Reference to the primary major participants through incorporated pronouns continues in paragraph 2 3.10–3.13. In paragraph 3, the old woman enters the story; she is the subject in lines 3.14 and 3.15,
and when the primary major participants become the new subject in line 3.16a, they are referred to using a distal demonstrative plus noun: Hara asichana Those girls, and their names, Mbodze na Matsozi.
The primary major participants are also referred to as hara asichana when they function as objects in lines 3.14b and 3.15a.
Paragraph 4 begins with a reference to the primary major participants as Mbodze na nduguye Matsozi Mbodze and her sister Matsozi. This over-specification may be explained by the fact that this is the
point at which the girls escape from their predicament and leave the story, and is therefore part of the peak episode. For the rest of the story references to the girls are either in object or oblique position
3.19a, 3.24b, and 3.26b, or they are referred to individually by name 3.21 and 3.22.
4.3.2 The secondary major participant
The secondary major participant the ghost is introduced abruptly in line 3.10 after the song at the end of the inciting episode. The ghost is presented as if it has already been mentioned, using the distal
demonstrative yuya in the expression yuya mutu ni zimu that person was a ghost. In the rest of this paragraph and the next, the ghost functions grammatically as an oblique, and never as the subject of a
clause, and is referred to using a bare noun: zimu ghost as in 3.11b, 3.12a, 3.14c, or distal demonstrative plus noun: rira zimu that ghost in 3.13.
In the final two paragraphs before the conclusion, the primary major participants have been dismissed from the story and the ghost is the subject of almost every clause. The ghost is referred to
using a bare noun: zimu ghost in lines 3.19a and 3.24a, at the start of paragraphs 5 and 6, and also in lines 3.23a and 3.26c where there is a change of subject in line 3.26b, the ghost—referred to as myawao
their friend—is the subject of a clause which is dependent on the verb akuta they met in which the subject is the other ghosts. In all other clauses but one where there is no change of subject, the ghost is
referred to using an incorporated pronoun varying between class 1, indicating human entities, and class 5, indicating supernatural or dangerous creatures.
Even though there is no change of subject or new paragraph, the ghost is referred to using a noun in line 3.21 ‘The ghost called Mbodze and she replied from the cooking stones’. This is because 3.21 is not
on the main event line; together with line 3.22 it constitutes an elaboration of the events described in 3.20 ‘That day the ghost called out for those girls and it was answered as usual’. That is, the events
described in 3.21 and 3.22 did not occur after those described in 3.20; instead 3.21 and 3.22 describe in more detail the events summarized in 3.20.
4.3.3 The episodic major participant
In paragraph 3 3.14–3.17 there is an episodic major participant: an old woman. She is introduced formally in 3.14a as the complement of the verb tsupa pass with a locative class 16 subject concord
this is called ‘locative inversion’:
3.14a pha-tsup-a chi-chetu cha
kare 16.
PST
-pas-
FV
7-female 7.
ASS
old ‘... an old woman passed by’
The point at which the old woman first acts 3.15a could in fact be considered a new paragraph, as it exhibits typical features such as the use of the developmental connective phahi so and reference to
the old woman using a noun phrase: chira chichetu that little woman—which is only used again in 3.16b in oblique position. In all other references to the woman where there is no change of subject, an
incorporated pronoun is used.
4.3.4 Minor participants
Finally, there are two groups of minor participants. The first is the group of people who sing the song at the end of paragraph 1. The second group is the ghost’s friends who appear in paragraph 6. They are
always referred to as ‘his friends’ when there is a change of subject or when they function in a non- subject role; when there is no change of subject, they are referred to using incorporated pronouns.
Reference to the ghost’s friends varies between class 2 the plural of class 1, e.g. ayae andakpwedza ‘his friends will come’ and class 6 the plural of class 5, e.g. Mazimu mayawe gariphofika ‘His fellow ghosts
when they arrived’.
4.3.5 Summary of text 3
In summary, in this text: • the primary major participants are introduced with a locative presentational articulation;
• the primary major participants are referred to using a proximal demonstrative in the inciting episode;
• the primary major participants are referred to using a distal demonstrative plus noun when there is a change of subject or when they occur in a non-subject position, but usually not at the start of
a new paragraph; • in contrast, the secondary major participant is almost always referred to using the bare noun
zimu when there is a change of subject, when it first occurs in a non-subject position, and at the start of new paragraphs;
• the secondary major participant is also referred to using a bare noun when it is the subject of a clause which is not on the event line, even though there is no change of subject or new
paragraph at this point; • there is over-specification of the primary major participants in the peak episode;
• minor participants are referred to using a noun phrase when there is a change of subject or when they function in a non-subject role;
• in all other cases where there is no change of subject, all major and minor participants are referred to using incorporated pronouns only.
4.4 Generalizations
