3b. na
Nalubwabwa ni
shuni and
Nightjar it.is
bird 3c.
wakunyambikanga namene
of.being.despised very.
The Elephant is a huge animal, the biggest of all the animals of the bush—and Nightjar is a bird, of no significance at all.
The example below from 08 Archbishop is slightly different: here the Archbishop, greeted by a welcome committee of church women laying out cloths for him to walk on, rejects this, saying: this is
what you do for God, I’m just a person na ‘and’ who ordered you to do this? Here there are still two clauses placed in a contrastive relationship, but the meaning is better translated now; i.e., x is true, now
who told you to do y?
08 Archbishop 9c
9a. Lyutu ali O
apagwa Nnungu S
Place this is.being
God, 9b.
nangu -
nimunu vila
I -
I.person only
9c. na
shinu ashi O alamulidilé
nyani?
and thing this
he.ordered.you who?”
“Only God should be treated like that; I’m just an ordinary person. Now who told you to do this?”
3.5 Mwiu ‘indeed, so’
Mwiu literally means ‘in truth’ but is used as a connective with an additive function, in a confirming role, so it is better translated in English as ‘indeedso’. The commonest use of mwiu is in a stimulus-response
situation, where it introduces action which is in response to either speech or thought in the preceding sentence. It can also be used as confirmatory in other situations.
3.5.1 Mwiu giving confirmation in a stimulus-response situation
In the example from 07 Mother and child below, mwiu introduces the action that is in response to a preceding thought: there are soldiers occupying her village, where the mother has just realized she has
left her child. She decides to risk the danger and return for the child; then, mwiu confirms that she does so.
07 Mother and child mwiu confirming action in 9a–b that confirms decision in 8c–d
8b. nae
kwona dashi
she saw
how 8c.
nangu S -
mwanangu mene
I -
my.child no
8d. kudyanga nikapalele
koko.
to.be.better I.die there.
9a. Mwiu
nkongwe aijá akatukuta
True woman that
she.ran
9b. kuja
kavili returned
again 8 …but now she thought, “What about my child? It’s better for me to go and die there with him.”
9 So she started running back again… The use of mwiu in the following example from 02 Lion and Hamerkop is the same, except that
whereas above the same participant made the decision and carried out the action, below the stimulus and response are carried out by different participants: Hamerkop gives the lion the instruction to open
his mouth, so that he can pull out the bone that is stuck there, and Lion does so.
02 Lion and hamerkop mwiu confirming action in 12 that has been instructed in 11c
11a. Shengo aju
akamwaulila doni:
Hamerkop this he.said.to.him
thus: 11b.
bai nangolo apa
[AFTER VERB]
haunapagwa mwaa S
“So elder here
there.does.not.exist problem
11c. wako
jama
you open.mouth”
12. Mwiu nae S
kutwa kujama.
True He
then opened.mouth.
11 Hamerkop said to him, “Well, sir, this isn’t much of a problem—just open your mouth” 12 And Lion did open his mouth.
3.5.2 Mwiu giving confirmation in a non-stimulus-response situation
In the example below, mwiu is giving confirmation in a situation that does not involve a stimulus and a response. In the example from 09 Ákalimanya below, there is a brief description in sentence 17 of the
villagers digging a pit trap for an elephant, and then there is a long sentence of backgrounded information in sentence 18 about the plan for how the villagers would use the meat they would get.
Below, introducing sentence 19, mwiu confirms that the work was done and finished before everyone went home. This is not resuming the event line, as the information that the work was done has already
been given in sentence 17, where the narrator notes that it took a week.
09 Ákalimanya
19a. Mwiu
--- tundimba
mwina aulá True
we.dug trap that
19b. kumalila
finished 19c.
kukandyanga shana
prepared well
19d. kwivilila
covered 19e.
kutwa tuvanu
kuujananga then
we.people returned.all
19f. kuka
kukaja. went
to.house. And indeed we dug that trap until we finished it; we made it well and covered it over, then we all went back
home.
3.6 Bai ‘so’
