Object preposing in predicate focus sentences

6.2.1 Object preposing in predicate focus sentences

An interesting feature in predicate focus sentences in Makonde is the use of preposed objects. In Digo, preposed objects are often ‘switch topics’; that is, the sentence or clause in view has a new topic compared with the previous sentence or clause. 44 In Malila preposing of objects is also used to mark switch topics. 45 In both of these languages, the preposed object seems to be acting as a frame or a point of departure. In Makonde, preposing of objects also occurs. As in Digo and Malila above, it may be employed as a topic frame, or point of departure for the sentence. It is also used in Makonde to give prominence to the final constituent of the sentence, whether that is the verb, an adjunct, or the subject in a focus- presupposition sentence. The examples below show: i, a preposed object giving prominence to an adjunct; ii, a preposed object giving prominence to the verb; and iii, a preposed object acting as a topic frame. In addition, for focus-presupposition sentences see below. 6.2.1.1 Preposed object in predicate focus sentence giving prominence to an adjunct In the example below from 07 Mother and child, the locative popo ‘right there’ is prominent because, when the soldiers invade, the villagers drop everything including their children, and run. The theme of the story is: who has the courage to return to the village; that is, to that same location, braving the danger in order to rescue an abandoned child. 07 Mother and child preposed object in predicate focus sentence: prominence given to adjunct 6b. vanu avalá S pavaanjenge kutukutanga bai kutwa vana O kuvajanga popo people those when.they. began to.flee, so then children abandoned.them right.there, …the villagers began to flee and abandoned their children right there… In sentence 5 of 05 Fisherman below, prominence is given to kila mo mwaushwela ‘every single dawn’ because this is the constituent of the sentence highlighting the fisherman’s poverty. Since this is a rags- to-riches-to-rags story, the initial poverty needs to be stressed. 05 The fisherman preposed object in predicate focus sentence: prominence given to adjunct 5. Nae S kukwaka O hashishalegwa kila mo mwaushwela He at.hunt he.did.not.be.absent every when of.it.was.dawning. Not a day dawned that he failed to go fishing. 6.2.1.2 Preposed object in predicate focus sentence giving prominence to the verb In the example from 05 Fisherman below, there is a speech from the antagonist—a talking bird—telling the fisherman that he is allowed to open all the doors in his magic house but one; that is, it is prohibited to open that particular one. And the peak of story is when, inevitably, he does so. Both objects are 44 Nicolle, S. 2011, section 6.2. 45 Eaton, H. 2011, section 6.2. preposed and the verbs are placed clause-finally. This gives the verbs prominence and the parallelism highlights the contrast. 05 The fisherman preposed objects giving prominence to verbs in parallel structure 25b. dingande uti dyodyo adi O shimulanga houses all these.same those open, 25c. nnango au O haunalote ushimule door this you.must.not you.open. …all these rooms are yours to open, but this one door you must not open… In clause 25c of 03 Hyena and Pied Crow, the clause-final verb unangumamena ‘you will eat me’ is given prominence, because the key issue in Hyena’s and Pied Crow’s friendship is whether or not Hyena will follow his carnivorous instincts and eat his friend. When he is tricked into showing that he will actually do that, the friendship comes to a rapid end. 03 Hyena and Pied Crow preposed object giving prominence to clause-final verb 25c. liduva na liduva wako S nangu O unangumamena. day and day you me you.will.eat.me.” “…and one of these days you’ll end up by eating me.” 6.2.1.3 Preposed object in predicate focus sentence as topic frame or point of departure In the example from 09 Ákalimanya below, which is an example of predicate focus, the preposed object is nangolo aijá ‘the old man’. In Makonde the old man is the object of the verb kummalilikila ‘to finish’—the bullets finish ‘to him’. Where a subject is made explicit, as here, a preposed object which is a topic frame for the sentence see section 2.4.2 must not only precede the verb, but be placed in pre-nuclear position, before the subject. This pre-nuclear position is highlighted by the placement of the connector kutwala after the subject this is a prominence device usually used in verb chains see section 5.1.1. 09 Ákalimanya preposed object operating as a topic frame 7b. mpaka nangolo aijá O, vyumbu vyamuyuti avi S kutwala kummalilikila until old.one that bullets of.in.gun these then to.finish.to.him; …until one day [the old man’s] ammunition ran out… Also from 09 Ákalimanya, in the following example there is a preposed object inji yo ‘some of that [meat]’, which repeats the clause-final object inyama in 18d and then operates as a topic frame for the second half of the sentence, clauses 18e; the villagers plan to eat some of the meat, but to sell the rest and get some money. 09 Ákalimanya preposed object operating as a topic frame mid-sentence 18a. Bai --- tutwale So we.should.take 18b. --- tummyae we.should.kill.him 18c. --- tupate we.should receive 18d. kujavananga inyama to divide-up meat 18e. na inji yo O tushulushe and other that we.should.sell 18f. --- tulyangangalele mashida etu. we.should.resolve problems our. This was so we could catch one, kill it, get it out of the trap, divide up the meat, and some of the meat we’d sell, so that we could deal with our various issues. In the example below from 04 Elephant and Nightjar, Elephant is boasting to Nightjar that he is the biggest animal in the bush and therefore it is below his dignity to be careful about treading on her eggs. This is an interesting example as, although nangu ‘me’ operates as a topic frame and -ngw- ‘me’ is also the object infix of the verb clearly acting grammatically as the direct object, there is also a secondary object kutumbula aku ‘this size’. Preposing the object ‘me’ as a topic frame allows the verb to take both nouns as direct objects. Note, however, that in Makonde object infixes are only employed for nouns in classes 1 and 2—the ‘human’ classes—and so kutumbula aku ‘this size’, class 15, would not be represented in the verb in any case. 04 Elephant and Nightjar preposed object acting as topic frame in sentence with secondary object 11. Da nangu O - haunangwona shinu kutumbula aku? Question-word me you.don’t.see.me not bigness this? Look at me; can’t you see the size I am?

6.3 Argument focus focus-presupposition; identificational