Introduction of first participant

52 Sentence 45b cannot have the reading, ‘they two referents ride the swing.’ The unacceptability of such sentences with dual reference indicates that the use of the plural applies only to groups of three or more. First and second person plural pronouns can be followed by mavq, the animate plural marker, to emphasize the inclusion of all referents. 33 It is quite common, in the case of plural referents of a finite number, to use a number and the human classifier hhaq to express the number of people. 46 Aqyo saol hhaq ... 3 three HCL ‘The three of them ...’ Not Just Me 3

3.2 Introduction of participants

In considering the introduction of participants in Hani narrative, it is helpful to distinguish between major and minor participants, defined as follows by Dooley and Levinsohn: “Notionally, major participants are those which are active for a large part of the narrative and play leading roles; minor participants are activated briefly and lapse into deactivation” 2001:119. In the corpus used for this study, the first person introduced in a narrative is always a major participant, although there may be other major participants introduced later.

3.2.1 Introduction of first participant

Regarding the introductions of major participants in narratives, Levinsohn observes that “most but not all major participants are introduced in a non-topic, non- 33 Mavq is defined as indicating “the plural of people [and] animals” Lewis and Bai 1996:325 53 interactive role, BEFORE they become the topic of a topic-comment sentence” 2008:120. I find that this is true in Hani. Many Hani narratives about people begin with the sentence, ‘Long ago, there waslived a ____’ or ‘Long ago, there werelived two ____.’ These sentences refer to the referent with an indefinite NP and use the verb jol, the meaning of which encompasses the meanings ‘live’ and ‘exist.’ The function of such sentences is to introduce a character to a story, and this character is the one who is construed as most important throughout the story. Consider 47: 47a Gallhu.aqbei col xil-meil niq meilnaol jol nga Long ago, people this-MAN two brothers live OBJ yil. HRSY ‘[It’s said that] long ago there lived two brothers like this.’ 47b Aqyo mavq e dama sil al naolhao, 3 PL LNK parents die CRS after niq meilnaol bulduq yoqhhovq piav laol zaq. two brothers self family make warm DUR ‘After their parents died, the two brothers made a home by themselves.’ The Two Brothers 1-2 Sentences 47a and 47b illustrate a common pattern at the beginning of Hani narratives. The major characters are introduced in the first clause, with subsequent clauses providing background information. Once the characters have been introduced and the necessary background information given, then the events of the narrative can begin. This is also the case in the text “Not Just Me” Appendix B. However, the pattern is not without exception. There are occasions where a participant is introduced in 54 a sentence that gives some information about him or her, rather than simply an existential verb. Such is the case in 48: 48 Galhhu, Tavqcil puvkaq Aqhuq Laoqsel leil gul long.ago Tavqcil village Aqhuq Laoqsel QUO call e miqgaq qiq hhaq civzaol-nei leiv LNK pretty.girl one HCL often-ABL market zuvq xul, ... attend.market like ‘Long ago, a pretty girl from Tavqcil village named Aqhuq Laoqsel often liked to go to the market.’ The Story of Aqpyuq Haossul 2 Likewise, folktales, in which the participants are often animals, gods, or famous people, sometimes do not follow the pattern of introducing the major character with an existential verb. This is the case in 49: 49 Haqssiiq qiq ssaq wuqdeiq meivq alnei, tiger one CL stomach hungry PTC aoqhaoq milhaoq meil zal leiq zaq nga yil. heaven earth MAN food seek eat OBJ HRSY ‘A tiger, being hungry, sought food to eat all over the world [it is said].’ VI:233 Sentence 49 is the first sentence in the folktale, ‘The Tiger and the Frog.’ The existence of the tiger may have been evoked from the title, therefore allowing the tiger to be directly introduced into the narrative. In the text corpus under consideration, this way of beginning a narrative is not common.

3.2.2 Introduction of other major participants