Additive construction Emphatic construction

The text corpus also shows that an active participant may be referred to by using a verb-internal object marker as well, as in example 34. 34 Simbiti People 12 Hano ya-a-hik-irë wa Iryënyi Iryënyi a-ka-mo-kom-a 16. DEM _ PROX 3 SG - PST -arrive- PROX 16. ASS Iryenyi Iryenyi 3 SG - NARR -3 S -gather- FV a-ka-mö-tët-y-a umwisëkë uwaaye 3 SG - NARR -3 SG -marry- CAUS - FV 1.daughter 1.3 SG . POSS ‘When he Msimbiti arrived at Iryenyi’s, Iryenyi received him and married him off to his daughter.’ Here, Msimbiti is referred to by a subject marker in the first verb and then continues to be referred to by object markers in the final two verbs of the sentence.

4.5 Pronouns

Since it is possible for the subject and object requirements of a verb to be satisfied by verbal affixes in Suba-Simbiti, the use of independent pronouns only occurs under specific circumstances. The independent pronouns for first, second and third person are shown in Table 10. Table 10. Independent pronouns Singular Plural 1 st person öni bhëëtö 2 nd person uwe bhëënyu 3 rd person we bho One specific use of independent personal pronouns in Suba-Simbiti is to show contrastive focus in direct speech, as illustrated in example 35, where one son is contrasted with his siblings. 35 Inheritance 18b–d iyakë a-körrë a-haayë abhandë ëbhëntö kasi öni a- ngʼaayë eketabho how 3 SG -do: ANT 3 SG -give: ANT 2.other 8.property but 1 SG 3 SG -1 SG :give: ANT 7.book ‘what has he father done to give others wealth but me a book?’

4.5.1 Additive construction

In the text corpus the additive construction only appears in the third person as nawe for the singular and nabho for the plural. Both of these constructions are formed with na ‘andwith’ attached to either the singular or plural third person independent pronoun. 36 Crocodile 10a–c Murikyaye oora bha-a-rë nawe wonswe hano ya-a-rööshë 1.companion 1. DEM _ DIST 3 PL - PST -be 3 SG . ADD 1.all 16. DEM _ PROX 3 SG - PST -see: PROX amaanyinga amaaru mo-manshë a-ka-rw-a... 6.blood 6.many 18. LOC -6.water 3 SG - NARR -come_from- FV ‘That companion who they were all together with, when he saw a lot of blood in the water, he left...’

4.5.2 Emphatic construction

Another type of construction that is used in Suba-Simbiti narratives is the emphatic construction. In all occurrences of the emphatic construction in the text corpus, the desired result is emphasis on the referent, as illustrated in example 37. Normally, the emphatic construction is formed by joining the copula ni with an independent pronoun using a hyphen. If the independent pronoun to which the copula attaches is vowel-initial, the vowel in the copula assimilates to the initial vowel in the independent pronoun. 37 Inheritance 18a Nö=öni na-a-hansh-irë Taata COP =1 SG 1 SG - PST -love- PROX father ‘It is me who loved Father.’ Table 11 illustrates the emphatic construction for first, second and third person in Suba-Simbiti. Table 11. Emphatic construction for first, second and third person pronouns Singular pronoun Emphatic Plural pronoun Emphatic 1st person öni nö-öni bhëëtö m-bhëëtö 2nd person uwe nu-uwe bhëënyu m-bhëënyu 3rd person we we bho m-bho The emphatic construction for the third person singular does not follow the pattern described above. Instead of the copula attaching to the independent pronoun we, the pronoun appears by itself. Currently, it is not clear how the distinction between the independent pronoun and emphatic construction is made in Suba-Simbiti. One hypothesis is that context helps the listener to know which meaning is intended, but further research on this issue is needed. 38 Inheritance 27 Ya-a-bh-a umwamë kora bhoono igho we a-kö-tööry-a 3 SG - PST -be- FV 1.rich_person even now completely 3 SG . EMPH 3 SG -17. REL -help- FV abha waabho hayö 2. ASS their_place 16. DEM _ REF ‘He has been rich, and even now it is him who is helping those at home.’

4.6 Demonstratives