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8.1.2 Stage Exposition—clauses 1-6
The story is introduced with a formulaic time phrase that begins many Bunong folk tales,
‘beginning long ago’. This sets the story in the distant past and the listener assumes the narrator is not relating events that take place in the present.
This first episode introduces the two main participants, the cow and the bull owners, postverbally with an existential clause cf. §8.3.1. In the introductory paragraph,
the majority of the information is new. The sentence structure reflects this by having little additional information in the subject slot. The first mention of the two main participants
is given in 138. 138
VVVV0000 +
+ +
+ +
beginning long.ago EXIST people two CLF live village together ‘Beginning long ago, there were two people that lived in a village together.’
[Cow 1]
In the third and fourth clauses of the story 139, the cow and bull owners are referenced using two referential, indefinite subjects.
139 +
+ +
+ +
+ +
+ one CLF have cow
male one CLF more have cow
female ‘One person had a bull, the other person had a cow.’ [Cow 3-4]
8.1.3 Pre-peak 1 Inciting moment—clauses 7-9
This pre-peak episode is introduced with the temporal adverbial phrase, ‘many days, months, years later’. This episode outlines the event that
creates the tension between the two men—the birth of a calf. Interestingly, while there are only three clauses in this episode, two of the clauses illustrate a topic co-occurring
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with a subject in the same clause. In example 140, ‘he who grazes
the cow’ is the topic, while the subject is ‘that cow’. The distal demonstrative
anaphorically points back to the cow which the man grazes. 140
many day many month many year 3S REL graze cow female
cow female DEM3
get.pregnant ‘Many days, months, years later, the one who grazed the cow, that cow became
pregnant.’ [Cow 7]
Example 141 illustrates tail-head linkage with the previous clause given above 140. The pregnancy is the topic, while the zero subject refers to the cow.
141 K
K K
K +
=;9 +M
FFE ‘As for that pregnancy, the cow had a calf.’ [Cow 8]
8.1.4 Pre-peak 2 Developing conflict—clauses 10-42
Again, there is a temporal adverbial element to introduce this episode, ‘one day’. In this episode, the conflict begins when the bull owner claims the calf belongs
to him. As an outward expression of his internal conflict, he has a difficult time sleeping and food no longer tastes good. Except for the narrated description of the bull and cow
owners worrying, the remainder of this episode consists of argumentative dialogue. The cow and the bull owners each speak four times. The dialogue establishes the problem of
who is the rightful owner of the calf.
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8.1.5 Pre-peak 3 Developing conflict—clauses 43-64
The conflict further develops in this next paragraph which opens with +
‘after that’. The narrator gives a lengthy description of the internal conflict within the cow owner, slowing the pace down. Three of the clauses state explicitly that the cow
owner is worried, while two more relate the physical manifestations of his worrying. Also, three clauses use the verb, ‘argue’, which is a theme carried over from the previous
episode. Two clauses consist of the cow owner’s internal thoughts which are reported as direct speech. This increases the vividness of this episode.
The cow owner’s worries make him angry with the bull owner. Two clauses describe the extent of his anger and highlight the tension. The first clause contains a
fronted adjunct phrase element, which draws attention to it because it is an example of unusual word order 142.
142 K
V0 +
K V0
+ in body 3S.POSS
angry very much NEG finish angry NEG
‘In his body, he was really angry, he was not even close to cooling off.’ [Cow 52-3]
Finally, the cow owner goes to confront the bull owner. The quote formula that introduces the first speech by the cow owner to the bull owner makes the addressee
explicit 143. It is not the norm to make the addressee explicit, so it has the effect of heightening the conflict.
143 + after that 3S speak give to 3S REL graze cow
male ‘After that he said to the one who grazed the bull...’
[Cow 56]
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Realizing that he cannot win an argument, the cow owner tells the bull owner that they should each find an elder to help arbitrate their conflict. The episode ends with a
short dialogue between them where they both agree to find an elder and meet back together at a certain time and place.
8.1.6 Pre-peak 4 Developing conflict—clauses 65-107