Backgrounding devices Managing prominence: Highlighting and backgrounding

4.3.2 Backgrounding devices

In contrast to highlighting devices, devices for backgrounding are means of allowing an author to give lower prominence to information that would normally qualify for being foreground information. The purpose of backgrounding certain pieces of information in a narrative is to let the hearer know that those pieces of information are not—or are no longer—the most relevant pieces of information. The hearer is thus instructed to look for the currently relevant information and is helped in keeping abreast of the progress of the story towards its goal. This section will discuss the following three backgrounding devices in Godié narrative: the low- prominence particle lä ‘LOP’; the past tense particles bhlä ‘PST1:LOP’ and wä ‘PST3’; and the progressive aspect. For the backgrounding function of the spacer nä, see §7.1. 4.3.2.1 The particle lä The particle lä is pervasive in all genres of Godié discourse. The vast majority of its occurrences is in verbal clauses, though it also occurs in nominal utterances, where it acts as a predicator particle see §4.1.3 above. This section will discuss first the types of clauses where the particle is normally present, as well as those contexts where it is normally absent. Then it will consider contexts where the author has a choice whether to use the particle or not, as well as contexts where the author can override the normal use. It is from these two types of context that a hypothesis for the meaning of lä can be formulated as an instruction for the use of the particle in discourse. Table 4.2 compares the types of clauses where the particle lä is normally present with those where it is normally absent. Table 4.2. Clause types with and without the particle lä 1. Clauses where lä is normally present The hypothesis for the function of lä argued for here arises from the following observation. As shown in table 4.2, lä normally occurs in clauses where the event talked about appears to have relatively less prominence than some other information at the current point in the discourse. On the other hand, in contexts where the presence of the particle is due to the narrator’s choice, the information given in the clause constitutes the contextual frame for some other information that has currently more prominence relative to the author’s purpose. This is illustrated in example 96, where the first clause, which contains lä, talks about the Chimpanzee’s climbing on the roof. This event is not background information of itself; rather, it is backgrounded in this context as a secondary event relative to the following primary event, for which it constitutes the contextual frame. Indeed, undoing the fastening of the main beam of the house is the more prominent event at this point in the story but this event presupposes the Chimpanzee’s climbing on the roof. Note also the presence of the spacer nä ‘SP1’ see §7.1 at the end of the first clause, Normally present in… Normally absent in… • relative clauses • adverbial clauses • the tail clause of tail-head linkage structures see §4.2.3 and §4.3.1.3 • clauses with argument focus see §4.1.2 • imperative clauses • interrogative clauses • negative clauses • clauses containing ideophones see §4.3.1.2 • exclamatory clauses • completive clauses underlining the lower prominence of the information in the first clause, as well as the presence of the assertive focus particle kä ‘ASF’ at the beginning of the second clause, reinforcing the prominence of the information in that clause see §4.3.1.1. 96 ɛ gblää- lä -bhutupap ɩɩ nä NH 2 climb_up: CP LOP house:wall: PL SP 1 ‘Having climbed up the walls of the house kɛ döö- -bhutugbäglöyee kpɔ AF : NH 2 cut: CP house:beam: GEN fastening he =the chimpanzee actually cut the fastening of the beam.’ [gwebhutu 27–28] A clause containing lä thus contains information with lower prominence relative to some other, more prominent information in the context. If this information has not yet been given, the hearer awaits it shortly. As an instruction to the hearer, the particle lä in verbal utterances appears to mean the following: attribute lower prominence to the information given in the clause containing lä and wait for information in the context that has higher prominence at the current point in the discourse. The presence of lä in relative clauses, adverbial clauses, and linkage clauses can be considered as an instance of grammaticalization where the particle has become part of the syntax of these structures. However, the presence of lä in these contexts is also perfectly compatible with the hypothesis of lä indicating lower prominence. Relative clauses must contain established information see §4.4 below, which is recapitulated at certain points in the discourse and thus has lower prominence. The same is true for adverbial clauses, which are syntacically construed like relative clauses in Godié see §2.4. In the case of linkage clauses, they repeat the information established in the previous clause see §4.2.3 and §4.3.1.3 above and thus have lower prominence than the event to be talked about next. It is thus not surprising that they normally contain the particle lä. Example 97 illustrates a linkage clause repeating the information given earlier. 