82 Iyo mbulu
yanagira yulwo lusiku lukulu
na yiryo
ishala.
That lizard and he made that feast with that feather.
‘And the lizard made a feast with that feather.’ T4 9 Identificational articulation section 4.6 reverses the order of topiccomment, with new
information being presented first in the clause and old information presented later. For example, in the question ‘Who brought the bread’, it is assumed old information that someone brought it. The question
is ‘who’, which is at the beginning of the clause. This question is one type of identificational articulation. The answer ‘It is John who brought this bread’ is also couched in identificational articulation. The
noun ‘John’ is the new information, presented at the beginning not the end of the sentence, but using a special construction known as a cleft construction: ‘It is ___ who ___’. This identificational articulation
typically comes at points of emphatic prominence in the story.
5.1 Topic-comment articulation: maintaining relative placement of old and new information
The logical sequence in topic-comment articulation is that what is new information in one clause becomes old information in the next clause. This is represented in Table 15. In a, W is old information
and X is new. However, in b, X
1
is now old information, as it has just been mentioned in the previous clause.
Table 15. Information placement
Old information New information
a W X
b X
1
Y c Y
1
Z This is exemplified in Table 16, where the noun phrase guno mugozi ‘this rope’ is new information
and is found in the predicate. In d, as it has already been mentioned, it is now old information and so is preposed to the front of the clause. This helps to mark d as a key thematic development.
Table 16. Information placement sample
Old information New information
a Banabwirane:
And they said to each other:
b “tukale guno mugozi,
Let’s cut this rope,
c gira tugende tugahiiva walukwavu”
in order that we go hunt rabbit.
d Yugwo mugozi
, That rope
banagukal ag
e.
and they cut it.
‘And they said to each other, “Let’s cut this rope, so we can go hunt a rabbit.” So they cut the rope.’
When looking at Table 17 we can make several observations. 1. First, old information always occurs before new information.
Topic-comment clauses do not begin with significantly new items. This is true even for ingoona ‘crocodile’, which is not actually mentioned previously in the text. This is because in the human experience, rivers are assumed to be populated by them. So it is old information in the
mental representation of the speakers and hearers. Note also yukwo kuhambanwa ‘that fighting’ in line 12 retains old information at the beginning, since it is old information. This is opposed to English, where one would be more inclined to say ‘The reason they died is because they
were fighting,’ instead of ‘that fighting of theirs caused them to die.’
New information always occurs at the end of the clause. This includes new thematic developments. For example, in Table 17 new thematic developments are marked by ku yikyo kiti ‘in that tree’ in lines 6 and 9c, as well as mu yulwo lwiji ‘in that river’ in line 10b, since those locative
phrases occur in clauses that represent new thematic developments.
2. The preposed ingoona ‘crocodile’ occurs at the peak of the story. Table 17. Information placement in Ibihebe bibiri ku kilalo ‘Two goats on a bridge’ T1
PoD Old information
New information
1 Hâli riiri
ibihebe bibiri
There were rams two
2 Yibyo bihebe
byâli bihwija
Those rams were
foolish
3 Kiguma
kyâli tuuziri ikajabo kolwiji
One was living
across of river
4a Nekindi
kyâli tuuziri akandi kajabo ka lwolwo lwiji
and another was living
other side of that very river
4b Yulwo lwiji
lwâli tambisirwi kwekiti
kyo
That river it was laid over
on it tree which
4c abandu
bâli kizi tondagira kwo
people they were continuously stepping on that
4d ---
mu kulujabuka
in to cross it
5 Lusiku
luguma yibyo bihebe
bihwija byombi
byanatondeza ukujabuka ulwiji
Day one those rams foolish both and they began to cross
river
6 Kwokwo ---
byanagwanana ku
yikyo kiti
Thus and they encountered each other
on that tree
PoD Old information
New information
7a Íkyâli fiisiri
kyanabwira ikyabo kyolujogoti
kwo [7b–7c]
The one which was fat and it told its fellow of skinny
that
7b [---
kikihinduse gira
it still cause other to pass in order that
7c ---
kitee yilengera]
it first pass itself by
8a Ikyabo nakyo
kyanalahira
Its fellow and it and it refused
8b ---
mu kubwira ikyabo
kwo [8c]
in to tell its fellow
that
8c [---
kibe kyo kigatee galuka]
it be which it will first return
9a Yibyo bihebe
byombi byanabeera haaho
Those rams both and they remained
right there
9b ---
byanatondeka ukuhambanwa
and they began to fight
9c ---
binanenmiri ku
yikyo kiti
and they are leaning on that tree
10a Lyeryo
--- byanagagika
Right then and they were struggling
10b ---
byanatibukira mu yulwo lwiji
ti dumbwi
and they fell in that river quote splash
11a [
Ingoona mbu
iyuvwe ulubi]
Crocodile as soon as it heard
noise
11b [11a]
--- yanabibakula
it gobbled them
12 Kwokwo
yukwo kuhambanwa kwanatuma bigaafwa
Thus that to fight
and it caused they will die
13 Umugani Ndatangwe
akatumita umuluzi
Proverb I will not be passed
he speared son of king
5.2 Promoting to object, to make room for new focal constituent
