Perfective tail-head structures Tail-head devices

2.5.1 Perfective tail-head structures

The commonest function of a perfective tail-head is to slow the story down before a climax or significant event, highlighting what follows. It is often used to start a new episode. In Bantu languages this kind of structure can also simply be used for moving from one place to another. 2.5.1.1 Tail-heads slowing before significant material These tail-head structures are formed in Makonde with two verbal forms: the historic conditional vakakulupile and the past adverbial pavakulupidile, both translated into English as ‘when they trusted’. The structures are true tail-heads, with a repetition of the final verb in the previous sentence, used to slow down the narrative in order to highlight a significant following event. The two structures are used in very similar ways, but the pa- construction has more of an emphasis on time. It can often be translated as “the moment that…” or, “as soon as…”. In the example below from 08 Archbishop, sentence 4 begins Akawike kushiwanja akulá ‘when he arrived at the airstrip there’. This is a full tail-head structure, with a repetition of the verb in the head here a semantic equivalent for the arrival of an aircraft is used. The tail-head structure serves to slow the narrative down before a a significant development; namely, the church women coming to lay cloths out on the ground before the Archbishop. 08 Archbishop 3a. Napanelo liduva lyavaleke vaaleke mundege vila So day that.they.came, they.had.come in.aeroplane only 3b. mpaka ndagwilila mushiwanja akulá. until and.landed on.airstrip there. 4a. Akawike kushiwanja akulá --- ndavakodya shipinga shavamama valiganisha When.he. arrived to.airstrip there and.found.them group of.mothers they.of.church, 4b. vanavo vandipanganikanga they they.have.prepared 4c. pakulota vantandikangile dinguvo. in.order.to they.should.spread.out.for.him cloths So they came by plane, and after a long journey landed over there on the airstrip. When he landed there on the airstrip, he was met by a group of church women who had prepared cloths to lay out on the ground. In the 01 Horned Animals example below, the perfective tail-head is Paanjenge kuudukila... ‘when he began to sweat’ at the beginning of sentence 13. This, again, is showing before a climactic event; i.e., it refers to the sweat which melts the wax horns Rabbit is using as a disguise to gatecrash the horned animals’ party; this exposes Rabbit, and he is immediately killed. This adverbial pa- construction gives is a focus on the time; and as such, the sentence could be translated, “…as soon as he began to sweat, the horns started to melt…”. 01 Horned Animals 12a. Nae kwinjilinneu kuvina He entered.immediately to.dance 12b. kuvina shingula S danced rabbit 12c. mpaka kuudukila. until to.sweat. 13a. Paanjenge kuudukila dimembe adilá kwanjanga kunyanganyuka mwaa wakuvina namene na liduva alilá When.began to.sweat horns those started to.melt because of.to.dance very and sun that 13b. dimembe adilá Kutwala kugwanga horns those Then to.fall 13c. kujaikanga. to.be.thrown.away. 12 So Rabbit joined straight in with the dancing; he danced until he sweated. 13 But when he began to sweat, the horns he’d made started to melt, because of all the dancing and the hot sun. And so the horns fell off, ruined. 2.5.1.2 Tail-heads introducing background material Tail-head structures can also be used to introduce background material; but, this is rare in Makonde. A good example however can be seen below, from 08 Archbishop. Sentence 4 states that when the Archbishop arrived, he found the church women all ready to lay out cloths for him to walk on, concluding with …vantandikangile dinguvo ‘in order to spread out cloths’. The next sentence is a background one of explanation, beginning with the perfective tail-head Vatangikange dinguvo.... ‘They were to spread out cloths…’, giving the additional information that the women were to spread out cloths for him all the way from the airstrip to the church. 08 Archbishop 4a. Akawike kushiwanja akulá --- ndavakodya shipinga shavamama valiganisha When.he. came to.airstrip there and.found.them group of.mothers they.of.church, 4b. vanavo vandipanganikanga they they.have.prepared 4c. pakulota vantandikangile dinguvo. in.order.t o they.should.spread.out.for. him cloths 5. Vatandikange dinguvo kuma kushiwanja shandege mpaka paliganisha. They.should.spread.out.for. him cloths to.leave at.airstrip of.aeroplane until at.church. 4 When he landed there on the airstrip, he was met by a group of church women who had prepared cloths to lay out on the ground. 5 They were to lay out the cloths out on the ground, all the way from the airstrip to the church. 2.5.1.3 Tail-head type structures indicating movement plus the scene of arrival In Makonde a tail-head type of structure can also simply be used for moving from one place to another. These structures give prominence to the scene of arrival, while the intervening journey is barely mentioned. Structures of this type are extremely specific, with a three-part formula: a perfective of either to go or to arrive, plus a locative, plus a ‘nda’ purposive construction. As above, these perfective structures can use both the pa- and the -ka- constructions, with the same effect of an increased focus on time in the pa- constructions. The four examples below, all from different speakers, show how closely this structure is followed. Note that the ‘nda’ and ‘na’ are variants in the purposive construction see also section 5.7.1. 