Background Movement expressions sillcdd 31.

42 Water 8 uwöndë oora a-ta-a-hansh-irwë we a-ka-ghy-a a-ra-ghend-a 1.other 1. DEM _ DIST 3 SG - NEG - PST -love- PROX : PASS 1 SG 3 S S- NARR -go- FV 3 SG - CONT -walk- FV a-ra-raar-a ko-nshera a-ra-ghend-a a-ra-raar-a ko-nshera 3 SG - CONT -sleep- FV 17. LOC -9.way 3 SG - CONT -walk- FV 3 SG - CONT -sleep- FV 17. LOC -9.way ‘That other unloved one went walking and sleeping along the way, walking and sleeping along the way.’ Here the present tense conveys the idea that the woman has been walking and sleeping throughout her journey as opposed to a short period of time. The repetition of the clause also aids in communicating this idea.

5.3 Background

All eight texts in the corpus begin with sections containing backgrounded material. The main clauses in these background sections use both past tenses and the past habitual TAM form, except for one story that immediately begins with the narrative tense. Examples 43–45 illustrate the use of each of these tenses. 43 Water 2 Ömöntö uyö ya-a-hansh-irë uwömwë kasi uwöndë oora 1.person 1. DEM _ REF 3 SG - PST -love- PROX 1.one but 1.other 1. DEM _ DIST te-ya-a-mo-hansh-irë hë NEG -3 SG - PST -3 SG -love- PROX NEG ‘That person loved one but the other, he didn’t love.’ 44 Mgendi 2 Bha-ambok-anga uku-ghy-a humbu bha-rë-ngë bhane mu-bhwato 3 P S: PST -cross- HAB INF -go- FV other_side 3 PL -be- HAB 2.four 18. LOC -14.boat ‘They were crossing to go to the other side, being four in the boat.’ 45 Buffalo 3 Umumura ömwë ono ya-a-rëësy-anga situgho wonswe ya-a-rë 1.young_person 1.one 1. REL 3 SG - PST -shepherd- HAB 10.herd 1.all 3 SG - PST -be na singuru sinsharu with 10.strength 10.many ‘One son, who was shepherding the herds, was very strong.’ These tenses are also used in relative clauses throughout other episodes in the narrative. There does not seem to be any particular pattern explaining the occurrence of the past habitual TAM form versus the occurrence of the distal past or proximal past tenses in the other episodes. However, the use of the distal past and proximal past tenses seems to be determined by the timing of the event, specifically whether it occurred in the far past or the recent past. The text corpus provides examples of all three tenses being used in a variety of episodes in various combinations. However, if one of these tenses occurs outside of the orientation episode, it will normally occur in a relative clause.

5.4 Movement expressions

In Suba-Simbiti narratives the deictic center, or the notional location of the narrator which is usually the location of a major participant, is often made clear through the use of class 16 demonstratives. The story “Inheritance” is a good example. The major participants in the story include a father and his two sons. One son has traveled to Europe, and the other son has remained close to home. The deictic center of the story is the fathers home, which is evidenced in the following line: 46 Inheritance 3 Bhoono abhandë bha-ka-tighar-a yeeka hano now 2.other 3 PL - NARR -remain- FV home 16. DEM _ PROX ‘Now, the others remained here at home.’ Here, the class 16 proximal demonstrative hano shows that the deictic center of the narrative is the father’s house. Additionally, verbs of motion can also be used to convey the deictic center in a narrative. Consider the following example from “Inheritance:” 47 Inheritance 16a–b Hano uwa Bhoraaya oora ya-a-ghy-a uku-ush-a a-ka-haan-w-a 16. DEM _ PROX 1. ASS Europe 3 S . DEM _ DIST 3 SG - PST -go- FV INF -come- FV 3 SG - NARR -give- PASS - FV eketabho... 7.book ‘When the one in Europe came, he was given a book....’ The verb ukuusha ‘come’ conveys the fact that the deictic center of the narrative is the father’s house. 6 Information structure Information structure concerns the ways in which narrators help hearers and readers to identify new information in a sentence and to combine it with information that they already have in order to arrive at a coherent interpretation. Information structure in Suba-Simbiti is primarily concerned with the relative order of subject, verb, object and oblique constituents in a sentence.

6.1 Fundamental concepts in information structure