sillcdd 31.
Suba-Simbiti Narrative
Discourse
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Amanda Swift Masatu
SIL International
®2015
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SIL Language and Culture Documentation and Description 31
©2015 SIL International®
ISSN 1939-0785
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Series Editor MikeCahill Content Editor Chewlan Lastufka
Compositor Margaret González
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Abstract
Suba-Simbiti is a Bantu language spoken in the Mara Region of Tanzania. Linguistically, Suba-Simbiti should be classified, like its closest relative Kuria, as Bantoid (a branch of Niger-Congo) and under the divisions of Southern Bantoid, Narrow Bantu, Central, E and Ragoli-Kuria Group (E.40). Suba-Simbiti (ISO code [ssc]), which is not mentioned as a separate language in previous classifications of Bantu languages, should not be confused with Suba of Kenya (ISO code [sxb]), which is referred to as E403 (J) in Maho’s (2003) update of Guthrie’s classification.
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Contents
Abstract
A note on the texts
1Constituent elements of narrative texts 1.1 Types of narrative texts
1.2 Structure of narrative texts
1.3 Linguistic features in Suba-Simbiti narrative texts 1.3.1 Orientation section
1.3.2 Inciting episode
1.3.3 Developmental episodes 1.3.4 Peak episode
1.3.5 Denouement 1.3.6 Conclusion 2Paragraphs
2.1 Paragraphs in “Inheritance” 2.2 Points of departure
2.2.1 Referential points of departure 2.2.2 Temporal points of departure 3Connectives
3.1 Connectives in Suba-Simbiti
3.1.1 Connectives between sentences 3.1.2 Connectives within sentences 3.2 Concessives
3.3 Additives
3.4 Thematic development markers 4Participant reference
4.1 Nominal forms in Suba-Simbiti 4.2 Introduction of participants
4.3 Reactivation of participants after an absence 4.4 Further reference to active participants 4.5 Pronouns
4.5.1 Additive construction 4.5.2 Emphatic construction 4.6 Demonstratives
5Tense and aspect in foreground and background 5.1 Tense and aspect markers in Suba-Simbiti 5.2 Foreground
5.3 Background
5.4 Movement expressions 6Information structure
6.1 Fundamental concepts in information structure 6.2 Presentational articulation (sentence focus)
6.3 Topic-comment articulation (predicate focus with a switch topic) 6.4 Predicate focus with a continued topic
6.5 Identificational articulation (argument focus) 7Adverbial clauses and relative clauses
7.1 Adverbial clauses 7.2 Relative clauses
7.2.1 Relative clauses identifying particular features of major participants 7.2.2 Relative clauses identifying entities
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8Reported speech
8.1 Direct and indirect speech
8.2 Speech introducers in direct speech 8.3 Vocatives
9Emphasis
9.1 Lexical expressions of emphasis 9.2 Specialized personal pronouns 9.3 Repetition
Appendix A: Mgendi Appendix B: Nyati Appendix C: Urithi References
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1
A note on the texts
This account of the narrative discourse features of Suba-Simbiti uses a number of narrative texts as its corpus. A total of eight oral texts were used, provided by four authors and used with their permission. The texts were lightly edited by a Simbiti translator to remove false starts and other performance errors, but features that are particular to the medium (such as repetitions and longer sentences) have been retained.
All of the examples used in this paper are taken from these texts and are referred to using an abbreviated title such as “Inheritance,” “Water,” etc., followed by the sentence number. If a sentence contains more than one clause, letters are used, so example Inheritance 6b is taken from the text titled “Inheritance,” sentence 6, clause b. The abbreviations listed in Table 1 are instances where the author has deviated from Leipzig glossing rules. All other glosses appearing in this paper are used in accordance with these rules.
Table 1. Abbreviations
Label Description Label Description
1–18 noun class 1–18 POC focal marker
ADD additive pronoun FV final vowel
ASS associative HAB habitual aspect marker
ANT anterior INF infinitive
APPL applicative LOC locative
CAUS causative NARR narrative tense
COMP complementizer NEG negative
CONT continuous PL plural
COP copula POSS possessive
DEM_DIST distal demonstrative PST past tense prefix
DEM_PROX proximal demonstrative PROX proximal past tense prefix
DEM_REF referential demonstrative REL relative marker
EMPH emphatic SG singular
EXCL exclamation SBJ subjunctive
1 Constituent elements of narrative texts
The following section examines the constituent elements of narrative texts. 1.1 Types of narrative texts
The events in two of the texts took place in the lifetime of the teller (“Crocodile”and“Mgendi”) andtwo others took place in the past (“Origin” and “Simbiti People”). The text “Birds” is fictional; however, it is unclear whether the remaining three texts (“Water,” “Buffalo” and “Inheritance”)should be categorized as fiction or nonfiction. All stories are told from the third person perspective. Table 2 provides a short summary of each narrative in the corpus.
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Table 2. Summaries of the texts
Text Summary
Crocodile A man goes fishing with his companions and is bitten by a crocodile. When he seeks help from his companions, they abandon him. He is able to pull himself back into the boat as people from the shore come to help him.
Origin The narrator describes the origin of the Simbiti people by giving a brief history of the life of Msimbiti. The story begins as Msimbiti leaves his brother and crosses a lake to new land where he meets Iryenyi. Iryenyi offers one of his daughters as a wife for Msimbiti, and the family that they create becomes the first of the Simbiti people.
Simbiti People This narrative follows the same story line as “Origin”but is told by a different narrator.
Mgendi Mgendi and his friends go fishing and get stranded in the water when their boat sinks. Two of the fishermen, who are good swimmers, decide to swim to shore, leaving the other fishermen waiting in the water until they return with help. One of those left behind despairs and decides to drown himself. The others who remained at the boat are rescued by another boat, and the two who swam for shore are never heard from again.
Water A man sends his two wives to fetch water from the Moseero well, which is very far away. One of the wives, who is loved by her husband, fetches water from a different well and deceives her husband. The other wife, who is not loved, goes to the Moseero well and fetches the water that her husband requested.
Buffalo A young man takes his family’s cattle out to graze when a buffalo comes and kills one of them. He returns home to tell his father what had happened, and his father is very disappointed that he did not kill the buffalo. The young man returns to the field and kills the buffalo, making his father very proud. Inheritance A father who has two sons gets sick and dies. His wealth is divided among the
sons. One son, who is loved more than the other son, is disappointed to find that his only inheritance is his father’s Bible. Then, one day he discovers a check that is worth more money than all his father's other possessions combined has been hidden in the Bible.
Birds A folktale about men who send different groups of people to fetch water for them. Each group of people encounters extraordinarily large birds along the way, which distract them from their journey.
Of these eight narratives, seven can be described as climactic, in which there is a problem or conflict that is resolved at the peak of the story. Table 3 classifies each text as either climactic or episodic and provides a brief summary of the climax for the climactic texts.
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Table 3. Climactic and episodic texts
Text Type Summary of climax
Crocodile climactic A man is bitten by a crocodile while wading through water.
Origin climactic Msimbiti marries one of Iryenyi’s daughters.
Mgendi climactic One of Mgendi’s companions decides to commit suicide. Water climactic A husband realizes that one of his wives has deceived
him.
Buffalo climactic A young man hunts and kills the buffalo that killed one of his cows.
Inheritance climactic A son finds a bank check inside a Bible, which is his inheritance from his father.
Birds climactic Elderly men go to fetch water and are distracted by large, singing birds. When they return home, they find all their possessions has been stolen.
Simbiti People episodic none 1.2 Structure of narrative texts
A narrative text can usually be divided into a number of sections, each of which serves a particular function. The structure of a typical climactic narrative text is provided in Table 4.
Table 4. Sections of a typical climactic narrative text
Section Function Typical linguistic features
Orientation section (introduction and setting the scene)
- Introduces major participants - Provides a time/place setting for
the story
- Foreshadows story purpose
- Presentational formula for major participants - Theme of the story often presented in an
independent clause or in a relative clause. - Typical background tense/aspect
- General time and place markers Inciting episode - Gets the story moving - Use of point of departure (PoD)
- Often a verb of movement Developmental
episodes
- Develops the conflict - Episodes (paragraphs) that develop a conflict needing to be resolved.
- Often multiple paragraphs - Usage of a narrative tense
- Use of thematic development markers to highlight the important events of the story Peak episode - Maximizes tension, bringing
story to a climax
- Heightened vividness/detail
- Usage of ideophones and direct speech - Shorter sentences with rapid action
sequences
Denouement - Resolves tension - Often includes predictable elements Conclusion - Explains moral - Moral stated directly, or with a proverb
Table 5 shows how this structure can be seen in these Suba-Simbiti climactic texts. The numbers in the table refer to sentence numbers in each text. A detailed analysis of one text is then presented in Table 6.