09 Ákalimanya 25: Tukawike apalá nankodya… ‘when we arrived there we found…’ 01 Horned Animals 11: Pawikile akulá navakodya... ‘when he arrived there he found…’ 02 Lion and Hamerkop 10: Akawike apalá nankodya… ‘when he arrived there he found…’ 03 Hyena and Pied Crow 16: Paukile ndawika kukaja… ‘when he went he arrived at home..’ In the example below from 09 Ákalimanya, the tail-head construction is …kuka koko.Tukawike apalá… Head: ‘…to go there.’ ‘When we arrived there…’ and tail: ‘The villagers set off for the elephant trap, and when they got there they found the elephant that had fallen in.’ 09 Ákalimanya 24a. Tuvanu mwanda We.people journey 24b. vakongwe uti vanu napanelo vákaimbile women all people now who.did.not.dig, 24c. vaimbíle mwina who.did.dig hole 24d. kutwala kuka koko. then went there. 25a. Tukawike apalá nankodya nnembo We.when .arrived there and.met.it elephant 25b. andiinjila it.entered, So we all set off—women, everyone, those who’d dug the trap, those who hadn’t dug, we all went there. When we got there we found the elephant, having fallen in the hole… A similar example occurs in 01 Horned Animals, where the tail-head construction is: …kutwala mwanda kuka akulá kushikukulu.Pawikile akulá… Head: ‘…he made the journey there to the party… When he arrived there…’, and tail: ‘This is referring to Rabbit’s fateful trip to gate-crash the horned animals’ party.’ 01 Horned Animals 10a. Mwiu nae shingula ni kutwala upula aulá True he rabbit it.is to.take beeswax that 10b. --- kuumbaumbanga to.arrange 10c. kutwala --- kulinamatidya mmuti amulá then to.stick on.head that 10d. nae kutwala mwanda he to.take journey 10e. kuka akulá kushikukulu. to.go there to.feast. 11a. Pawikile akulá navakodya vavagwe When.arrived there and.met.them his.associates 11b. vavele shingati na kuvina pashiwanja they.being middle and dance in.field. 10 And so Rabbit took some beeswax, made himself some horns and stuck them on his head; then off he went to the party. 11 When Rabbit turned up at the party, he found everyone out in the clearing dancing away. However, although these structures can occur as classic tail-heads, and do so in the examples above, they can also occur without a verb of movement in the ‘tail’; in effect, without a tail at all. The four examples set out above look very similar, but in fact the first two are tail-head constructions, and the second two are similar constructions but lacking any tail. The following two examples are of the tail-less movement-and-arrival constructions. They are put together with the full tail-head constructions. However, because the ‘head’ has exactly the same formulaic construction—whether the ‘tail’ is present or not, and is used in exactly the same contexts—it is possible that this formula is so familiar as presenting a ‘journey plus scene of arrival’ situation, that this is understood. In addition, this occurs regardless of whether the ‘tail’—an explicit reference to the journey—is present or not. The following example from 02 Lion and Hamerkop has the ‘journey plus scene of arrival’ construction in sentence 10 without any verb of movement in sentence 09: Akawike …apalá nankodya... ‘…when he arrived there he found…’. Sentence 09 is simply an introduction to a major participant, the hamerkop. The fact that he has flown to the scene is not mentioned. Thus, sentence 10 gives hamerkop’s arrival in the brief akawike and moves on immediately to describe the critical scene he found; namely, the lion suffering with a bone in his throat. 02 Lion and hamerkop 9a. Napanelo [AFTER VERB] kupagwa shuni jumo S Now existed bird one 9b. wavanshamanga shengo . of.they.call.him hamerkop. 10a. Akawike apalá nankodya nangolo When.he.arr ived there and.met.him elder 10b. mevo aninkunduvalila eyes they.have.reddened Now there once was a bird called Hamerkop: Well, Hamerkop turned up there and found Lion in a dreadful state—his eyes red with pain… The example below is similar; as there is no verb of movement in the first sentence, 15, so also there is no ‘tail’ in the construction. Sentence 15 just tells us that Hyena stuffed Pied Crow into his bag; then sentence 16 starts Paukile ndawika kukaja ‘when he went and arrived home’. 03 Hyena and Pied Crow 15a. --- Andilitika Nashove He.picked.up Pied Crow 15b. --- kunjela munkoba wake mulipeta. and.threw.him in.basket his in.rucksack. 16a. Paukile ndawika kukaja --- kumwaulila ndyagwe do: When.he.went and.arrived at.home told.her his.wife thus, 16b. Ndyangu taleka shakulya “My.wife cook food.staple 16c. imbogwa O namanya nimwene S. sauce I.will.know I.myself.” 15 He picked Pied Crow up and tossed him into his leather rucksack. 16 When he got home, he told his wife, “Get some food ready for me, wife—but as for the meat sauce, I’ll deal with that.” 3 Connectives The study below is concerned only with juxtaposition, and with the following Makonde connectives: napanelo, bai, kanji, na, and mwiu. These are the five main non-subordinating connectives in Makonde narratives. Subordinating connectives are outside the scope of this section. The five connectives mentioned above all occur in sentence-initial and clause-initial positions, apart from na ‘and’, which occurs only in clause-initial position. Because juxtaposition is the norm between sentences in Makonde texts see section 3.1 below, every use of a connective has a specific function. All of these connectives occur at the beginning of different narrative episodes in the text corpus, depending on the individual contexts. Where there is a link between a connective and one particular type of episode that has been specified.

3.1 Juxtaposition