Functions of represented speech in narrative The spacer nä ‘SP1’

The speech margin lä followed by a clause containing the potential auxiliary kä expresses will or intention, as in example 133. 133 waa ducifio titi, ɔ lä ɔ kä nyie tɔɔ 3 P : GEN village:chief: DEF self 3 S say 3 S XPOT lagoon cross ‘Their village chief himself, he wanted to cross the lagoon lit. he said he was going to cross the lagoon.’ [greve 50–51] The default speech margin lä is a speech introducer but not a speech orienter. Whenever the speaker wants to indicate who speaks to whom, he needs to use the verb soo ‘to speak to’, followed by the spacer nynä ‘SP2’ see §7.2, as in example 134. 134 kä -La agɔzuzuu -sonöɔ lä nynä ASF God:spirit: DEF speak: APL :3 S : CP LOP SP 2 ‘God’s angel said to him, -nn -lä yɩɔ - zɩkä mʋ -sää 2 S : XNEG DP 2 anymore today VPC have_speech “As of today you will no longer be able to speak.”’ [elisabet 39–40] Given that in most contexts it is clear who speaks to whom, a speech margin different from, or in addition to, the default element lä can be considered a means of drawing special attention to and thus highlighting the following speech. Such more complex speech introducers in Godié are therefore considered marked speech margins. The default speech margin lä is the normal link between the turns of the different speakers in a represented conversation, as shown in example 135. 135 a lä -a mʋ Goplë [sese] NH 1 say 1 S : TH Gopleu NUPT ‘He =Gopleu said, “It’s me, Gopleu.” ɔ lä -a nɔɔ -ayiokä [sese] 3 S say UPT my_friend thank_you NUPT He =Sigo said, “Oh, my friend, hello.” a lä nɔɔ [sese] bhlɩ kʋ n bha nä [sese] NH 1 say my_friend NUPT region on 1 S leave: ICP SP 1 NUPT He =Gopleu said, “My friend, I have come a long way …”’ [sigo 52–54]

6.3 Functions of represented speech in narrative

Direct speech is the default type of represented speech in Godié narrative. It is found with all represented speech along the main event line of the narrative, produced by main and minor characters alike. Direct speech is used in initial speech, such as questions and orders, as well as in brief response moves, such as a brief uptake UPT in agreement or acceptance, as with the second sentence in example 136a. Indirect speech is preferred for negative responses in dialogue, as illustrated by the first sentence in 136a, as well as by 136b. 136 a. nümnüü -lef ɩɩn wlä waa ylä - wʋ bird: PL : DEF totality 3 P :say 3 P : XNEG want CNT 2 ‘All the birds, they refused lit. they said they were not willing. Dacligoo lä -aa n yi wäl ɩɩ kʋ bhlü Dacligo say UPT 1 S XFUT matter: DEF VPC take Dacligo said, “Alright, I’ll take the matter upon me.”’ [dacligo 17–18] b. kɔ -mö ɔ bäsɩ soo -kä ASF :3 S go: CP 3 S father: PL speak PUR ‘… he went to tell his elders, -mä wa nɩɩ - wʋ -nʋawlɛ laa- ADD 4 3 P XNEG : NHP CNT 2 truth call: CP but they did not believe it lit. they did not call it truth.’ [neyo 37.2–3] 70 7 Spacers Spacers signal that the information expressed by the material that follows is to be distinguished from the information that precedes. 1 In terms of an instruction for the hearer, the function of spacers is primarily an instruction for segmentation of the speech flow, rather than an instruction for interpretation, as is the case with connectives discussed in chapter 8. Two linguistic elements in Godié function exclusively as spacers: nä ‘SP1’ and nynä ‘SP2’. Other elements may act as spacers in addition to their intrinsic function. This is the case, for example, with the relative pronoun when it is attached to a subject constituent in focus see §4.1.2, and especially with the additive connective -mä ‘ADD4’ see §8.1.4. 2

