‘Then I related to them about how when I was still young and lived in Kupang….but many people did not like them because if they win then people cannot worship the Lord of the
heavens.’ e La’pa awuahaur nohor emkade noma honnona rwak kalwied ma’a’u
‘When I finished relating about all those things then they all thanked me.’ 930 a Aukotla a ma’mu pa alia’ iskola SMA
‘I said to my mother that I wanted to go to high school.’ b Mere ma’mu nahmena yoma nwarora de kupna hada mona.
‘But my mother disagreed because she thought that we did not have any money.’ c Hade pede ama’mu niwra hornama agatu hgorta oleka a na’nu me agatu puaiki olekwa.
‘Therefore my mother said the important thing was that I already knew how to write my
name and read.’ d Mere auhmen eti yoma awuarora de “Amutwua’lu rla’ iskola SMA ne a’ die edonna?”
‘But I really disagreed because I thought that, “My classmates are going to high school and I will not be able to?” rhetorical question’
e Mere ma’mu yeher to’a pa niwra: “Omutwualmu re, de inni-amni kupanni-kaini erla, mere o’de o’a’mu hadamona, me kupna etla me? Ita’ana-temnu nek de ta’enniana ne yah’oma mlia’ iskola
SMA?” ‘But my mother all the more saidinsisted, “Your classmates’ parents have money, but you
yourself have no father, and where is the money? We cannot even get enough to eat and drink and you think you are going to go to high school?”’ rhetorical questions
f Mere auhmen to’owa. ‘But I really disagreed.’
g Ama’mu nano’ a’u niwra: “Mlia’ iskola SMA, mere la’pa kupna hadamonan de, de muai wia Lgona.”
‘My mother advised me saying, “You go to high school, but when the money is gone, then you come to Luang.”’
h Mere ahgoratreria atungu’ru lirni de niwra: “He’ maka ralamni etla iskola, de hota talla etla pa iskolli nhorwua.”
‘But I kept remembering my teacher’s words saying, “Whoever really desires to go to school, there will be a way for them to go to school until their schooling is done.”’
8.4.2 Quote margins
Niwra ‘saywant’ is the most basic quote margin used for both direct and indirect speech. Niwra can occur alone in front of the quote or with more of a lead in, such as, ‘He walked into the room and
said…’, ‘She talked and said…’, ‘She asked and said…’, etc. Also all quote margins can be dropped. This happens especially in the middle or end of a conversation where the speakers are very obvious.
Note the long examples in §8.4.1 above with a number of different quote margins.
Niwra is not required with other verbs which act as quote margins. One can say, ‘She asked…’, ‘She cried out…’, ‘He answered…’, etc. Following are a list of quote margins and examples.
931 tiana ‘ask for information’
kota ‘say’
wahla ‘answered’
wahaur ‘talk about’
ralma-rriora ‘thought’
warora ‘thought’
waka ‘ask for a favor’
niwra ‘say’
932 Gar-ni na-tiana
n-iwra “”
younger-POS 3s-ask
3s-saying “”
‘Then the younger asked saying, “”’ 933 N-wahla
lir-ni n-iwra
“” 3s-answer
words-POS 3s-say
“” ‘He answered his words saying, “”’
934 R-wahaur-r-wahaur noka
na-kot-iwra “”
3p-discuss-3p-discuss then 3s-say-say
“” ‘They talked and talked and then he said, “”’
Notice §8.4.1 and §8.4.3 for examples of other quote margins.
8.4.3 Lengthy conversations
Conversations can be fairly long with six or more replies back and forth, and even a third participant or more can be addressed.
Note the quote margins of a long conversation charted below with a number of different participants.
Table 37. Quotations Quote
No. Participant
No. Quote Margin
Type of Quote 1
1 nwaka “Kalwieda”
DIR ‘He gave “greeting”’
2. 2
Happe’a niwra “” DIR
‘Old woman said “”’ 3.
1 “”
DIR No quote margin 4.
1+2 rror rwahaur-rwahaur
IND ‘those two discussed and
discussed’ 5.
1 nakotla upni di “”
DIR ‘he said to his grandma “”’
6. 2
niwra “” DIR
‘said “”’ 7.
1 niwra “”
DIR ‘said “”’
8. 1+2
nora upni rwahauru IND
‘with his grandma discussed’ 9.
1 natiwa “”
DIR ‘saidwant “”’
10. 2
upni niwra “” DIR
‘his grandma said “”’ 11.
2 npolu i’ina-ya’ana
IND ‘calls fish’
12. 3
riwra “” DIR
‘said “”’ 13.
2 npoluga ruini
IND ‘calls manatee’
14. 4
ruini niwra “” DIR
‘manatee says “”’ 15.
2 npolu iwu
IND ‘calls shark’
16. 5
niwu niwra “” DIR
‘shark says“”’ 17.
2 npolga hruilarna
IND ‘calls sailfish’
18. 2
natiana “” DIR
‘asks “”’ 19.
6 hruilarna niwra “”
DIR ‘sailfish says “”’
20. 2
“” DIR no quote margin
8.5 Secret language
