this example the king is upset that the people he has sent to
kill a certain person have not done so. He then asserts, by the use of the exclusive pronoun, that he himself will do the job.
44 Mwami ti: “Niehe ngamúyiyitira
niengwa.”
King said ME
I will just kill him for myself.
‘The king said, ME I will just kill him for myself I myself.’
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These pronouns are not used to indicate that an action is reflexive. Reflexivity is expressed only by the use of the reflexive object yi- directly preceding the verb stem.
In 45 a fox came and chased away all the wedding guests from their dancing, leaving behind only the bride by herself in the shelter they had built for the occasion.
45 Si umuhya anasigale hi ibanda yengwa.
But bride remained at shelter herself.
‘But that bride, remained behind in the shelter by herself.’
3.6 Additive pronouns
