The protagonist Participant reference in text 4

4.2 Participant reference in text 4

Mutu wa Kani Text 4 is episodic; it contains an orientation section see section 1.3.1, an inciting episode see section 1.3.2, and then a series of episodes each of which follows the same pattern, the last episode being the most dramatic and functioning as the peak episode see section 1.3.4. The story ends with a brief denouement see section 1.3.5 and the usual conclusion see section 1.3.6. The major participants are a stranger the protagonist and a stubborn man the antagonist; references to the protagonist have been highlighted in blue, and references to the antagonist have been highlighted in red.

4.2.1 The protagonist

In the orientation section the protagonist is introduced using ‘presentational articulation’ with a locative noun class: 4.2 pha-chi-kal-a na m-jeni phapho pha-o lalo-ni 16- CONS -be- FV COM 1-stranger 16. DEM _ NP 16-3 PL . POS location- LOC ‘there was a stranger there at their place’ After being introduced, the protagonist is referred to in the rest of the orientation section 4.3 using a noun plus a non-proximal demonstrative Mjeni hiye That stranger and by the incorporated subject pronoun a- in subsequent clauses. The inciting episode consists of lines 4.4–4.5 and does not mention the protagonist except as part of the group that decided to go hunting. There then follows a series of episodes in which the protagonist eats an entire elephant 4.6–4.12, drinks an entire lake 4.13–4.22, and finally expels a lot of gas. 4.23–4.28. In each of these episodes the protagonist is referred to initially using a distal demonstrative yuya plus the noun mutu person. The first reference 4.7a–b provides additional information about the protagonist in the form of a relative clause ambaye kala kamanywa vinono ni hara ayae who was not known well by his companions. The phrase yuya mutu also occurs whenever there is a change of subject that is, when the protagonist was not the subject of the previous clause as in 4.10b, 4.17a, 4.20, 4.24b, and 4.27. Yuya mutu also occurs at 4.11 even though the subject has not changed. This is because 4.11 marks the start of a new paragraph, indicated by the text-structuring connective ndipho then. Note that line 4.23a also starts a new paragraph, indicated by the text-structuring connective phahi so but the protagonist is referred to using an incorporated pronoun only; however, the reference to the protagonist here is in a subordinate clause, and the main verb has the group as its subject. There is also an occurrence of yuya mutu in line 4.28a. In the previous sentence the protagonist was the subject of the first clause and the antagonist was the subject of the second clause, but it is clear in