5.2 Promoting to object, to make room for new focal constituent
P
ROMOTING TO OBJECT
involves a rearrangement of clause constituents, effectively taking the focus off the clause-final locative phrase, thus allowing another constituent to be isolated at the end of the clause in
focal position.
19
In promoting to object, a trace of the nominal complement of a locative phrase is prefixed in the object slot of the verb. What was formerly the locative marker is then pronominalized by the addition of
the previous reference morpheme, and appears as a clitic on the end of the verb or on the following word instead, if there is one.
In 83 the final clause anakizi lufina kwo ‘and he continuously tramples on it’ is derived from the default form anakizi fina ku lwohe ‘and he continuously tramples on IT’, where the oblique occurs at the
end of the clause. In effect this oblique is promoted into the verb as an object prefix, so that the verb fin- ‘trample’ can be in focus at the end of the sentence.
20
83 Topic
Comment
Kiri no luhu lwani, ali mu
luyaja haashi,
anakizi lufina=kwo
Even and skin of me he progressively spreading it on ground and he is trampling it=on
‘Even and my skin, he is spreading it on the ground, and he is repeatedly trampling on it.’ In the thirteen Fuliiru texts, promoting the locative complement to verb object prefix occurs four
times. By contrast, there are eighteen instances where the locative phrase complement is specifically mentioned. Thus promoting to object is relatively rare. We will now describe what triggers the
dislocation of the locative complement and when the locative phrase complement remains. In 84 the cl. 9 object prefix gi- in the verb yagiyivudika ‘and he jumped on it’ refers back to the
imbongo ‘gazelle’ in the previous clause. Thus it would be superfluous to mention it again so soon. 84 21b Imbongo itayiji
kiri na kiri
Gazelle does not know
even a little
22a Ingwi yagiyivudika kwo
Leopard jumped it on
‘Gazelle did not have any idea. Leopard jumped on it.’ T2 In 85 Ihyana ‘the small monkey’, referenced by the cl. 19 subject prefix hy- is the complement of
the locative phrase headed by ku in line 11a. Since the monkey has just been mentioned, the hi- is raised to object in the verb twanayami hitibita kwo ‘and we immediately ran after it’.
19
Such preposing followed by later pronominal reference within the sentence to that preposed element is sometimes called left-dislocation Crystal 2003:262.
20
Although grammatically speaking, the noun is promoted, since the object prefix in the verb has higher grammatical status, in effect it has been demoted, since it is no longer in the position of focus at the end of the clause.
85 10a [ Ihyana hyahyo
iri hikabona
Small child of it when
it saw
10b nyina
afwa]
his mother she has died
[10a–b] ---
hyanayami tibita
and it immediately ran away
11a utubwa
twanayami hi
tibita kwo
The dogs and they immediately ran it after
‘The monkey’s small child, when it saw that its mother has died, it immediately ran away. The dogs immediately chased after it.’ T13
In summary, when the locative phrase complement is raised to verb object prefix, the purpose is to make room at the end of the clause for the new item in focus.
6 Emphatic prominence: anticipating an important event
According to Callow 1998, emphatic prominence is used where “the speaker feels strongly about a particular item, or feels that an event is unexpected.”
Emphatic prominence can be marked in non-quoted speech by the -ag suffix, telling hearersreaders
to ‘pay attention’, because something important to the theme of the story is about to happen. Thus this suffix is marked before the actual occurrence and not on it. In informal texts this use of the emphatic
suffix commonly occurs ten to twenty times per story. In more formal texts it occurs much less frequently.
Emphatic prominence in quoted speech is used to mark an item that the speaker feels strongly about and thus has an important rhetorical effect.
6.1 Anticipating important event with -ag verbal suffix
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