Note that in each example, an overt noun for ‘place’ is not present, and the locative proximal demonstrative enu is sufficient.
Finally, relative clauses are also used to make negative statements, as in 59. 59 Relative clause used in a negative statement in “Chicken”
Pre-NO Pre-NI S
V OC
Post-NI Post-NO
7a ---
Chitari-wo PRS
choone choone [7b]
it is not there anything
7b [chinu
--- owutura okundebherera
PRS ]
which you are able to come close to
me There is nothing in which you are able to come close to me.
8 Reported speech
In Jita, direct speech is the default means of reporting speech. Indirect speech is less common. There are only a few unambiguous examples of indirect speech in the text corpus.
8.1 Functions of direct and indirect speech: foreground and background
Both direct and indirect speech are used almost exclusively in the foreground of a text. That is, the verbs introducing the speech occur in the foreground, and the content of the speech often initiates events on
the event line. A good example of this is in “Chameleon” 6–10, in which the first event of the narrative is direct speech that presents the problem of the narrative. Other times, speech contains information that
is more background in nature. For example, direct speech can be used to show a character’s internal dialogue about a situation. An example from “Chameleon” is when Chameleon reflects on Hare’s harsh
words to him sentence 22.
Though there is speech throughout the “Chameleon” text, speech is even more common in the peak than in other parts of the text. In “Chicken,” on the other hand, speech is much more common in the
developmental episodes. Indirect speech is found only in a developmental episode of “Chameleon” within direct speech and only in the peak of “Chicken.”
There is only one example of indirect speech in the introduction of a text, found in “Manyasi.” The “Manyasi” text is a second-hand account of a real life event, so early in the text sentences 1–3, the
narrator explains in free translation: ‘There is a friend named Mkama. Now one day he was telling me how his friend was healed from being killed by a buffalo. He told me that…’ The rest of the text is
reported speech. Therefore, the nature of this text as a second-hand account sets it apart from the other texts, in which direct speech in the foreground is the more normal pattern.
8.2 Speech introducers in direct and indirect speech
In Jita, direct speech can be introduced with a variety of different verbs, usually followed by the quote marker ati. A typical example of direct speech, showing both of these elements, is shown in 60.
60 Direct speech in “Chicken” with speech verb and ati
Pre-NO Pre-NI
S V
OC Post-NI
Post-NO
23a Wangʼoko naabhirikira
NAR Wamutuuju
ati [23b–24]
Chicken he called
Hare that
23b [Wamutuuju
awe ---
yanguwa bhwangu bhwangu
Hare you come quickly quickly
Chicken called to Hare, “You Hare, come fast fast.” Note that ati can also be used as a complementizer to introduce non-speech clauses, comparable to
kwamba in Swahili or that in English. Ati can also occur alone to introduce speech, without an explicit speech verb, as in 61.
61 Ati introducing speech in “Chameleon”
Pre-NO Pre-NI
S V
OC Post-NI
Post-NO
50a Mutuuju
--- ati
[50b] Hare
that 50b
[ ---
chisubhirire rindi musaani waani
] let us return again
friend my Hare said, “Let us return again, my friend.”
On a few occasions, there is a speech verb but no ati. An even rarer pattern is to have neither a speech verb nor ati to introduce the speech, attested only a couple of times in “Tests” and “Well.” In
“Tests,” in both instances clauses 16h and 18i, context makes it clear who the speaker is. In “Well,” sentences 21–22, the dialogue changes from one speaker to the next with no introductory or transition
words outside the quote.
There are few unambiguous examples of indirect speech in the text corpus, but they all start with a form of the verb okubhwira ‘to tell’. There is variation concerning whether or not the speech introducer
ati is used after the speech verb; it is present as often as it is absent.
8.3 Speech in “Chameleon” and “Chicken”
