Collaborative evidence for establishing points of departure Use of points of departure in narrative texts

2.2.1 At the boundary between introduction and inciting episode

The introduction is often clearly marked by a major participant introduced in the usual way employing locative inversion, as well as the use of the background tense marked by âli. This allows the background paragraph to remain as a unit. The inciting episode is marked by a point of departure see section 2.3, whether long Iri hakaba lusiku luguma ‘When it was one day’ or short Lusiku luguma ‘One day’. The inciting episode is also marked by the narrative tense prefix on the verb ana-.

2.2.2 When major characters change location

Major participants can change locations quite often. In this text, they change in paragraphs c, d, g, and h. Of course, with the change of location is an implicit change of time. In each case, a new paragraph is inserted.

2.2.3 When there is a new time

As mentioned, whenever there is a new change of location, there is an implicit change of time. In addition, there are places where a time change is explicitly stated, as in b, d, and h. In each case, a paragraph is inserted.

2.2.4 After quick tight-knit conversation

In paragraph g there is a short conversation between two people: yanadeta, “E maashi mwira wani, wambaniisa” Umulaguzi anagishuvya, “Ugende mu lubako lwa hala bweneene.” ‘and it said, “O please my friend” The fortune teller answered, “Go in the bush that is far away.” ’ Because this reported speech is between the same two people and because the exchange is fairly short, this is all contained in the same paragraph.

2.2.5 At major sections of reported speech

A major conversation is where one person speaks to another at length and is answered at length. This is exemplified in paragraphs e and f. There is major thematic material in each speech, and thus there is a paragraph break between each part of conversation.

2.2.6 Before the conclusion

The conclusion explains the point of the story, that is, what the story teaches. It is often marked by a timeless tense on the verb and summarizes explicitly what we should learn from the story. Thus it is set off as a separate paragraph.

2.3 Points of departure to separate paragraphs

2.3.1 Collaborative evidence for establishing points of departure

When Fuliiru people come together, they prefer to first establish the context of their relationship. Upon meeting one another, before jumping into the substantive details of a conversation, they typically greet each other first, e.g. Myazi miki? ‘What is the news?’ Unless there has been a major catastrophe in the home, the answer is always Myazi miija ‘News is good’. Thus the goal is not primarily to know what the news is, but rather to greet one another and establish a context. Furthermore, if a Fuliiru person is asked, Unaenda wapi? ‘Where are you going?’, the typical answer would be, Niehe? Nagenda harebe. ‘Me? I’m going to a certain place’. The self-standing pronoun niehe ‘me’ is not necessary for identifying the referent, as both speakers know well who the referent is. In addition, the 1 st person SG subject prefix n- on nagenda immediately follows. Rather, the use of the pronoun niehe ‘I’ is added as a point of departure in response to what was already said.

2.3.2 Use of points of departure in narrative texts

A point of departure P O D is an element that is placed at the beginning of a clause or sentence, with a dual function: a it cohesively anchors the following speech to something that is already in the context, and b it establishes a starting point for the next communication. 5 Points of departure include temporal adverbs, dependent time clauses, noun phrases called referential PoDs, and conjunctions. Virtually every paragraph begins with a point of departure. However, the elements that constitute PoDs, especially conjunctions and noun phrases, can occur in other places too, where they do not function to begin a paragraph. Thus the existence of a point of departure is a necessary but not a sufficient condition for a new paragraph. As can be observed in Appendix A on pauses, points of departure are typically followed by the longest pause in the clause.

2.3.3 Text charted by paragraphs, with PoDs