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Table 5. Sections of climactic narrative texts
Section Crocodile Origin Mgendi Water Buffalo Inheritance
Orientation section 1 1–5 1–3 1–4 1–5 1–5
Inciting episode 2–3 6–8 4–6 5–6 6–7 6
Developmental episodes
4–7 9–12 7–14
15–21
7 8–15
8–10 7–10
11–13 14–15 16–18 19–22
Peak episode(s) 8 13–17 22–24 16–18 11–14 23–26
Denouement 9–12 18–24 25–30 19–21 15–17 27
Conclusion 13 25–26 31–32 – 18–19 28–29
Table 6. Description of sections in “Inheritance”
Section Sentences Description
Orientation section 1–5 A father had two sons who went to school. One, who went to Europe, was loved more by his father. The other became a trapper on a nearby island.
Inciting episode 6 The father becomes very sick. Developmental episodes 7–10 11–13 14–15 16–18 19–22
The father writes to his sons and tells them he is very sick, but neither one returns home.
The father writes his will and leaves his cows to be divided between his son the trapper and the other members of the family. He leaves the son in Europe a Bible.
The father dies and his cows are divided between the trapper and the other members of the family.
The son from Europe comes and is angry to find that he has only been given a Bible.
One night, the son from Europe has a dream and is told to open the Bible to the book of Matthew, but he doesn’t. Another night, he has the same dream.
Peak 23–26 The son opens the Bible to Matthew and finds a bank check for a large amount of money. He immediately quits his job and returns home where he builds a house.
Denouement 27 He has become rich, and even to this day he is helping his family. Conclusion 28–29 Moral: If you are given something, don’t refuse it because it may
have value.
1.3 Linguistic features in Suba-Simbiti narrative texts
1.3.1 Orientation section
Orientation sections typically begin with the introduction of major participants using a presentational formula. In four of the stories the presentational formula is a noun phrase. Three of these stories use a noun followed by uwöndë/abhandë ‘certain’, as seen in examples (1) and (2). The fourth story uses the compound noun phrase that is shown in example (3).
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(1) Crocodile 1
Ömöntö uwöndë bha-a-ghööt-irwë na engʼwaina 1.person 1.certain 3PL-PST-hold-PROX:PASS by 9.crocodile ‘A certain person was bitten by a crocodile.’
(2) Birds1b
Abhaghaaka abhandë o-ka-nyoor-a bha-ra-nyw-a amarwa 2.elderly_men 2.certain 2SG-NARR-find-FV 3PL-CONT-drink-FV 6.alcohol
‘It so happened that certain elderly men were drinking alcohol.’ (3) Origin 1
Musimbëtë na Mohaasha m=bhaana abha enda ëmwë bha-a-rë Msimbiti and Mohaasha COP=2.children 2.ASS 9.stomach 9.one 3PL-PST-be ‘Msimbiti and Mohaasha were siblings.’
In three other stories the narrator seems to be explaining his or her intention to the listener(s) in the introduction. This can occur anywhere in the orientation section. Examples (4) and (5) show such an introduction.
(4) Simbiti People 1–2
Ëkërëngyö ikya bhono Abhasimbëtë bha-ish-irë Maara eno. N-da-rëngy-a 7.example 7.ASS 14.REL 2.Simbiti_people 3PL-come-ANT Mara 9.here 1SG-CONT-narrate-FV ikya bhono öni wonswe na-a-rëngëriibhwi amangʼana ghayö
like 14.REL 1SG 1.all 1SG-PST-narrate:APPL:PROX:PASS 6.news 6.DEM_REF
‘An example of the way which the Simbiti people came here to Mara. I’m telling this news the way that I was told it.’
(5) Mgendi 1
N-da-tun-a bhoono m-ba-rëngëri amangʼana ghano gha-a-nyöörë 1SG-CONT-want-FV now 1SG-3PL-narrate:APPL 6.news 6.REL 6-PST-find:PROX umumura uwondë ono ya-a-bherek-er-w-anga igha Möghëndi. 1.young_person 1.certain 1.REL 3SG-PST-call-APPL-PASS-HAB COMP Mgendi ‘I want to tell you what happened to a young person who was named Mgendi.’
Elderly or male characters are often introduced before other major participants, even if they are minor participants throughout the remainder of the story. This is understandable as one considers the importance of family and community relationships in the Suba-Simbiti culture. Paul Werth (1999) refers to such participants as frame participants. In the story “Water”the husband is introduced first even though his two wives are the major participants in the story. Also, in the story “Buffalo”the father, who is a minor participant, is introduced as having a son, who is the major participant in the narrative. Consider the following examples:
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(6) Water 1–2
Ya-a-re-nga-ho umushaasha uwöndë ono ya-a-re-nga na bhakaaye abhabhërë. 3SG-PST-be-HAB-16.LOC 1.man 1.certain 1.REL 3SG-PST-be-HAB with 2.wife 2.two Ömöntö uyö ya-a-hanshirë uwömwë kasi uwöndë oora
1.person 1.DEM_REF 3SG-PST-love:PROX 1.one but 1.other 1.DEM_DIST te-ya-a-mo-hanshirë hë.
NEG-3SG -PST-3SG-love:PROX NEG
‘There was a man who had two wives. One wife he loved but that other one he didn’t love.’ (7) Buffalo 2
Omoghaaka uyö Bhiragë m=möntö uwa Amaghuru ya-a-rë na 1.elderly_man 1.DEM_REF Birage COP=person 1.ASS Maguru_people 3SG-PST-be with ya-a-re-nga na abhamura
3SS-PST-be-HAB with 2.young_men
‘This elderly man named Birage was from Maguru; he had teenaged sons.’
Another common feature of the orientation section in Suba-Simbiti stories is the prevalent use of the past habitual1 TAM form, as shown in example (8).
It is also common for information that is relevant to the story as a whole to be presented in the orientation section. This information usually serves to notify the listener of a particular character’s attributes or to provide background knowledge that is essential to the story. In example (8) from “Buffalo,”the listener learns that the major participant was very strong from the information that is presented in the main clause. There is also a relative clause in this example that serves to set the scene. (8) Buffalo 3
Umumura ömwë ono ya-a-rëësy-anga situgho wonswe ya-a-rë na 1.youth 1.one 1.REL 3SG-PST-shepherd-HAB 10.herds 1.all 3SG-PST-be with singuru sinsharu.
10.strength 10.many
‘One young man who was shepherding his herds all by himself, was very strong.’
1.3.2 Inciting episode
In Suba-Simbiti inciting episodes are relatively short in length with the longest one found in the corpus of texts being just three sentences long. The start of an inciting episode is often marked by the use of the temporal connector hano ‘when’ (a class 16 demonstrative) which, together with a following subordinate verb phrase, forms a point of departure (PoD). The verb found in the temporal phrase appears in the proximal past tense or the past habitual TAM form. Example (9) illustrates the use of a temporal PoD in an inciting episode.
1 The TAM form marked with the prefix a– and the suffix –anga sometimes carries a progressive aspect, in which
case it would be identified as a past progressive TAM form. For the purposes of this paper, all occurrences of this TAM form have been referred to as past habitual.
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(9) Simbiti People 4
Hano tw-a-ruurë iyö to-ka-ash-a, to-ka-hik-a ku-kyooro 16.DEM_PROX 1PL-PST-leave:PROX 9.DEM_REF 1PL-NARR-come-FV 1PL-NARR-arrive-FV 17.LOC-7.river ikya Këröghö, hayö bha-rë-ngë abhantö abhabhërë igho
7.ASS Kerogo 16.DEM_REF 3PL-be-HAB 2.people 2.two exactly
‘When we left there, we arrived at the river Kerogo. There were only two people there.’
Typically, the first main-event-line verb appears in the inciting episode. This verb is often an action verb and occurs with the narrative tense.
(10)Mgendi 5
Ubhwato ubhwabho bho-ka-ghwereer-a 14.boat 14.3PL.POSS 14-NARR-sink-FV
‘Their boat sank.’
1.3.3 Developmental episodes
Although developmental episodes may begin in a variety of ways in Suba-Simbiti, the most common method is tail-head linkage in which information that was stated in a previous sentence is repeated in a dependent clause. In the majority of instances, the head appears as a temporal relative clause that begins with hano ‘when’ or bhoono ‘now’, similar to the manner in which the inciting episode usually begins. For example:
(11)Inheritance 6–7b
Omoghaaka oora a-ka-kamb-a a-ka-roor-a.
