catches with the owner of the forest, a lion. The resolution to this problem comes when a hare arrives and tricks the lion into stepping into the trap.
Text 4 Mutu wa Kani The Stubborn Man involves a series of events in which a powerful stranger gives instructions, which the stubborn man ignores. Each time, the stubborn man suffers the
consequences, but on the final occasion the stubborn man is blown away and never seen again. The structure of this story is episodic, although the final episode is the most important, and is similar to a
peak episode. The structure of Text 5 Mutu na Mamba The Man and the Crocodile is different in that the initial problem and its resolution are simply ways of leading up to the main problem of how the man
can avoid being eaten by the crocodile. It is hard to identify any episode as the peak in this narrative; instead there is a period of tension up to the point at which the man escapes from the crocodile. This is
followed by a summary of the story, which functions like a denouement.
The factual first person narrative, Text 7, is also climactic. It concerns an account of how the narrator encountered a lioness whilst walking to work one morning. There is no problem or conflict
involved in the story, but the narrator’s decision to leave home early precipitates the climax of the story, when he encounters a lioness. The lion roars but then leaves, and the story ends with the narrator
continuing to his work place, where he is reassured by his colleagues.
1.2 Structure of narrative texts
A narrative text can usually be divided into a number of sections, each of which serves a particular function.
1
The structure of a typical climactic narrative text is provided in Table 1.
Table 1: Sections of a typical narrative text
Section Function
Typical linguistic features Orientation section
introduction and setting the scene
- Introduces major participants - Provides a timeplace setting for
the story - Foreshadows story purpose
- Presentational formula for major participants - Often a relative clause hinting at story theme
- Typical background tenseaspect - General time and place markers
Inciting episode - Gets the story moving
- Use of point of departure PoD. Often the phrase ‘one day’ or equivalent
- Often a verb of movement Developmental
episodes - Develops the conflict
- Episodes paragraphs which develop a conflict needing to be resolved.
- Often multiple paragraphs - Usage of a narrative tense
Peak episode - Maximizes tension, bringing
story to a climax - Heightened vividnessdetail
- Usage of ideophones and direct speech - Shift of tense
- Suppression of transitional markers
Denouement - Resolves tension
- Often includes predictable elements Conclusion
- Explains moral - Moral stated directly, or with a proverb
This structure can be seen in the five climactic texts. The numbers in Table 2 refer to sentence numbers in each text.
1
This division is based on Longacre 1996:33–38, who in turn refers to Thrall, Hibbard and Holman 1961, although as Longacre 1996:34 notes, “the antecedent tradition goes back to classic times.”
Table 2: Sections of a typical narrative text
Section Text 1
Text 2 Text 3
Text 6 Text 7
Orientation section
1 – 2 1 – 4,
5 – 6 1
1 1
Inciting episode 3 – 4, 5 – 9 7 – 10
2 – 9 2 – 6
2 – 9 Developmental
episodes 10,
11 – 14, 15 – 17,
18 – 21, 22 – 25
11 – 15, 16 – 18,
19 – 22, 23 – 24
10 – 13, 14 – 17
7 – 16, 17 – 23,
24 – 28,
a
29 – 36, 37 – 41
42 – 45 10 – 13,
14 – 17
Peak episodes 26 – 32
25 – 28, 29 – 31
18, 19 – 23
46 – 49 18 – 23
Denouement 33 – 38
32 – 33, 34
24 – 26 50 – 52,
53 – 59 24 – 26,
27 – 33 Conclusion
39 – 40 35
27 60
34 – 39
a
Text 6, lines 6.24–6.28 constitutes a ‘preliminary peak’ episode, in which the trapper’s wife is caught in one of his own traps and discovered by a lion; the main peak in lines 6.46–6.49 parallels this event as this is the point at
which the woman is released, and the lion is tricked into being caught in the trap instead.
1.3 Linguistic features of Digo narrative texts