7.1 The spacer nä ‘SP1’

The spacer nä is the default spacer in Godié. Within a given string of speech, nä signals a distinction between speech material at three different levels: 1 between different syntactic levels; 2 between different sentence-pragmatic levels; and 3 between different levels of information. First, the spacer nä signals a distinction between different syntactic levels, such as between the clause and phrase level. This is true for instance in its position at the end of a relative clause, as is the case in example 137. Here the spacer nä occurs within the verb brace see §3.1.2 between the two elements of the complex verb -zi k ʋ ‘exceed’. Coming at the end of the relative clause, it indicates the distinction between the verb phrase and the clause levels. This use of the spacer is practically grammaticalized. 137 ʋ -zi gokpü -a plä bhlä -zä nä kʋ NH 3 exceed boat: PL 1 P enter: ICP PST 1: LOP DP 3 SP 1 VPC ‘… it =the canoe outstripped the boats we usually took lit. entered.’ [greve 28–29] Second, the spacer nä signals a distinction between different sentence-pragmatic levels, such as between a point of departure and the following clause, as is the case in example 138. 138 ɔmɔ pɛlɩɔ nä ɔ -glö Guduyu 3 S : TH priest: DEF SP 1 3 S BE 3 Gudu:child ‘That priest, he is a member of the Gudu clan lit. a Gudu child.’ [neyo 52] Third, the spacer nä signals a distinction between different levels of information, such as between background and foreground information, as in example 139a or between a condition and the result, as in example 139b. With a series of subordinate clauses the spacer nä normally occurs only after the last one, before the syntactic level changes from subordinate to main level, as shown in example 139b. 3 1 They thus play a role in the management of information and could therefore also have been discussed in chapter 4 above. However, as they also take functions of pragmatic connectives, we have preferred to deal with them in a separate chapter following the chapter on connectives. 2 Connectives that are placed between connected linguistic material could also be said to act as spacers, which would make the distinction between connectives and spacers meaningless. It would then seem better to reunite them all under the traditional heading of conjunctions. Incidentally, especially the connectives -mä and -mää, could be treated either as spacers or as additive connectives. However, as it seemed possible to attribute a specific instruction for interpretation to them, it was decided to treat them as connectives rather than as spacers. It is quite plausible that they started out as spacers and then became additives as a specific instruction for interpretation became attached to them. This could be argued to be presently happening to the spacer nynä, which appears to have an instruction to treat the following material as the content of the preceding verb. It could then be considered as an additive connective for the specific context of represented speech. 3 The presence of nä after a clause in the middle of the series would probably imply special insistence. 139 a. ɔ -nyoto - nʋ - gbɔtʋ nä 3 S husband make: CP bamboo_bed SP 1 ‘Her husband had built a bed out of bamboo, - gbɔtʋʋ kʋ wa pu sä [sese] bamboo_bed: DEF on 3 P lie: ICP VPC NUPT so it was on the bed out of bamboo that they were lying down.’ [lueuzi 34–35] b. -mä a kä pɛpɛlɩä -gäma nɩ a kä ADD 4 2 P XCND a_little have_fun ADD 1 2 P XCND ‘But if you have a little fun and then you go to lie down, sä pu -kä - mʋ nä [kpazebhleku] -n yä ŋɔɔ VPC lie_down PUR go: CP SP 1 NUPT 2 S XPER sleep you sleep lit. have slept.’ [siamoi 73–75] While in the first two uses mentioned above the spacer nä is followed by a pause, reflected in writing by a comma, in the third use it can be preceded by a pause, especially if the background information takes more than one clause, as in example 140. 4 In this use, the spacer also receives more voice volume. In writing, this is reflected by the position of nä at the beginning of a new sentence that gives the foreground information. 