1.elderly_man 1.DEM_DIST 3SG-NARR-conclude-FV 3SG-NARR-become_sick-FV
Hano a-ko-roor-a a-ka-andeker-a omoona uwaaye oora 16.DEM_PROX 3SG-17REL-become_sick-FV 3SG-NARR-write:APPL-FV 1.child 3SG.POSS 1.DEM_DIST uwa Bhoraaya...
1.ASS 14.Europe
‘Finally, that elderly man became sick. When he became sick, he wrote to his child in Europe...’ Major participants are often referred to using a noun phrase if they are being reactivated into the main story line after an absence or disruption in the text. The noun phrase typically includes a distal demonstrative, as seen in example (12). Reactivation of major participants is discussed in further detail in section 4.
(12)Origin 9a
Bhoono urusikö urwondë omoghaaka uyö Iryënyi a-ka-reker-a amaiso now 11.day 11.certain 1.elderly_man 1.DEM_REF Iryenyi 3SG-NARR-cast-FV 6.eyes ko-rongʼongo
17.LOC-11.highland
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The most common verb tense in developmental episodes is the narrative tense (NARR), which is used
for actions on the main event line. In dependent clauses that provide background information or serve as points of departure, it is common for the proximal past or anterior TAM forms to be used. For example: (13)Water 7b–d
we hano ya-a-ghëëyë uku-tun-a amanshë ghayö a-ka-ghy-a 3SG 16.DEM_PROX 3SG-PST-go:PROX INF-look_for-FV 6.water 6.DEM_REF 3SG-NARR-go-FV a-ka-tah-a amanshë...
3SG-NARR-tote-FV 6.water
‘When she went to look for that water, she went and toted the water...’
Both direct and indirect speech is marked with the complementizer igha ‘that’. This complementizer appears with almost every occurrence of direct or indirect speech, and it seems to be extremely
ungrammatical to omit it. The examples below illustrate the use of igha with both direct speech (14) and indirect speech (15). See section 8 for further discussion of reported speech.
(14)Buffalo 8b–c
a-ka-tëëbhy-a su-waabho igha Taata engʼera nayo yi-it-irë 3SG-NARR-tell-FV father-3PL.POSS COMP 9.father 9.buffalo 3SG.EMPH 9:PST-kill-PROX engʼombe iyëëtö
9.cow 9.1PL.POSS
‘He told their father, “Father, it was the buffalo that killed our cow.” ’ (15)Water 6
Bhoono ömöntö uyö a-ka-tëëbhy-a abhakaaye bhonswe igho abhabhërë now 1.person 1.DEM_REF 3SG-NARR-tell-FV 2.wives 2.all completely 2.two igha bha-ghi bha-mo-reet-er-e amanshë agha mu-kisima kiyö
COMP 3PL-go:SBJ 3PL-3SG-bring-APPL-SBJ 6.water 6.ASS 18-7.well 7.DEM_REF
‘Now that person told both of his two wives that they should go and bring him water from that well.’
1.3.4 Peak episode
Peak episodes in Suba-Simbiti are identifiable by a prevalent use of the narrative tense, which often appears in a rapid action sequence. Typically, the actions in the sequence are performed by one participant who, if mentioned at all, is referred to using a demonstrative at the beginning of the peak episode. For example:
(16)Origin 13–14
Abhamura bhayö bha-ka-ghy-a na=we, bha-ka-hik-a ku-Iryënyi 2.young_men 2.DEM_REF 3PL-NARR-go-FV 3SG=COM 3PL-NARR-arrive-FV 17-Iryenyi bha-ka-shumaash-a bha-ka-ighwerra
3PL-NARR-talk-FV 3PL-NARR-hear:APPL
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Also, a transitional word such as bhoono ‘now’ or bhuyö ‘so’ normally occurs at the beginning of the peak episode. Sometimes the narrative tense occurs immediately following the transitional word. At other times a subordinate clause functioning as a PoD follows the transitional word and uses the proximal past or anterior TAM forms, as seen in example (17).
(17) Inheritance 23
Bhoono hano bhw-a-këëyë a-ka-ghoot-a eketabho keera now 16.DEM_PROX 8-PST-sun_rise:PROX 3SG-NARR-hold-FV 7.book 7.DEM_DIST a-ka-ke-honyor-a ahasë aha Mataayo
3SG-NARR-7-open-FV 16.place 16.ASS Matthew
‘Now, when the sun rose, he held the book and opened it to Matthew.’
1.3.5 Denouement
The purpose of the denouement in Suba-Simbiti is to resolve the story by describing the events that followed as a result of the peak, as seen in example (18).
(18)Inheritance 27
Ya-a-bh-a umwamë kora bhoono igho we a-kö-tööry-a abha 3SG-PST-be-FV 1.rich_person even now completely 3SG.EMPH 3SG-17.REL-help-FV 2.ASS waabho hayö
3PL.POSS 16.DEM_REF
‘He has been rich and even now it is he who is helping those at home.’
In the denouement, the most common tense used is the narrative ka–, followed by the anterior TAM form –irë. However, an inspection of the denouement sections of the text corpus shows that almost every tense or TAM form used in Suba-Simbiti narratives appears at least once. Example (19) shows the two most common forms.
(19)Mgendi 23
Bha-ka-saagh-a abhabhërë bha-ghötërëëyë ghwiki... 3PL-NARR-remain-FV 2.two 3PL-hold:APPL:ant again
‘They remained two, they had held on again...’
1.3.6 Conclusion
Typically, the events of the story are summarized in the concluding section. Also, the narrator’s perspective on the story is often presented. In example (20) the narrator’s perspective is presented as a moral lesson for the listener. It is interesting to note that none of the texts in the corpus has a formulaic ending.
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(20)Inheritance 28–29
Ku bhuyö hano o-haaywë ëkëntö o-taka-ke-ser-a hë. for 14.DEM_REF 16.DEM_PROX 2SG-give:ANT:pass 7.thing 2SG-NEG-7-refuse-FV NEG Ekesaka bha-kunyiir-a mo emeremo gë-rë-ngë
7.bush 3SG-disregard-FV 18.EMPH 4.work 4-be-HAB
‘Therefore, when you have been given something, don’t ignore it. The bush that is disregarded has a purpose.’
2 Paragraphs
Within a text, paragraphs mark the “thematic units,” which contains closely related material. Continuity of participants, time, place and theme are usually maintained within a paragraph (or if there is a change of time or place, this is usually an expected rather than an abrupt change), and so paragraph breaks correspond to places in the text where there is a discontinuity of some kind.
2.1 Paragraphs in “Inheritance”
Paragraph 1 (1–5) makes up the orientation section of this narrative. This section introduces the three main characters, a father and his two sons, and presents the contrast between the two brothers, which is important to the story line. The following paragraph break marks the shift from setting the scene to the mainline events.
Paragraph 2 (6–13) contains the inciting episode and two developmental episodes. It begins with the first main event of the story in which the father becomes very sick (6). In the first developmental episode of this paragraph, the first speech occurs when one of the sons tells his sick father that he is unable to come home (9b). The second developmental episode describes the father’s actions in response to his son.
The third paragraph (14–18) consists of the third and fourth developmental episodes. The first dialogue (16–18) in the narrative occurs in this paragraph when the son receives a Bible as his
inheritance after his father’s death. The dialogue takes place between the son and one of his other family members (who is never officially introduced into the story). The action of the story is temporarily interrupted with this dialogue.
Paragraph 4 (19–22) picks up the action of the story again when the son has a dream about his inheritance in which he is told to open the Bible to the book of Matthew (19c–d). The final sentence in the paragraph relates the son’s actions following the dream.
Paragraph 5 (23–26) is also the peak episode of the narrative. In this paragraph the son is the only participant mentioned, unlike other paragraphs where there are multiple participants involved in the action. Also, the phrase urusikö urwöndë ‘one day’ signals a change in the time sequence from the end of the preceding paragraph to the start of this one.
Paragraph 6 (27–29) consists of the denouement and the conclusion of this narrative. It begins with the connective këmwë ‘then’ and explains how the events of the story conclude. The switch from the main event line to summary information at the end of this paragraph is apparent as the tense changes from narrative to present, and then the listener is presented with a moral.
2.2 Points of departure
In order to smooth the discontinuities of a narrative, a language may use points of departure to bridge two sections. Thus the PoD both links back to what has gone before and points ahead to what will come. In order to function as a PoD, the phrase or clause in question must occur at the beginning of a sentence (not counting a conjunction or an interjection, which may precede it). The following sections look at two
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types of PoDs: referential and temporal (there are no examples of spatial PoDs in the text corpus used for this section).