18 97 Jübëyëkpü sɔɔ- - mʋ lä jie klʋʋ […] Neyo_people two: REL go: CP LOP ocean surface: OBL ‘… two Neyo went out to fish in the ocean. […] wlä wa - mʋ lä nä EVD 3 P go: CP LOP SP 1 ‘It is reported that as they =the two Neyo men went, Fädɩnyʋä pää- waa pilo jiee Fanti:people throw: CP 3 P : GEN fishing_net ocean: OBL Fanti people had thrown their net into the ocean. wa niu- lä yi nä 3 P see: NH 3: CP LOP VC eyes SP 1 When they =the two Neyo men saw it, kwa - sʋʋ nyiee ASF :3 P take_away: NH 3 water: OBL they took it out of the water.’ [neyo 5.1, 6.1.–6.4] 18 The occurrence of lä in the earlier clause is due to the information structure with argument focus, here with the focal information expressed by the clause subject see §4.1.2. In this particular example, the structure with argument focus is used to bring the first participants on stage see §5.1.3. In structures with argument focus see §4.1.2, as in the first clause of example 97 above, a nominal constituent expresses the focal information, while the rest of the clause is out of focus, that is, it has a lower degree of prominence. However, the particle lä can be absent in clauses with argument focus that give the name of a person, as in example 98. Such structures have a double coreferential object, the first of which is a preposed thematic pronoun, while the second at the end of the clause is the proper noun giving the name. Obviously, that name is the purpose of the clause and cannot be said to have low prominence. 98 a. ɔmɔ wa la Albɛlö Bayi Taglɔ 3 S : TH 3 P name: ICP Albert Bayi Tagro ‘He lit. it is him that is called Albert Bailly Tagro.’ [decesrad 20] b. ɛmɛ wa la Nɛmʋ [sese] NH 2: TH 3 P name: ICP Red_Deer NUPT ‘It lit. it is it that is called Red Deer.’ [creation 29] Interestingly, the particle lä is absent in these structures only if the name given is that of the protagonist, as is the case in examples 98a and 98b above. On the other hand, the particle is present if the person whose name is given is a minor character in the narrative, as in example 99. 99 nyɩkpɔ -bhlogbe ɔmɔ wa la lä Lulu person one_single 3 S : TH 3 P say LOP Lulu ‘There was a certain man called lit. it is him they call Lulu.’ [siamoi 13] In example 100 the particle lä is also absent. It is the last clause of the text, so there is no reason for the speaker to show it as less prominent in relation to other information that precedes or follows. 100 - lɔɔ n bhloo -bhlɛ there 1 S stop: ICP for_now ‘It is there that I stop for now.’ [elisabeth 110] 2. Clauses where lä is normally absent In the clause types where lä is normally absent, the information given is naturally prominent: imperative clauses, interrogative clauses, negative clauses, clauses containing ideophones, exclamatory clauses, and completive clauses see table 4.1 above. However, examples 98 and 100 above, where lä is absent in syntactic structures that normally have it and which therefore look at first sight like exceptions, are cases in point that show that the presence of lä does not ultimately depend on a syntactic structure, but rather on the pragmatic factor of prominent information. That factor overrides syntax in certain cases, such as these examples. Another case in point is example 101 below, where the particle lä does appear in a negative clause. From the context, however, it is obvious that the negative clause here has lower prominence than the following clause, for which it forms the contextual frame. Indeed, in this case the negative clause with lä is the background information which explains why Worm arrives slowly in the village. 101 ʋmʋ -mä ʋʋ pio lä nä NH 3: TH ADD 4 NH 3: XNEG hurry LOP SP 1 ‘As for him =Worm, he wasn’t fast, dɩgasä nɩ ʋ yi ŋë [-kpazebhleku] slowly ADD 1 NH 3 XFUT arrive NUPT it was slowly that he arrived.’ [kokoleko 36–37] 4.3.2.2 Past-tense particles The past-tense particles bhä ‘PST1’, a ‘PST2’, and wä ‘PST3’ see §2.5.2 are also used for backgrounding events. The particle bhä frequently combines with the particle lä see §4.3.2.1 above, losing its vowel in the process to yield the amalgamated form bhlä ‘PST1:LOP’. In combination with the completive aspect ‘CP’ of an action verb, the particle bhlä signals a flashback, that is, an event that happened before the time of the theme line events of the narrative, as illustrated in example 102. 