Inciting episode Episodes in eastern Bantu narrative texts

2.1.2 Inciting episode

The transition from the background information presented in the orientation to the start of the event-line occurs in the inciting episode. 7 This transition is indicated linguistically by a combination of various features in eastern Bantu languages, typically including some or all of the following: a change of tenseaspect, a temporal point of departure, a connective or thematic development marker, and a movement expression. All of these linguistic features are found in example 4 below. In Rangi, the past habitual á-áa is used in the orientation, but in the inciting episode this changes to the consecutive ka- or occasionally the intermediate past a-á followed by the consecutive which then continues to mark the event-line of the narrative Stegen 2011:112–3. The inciting episode often begins with a temporal point of departure such as siku ɨmwi ‘one day’, and in most Rangi narratives, the connective maa ‘then’ or its variant na occurs at the start of the first clause of the inciting episode, and sometimes at the start of each clause in the inciting episode Stegen 2011:112–6. Note also the use of the itive movement expressions glossed as ‘go’ in the verb forms ‘went and borrowed’ and ‘went and worked’. Rangi Stegen 2011:116 4 Maa siku i-mwi nkúku maa i-kiit-o-kazim-a sikeni kwa mw-eevi then 9.day 9-one 9.chicken then 9- CONS .go- REF -borrow- FV 9.needle 17. ASS 3-eagle maa i-ka-hee-w-a. Maa i-ka-hee-w-e maa i-kiit-o-tumam-ir-a then 9- CONS -give- PASS - FV then 9- CONS -give- PASS -sub then 9- CONS .go- REF -work- APPL - FV mu-rimo w-aachwe, 3-work 3-3sg.poss ‘Then one day, the chicken went and borrowed a needle from the eagle, and it was given it. And when it was given it, it went and did its work,’ A major participant which has already been introduced will often perform his or her first action in the inciting episode. In Rangi, this participant is usually referred to using a prenominal referential demonstrative ʉwo or avo DEM + NP being the default order in Rangi, but two of the three occurrences of the proximal demonstrative outside of reported speech occur at the start of the inciting episode: ʉhʉ Bodo ‘this Bodo’ and ʉhʉ Laahɨ ‘this Laahɨ’ Stegen 2011:260–1. In Digo, a participant mentioned at the start of the inciting episode is sometimes referred to using a postnominal proximal demonstrative; this is a very unusual form of participant reference since the default order in Digo is DEM + NP and this is virtually the only time outside of direct speech that proximal demonstratives occur in Digo narrative texts: Digo Nicolle 2015:4 5 Asichana hinya a-phiy-a ku-enda-nyendek-a. 2.girls 2. DEM _ PROX 3 PL . PST -go- FV INF - ITIVE -walk- FV ‘These girls went to go and walk.’ 2.1.3 Developmental episodes The developmental episodes advance the situation introduced in the inciting episode, and lead in a climactic narrative to the peak. Episodic narratives consist of a series of episodes which, rather than leading in a linear fashion to a single peak episode, are each to some extent self-contained and often 7 Also called the complicating action Labov and Waletzky 2003 [1967]:93, cited in Stegen 2011:109. parallel in structure. An episodic narrative can generally be shortened or lengthened by omitting or adding such episodes with very little effect on the structure of the narrative. Developmental episodes are characterized by clauses marked for narrative or consecutive tense see §5.1.1 and often linked through juxtaposition see §3.1. Episode boundaries are often indicated by points of departure see §2.3 or by over-specification of referents. The following Jita example taken from the start of a developmental episode illustrates a number of these features: a noun phrase is used in the first clause even though there has been no change of subject over-specification of the referent, all the verbs are marked for narrative tense, and the clauses are juxtaposed. Jita Pyle and Robinson 2015:6–7 6 Omukaruka naamusira mw-isambu, naakinga, old.man he.took.him[ NARR ] to-field he.arrived[ NARR ] naasuka ridebhe rya obhuro he.poured[ NARR ] sack of sorghum ‘The old man took him to the field, he arrived, he poured out a sack of sorghum…’ 2.1.4 Peak episode In a climactic narrative, the peak episode is the point at which the situation introduced in the inciting episode and advanced in the developmental episodes reaches a climax. The peak episode is not always marked linguistically in any of the eastern Bantu languages, and when it is marked, there is no consistent pattern apart from the fact that “something changes”. Where there are linguistic features characteristic of peak episodes, these may include some or all of the following: • Repetition of clauses Malila Eaton 2015b:8 7 Bhakhazyʉngʉʉla bhakhazyʉngʉʉla fwanɨ zibhalile mu shizibha zyonti. they went around they went around gosh they have gone in pond all ‘They went around and around, gosh, they had all gone into the pond.’ • The use of vivid lexical expressions such as lyeryo ‘immediately’, ideophones like dumbwi ‘splash’, and more informal style, such as mbwi’ yuvwe ‘as soon as it heard’ rather than the more formal iri akayuvwa ‘when he heard’ in the Fuliiru example below. Fuliiru Van Otterloo 2015:8 8 Lyeryo, byanagagika. Byanatibukira mu’ yulwo, lwiji ti dumbwi. immediately they struggle and they fell in that river quote splash Ingoona mbwi’ yuvwe ulubi yanabaklya. crocodile when it heard noise it ate them ‘Immediately they were struggling. They fell into the river, splash The crocodile when it heard the noise it ate them.’ • Changes to the way tense and aspect are used, such as the change from narrative to anterior in Malila see example 07 above, from the default narrative to the anterior or ka- consecutive in Makonde Leach 2015:10–11, and from consecutive tense to present andor past tense in Digo Nicolle 2015:5–6. In Bena, the Peak episode may contain more occurrences of the connective neke plus the “consecutive subjunctive” verb form than in other episodes. • Over-specification of referents, such as the use of a long descriptive noun phrase Mbodze na nduguye Matsozi ‘Mbodze and her sister Matsozi’ in Digo where a subject agreement marker alone would have sufficed Nicolle 2015:5. • A high proportion of direct speech compared to the rest of the narrative.

2.1.5 Denouement