2.2.1 Referential points of departure
Referential PoDs involve the repetition of a referring expression, either after a digression or when the subject has not changed. For example, paragraph 3 begins with a PoD that refers to the sick father even though he was the main subject of the preceding clause. This over-specification serves to indicate that a new paragraph is starting.
(21)Inheritance 14
Bhoono omoghaaka oora a-ka-het-a a-ka-kw-a. now 1.elderly_person 1.DEM_DIST 3SG-NARR-pass-FV 3SG-NARR-die-FV
‘Now, that elderly man passed on; he died.’
A preposed subject may also function as a referential PoD. In example (22) the phrase mokaaye uwöndë ‘that wife’ is the subject that has been preposed.
(22)Water 7a–d
Mokaaye uwöndë oora ya-a-re-nga a-hansh-irë we hano ya-a-ghëëyë 1.wife 1.other 1.DEM_DIST 3SG-PST-be-HAB 3SG-love-ANT 3SG 16.DEM_PROX 3SG-PST-go:PROX uku-tun-a amanshë ghayö a-ka-ghy-a a-ka-tah-a amanshë...
INF-look_for-FV 6.water 6.DEM_REF 3SG-NARR-go-FV 3SG-NARR-tote-FV 6.water
‘That other wife he loved, when she went to look for that water, she went and toted water...’
2.2.2 Temporal points of departure
Temporal PoDs seem to be the most common method for introducing new paragraphs. In “Inheritance,” three of the six paragraphs begin with a temporal PoD. There are several temporal words that are used to begin a temporal PoD such as hano ‘when’, bhoono ‘now’ and urusikö urwöndë ‘another day’. Example (23) illustrates the use of urusikö urwöndë.
(23)Inheritance 22
Urusikö urwöndë ghwiki a-ka-root-a bhuyö~bhuyö
11.day 11.other again 3SG-NARR-dream-FV 14.DEM_REF~14.DEM_REF
‘Another day, he dreamed the exact same thing.’
3 Connectives
In Suba-Simbiti it is very common for sentences to begin with a connective. Some languages use one or two connectives far more than others. For example, in Suba-Simbiti, the relative pronouns of class 16 hano (usually glossed as ‘when’) and bhoono (usually glossed as ‘now’) are used very frequently. 3.1 Connectives in Suba-Simbiti
In the Suba-Simbiti text corpus, nine connectives are used intersententially, five intrasententially and three in both positions. These are discussed in further detail in the following sections.
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3.1.1 Connectives between sentences
Intersentential connectives are more common than intrasentential connectives in Suba-Simbiti. Connectives occurring between sentences in the text corpus are listed in Table 7.
Table 7. Intersentential connectives
Connective Gloss Occurrence
hano when Water 9
bhoono nowa Inheritance 3
mbe so, thenb Birds 14
kasi but Inheritance 9, Water 21, Mgendi 3, Mgendi 31
ho indeed Buffalo 18
ko bhoora because Origin 18
kora even Origin 25
na and Inheritance 10
ghwiki again Mgendi 12
a In the text corpus bhoono acts as both a thematic development marker and a generic connective. Its role as a
thematic development marker is discussed in section 3.4. Therefore, the occurrence of bhoono which is cited here represents its role as a generic connective.
b Mbe is sometimes used to mark the most important event in a story. See section 3.4 for a discussion of this role. In
this occurrence mbe is functioning as a generic connective.
The temporal connective hano tends to appear in dependent clauses that describe a new action preceding the action in the main clause. Ho seems to introduce an action that is a direct result of the action in the previous clause. The connective ko bhoora appears in dependent clauses that present a reason for the action that follows in the main clause.
3.1.2 Connectives within sentences
In Suba-Simbiti the frequency of connectives used to join clauses within a sentence is very low compared to the number of connectives that begin sentences. Connectives occurring within sentences in the text corpus are listed in Table 8.
Table 8. Intrasentential connectives
Connective Gloss Occurrence
kasi but Water 2a, Mgendi 25a
hano when Water 7b, Crocodile 10b
na and Mgendi 3a, Origin 2a, Buffalo 2a
okore so that Mgendi 8
emare then Buffalo 4b
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(24)Mgendi 8b–d
bha-bhotor-e sinsiri seera së-bhöh-irë ömöröngöti okore 3PL-cut-SBJ 10.rope 10.DEM_DIST 10-close-ANT 3.mast so_that bho-oroor-e bha-ghooterre-ko
14-float-SBJ 3pl-hold:APPL:SBJ-17.LOC
‘They should cut the ropes fastened to the mast so that the boat would float and they could hold onto it.’
The connective okore indicates that the clause that follows is a desired consequence of what has just been described or an intention for which the previous clause provides the enabling conditions. A sentence containing okore consists of two clauses, both of which are in the subjunctive.
Rather than describe in detail each of the connectives that occurs in the text corpus, two important types of connectives will be discussed: concessives and additives.
3.2 Concessives
Concessives indicate that the clause that they introduce counters a previous idea, either by directly contradicting an idea previously expressed or by countering an inference or expectation generated by previous material. In the Suba-Simbiti text corpus there is only one concessive, namely kasi ‘but’, which appears in three of the narratives.
In two of these narratives kasi is used to express surprising or unexpected events that occur in the following clause. For example, in “Inheritance” a sick father writes to his son who lives in Europe and asks him to return home, but the son does not come home. In another narrative kasi is used to present a contrast between two wives, as seen in example (25).
(25)Water 2
Ömöntö uyö ya-a-hansh-irë uwömwë kasi uwöndë oora 1.person 1.DEM_REF 3SG-PST-love-PROX 1.one but 1.other 1.DEM_DIST te-ya-a-mo-hansh-irë hë
NEG-3SG-PST-3SG-love-PROX NEG
‘That person loved one (wife) but he didn’t love the other.’ 3.3 Additives
Additives indicate that there is an association between the two conjoined elements. In the text corpus three additives are used: na ‘and’, ghwiki ‘again’ and kisha ‘then’.
The connective na indicates that there is an association between two or more elements in a text. When the elements that na relates are of the same kind (clause, noun phrase, etc.), na functions grammatically as a coordinating conjunction; when the elements are of different kinds, na functions more like a preposition (and is usually glossed as ‘with’). This section is only concerned with the use of na as a coordinating conjunction.
In this usage na occurs three times, in Mgendi 3a, Origin 2aandBuffalo 2a. In all three occurrences na indicates that the clauses that it joins are to be interpreted together, rather than independently. For example:
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(26)Buffalo 2
Omoghaaka uyö Bhiraghë m=möntö uwa Amaghuru ya-a-rë na 1.elderly person 1.DEM_REF Birage COP=1.person 1.ASS Amaguru 3SG-PST-be and ya-a-re-nga na abhamura
3SS-PST-be-HAB with 2.young_men
‘That elderly man Birage was from Maguru and had teenaged sons.’
The connective emare ‘then’ is only found once in “Buffalo”to introduce a mainline event following a temporal relative clause, as shown in example (27).
(27)Buffalo 4
Hano ya-a-rëësy-anga emare engʼombe eghaini handë entangʼana 16.DEM_PROX 3SG-PST-shepherd-HAB then 9.cow 9.bull or 9.castrated_bull i-kwere mö-kërëësyö
9-die:ANT 18.LOC-7.pasture
‘When he was shepherding, a bull died in the pasture.’
In the story “Mgendi”the additive ghwiki ‘again’ is used to show that the action of swimming down is repeated a second time.
(28)Mgendi 12
Ghwiki abhëërëmi bhayö bha-ka-shuk-a uku-ghy-a uku-tun-a ekegheso again 2.swimmers 2.DEM_REF 3PL-NARR-descend-FV INF-go-FV INF-look_for-FV 7.knife keera bha-ka-ki-nyoor-a
7.DEM_DIST 3PL-NARR-7-get-FV
‘Again, those swimmers they swam down to go look for that knife, and they found it.’ 3.4 Thematic development markers
Thematic developmentmarkers indicate important steps in reaching the story’s objective. They do not signal discontinuities of time, place, action or participants, and can therefore be found at various places within a paragraph (not just at the beginning or end). They do not occur in the orientation section of a narrative, because the objective of the story has not been established at this point.
In Suba-Simbiti there appears to be two thematic development markers: bhoono ‘now’ and mbe ‘then’. These two markers serve to highlight the main events in the storyline. Mbe, in particular, usually seems to appear in the peak episode, highlighting the most important events in the narrative. The story “Buffalo” provides a good example of bhoono and mbe as thematic development markers. Table 9 includes a summary of the story which shows the use of these thematic development markers.
