Inciting episode Developmental episodes

6 Water 1–2 Ya-a-re-nga-ho umushaasha uwöndë ono ya-a-re-nga na bhakaaye abhabhërë. 3 SG - PST -be- HAB -16. LOC 1.man 1.certain 1. REL 3 SG - PST -be- HAB with 2.wife 2.two Ömöntö uyö ya-a-hanshirë uwömwë kasi uwöndë oora 1.person 1. DEM _ REF 3 SG - PST -love: PROX 1.one but 1.other 1. DEM _ DIST te-ya-a-mo-hanshirë hë. NEG -3 SG - PST -3 SG -love: PROX NEG ‘There was a man who had two wives. One wife he loved but that other one he didn’t love.’ 7 Buffalo 2 Omoghaaka uyö Bhiragë m=möntö uwa Amaghuru ya-a-rë na 1.elderly_man 1. DEM _ REF Birage COP =person 1. ASS Maguru_people 3 SG - PST -be with ya-a-re-nga na abhamura 3 S S- PST -be- HAB with 2.young_men ‘This elderly man named Birage was from Maguru; he had teenaged sons.’ Another common feature of the orientation section in Suba-Simbiti stories is the prevalent use of the past habitual 1 TAM form, as shown in example 8. It is also common for information that is relevant to the story as a whole to be presented in the orientation section. This information usually serves to notify the listener of a particular character’s attributes or to provide background knowledge that is essential to the story. In example 8 from “Buffalo,” the listener learns that the major participant was very strong from the information that is presented in the main clause. There is also a relative clause in this example that serves to set the scene. 8 Buffalo 3 Umumura ömwë ono ya-a-rëësy-anga situgho wonswe ya-a-rë na 1.youth 1.one 1. REL 3 SG - PST -shepherd- HAB 10.herds 1.all 3 SG - PST -be with singuru sinsharu. 10.strength 10.many ‘One young man who was shepherding his herds all by himself, was very strong.’

1.3.2 Inciting episode

In Suba-Simbiti inciting episodes are relatively short in length with the longest one found in the corpus of texts being just three sentences long. The start of an inciting episode is often marked by the use of the temporal connector hano ‘when’ a class 16 demonstrative which, together with a following subordinate verb phrase, forms a point of departure PoD. The verb found in the temporal phrase appears in the proximal past tense or the past habitual TAM form. Example 9 illustrates the use of a temporal PoD in an inciting episode. 1 The TAM form marked with the prefix a– and the suffix –anga sometimes carries a progressive aspect, in which case it would be identified as a past progressive TAM form. For the purposes of this paper, all occurrences of this TAM form have been referred to as past habitual. 9 Simbiti People 4 Hano tw-a-ruurë iyö to-ka-ash-a, to-ka-hik-a ku-kyooro 16. DEM _ PROX 1 PL - PST -leave: PROX 9. DEM _ REF 1 PL - NARR -come- FV 1 PL - NARR -arrive- FV 17. LOC -7.river ikya Këröghö, hayö bha-rë-ngë abhantö abhabhërë igho 7. ASS Kerogo 16. DEM _ REF 3 PL -be- HAB 2.people 2.two exactly ‘When we left there, we arrived at the river Kerogo. There were only two people there.’ Typically, the first main-event-line verb appears in the inciting episode. This verb is often an action verb and occurs with the narrative tense. 10 Mgendi 5 Ubhwato ubhwabho bho-ka-ghwereer-a 14.boat 14.3 PL . POSS 14- NARR -sink- FV ‘Their boat sank.’

1.3.3 Developmental episodes

Although developmental episodes may begin in a variety of ways in Suba-Simbiti, the most common method is tail-head linkage in which information that was stated in a previous sentence is repeated in a dependent clause. In the majority of instances, the head appears as a temporal relative clause that begins with hano ‘when’ or bhoono ‘now’, similar to the manner in which the inciting episode usually begins. For example: 11 Inheritance 6–7b Omoghaaka oora a-ka-kamb-a a-ka-roor-a. 1.elderly_man 1. DEM _ DIST 3 SG - NARR -conclude- FV 3 SG - NARR -become_sick- FV Hano a-ko-roor-a a-ka-andeker-a omoona uwaaye oora 16. DEM _ PROX 3 SG -17 REL -become_sick- FV 3 SG - NARR -write: APPL - FV 1.child 3 SG . POSS 1. DEM _ DIST uwa Bhoraaya... 1. ASS 14.Europe ‘Finally, that elderly man became sick. When he became sick, he wrote to his child in Europe...’ Major participants are often referred to using a noun phrase if they are being reactivated into the main story line after an absence or disruption in the text. The noun phrase typically includes a distal demonstrative, as seen in example 12. Reactivation of major participants is discussed in further detail in section 4. 12 Origin 9a Bhoono urusikö urwondë omoghaaka uyö Iryënyi a-ka-reker-a amaiso now 11.day 11.certain 1.elderly_man 1. DEM _ REF Iryenyi 3 SG - NARR -cast- FV 6.eyes ko- rongʼongo 17. LOC -11.highland ‘Now on a certain day, that elderly man Iryenyi looked to the highlands.’ The most common verb tense in developmental episodes is the narrative tense NARR , which is used for actions on the main event line. In dependent clauses that provide background information or serve as points of departure, it is common for the proximal past or anterior TAM forms to be used. For example: 13 Water 7b–d we hano ya-a-ghëëyë uku-tun-a amanshë ghayö a-ka-ghy-a 3 SG 16. DEM _ PROX 3 SG - PST -go: PROX INF -look_for- FV 6.water 6. DEM _ REF 3 SG - NARR -go- FV a-ka-tah-a amanshë... 3 SG - NARR -tote- FV 6.water ‘When she went to look for that water, she went and toted the water...’ Both direct and indirect speech is marked with the complementizer igha ‘that’. This complementizer appears with almost every occurrence of direct or indirect speech, and it seems to be extremely ungrammatical to omit it. The examples below illustrate the use of igha with both direct speech 14 and indirect speech 15. See section 8 for further discussion of reported speech. 14 Buffalo 8b–c a-ka-tëëbhy-a su-waabho igha Taata engʼera nayo yi-it-irë 3 SG - NARR -tell- FV father-3 PL . POSS COMP 9.father 9.buffalo 3 SG . EMPH 9: PST -kill- PROX engʼombe iyëëtö 9.cow 9.1 PL . POSS ‘He told their father, “Father, it was the buffalo that killed our cow.” ’ 15 Water 6 Bhoono ömöntö uyö a-ka-tëëbhy-a abhakaaye bhonswe igho abhabhërë now 1.person 1. DEM _ REF 3 SG - NARR -tell- FV 2.wives 2.all completely 2.two igha bha-ghi bha-mo-reet-er-e amanshë agha mu-kisima kiyö COMP 3 PL -go: SBJ 3 PL -3 SG -bring- APPL - SBJ 6.water 6. ASS 18-7.well 7. DEM _ REF ‘Now that person told both of his two wives that they should go and bring him water from that well.’

1.3.4 Peak episode