An example of a people who are props is the villagers in Tans story, as shown in 102. Tans father borrowed money from kɔɔnˈɡɑɑŋ villagers to pay for the
hospital expenses and the spirit sacrifices. They are mentioned in the narrative 5 times, and each time they are being acted upon rather than initiating action.
102Tan.090 joŋ
father ɡɔʔ
so_then ˀjɨɨm
borrow kɨˈmuul
money jɔʔ
with kɔɔnˈɡɑɑŋ
villagers
...father then borrowed money from the villagers...
There are four kinds of participants in Kmhmu narrative discourse: central participants, major participants, minor participants, and peripheral
participants. A narrative may have only one central participant, but more than one major participant. Typically, central and major participants are introduced
formally, are present throughout a large portion of the story, and play a significant role in events. Minor participants usually have no formal
introduction, but are usually first identified using a noun phrase. They are present for a small part of the narrative and play a less significant role in events.
Peripheral participants are present only briefly in the narrative and have a small active role to play. Central, major and minor participants are also distinguished
by the patterns of reference as they are tracked throughout the narrative. Each of these participant types will now be discussed in more detail with examples
given.
4.3.1 Central participants
Central participants are formally introduced at the beginning of the narrative using an NP with a classifier phrase in a presentational clause, typically followed
by a series of stative clauses describing the character. The NP with the classifier phrase marks the referent as thematically salient in the discourse. The
characteristics given in the description are relevant to the participants role in the narrative, and foreshadow what the story is about Taylor 1994:92. An
example from the Thief story is shown in 103. The thief is the central participant, and is introduced in the first sentence using a presentational clause
ʔah mooj ɡon there was a person. The narrator goes on to describe this person, in a series of stative clauses, as ɡon wajˈlun a teenager, ˀnɨɨ ˀnɨɨ very badly
behaved, and waj ləətɕ good at stealing, or an accomplished thief . The extended description given in this introduction, and its position at the beginning
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of the narrative signal to the hearers that this character is the central participant in the story. The content of the description gives clues to the coming narrative. It
prepares us for a story about stealing.
103Thief.001
ʔɑh have
mooj one
ɡon Clf_people
hɨˈʔɨh PRT
ɡɨˈniʔ that_one
nɔɔŋ yet
məh be
ɡon person
wɑjˈlun teenager
niʔ this
lɛʔ PRT
Ø thief
ˀnɨɨ naughty
ˀnɨɨ naughty
Ø thief
wɑj ABIL
ləətɕ steal
There was a person ok, that one was still a teenager, he was very badly behaved, and he was adept at stealing.
In all of the third person narratives under study, the central participant is always the first participant to be formally introduced, and is always introduced using a
presentational clause. Another feature of some central participant introductions the orphan and the thief is the use of the near proximal demonstrative
pronoun, ɡɨˈniʔ that one, in the second mention of the participant as shown in 103. This form ɡɨˈniʔ is used to mark thematically salient participants such as
central and major participants, but is only used in the second mention, immediately following the introductory clause, in reference to central
participants.
An exception to this kind of introduction of a central participant is seen in the first person narrative, Tans story. Tan is the central participant, but she does not
formally introduce herself because the audience of her friends and family already know her. She is first mentioned using the first person pronoun, ʔoʔ, as shown in
104. This is an example of the deictic function of personal pronouns, where the first person singular pronoun points to the speaker.
104Tans_Story.001 ʔoʔ
1sg tɨrˈdɔh
recount lɨɑŋ
story ɲɑɑm
period_of_time rəŋ
long_time ɲɑɑm
period_of_time ʔoʔ
1sg sɨrˈmɑʔ
have_fever
I am telling a story from a time long ago, the time I had a fever.
Central participants are present throughout the narrative, introduced first, present in most or all episodes, usually central in the peak episode, and usually
present at the end of the narrative. An exception to this last feature is the tiger in the Man-eating Tiger story, which was, thankfully, killed in the peak episode.
Not only are they present throughout the narrative, but central participants play
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a central role in the events of the story, and other participants are introduced in relation to them.
In the Orphan story, the whole narrative revolves around the orphan. The story begins with the orphans life of poverty, the death of his parents, and the cruelty
of his aunt which drives him to leave the village. The ensuing episodes centre around his journey, his encounter with the princess, and then the king, and
finally the monkey. In the peak episode, the king is killed because of his cruelty to the orphan, and because he has responded to an invitation initiated by the
orphan. All these characters are described in terms of their interaction with the orphan, and some are introduced only in relation to him. An example of this is
shown in 105, where the orphans mother is introduced using the possessive phrase maʔ ɡəə his mother.
105Orphan.004 lɑŋtɕɑɑk
after ɡɨˈniʔ
that_one ɡəə
3sgm pʰɔˈdii
exactly bɨɑn
achieve mooj
one pii
Clf_years pʰɔˈdii
exactly mɑʔ
mother
ɡəə 3sgm
ɡɔʔ so_then
hɑɑn die
pəh separate_from
After that, when he was exactly one year old, just then his mother died.
4.3.2 Major participants
