- 327 - some years” p. 110. Sakander gives us our L2 example of an omitted auxiliary in his Story
E: was
714 And, ONCE, he DID BUMP BALL in - on HIS HEAD and um
and KICKing
JUMPing,
KICKing on THE BALL- JUST um PUTting ONE leg UP and KICKing the BALL and the OTHer leg UP KICKing the BALL.
In this piece which, in spite of the “once” in line 7, is really part of an extended orientation section describing preliminary events, we have a whole series of appended participles but
no BE verb to append them to; we have coded them as “CORP. Rt” but the first “kicking” should have been a progressive construction. According to Labov, “doubled
progressives are frequently used in orientation sections…but more often such devices are used to highlight and evaluate the event of a particular narrative clause” and “such multiple
participles serve to suspend the action in an evaluative section; they bring in a wider range of simultaneous events” 1972a:388 which keep the hearer on the edge of hisher seat
waiting for what comes next. Sakander as an inexperienced storyteller does not capitalize on this build up in the description of Ben’s footballing skills; instead he breaks off and
picks up the narrative proper by returning to the exploits of his main character, Billy the cowboy.
7.3.2 Right-hand Participles and Embedding
As we have seen from our discussion of Sakander’s example above, right-hand participles are often linked to a main verb in the progressive aspect. In our data we have ten
participles appended to a progressive verb if we include Sakander’s E lines 7–14 quoted above; four are linked with the past tense form “went”; four follow a noun stating what a
particular participant or prop is doing; two are linked with a preposition; and one with the verb “fall” indicating the result of the fall. We will give the best examples of these
constructions and then discuss some of the problem areas. Aqeel’s Story D has a vivid example of a progressive + participle construction which could, perhaps, have been
analysed as a “doubled progressive” in Labov’s terms: 711
They [the children] was PLAYing SNOWballs AND RUSHing aBOUT and SKIPping and SKIDding.
- 328 - This is probably the most complex sentence Aqeel has produced in any of his narratives
and the alliteration of “skipping” and “skidding” is most effective. Sakander’s Story D has a nice example with “went” as the main verb:
234 And THEN he went BACK into his HOME
FEELing HAPpy.
This is the conclusion of the story; Father Christmas was happy because all his problems had been solved. Fariba has two examples of an appended participle with “saw”; the
following comes from her Story A: 2930
he [Mr. Wong] SAW a BAG
COMing DOWN THE CHIMney.
This is the high point of Fariba’s Story; in line 27 we are told how Father Christmas put the rice in the chimney and here we see its arrival through the eyes of Mr. Wong:
314
“THAT must be the RI-ICE”
he SAID.
WHEN he OPened it
there was LOTS and LOTS of RICE.
Our examples of a participle following a preposition both come from Humira’s Story F and contain several errors:
427
“I CAN’T DO NOthing NOW for COOKing and COOKing. I am GETting BORED and BORED and the OTHers are GETting FATter and FATter for eating SAUSage and
SAUSage.”
We have already mentioned elsewhere the inappropriate use of repetition here and the use of “bored” for the comparative “more bored”. She also uses the preposition “for” instead
of “about” and “from” in lines 43 and 47 respectively, and so the piece is not all that effective in spite of the number of devices coded. The final example from Shvinder’s Story
E also contains errors: 711
So ONE DAY he went on his HORSE and HE-E got on his HORSE and THEN FALLED down STRAIGHT
LYing on his BACK
. but these do not detract from its impact; the piece is still graphically clear and leaves us in
no doubt about Billy’s predicament.
- 329 -
7.3.3 Compound Phrases