19 Such events are naturally part of the background of a story. 102 - Glɩsɩsɩɛɛ -za -a -mö bhlä Christmas: GEN because_of we go: CP PST 1: LOP ‘It was because of Christmas that we had gone.’ [neyo 2] With the completive aspect of a stative verb, bhlä signals a state of affairs as background to an event on the theme line, as in example 103. 20 103 sɔna - lʋä nä waa kpaa mnö second DPF SP 1 3 P : GEN group: DEF inside ‘The second group lit. the second ones, in their group, - mɔɔ n -kʋmʋ bhlä LOC 1 S BE 1: COM : CP PST 1: LOP it was there that I was also nɩ n yi lä nyie tɔɔ -zëplünöö ADD 1 1 S XFUT LOP lagoon cross morning: DEM : OBL and I crossed the lagoon this morning.’ [greve 82–85] The past tense particle wä, which is normally used for background states see §2.6.2, is also used as a backgrounding device for events on the theme line. It marks such events as being secondary in relation to a subsequent primary event. 21 This happens before an important turn in the narrative, as in example 104. Note that the two verbs with which the past tense marker wä occurs in this example are in the incompletive aspect, which has the effect of slowing down the action and increasing the suspense. 104 wlä ŋnɔnɔ yi wä a [sese] EVD woman: DEM come: ICP PST 3 DP 4 NUPT ‘And that woman was coming nɩ ɔ ŋʋ wä yunɔ sä a [sese] ADD 1 3 S put: ICP PST 3 child: DEM VPC DP 4 NUPT and she was putting that child down. zeli yä yɩ ze [sese] daylight XPER now light_up NUPT When day broke the next morning …’ [lueuzi 68–70] 19 The particles bhä and bhlä are thus the converse of the particles y ɩ and ylä ‘now’, which signal that the narrative is moving forward see §9.2. 20 Interestingly enough, in an edited version of the text, the author and transcriber simplified the structure of this sentence as follows, taking out the material in brackets: S ɔna lʋä nä, waa kpaa mnö, -mɔɔ n -kʋmʋ bhlä. The revised sentence thus has only one point of departure instead of two as in the original spoken version. 21 Given that the inherent meaning of the past tense particle wä seems to be distant past, the pragmatic effect of this use could be seen as an iconic way of distinguishing a secondary event from a primary event in the narrative. The tense particle a ‘PST2’, which is otherwise used for events or states previous to another past state or event see §2.5.2, has also been found to be used for backgrounding minor events before a major event. In example 105 the backgrounded minor event is the meeting of the people at the morgue, whereas the major event is taking the deceased person to burial. 105 wa wlää- a - mɔɔ wlu nɩ wa - kʋ a - lɔɔ 3 P meet_together: CP PST 2 LOC VC head ADD 1 3 P BE 1: CP PST 2 there ‘They met together there and they were there in the morgue nɩ wa yio -kä wä - mɔɔ -sä a ADD 1 3 P XFUT CLU 3 PST 3 LOC take_away DP 4 and so they took him out of there, then.’ [decesrad 15–17] Note the presence of the discourse particle a ‘DP4’ in both examples 104 and 105. In fact these are the only occurrences of the particle in the whole data corpus for this study, so it seems that it is rather rare, which is why it hasn’t been discussed in a separate section. It is interesting, however, that in both examples, the particle occurs with events that are backgrounded in view of an upcoming, major event. Moreover, the events in question are expected events, as shown in example 104 by the presence of a yi clause, which is used for such events see §9.1.2. 4.3.2.3 The progressive aspect The progressive aspect is at present only rarely used in Godié narrative. In fact, in the narratives on which this study is based only the two instances in example 106 have been found, both of them in narratives produced by older speakers. The progressive aspect zooms in as it were on the action as a process, thus slowing the story down and increasing suspense. As it turns out, a major complication of the story comes up right away. 106 a. ɔ lä, nɔɔ yua sɔ -kʋ gämadä nä [sese] 3 S say my_friend child: PL : DEF two BE 1: CP play:place SP 1 NUPT ‘He said, “My friend, as the two children were playing together, naa - lɔɔ yä -naa yuo bhlä [sese] 1 S : GEN DPF XPER 2 S : GEN child: DEF kill NUPT my child lit. mine killed your child.”’ [sigo 317–318] b. ɔ -k ʋ paadä -aaa 3 S BE 1: ICP run:place until ‘He =Rooster was running until ɔ mʋ nyikpotütëa nëëdë ŋë -kää nä [-kpazebhleku] 3 S go black_ants:swarm: DEF : GEN middle arrive PUR SP 1 NUPT he arrived in the middle of the swarm of black ants nɩ ɔ yii gbɔtɔ ADD 1 3 S XFUT : NHP shake then he shook them =his wings.’ [kokoleko 154–155]

4.4 Information management in relative clauses