Past perfective -ndí- Description of the use of tense and aspect in Makonde narrative

5.1.2 Past perfective -ndí-

This verb form refers to events in past time with perfective aspect and contrasts with the other perfective, the anterior see section 5.1.4 below. In narrative discourse it always marks thematically important material, whether backgrounded or not. The past perfective is often used in the orientation section for scene-setting, including the introduction of the main participant: 05 The fisherman use of past perfective in orientation section 1a. Andípagwa PAST munu S He.was person, 1b. munu aju madengo ake kuvele DEF NARR kwaka dyomba person this work his was to.hunt fish. Once upon a time there was a man whose job it was to go fishing. It is also used in the denouement and conclusion sections see below. 07 Mother and Child use of past perfective in denouement 15 and conclusion 16 15e. kanji nkongwe S ata hatanene PAST NEG but his.wife not.at.all did.not.consider 15f. andyuka PAST mpaka koko akulá. she.went as.far.as that.there there. 16a. Namwiu Anímwambola PAST aijá mwanagwe And.true she.saved.him that her.child She paid no attention, though she went all the way back. And indeed she rescued her child, and ran back carrying him… In other examples of background material within the body of the narrative, the past perfective is used for the recapitulation of thematically important information, emphasizing information that the audience already knows. In the example from 02 Lion and Hamerkop below, the information about Lion’s suffering—due to a bone stuck in his throat—has already been given in virtually identical format in clause 4a. This is a recapitulation of the same thematically important material, using the past perfective. It is worth noting, however, that although no extra information is given explicitly in sentence 8 compared with sentence 4, sentence 8 does implicitly give the outcome of Jackal’s soliloquy in sentences 5–7, in which he wonders whether he should help Lion or not. Thus, the audience has to conclude, since the situation hasn’t changed, that he has decided not to help. 02 Lion and hamerkop use of past perfective to reiterate important information after activation of event-line 8. Mwiu nangolo andílaga PAST maduva oe namene. True elder had.suffered days many very. So old Lion carried on for days in awful suffering. In event-line material the past perfective often introduces events in a new development unit, but it may also be found mid-unit in a key unit such as the inciting episode, or the peak. In the example from 07 Mother and child 11a below the peak episode opens with a past perfective that can be seen in clause 4a in the same narrative, where the past perfective is used to open the inciting episode. The past perfective slows the narrative, giving prominence to the following events. 07 Mother and Child use of past perfective to open the peak episode 11a. --- Andítukuta PAST moja kwamoja mpaka po palikaja She.had.run one by.one until there at.village She dashed back as fast as she could to the village… 09 Ákalimanya use of past perfective opening DE2, where action taken fulfils a thematically important plan 16a. Mwiu tuvanu S apalá Tundítwala PAST myanda True we.people there we.took journey 16b. Kuka DEF NARR kumwitu pashinu went to.bush at.place 16c. pavashipita namene vanembo. where.they.used.to.pass very elephants. And so that is what we did: we went into the bush, to a place which elephants often used to pass.

5.1.3 Past imperfective -shinda-