5 140 a . ɩɩ ŋnö mnö nä gokpünyɩkpaa mnö nöwa - wʋ mɛmä- CLU 2 SP 1 boat_people: GEN inside XNEG :3 P CNT 2 be_sweet: PRC : CP ‘It was because of that that the boat people were not happy lit. their inside didn’t make them sweet. nä - zɩkää ylʋʋ - ʋ plöö- lä sɔylʋnʋ kʋ nä SP 1 today: GEN day: DEF NH 3: REL BE 2: CP LOP Tuesday: DEM on SP 1 So today, which is this Tuesday, wamä gokpütienyʋa wlä waa nʋ -wʋ lebhe 3 P : TH boat_lead: AG : PL : DEF 3 P :say 3 P : XNEG do CNT 2 work those same boat captains said they are not working.’ [greve 30–34] b. wlä ylʋbä kä cii- a kä yi nä EVD newyear XCND speak: CP NH 1 XPOT come SP 1 ‘It is reported that when New Year is going to lit. says it will come up, kä Fädɩnyʋa bhlä nyɩkpɔ nɩ wa bʋbɔ jiee ASF Fanti_people: DEF kill: ICP person ADD 1 3 P sacrifice ocean: DEF the Fanti kill someone and they make a sacrifice to the ocean. nä Jübua kä jie klʋ -mö nä kä wa too - mɔɔ SP 1 Neyo: DEF XCND ocean surface go: CP SP 1 ASF 3 P stay LOC So when Neyo people go out on the ocean to fish, they dont come back lit. they stay there.’ [neyo 33.1–6] 4 The pause is absent if the spacer occurs within the verb brace, as in example 140. 5 This is a choice that the transcriber made spontaneously and which has now been adopted in writing the language. Also see clauses 24, 27, and 32 in the text “greve” in the text collection. The spacer nä seems to have no semantic content and is therefore never translated, except in the third use, where it tends to be rendered by “thus” or “so,” as illustrated in the preceding examples. 6 However, it is homophonous with the non-human singular nä of the demonstrative see §2.2. Indeed, nominals provided with a demonstrative marker normally refer to established referents. Likewise, information separated from what follows by the spacer nä is invariably established information. This is true even for its occurrence at the end of the relative clause, as relative clauses in Godié can only convey established information see §4.4. It seems therefore plausible that the spacer nä in Godié has derived from the non-human demonstrative nä. 7 In example 141 there are two occurrences of the spacer nä side by side. Interstingly enough, the second instance was glossed by the transcriber as “therefore.” 8 141 -mä - nɩnɩ - ɩ - kʋ lä - länʋmʋ nä ADD 4 these_things NHP : REL BE 1: CP LOP at_this_place SP 1 ‘Since these things that are in this place, they are rotten, yä zɛ nä yä zɛ nä n kää- yigäda dä ŋʋ XPER be_rotten SP 1 XPER be_rotten SP 1 1 S XPOT :2 SO other place put therefore I shall put you in a better place.’ [sigo 365–367] Example 142 illustrates all three uses of the spacer nä: the sentence-pragmatic use, the discourse- pragmatic use, and the grammaticalized use, in that order. Moreover, this example shows the use of the additive connective -mä ‘ADD4’ as a spacer. 142 pɛlɩɔ -mä ɔ -kʋ bhä s ɩɩ -lɔɔ priest: DEF ADD 4 3 S BE 1: CP PST 1 ADD 3 there ‘Now the priest, he was also there. ɔmɔ pɛlɩɔ nä ɔ -glö Guduyu 3 S : TH priest: DEF SP 1 3 S BE 3 Gudu:child That priest, he is a member of the Gudu clan lit. he is a Gudu child. nä dä ŋwnɩa nii- lä gboyloo yi nä SP 1 when woman: PL : DEF see LOP smoke: DEF VC eyes SP 1 So when the women saw the smoke, kä waa nëëdëë lɔɔ -bhlo -möɔ soo -kä ASF 3 P : GEN midst: OBL IPF one go:3 S : CP speak PUR one from among them went to tell him …’ [neyo 51–53.2] 6 These translations do not mean, however, that in this context nä is a conclusive connective see §8.3. Rather, the causal meaning is only a contextual effect, which is produced by the interpretation as a causal relationship between the two chunks of information given in the clauses preceding and following the spacer. 7 In German, the demonstrative neuter definite article and demonstrative pronoun das and the spacer dass are also homophonous and are related in the same way, as Lambrecht 1994:78 points out, reminding us of the well known fact “that in many languages the morpheme used as an identifiability marker, e.g., the definite article or a demonstrative determiner, is the same as, or is at least historically related to, the subordinating morpheme used to introduce a nominalized sentence”. 8 The original gloss in French is the conclusive connective donc.

7.2 The spacer nynä ‘SP2’