Developmental episodes Peak Denouement

1.2.2 Inciting moment

The inciting moment gets the event line of the story moving. It very commonly begins with a point of departure section 2.3, e.g. lusiku luguma ‘one day’, or iri hakaba lusiku luguma ‘when it was one day’, etc. The following verbs are typically in the narrative tense marked by ana- ‘and’. In 3 the introduction is marked in the usual way. The inciting moment begins with the point of departure Iri hakaba lusiku luguma ‘When it was one day’. The following verb anayiji ‘and she is coming’ is marked by the narrative tense ana-. The fact that she saw a man with leprosy coming to court her marks the beginning of the story conflict. 3 Hâli riiri munyere muguma. Uyo munyere, abatabana ba ngiisi mulala banakizi There was girl One. That girl young men of each tribe and they habitually yiji mútiza, anabalahire. Iri hakaba lusiku luguma, anayiji bona came to court her and she refused them. When it was day one she coming saw umushosi wo’mubembe, ayiji mútiza. man of leprosy he is coming to court her. ‘There once was a girl. That girl was being courted by young men of every tribe. But she refused them. One day, she saw a man with leprosy coming to court her.’

1.2.3 Developmental episodes

The developmental episodes mark development of the story conflict, as tension in the story builds. This section of the story often includes several paragraphs. Different ways of marking these paragraphs will be described in the next chapter.

1.2.4 Peak

The peak is where the tension is highest, and a lively style is often employed. In Fuliiru, transitional words are often dispensed with, but ideophones and interjections are common. Direct discourse becomes more informal in style. Demonstratives, especially ‘marked’ ones section 4, are employed to demonstrate the ‘major’ marking of the theme development. The story is often slowed down to heighten tension. In 4 the more lively point of departure Lyeryo ‘Right then’ is used. The ideophone dumbwi ‘splash’ is employed. The ‘sudden’ tail-head linkage section 2.6.2 mbu iyuvwe ‘as soon as it heard’ is in the more informal style as opposed to the more formal iri akayuvwa ‘when he heard’. 4 Lyeryo, byanagagika, byanatibukira mu yulwo lwiji ti dumbwi Immediately, they struggle and they fell into that river quote splash Ingoona , mbu iyuvwe ulubi, yanabalya. Crocodile when it heard noise it ate them. ‘Immediately, they were struggling. They fell into the river, splash [ideophone] When the crocodile heard the noise, it ate them.’ T1

1.2.5 Denouement

In the denouement the tension is resolved, often in a predictable way, relative to what has just happened in the peak episode. In 5 the young girl who has steadfastly refused to leave her husband’s back for over a month has just been tricked into getting down. What follows can be expected: the young man runs away, leaving her. Note that the auxiliary yama ‘immediately’ is used twice in the same sentence. 5 Ulya mutabana anayama agashaaga yaho na yabo bandu, banayam ag e That young man immediately left there with those people, and they immediately bagapuumuka. dashed off. ‘That young man immediately left there with those people, and they immediately ran off.’ T9

1.2.6 Conclusion