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Table 9. Example of bhoono and mbe as thematic development markers in “Buffalo”
Summary Location
Omoghaaka uyö Bhiragë m-möntö uwa amaghuru yaarë na yaarenga na abhamura. Umumura ömwë ono yaarëësyanga situgho wonswe yaarë na singuru sinsharu.
Old Birage was from Magufu and he had teenaged sons. One son who looked after his herds was very strong.
Orientation episode
Hano yaarëësyanga emare engʼombe eghaini handë entangʼana ikwere mö-kërëësyö. Yaaghesambekanga ku-rireko kya ono asambëkirë akatööshö.
When he was shepherding, a bull died in the pasture. He carried it on his shoulders like a hare.
This is not a development in the story. Rather, it illustrates the son’s strength.
Bhoono hano yaarëësyanga urusikö urwöndë engʼera ekaasha mu-rihisho irya waabho riyo. Engʼera iyö ekakiinania eghaini iyaabho ekaghiita. Now, while he was looking after the herd, a buffalo came among the cattle and killed a bull.
Inciting episode
Umumura uyö akaghya atëëbhya suwaabho igha, “Taata engʼera nayo yiitirë engʼombe iyëëtö.”
The youth went and told his father, “Father, a buffalo came and killed our cow.”
Omoghaaka uyö akamohonshora igha, “Kana kano n-kaana kë kano naibhora ëkëmööri kiyö këkökërrë ukwita?”
His father scolded him saying, “What kind of son have I raised that a buffalo could defeat him?”
A problem is presented as the son feels ashamed.
Mbe umumura uyö akaighwa obhoghogho mo-nkoro. Urusikö urwöndë akaghoorra, akaghya ökörëësya. Eno araghwema engʼera eera akakamba akaghemaaha eranywa amanshë ko-rotare. Akaghishobhera igho, akaghya, akagheghoota sentera. Akaghishukya umunywa na amanyëërö mo-manshë, akaghebhandëërya engʼera iyö, ekakwa.
That youth felt bad. One day he went hunting for the buffalo and found it drinking. He grabbed the buffalo’s horns and drowned it in the water.
Peak episode
Akaherra suwaabho amangʼana igha, “Taata, engʼera eno öröndë yiitirë engʼombe iyëëtö, ngiitirë.”
He told his father, “Father, that buffalo that killed our cow, I have killed him.”
Hano yaaghëëyë akahika, akanyoora igha m-maheene nëbhömbirë hansë hayö emarrë ukukwa.
He went and found that what his son said was true.
The story is resolved as the son’s shame is removed.
Ho yaatëmirë eketomwa akaraareka abhantö, akatereka, akakora inyangi, akaibhaaka igha yaibhora umumura eghaini eno ekotoora hansë kora engʼera. Eghaini yabhora eghaini iyëndë.
The father called everyone to a feast in honour of his son.
4 Participant reference
Participants in a narrative (that is, the characters in a story) need to be introduced in some way, and then referred to subsequently (or ‘tracked’) as the narrative develops. The way in which a participant is referred to depends partly on where it occurs in the text, and partly on whether it is a major or minor
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participant. Often the way a participant in the subject position is referred to depends on whether it was the subject in the previous clause or whether there has been a change of subject. Differences in the way a participant is referred to may also occur at the beginning of new paragraphs or in the various episodes of the narrative (orientation, inciting episode, developmental episodes, peak episode, denouement and conclusion).
In Suba-Simbiti major and minor participants are referred to in different ways. A major participant usually receives a specific introduction and then remains present and active throughout most of the narrative. Major participants can be assigned the roles of the protagonist (the character that initiates most of the action) or the antagonist (the character that reacts to the events initiated by the protagonist). A minor participant, on the other hand, does not usually receive a specific introduction. Often a minor participant’s first appearance is as the object of a verb, and he or she subsequently only plays a short role in the narrative.
4.1 Nominal forms in Suba-Simbiti
In Suba-Simbiti, participants can be referred to using a variety of nominal forms. The following are the most common examples:
• Proper names, such as Msimbiti
• Descriptive noun phrases, such as murikyaye ‘companion’ and abhamura abha Iryënyi ‘Iryenyi's sons’
• Noun phrases containing a demonstrative as in ömöntö uyö ‘that person’ and bhaara abha Musimbëtë ‘those of Msimbiti’. The demonstratives may be distal (e.g., bhaara), proximal (e.g., bhano) or referential (e.g., bhayö).
• Independent pronouns (also referred to as ‘self-standing pronouns’) referring to animate entities, such as we ‘he/she’
• Additive pronouns, such as nawe ‘with him/her’
• Verb marking that consists of a prefix on the verb either referring to the subject, as in yaamanyirë ‘he knew’, or referring to the object, as in ndamobherekara ‘I am calling him’.
The following three sections consider these options in relation to different types of participant reference: introduction, reactivation and further reference.
4.2 Introduction of participants
One common way of introducing major participants in Suba-Simbiti is the use of the past copula. In Suba-Simbiti the past copula consists of the copula clitic attached to a noun followed by the verb rë ‘to be’ in either the past habitual or distal past TAM form and marked for subject agreement.
The past copula normally follows a proper noun or descriptive noun phrase that is used to introduce the participant, as in example (29).
(29)Origin 1
Musimbëtë na Mohaasha m=bhaana abha enda ëmwë bha-a-rë Msimbiti and Mhaasha COP=2.child 2.ASS 9.stomach 9.one 3PL-PST-be ‘Msimbiti and Mohaasha were siblings, they were.’
Another possible way for major participants to be introduced is by a proper noun or a descriptive noun phrase that follows a locative verb, as in (30).
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(30)Water 1
Ya-a-re-nga-ho umushaasha uwöndë ono ya-a-re-nga na bhakaaye abhabhërë 3SG-PST-be-HAB-16.LOC 1.man 1.certain 1.REL 3SG-PST-be-HAB with 2.wife 2.two ‘There was a certain man who had two wives.’
In both of these methods for introducing participants, the word uwöndë or abhandë ‘certain’ frequently appears in the introduction, as in example (30).
Minor participants are usually introduced into an existing mental representation and often post-verbally, as illustrated in example (31), where the children are introduced as the objects of the verb. (31)Birds 2a
Bha-ka-tom-a abhaana igha, ‘Abhaana bhano mo-keny-e bhöngö~bhöngö... 3PL-NARR-send-FV 2.children COMP 2.children 2.DEM_PROX 2PL-run-SBJ fast~fast
‘They (elderly men) told the children, “You children, run fast...” ’ 4.3 Reactivation of participants after an absence
The most common way of reactivating a major participant after an absence is by the use of a noun phrase that includes a distal demonstrative following the noun. In example (32) the elderly man is reactivated in this way.
(32)Inheritance 11
Omoghaaka oora a-ka-tween-a umwandö 1.elderly_person 1.DEM_DIST 3SG-NARR-divide-FV 3.inheritance ‘That elderly man divided his possessions.’
The text corpus does not show any instances of minor characters being activated after an absence. 4.4 Further reference to active participants
The default way of continuing to refer to active participants is by means of verbal affixes, as in example (33).
(33)Buffalo 4–5
Hano ya-a-rëësy-anga emare engʼombe eghaini handë entangʼana 16.DEM_PROX 3SG-PST-shepherd-HAB then 9.cow 9.bull or 9.castrated_bull i-kwere mö-kërëësyö
9-die:ANT 18.LOC-7.pasture
Ya-a-ghe-sambek-anga ku-rireko kya ono a-sambëk-irë akatööshö 3SG-PST-9-put-HAB 17.LOC-5.shoulder like 1.REL 3SG-put-ANT 12.rabbit
‘When he was shepherding, a bull died in the pasture. He put it on his shoulders like one who carries a small rabbit.’
In the example above, the young man is an active participant and continues to be referred to using a subject morpheme on the verbs. Since this participant is already activated in the mind of the listener, there is no need to use a noun phrase to reintroduce him.
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The text corpus also shows that an active participant may be referred to by using a verb-internal object marker as well, as in example (34).
(34)Simbiti People 12
Hano ya-a-hik-irë wa Iryënyi Iryënyi a-ka-mo-kom-a 16.DEM_PROX 3SG-PST-arrive-PROX 16.ASS Iryenyi Iryenyi 3SG-NARR-3S-gather-FV a-ka-mö-tët-y-a umwisëkë uwaaye
3SG-NARR-3SG-marry-CAUS-FV 1.daughter 1.3SG.POSS
‘When he (Msimbiti) arrived at Iryenyi’s, Iryenyi received him and married him off to his daughter.’ Here, Msimbiti is referred to by a subject marker in the first verb and then continues to be referred to by object markers in the final two verbs of the sentence.
