Paragraphs in the text H1
14 H1.23c–H1.23d
Pre-NO Pre-NI
S V
OC Post-NI
Post-NO
23c [Saau Saagusa
omugaya a-ra-bhe-eye
mwibure 1.servant
3
S
-
P
3
COMPL
-be-
P
3 1.native
23d Saagusa
omwibure a-ra-bhe-eye
mugaya Saagusa]
1.native 3
S
-
P
3
COMPL
-be-
P
3 1.servant
Saau Saagusa, the servant has already become the native. Saagusa, the native has already become the servant, Saagusa.
The song in H6 functions in a similar way to the song in H1 and also leads into the peak episode. This song, however, is repeated in both of the episodes that directly precede the peak. The first time, the
song alerts passersby that there is trouble, whereas the second time, it alerts the boy’s father that he is in distress. This song is also different in that it is much longer than the song in H1, and instead of nonsense
words being used, words from a related language, Jita, are used. The function still is very similar to the song in H1.
H7 also includes a song, but its function is slightly different. This song is sung several episodes before the peak episode and is used to call cows back to their herders. There are very few Kwaya words
in this song, and the Kwaya speakers who were consulted during the course of this write-up did not know what language is used in the song. In this story, cows have run away, the boys go searching for the
cows while singing this song and eventually find all their cows in another town. It is in this town where the story mostly takes place. While this song does not occur before the main peak of the story, it could
be viewed as a pre-peak or mini-peak, because it brings the participants to the place where the action will occur.
2 Paragraphs
Paragraphs mark “thematic units” within a text, containing closely related material. Continuity of participants, time, place and theme is usually maintained within a paragraph or if there is a change of
time or place, this is usually an expected rather than an abrupt change, and so paragraph breaks correspond to places in the text where there is a discontinuity of some kind. There is no consistent way
that new paragraphs are marked. In the two texts that were examined for this section, only four paragraphs began with a point of departure. Most verbs are inflected for
NARR
, with a few paragraphs beginning with
P
3 or
PRES
. In H1 kimwi ‘thenso’ is used at the beginning of almost all of the paragraphs, but it also occurs in the middle of some paragraphs.