Other ways of introducing major participants

Makonde Leach 2015:24 33 Va-ndí-pagw-a va-nyama va-dimembe. 2- PST -be- FV 2-animals 2. ASS -horn ‘There were animals with horns.’

4.2.4 Mixed constructions

Bena, has a mixed construction in which two existential predicates occur in sequence, followed by a post-verbal subject. The first existential predicate agrees with the subject and the second has a locative subject marker in either class 16 or 17: Aali pwali umuunu ‘There was a man’, Aali kwali umuunu yuminga ‘There was an old man’, Vaali pwali… ‘There were…’ etc. Bena Eaton 2015a:46 34 A-a-li pwa-li umuunu 3 SG - P 2-be 16. P 2-be 1.person ‘There was a man.’

4.2.5 Verb of arrival

After the orientation, a participant may be introduced into a narrative using a verb such as ‘arrive’, ‘come’ or ‘appear’, typically with a post-verbal subject. In Fuliiru, the verb takes locative agreement, but in all the other languages surveyed the verb agrees with the post-verbal subject exemplified below by Rangi: Fuliiru Van Otterloo 2011:109 35 ha-ka-yij-a utunyumi twingi 16- PST -come- FV 13.birds 13.many ‘there came many birds.’ Rangi Stegen 2011:418 36 Sikʉ ɨmwɨ maa a- kʉʉj-a mʉtavana ʉmwi 9.day 9.one however 3 SG . PST -come- FV 1.youth 1.one ‘One day however came one young man.’

4.2.6 Other ways of introducing major participants

The strategies described above are the most common ways in which major participants are introduced in the orientations of narratives, but other strategies are possible. Major participants can be introduced as pre-verbal subjects, typically when they are well-known either real individuals known to the audience or typical characters from folktales, as in the Kwaya example below, but also when this is not the case, as in the following Fuliiru example. Kwaya Odom 2015:21 37 Ng’wena na Mutuuju :bha-a-ri-ga bha-tareene obhusaani crocodile COM hare 3 PL - P 3- COP - HAB 3 PL -do: P 2 14.friendship ‘Crocodile and Hare were developing a friendship.’ Fuliiru Van Otterloo 2011:493 38 Mú-tezì mú-gùmà á-àlí gw-èt-í á=ká-bwá kà-à-gè. 1-trapper 1-one 1- P 3 have- RES - FV AUG =12-dog 12- ASS -1 ‘One trapper had his dog.’ In Suba-Simbiti, participants can be introduced using the past copula m and the verb rë ‘to be’. The copula is a clitic which attaches to a noun which follows either a proper noun or descriptive noun phrase referring to the participant; this noun phrase is the subject of the verb, which occurs at the end of the clause in the past habitual or remote past form. Suba-Simbiti Masatu 2015:16 39 Musimbëtë na Mohaasha m=bhaana abha enda ëmwë bha-a-rë Msimbiti COM Mohaasha COP =2.child 2. ASS 9.stomach 9.one 3 PL - PST -be ‘Msimbiti and Mohaasha were siblings, they were.’ In a number of narratives from eastern Bantu languages, major participants are introduced in relation to another character which plays a minimal role, or no role whatsoever in the story, but which nonetheless receives a formal introduction. These characters are typically either the parents or the husband of the major participant. Stegen 2011:250 describes the situation in two of the Rangi texts as follows: …there are a few cases where the formula introduces a participant which does not seem to fit Dooley Levinsohn’s definition of a major participant in that they do not play a leading role in the rest of the story. For example, both B12 and R12 introduce an old man called L ʉbʉʉva but the major participants of the story are his offspring, his three sons in the former, his son Mwiiru in the latter, and L ʉbʉʉva is not mentioned again. In some way, Lʉbʉʉva is not a minor participant either as he does not even play a minor role for the remainder of the story. In the context of Rangi culture however, where family ties and community relationships are of high importance…, I would suggest such participants to function as frame [participants] Werth 1999. Rangi Stegen 2011:368 40 Aho kali̵ ku-a-vij-áa na moosi Lʉbʉʉva a-vyaal-a va-ana va- tatʉ. 16. DEM _ REF long_ago 17- PST -be- HAB COM 1.old_man NAME 3 SG . PST -sire- FV 2-children 2-three ‘In times of old there was old L ʉbʉʉva, he sired three sons.’

4.3 Continued reference to participants