4.5 Pronouns
Since it is possible for the subject and object requirements of a verb to be satisfied by verbal affixes in Suba-Simbiti, the use of independent pronouns only occurs under specific circumstances. The
independent pronouns for first, second and third person are shown in Table 10. Table 10. Independent pronouns
Singular Plural 1st person öni bhëëtö 2nd person uwe bhëënyu 3rd person we bho
One specific use of independent personal pronouns in Suba-Simbiti is to show contrastive focus in direct speech, as illustrated in example (35), where one son is contrasted with his siblings.
(35)Inheritance 18b–d
iyakë a-körrë a-haayë abhandë ëbhëntö kasi öni a-ngʼaayë eketabho how 3SG-do:ANT 3SG-give:ANT 2.other 8.property but 1SG 3SG-1SG:give:ANT 7.book ‘what has he (father) done to give others wealth but me a book?’
4.5.1 Additive construction
In the text corpus the additive construction only appears in the third person as nawe for the singular and nabho for the plural. Both of these constructions are formed with na ‘and/with’ attached to either the singular or plural third person independent pronoun.
(36)Crocodile 10a–c
Murikyaye oora bha-a-rë nawe wonswe hano ya-a-rööshë 1.companion 1.DEM_DIST 3PL-PST-be 3SG.ADD 1.all 16.DEM_PROX 3SG-PST-see:PROX amaanyinga amaaru mo-manshë a-ka-rw-a...
6.blood 6.many 18.LOC-6.water 3SG-NARR-come_from-FV
‘That companion who they were all together with, when he saw a lot of blood in the water, he left...’
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4.5.2 Emphatic construction
Another type of construction that is used in Suba-Simbiti narratives is the emphatic construction. In all occurrences of the emphatic construction in the text corpus, the desired result is emphasis on the referent, as illustrated in example (37).
Normally, the emphatic construction is formed by joining the copula ni with an independent pronoun using a hyphen. If the independent pronoun to which the copula attaches is vowel-initial, the vowel in the copula assimilates to the initial vowel in the independent pronoun.
(37)Inheritance 18a
Nö=öni na-a-hansh-irë Taata COP=1SG 1SG-PST-love-PROX father ‘It is me who loved Father.’
Table 11 illustrates the emphatic construction for first, second and third person in Suba-Simbiti. Table 11. Emphatic construction for first, second and third person pronouns
Singular pronoun Emphatic Plural pronoun Emphatic
1st person öni nö-öni bhëëtö m-bhëëtö
2nd person uwe nu-uwe bhëënyu m-bhëënyu
3rd person we we bho m-bho
The emphatic construction for the third person singular does not follow the pattern described above. Instead of the copula attaching to the independent pronoun we, the pronoun appears by itself. Currently, it is not clear how the distinction between the independent pronoun and emphatic construction is made in Suba-Simbiti. One hypothesis is that context helps the listener to know which meaning is intended, but further research on this issue is needed.
(38)Inheritance 27
Ya-a-bh-a umwamë kora bhoono igho we a-kö-tööry-a 3SG-PST-be-FV 1.rich_person even now completely 3SG.EMPH 3SG-17.REL-help-FV abha waabho hayö
2.ASS their_place 16.DEM_REF
‘He has been rich, and even now it is him who is helping those at home.’ 4.6 Demonstratives
In Suba-Simbiti there are three sets of demonstratives—proximal, referential and distal. The proximal demonstrative is formed by applying noun class agreement to –no. In the same way, noun class agreement is applied to –yö to form the referential and to –Vra to form the distal. Example (39) shows the demonstratives for noun class 1.
(39)Demonstratives—noun class 1 ono—proximal
uyö—referential oora—distal
The demonstratives in all of the texts in the corpus appear to follow a specific pattern. In general, if the narrator has chosen to use a noun phrase and the subject of the clause is already activated in the
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mind of the listener, the referential demonstrative –yö tends to appear. In Suba-Simbiti it seems that participants are considered to be activated in the mind of the listener if they have been explicitly mentioned in the previous event (which is not necessarily comprised of the previous clause or sentence alone), or if they are not mentioned but assumed to be active participants in the action. The story “Buffalo” provides a good example of a participant who is not mentioned in the previous action but is assumed to be there in the mind of a Simbiti person. In lines 6 and 7 of the story, the listener learns that a buffalo has come into the pasture and has killed one of the cows. Although the son who has been shepherding the herd is not mentioned in the action sequence, it is not easy for a Simbiti person to think that the cows have been left unattended in the pasture because of certain concerns such as thieves or destruction of crops. So, here it can be assumed that the listener would intuitively know that the son was present when this event took place. Then, in line 8 the son is referred to again using the referential pronoun, as seen in Table 12.
If a participant is being reactivated into the storyline after an absence or a disruption in the
narrative, such as a speech, the distal demonstrative –Vra is normally used. Table 12 further clarifies this pattern in the story “Buffalo.” The sentences are separated into two columns, depending on whether the subject is activated or unactivated and then highlighting the demonstratives, if they appear. According to the proposed pattern, one would expect to see the referential demonstrative used in the ‘activated participant’ column and the distal demonstrative used in the ‘unactivated participant’ column.
Table 12. Example of demonstratives in “Buffalo” Line No demonstrative used Activated participant
(referential demonstrative)
Unactivated participant (distal demonstrative) 1 Ëkërëngyö ikya ömöntö ono
akobherekerwanga igha Biraghë. A story of a person who was named Birage.
2 Omoghaaka uyö Bhiraghë m-möntö
uwa Amaghuru yaarë na yaarenga na abhamura.
This old man Birage was from Magufu and he had teenaged sons.
3 Umumura ömwë ono yaarëësyanga situgho wonswe yaarë na singuru sinsharu.
One teenager who was a shepherd was very strong.
4 Hano yaarëësyanga emare engʼombe eghaini handë entangʼana ikwere mö-kërëësyö.
When he was shepherding, a cow died in the pasture.
5 Yaaghesambekanga ku-rireko kya ono asambëkirë akatööshö.
He put it on his shoulders like one who carries a rabbit.
6 Bhoono hano yaarëësyanga urusikö urwöndë engʼera ekaasha mu -rihisho irya waabho riyo.
Now, when he was shepherding one day, a buffalo came among the herds.
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Line No demonstrative used Activated participant (referential demonstrative)
Unactivated participant (distal demonstrative)
7 Engʼera iyö ekakiinania eghaini
iyaabho ekaghiita.
That buffalo attacked a bull and killed it.
8 Umumura uyö akaghya atëëbhya
suwaabho igha, “Taata, engʼera nayo yiitirë engʼombe iyëëtö.” That teenager went and told their father, “Father, a buffalo killed our bull.”
9 Omoghaaka uyö akamohonshora
igha, “Kana kano n-kaana kë kano naibhora ëkëmööri kiyö këkökërrë ukwita?”
That old man answered him, “What kind of child have I raised that this buffalo has defeated him?”
10 Mbe umumura uyö akaighwa
obhoghogho mo-nkoro.
Then, that teenager felt ashamed. 11 Urusikö urwöndë akeghoorra
akaghya ökörëësya.
Another day, he opened the animal pen and went to shepherd the herds.
12 Eno araghwema engʼera
eera akakamba akaghemaaha eranywa amanshë ko-rotare. There, he hunted that buffalo until he saw it drinking water at the rocks.
13 Akaghishobhera igho akaghya akagheghoota sentera.
He stalked the buffalo in this way, he went and held the buffalo’s side.
14 Akaghishukya umunywa na
amanyëërö mo-manshë akaghebhandëërya engʼera iyö ekakwa.
He pushed its mouth and nose under the water, he pushed that buffalo, and it died.
15 Akaherra suwaabho amangʼana igha, “Taata, engʼera eno öröndë yiitirë engʼombe iyëëtö, ngiitirë.”
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Line No demonstrative used Activated participant (referential demonstrative)
Unactivated participant (distal demonstrative) He told his father the news,
“Father, the buffalo that killed our cow that day, I have killed him.”
16 Hano suwaabho yighuurë igho akaimoka, akaghya ukwimahera umwene.
When their father heard this, he rose and went to see for himself. 17 Hano yaaghëëyë akahika,
akanyoora igha m-maheene nëbhömbirë hansë hayö emarrë ukukwa.
When he had gone, he arrived and found that truly the buffalo had fallen down and had already died.
18 Ho yaatëmirë eketomwa akaraareka abhantö akatereka akakora inyangi akaibhaaka igha yaibhora umumura eghaini eno ekotoora hansë kora engʼera.
