marks a question clause to which the speaker gives the answer in the story. The preceding sentence is a kind of heading for the whole story. The current clause elaborates the main heading and begins to
describe how these evil characters behaved.
19.11 khit- raŋ sosso-raŋ tɕhit-tɕe nø-na
2PL-self each-self do;VBZR-SBJV think-NFNT1 khan
ʈa-la pempu køk-ken? what-DAT leader appoint-NMLZ;CONJ.Q
[pemp- ʏ kha-la nen-tɕe] sin-na ka
headman-GEN mouth-DAT obey-SBJV say-NFNT1 CEP pempu kø-pa hin-
ʈo nani. TE46 headman appoint-NMLZ;Q AUX-PROB CONFIRM
‘If each of you wants to do things on his own, why do you appoint a leader? In fact you have appointed the leader for the very purpose to be the one whom you should
obey, haven’t you?’
This is from a speech in which the village leader speaks to obstinate villagers who do not obey him. The purpose clause in square brackets is highlighted here. This is a powerful argument to get the
villagers to submit themselves again under the speaker’s authority.
19.2.1 hassøt marking a prominent participant in a narrative
The marker hassøt is lexically empty and therefore it is like a particle that has only discourse level function. I use the label “very important participant,” VIP, from Levinsohn 2001:119.
The following example comes from the story of monkey and pheasant. It is the monkey which will turn out to be more stupid of the two. The climax comes when the monkey tries to lay an egg and sits
down on a hot frying pan. Therefore the monkey is marked as the major participant. When the actual climax approaches the speaker uses other syntactic devices to mark the important events that lead to the
climax. The speaker marks the monkey twice in this example. The marker is underlined. Nothing significant happens in this example yet but the speaker alerts the hearer with this marker that it is the
monkey which is going to be the central figure of the whole story. This marker never occurs later in this story.
19.12 hi-ni liplip-la lok t ɕhi-ni hi-ni khur-ni hassøt
this-ABL flat-DAT turn.around do;VBZR-NFNT2 this-ABL carry-NFNT2 VIP ʈhopu di tɕaa-la phin-ni le tɕhis-sa di-tu
bond.friend DEF at.DAT go.come[PST]-NFNT2 work do;VBZR-ground DEF-LOC hassøt doole aku doole
ʈhopu di thaŋ VIP monkey uncle monkey bond.friend DEF and
roo- raŋ gø-na se-pa bet. TE16
3SG-self divide.up-NFNT1 eat-NMLZ;Q AUX ‘Then she pheasant flipped it fried egg around to make it flat, carried it, went to
her monkey friend in the place of work and then monkey, uncle monkey the bondfriend, and herself divided it up and ate it.’
This example is about one third way through the story and from now onwards the stage is all the time monkey’s.
19.13 sajisajip t ɕel-la phin-ni
sub-inspector at-DAT go.come[PST]-NFNT2
tshi ʈʈi khaasa khajet kimathank-e khaasa khajet
letter mail plural kimathanka-GEN mail plural hassøt sajisajip-la but
ɕe tɕhi-pen. TE3 VIP sub-inspector-DAT sort.out do,vbz-1PST
‘After I had gone to the police sub-inspector, I made him to sort out and read all mail to Kimathanka.’
In this text, which is an oral first person travel story, there is only one participant, the police sub- inspector, who is marked with this VIP marker though he appears only once in the narrative, which has
more than 60 sentences. The marker hassøt marks the police officer as the major participant whom the speaker met that day.
In the following story there are nine occurrences of this marker. TE21, the whole story, is annotated at the end of this grammar. The story has four young fellows who one by one try to marry the
princess of the country. Finally, the ugly one, the most unlikely character, succeeds. Others have all failed by the time he tries. I have listed below the occurrences of the marker within the story. The
numbering refers to the sentences of the text. I have underlined the parts of my comments that are marked by hassøt in the actual text. All important developments, plans, and setting for the final stage are
marked by hassøt. Towards the climax most actions of the major participant are also marked by hassøt. The hero is on stage all the time after sentence 41.
Sentence 12. This sentence introduces the ugly one. Though it seems at first that he has no chance to 1.
succeed—he is an ugly man, he has no money, he is not strong, etc.—nevertheless he will be the hero of the story and is marked as such already here. All four are introduced in this section but the
ugly one is introduced first. Sentence 22. It is the handsome one who tries first. He seems to have the best chance, being
2. handsome. Perhaps that is the reason why this sentence is marked by hassøt. He fails. Two other ones
also fail one by one. The story very vividly tells their attempts. Sentence 41. The ugly one tries to get access to see the princess but first fails. He does not succeed in
3. going right away to the princess but he is on the right track.
Sentence 42. The ugly one remains for a week with the washing lady and helps her in washing the 4.
laundry of the royal family. He has dressed himself up as a young woman. This is an important development and preparation for the final success.
Sentence 59. The ugly one has been able to find out the secret why the princess does not come out of 5.
the palace. Now he calls his friends to help in a group dance which they are going to perform for the king himself. It is this new plan which is marked by hassøt. This is the stage of the coming climax.
Sentence 64. The ugly one and his friends sing and dance for the king, their faces covered with 6.
masks. This smart plan is marked by hassøt. Sentence 67. They are invited and they perform the dance for the king. And it is this event of
7. performance which is marked by hassøt.
Sentence 69. They pass around a rumour and finally the princess comes out to correct the rumour 8.
they have told. It is the public appearance of the princess which is marked by hassøt. Sentence 72. The king gives his daughter for marriage to the ugly one. This is the climax of the story.
9. This VIP marker marks not only the prominent participant but also important actions of the
participant and important developments of the narrative. 19.14 u-ni ka hassøt ajekp-e pi-la te-na
that-ABL CEP VIP ajekpa-GEN example-DAT watch-NFNT1 mi joŋma-a kurik-ki tok dʑak-tɕe
man other-COMP2 all-ERG walking.stick VBZR-SBJV
ɕii-pa bet. TE57 know-NMLZ;Q AUX
‘In fact it was then that all others watching the example of Ayekpa learned to rest by putting the walking stick under the load.’
This example comes from a narrative which tells how a great liar called Ayekpa cheats a rich man and carries without resting a heavy load of grain all the way up a steep hill. There are 21 sentences in
this story and only the last one is marked by hassøt. This is the teaching part of the story. Up to that time Lhomis did not know how to put the walking stick under one’s load and rest without actually unloading
the load. This is a rather important skill that they are now using all the time. Though the story is a written narrative hassøt marks an evaluation, a good outcome of a bad act.
19.2.2 hassøt marking the primary information in non-narrative discourse