Indeed he beat the drums and invited people, he prepared alcohol and threw a party, he praised himself that he had raised a courageous son who could defeat a buffalo.
19 Eghaini yabhora eghaini iyëndë. The courageous son raised another courageous son.
In a short story like “Buffalo,”one would expect to see referential demonstratives being used frequently, as indeed observed. In line 12, however, a distal demonstrative is used because there is a gap in the timeline of the story that is signaled by the phrase urusikö urwöndë ‘another day’ in the preceding line. In some other languages, such as Kwaya, distal demonstratives are used to refer to participants in the object position; although the buffalo is in the object position in line 12 and a distal demonstrative is used, it is also in object position in line 14, where a referential demonstrative is used, and so this does not seem to be a relevant factor in Suba-Simbiti.
5 Tense and aspect in foreground and background
In a narrative, events are organized chronologically. Consequently, foreground material consists of events that take place in chronological sequence. This sequence of events is called the event line (also known as the theme line or main line). Typically, most of the events on the event line will be actions performed intentionally by the participants in the story. Non-event material and events presented out of sequence are classified as background material in narrative. Foreground and background are often distinguished through the use of different tense and aspect forms.
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5.1 Tense and aspect markers in Suba-Simbiti
Narratives primarily relate events that happened in the past. Apart from the narrative tense –ka–, Suba-Simbiti has three past tense-aspect forms that occur in main clauses—a proximal past tense marked by the prefix a– (glossed PST) and the suffix –irë (glossed PROX) for events that happened in the recent past, a
distal past tense marked by the prefix a– (glossed PST) for events that happened in the far pastand a past
habitual TAM form marked by the prefix a– (glossed PST) and the suffix –anga (glossed HAB). There are
also morphemes that negate these tenses, but this section will not be concerned with them, since narratives are generally concerned with events that did happen rather than those that didn’t.
Suba-Simbiti also makes use of a narrative tense that is marked by ka–. The narrative tense never occurs in background information, but rather, it is used to mark the mainline events in the story.
Another tense/aspect marker found in the text corpus is the continuous aspect marker ra– that shows a particular event is continuing for a period of time. In the absence of any other tense or aspect marker, ra– indicates present tense.
In addition, the anterior aspect is also present in the text corpus and is marked with the suffix –irë. This suffix is also present in the proximal past tense. The difference between these two TAM forms is the lengthened vowel at the beginning of the verb in the proximal past, which results from the a– prefix. 5.2 Foreground
The typical verb form for describing the main event line of a story is the narrative, as shown in example (40).
(40)Origin 13
Abhamura bhayö bha-ka-ghy-a nawe bha-ka-fik-a ku-Iryënyi 2.young_men 2.DEM_REF 3PL-NARR-go-FV 3SG.ADD 3PL-NARR-arrive-FV 17.LOC-Iryenyi
‘Those young men they went with him and they arrived at Iryenyi’s place.’
The first main event in the story can take the ka– tense marker, thus providing evidence that this is a narrative tense, not a consecutive or sequential tense. In example (41) the story begins with the narrative tense instead of one of the two past tenses or the past habitual TAM form.
(41)Birds 1a–b
Mbe abhaghaaka abhandë o-ka-nyoor-a bha-ra-nyw-a amarwa So 2.elderly_men 2.certain 2SG-NARR-find-fv 3PL-CONT-drink-FV 6.alcohol ‘So, it happened that elderly men were drinking alcohol.’
Another tense that is found in the foreground material is the present ra–. This tense is usually dependent on the narrative tense and normally indicates that a certain event continues over a long period of time, or in other words, that a participant is in a continuous state of doing a particular action. Consider the following example where the two present tense verbs araghenda ‘she walks’ and araraara ‘she sleeps’ are dependent on the narrative tense verb akaghya ‘she went’:
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(42)Water 8
uwöndë oora a-ta-a-hansh-irwë we a-ka-ghy-a a-ra-ghend-a 1.other 1.DEM_DIST 3SG-NEG-PST-love-PROX:PASS 1SG 3SS-NARR-go-FV 3SG-CONT-walk-FV a-ra-raar-a ko-nshera a-ra-ghend-a a-ra-raar-a ko-nshera
3SG-CONT-sleep-FV 17.LOC-9.way 3SG-CONT-walk-FV 3SG-CONT-sleep-FV 17.LOC-9.way
‘That other unloved one went walking and sleeping along the way, walking and sleeping along the way.’
Here the present tense conveys the idea that the woman has been walking and sleeping throughout her journey as opposed to a short period of time. The repetition of the clause also aids in communicating this idea.
5.3 Background
All eight texts in the corpus begin with sections containing backgrounded material. The main clauses in these background sections use both past tenses and the past habitual TAM form, except for one story that immediately begins with the narrative tense. Examples (43)–(45) illustrate the use of each of these tenses.
(43)Water 2
Ömöntö uyö ya-a-hansh-irë uwömwë kasi uwöndë oora 1.person 1.DEM_REF 3SG-PST-love-PROX 1.one but 1.other 1.DEM_DIST te-ya-a-mo-hansh-irë hë
NEG-3SG-PST-3SG-love-PROX NEG
‘That person loved one but the other, he didn’t love.’ (44)Mgendi 2
Bha-ambok-anga uku-ghy-a humbu bha-rë-ngë bhane mu-bhwato 3PS:PST-cross-HAB INF-go-FV other_side 3PL-be-HAB 2.four 18.LOC-14.boat
‘They were crossing to go to the other side, being four in the boat.’ (45)Buffalo 3
Umumura ömwë ono ya-a-rëësy-anga situgho wonswe ya-a-rë 1.young_person 1.one 1.REL 3SG-PST-shepherd-HAB 10.herd 1.all 3SG-PST-be na singuru sinsharu
with 10.strength 10.many
‘One son, who was shepherding the herds, was very strong.’
These tenses are also used in relative clauses throughout other episodes in the narrative. There does not seem to be any particular pattern explaining the occurrence of the past habitual TAM form versus the occurrence of the distal past or proximal past tenses in the other episodes. However, the use of the distal past and proximal past tenses seems to be determined by the timing of the event, specifically whether it occurred in the far past or the recent past.
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The text corpus provides examples of all three tenses being used in a variety of episodes in various combinations. However, if one of these tenses occurs outside of the orientation episode, it will normally occur in a relative clause.
5.4 Movement expressions
In Suba-Simbiti narratives the deictic center, or the notional location of the narrator which is usually the location of a major participant, is often made clear through the use of class 16 demonstratives. The story “Inheritance”is a good example. The major participants in the story include a father and his two sons. One son has traveled to Europe, and the other son has remained close to home. The deictic center of the story is the father's home, which is evidenced in the following line:
(46)Inheritance 3
Bhoono abhandë bha-ka-tighar-a yeeka hano now 2.other 3PL-NARR-remain-FV home 16.DEM_PROX
‘Now, the others remained here at home.’
Here, the class 16 proximal demonstrative hano shows that the deictic center of the narrative is the father’s house. Additionally, verbs of motion can also be used to convey the deictic center in a narrative. Consider the following example from “Inheritance:”
(47)Inheritance 16a–b
Hano uwa Bhoraaya oora ya-a-ghy-a uku-ush-a a-ka-haan-w-a 16.DEM_PROX 1.ASS Europe 3S.DEM_DIST 3SG-PST-go-FV INF-come-FV 3SG-NARR-give-PASS-FV eketabho...
7.book
‘When the one in Europe came, he was given a book....’
The verb ukuusha ‘come’ conveys the fact that the deictic center of the narrative is the father’s house.
6 Information structure
Information structure concerns the ways in which narrators help hearers and readers to identify new information in a sentence and to combine it with information that they already have in order to arrive at a coherent interpretation. Information structure in Suba-Simbiti is primarily concerned with the relative order of subject, verb, object and oblique constituents in a sentence.
6.1 Fundamental concepts in information structure
A sentence typically provides information about a specific entity; that entity is called the topic. Usually a topic is something that has been mentioned explicitly in a previous clause, but this is not always the case. In any communication event there is always a speaker and an addressee, and so they are both available as potential topics, even if they haven’t been explicitly mentioned already. A topic can also be a member of a group that has been previously mentioned, or something that is automatically associated with something or someone that has been mentioned already. Such things are part of the reader’s mental representation; or, as Dooley and Levinsohn (2001) state, the reader’s prior knowledge of the way things happen in the real world and his or her expectations of what the speaker means to say, both of which are based on the reader’s personal cultural experience.
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In a narrative the topic of one sentence may continue to be the topic of the following sentence, in which case it is called a continued topic. Alternatively, the topic may change, in which case it is called a switch topic. It is important to know whether a topic is a continued topic or a switch topic, as this can affect where it occurs in the sentence and the way it is referred to. Typically, a continued topic is expressed by an incorporated subject pronoun only, whereas a switch topic is expressed using a noun and/or demonstrative before the verb.
The information-bearing part of the sentence (that is, the new information about the topic) is called the focus. The focus may be expressed by a noun phrase termed argument focus. When the focus is expressed by a verb and (optionally) its complements, or by a copular construction, it is termed predicate focus. In some cases, such as in the orientation section of a narrative, there is no topic and so a whole sentence may contain only new information—this is termed sentence focus.
Topic and focus can be represented in various ways within a sentence, following certain templates or generalized constructions known as sentence articulations. There are three primary sentence
articulations: presentational, topic-comment and identificational. Presentational articulation uses sentence focus to introduce a new participant into a narrative without reference to any existing topic or presupposed proposition. Topic-comment articulation consists of a lexical (usually nominal) topic plus predicate focus; that is, the comment is the predicate focus that occurs after the topic. Identificational articulation uses argument focus to identify an unknown argument in a proposition; it is typically found in answer to so-called wh-questions.
6.2 Presentational articulation (sentence focus)
In presentational articulation an entity is introduced into a text without being linked to any established material. In Suba-Simbiti presentational articulation is common in the orientation section, and it usually involves a new entity being introduced together with uwöndë/abhandë ‘certain’ and followed by a verb indicating a specific action that is being performed by the new entity. An example is given in (48). A more detailed discussion of participant introduction can be found in section 4.2.
(48)Birds 1a–b
Mbe abhaghaaka abhandë o-ka-nyoor-a bha-ra-nyw-a amarwa well 2.elderly_men 2.certain 2SG-NARR-happen-FV 3PL-CONT-drink-FV 6.alcohol ‘Well, it so happened that elderly men were drinking alcohol.’
Here the elderly men comprise the new entity being introduced, and it is stated that they were drinking alcohol, which serves as a comment on the newly introduced topic.
6.3 Topic-comment articulation (predicate focus with a switch topic)
Most of the new information in a narrative is expressed through predicates, and so predicate focus is the most common form of focus. The topic usually precedes the predicate. When there is a change from the previous topic, which is referred to as a switch topic, the new topic constituent is usually explicitly stated in a noun phrase. In example (49), in the first sentence the topic is the boat, and then, in the second sentence it switches to be the time of the boat sinking.
(49)Mgendi 5–6
Ubhwato ubhwabho bho-ka-ghwereer-a Enkaagha eera 14.boat 14.3PL.POSS 14-NARR-sink:APPL:APPL-FV 9.time 9.DEM_DIST
bhw-a-ghwërëëyë n=ko-moghoroobha iryobha re-ra-ghy-a oko-ghw-a 14-PST-sink:APPL:APPL:PROX COP=17.REL-3.evening 5.sun 5-CONT-go-FV INF-sink-FV
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However, the topic is not always the logical subject. At times the new topic constituent is preposed from the object/complement position. In the text corpus the majority of examples of constituents that have been preposed from the object/complement position signal a switch topic.
(50)Inheritance 12–13
A-ka-ghamb-a igha sengʼombe seno së-rë-ngë ka hano mu-ush-e 3SS-NARR-say-FV COMP 10.cows 10.DEM_PROX 10-be-HAB home 16.DEM_PROX 3SG-come-SBJ oko-haan-a bhano bha-rë-ngë yeeka hano na oora uwa mo-maghinga INF-give-FV 2.DEM_PROX 3PL-be-HAB home 16.DEM_PROX and 1.DEM_DIST 1.ASS 18.LOC-6.island Kasi oora uwa Bhoraaya mu-ush-e ko-mo-haan-a
but 1.DEM_DIST 1.ASS Europe 3SG-come-SBJ 17.INF-3SG-give-FV eketabho keno nkyo mö-tëghëëyë
7.book 7.DEM_PROX 7.EMPH 3SG-leave:APPL:ANT
‘He said, “These cows that are at home here, come and give them to the people at home and the one in the islands. But that one in Europe, come and give him this book I have left him.’’ ’
In example (50) the phrase sengʼombe seno sërëngë ka hano ‘these cows that are at home here’ and oora uwa Bhoraaya ‘the one in Europe’ are the new topic constituents and have both been preposed from the object/complement position.
6.4 Predicate focus with a continued topic
When the topic is a grammatical subject and is the same as the previous topic, i.e., a continued topic, the usual way to refer to that topic is through the subject prefix on the verb. In other words, continued topics do not need to be expressed lexically. For example:
(51)Water 11–12a
a-ka-ghend-a igho a-ka-kamb-a a-ka-hik-a
3SG-NARR-walk-FV thus 3SG-NARR-conclude-FV 3SG-NARR-arrive-FV A-ka-simy-a ökö-rëëty-a ghwiki igha...
3SG-NARR-start-FV INF-sing-FV again COMP
‘She walked in this way until she arrived. She began to sing...’
In Suba-Simbiti it is not common for a continued topic to be expressed lexically unless it is at the start of a new paragraph or following a disruption in the text, such as direct speech.
6.5 Identificational articulation (argument focus)
Suba-Simbiti can use the focus marker ni–, which attaches to a noun to show argument focus. Example (52) occurs in the orientation section of the story “Origin.” The narrator has already introduced the two major participants and is explaining the work that each one does. The listener is told that Mohaasha, one of the major participants, doesn’t know how to hunt. Then, in Origin 4 it is stated that fishing is the work that Mohaasha knows.
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(52)Origin 4
Omoremo ghono ya-a-many-irë nö2-bhötëghi ubhwa sinswë
3.work 3.REL 3SG-PST-know-PROX FOC-14.fishing 14.ASS 10.fish ‘The work which he knew is fishing.’
The switch topic Omoremo ghono yaamanyirë ‘the work that he knew’, presumably being contrasted with the work that Mohaasha didn’t know, is identified by the use of the focus marker.
7 Adverbial clauses and relative clauses
Adverbial clauses occur either at the beginning or at the end of a sentence, ‘outside’ the main clause, whereas relative clauses occur within another clause and provide information about a noun phrase. 7.1 Adverbial clauses
Adverbial clauses are dependent clauses that occur either at the beginning or at the end of a sentence. Clauses that function grammatically as the complement of the main verb are excluded from the analysis in this section. Adverbial clauses from “Inheritance”and “Buffalo” that occur before the main clause and after the main clause are listed in examples (53) and (54), respectively.
(53) Before the main clause
Inheritance 7a Hano akoroora akandekera ‘When he became sick’
Inheritance 16a Hano uwa Bhoraaya oora yaaghya ukuusha ‘When the one from Europe came’ Inheritance 21a Nyinkyo hano yaabhökirë ‘In the morning when he awoke’ Inheritance 23a Bhoona hano bhwakëëyë ‘Now when morning came’
Buffalo4a Hano yaarëësyanga ‘While he was shepherding the herd’ Buffalo6a Bhoono hano yaarëësyanga urusikö
urwöndë
‘Now while he was shepherding one day’
Buffalo16a Hano suwaabho yighuurë igho ‘When their father heard this’ Buffalo17a Hano yaaghëëyë ‘When he had gone’
(54) After the main clause
Buffalo12b akakamba akaghemaaha eranywa amanshë ko-rotare
‘until he saw it drinking water at the rock’
From these examples, it is evident that all of the adverbial clauses that appear before the main clauses function as temporal points of departure. Furthermore, in these two narratives the adverbial clause that occurs at the end of clauses, after the main verb, expresses the time at which an event was completed (Buffalo12b).
7.2 Relative clauses
Relative clauses are dependent clauses that describe or identify a noun phrase. In Suba-Simbiti the relative clause is most often constructed using a relative pronoun which agrees in noun class with the noun it modifies. However, a relative clause can also be constructed using a relative marker that is prefixed to a verb. The following two sections look at two common functions of the relative clause in Suba-Simbiti: identifying particular features of major participants who are introduced and identifying
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participants. Relative clauses also appear in sentences with an identificational articulation focus structure, which are discussed in section 6.5.
7.2.1 Relative clauses identifying particular features of major participants
Although relative clauses do not introduce participants into a narrative in Suba-Simbiti, they do appear in presentational sentences that introduce participants. In this environment relative clauses provide some identifying features of the participant who is introduced. Consider the following examples:
(55) Relative clauses introducing participant
Buffalo1b ono akobherekerwanga igha Bhiraghë ‘who was called Birage’
Buffalo3b ono yaarëësyanga situgho wonswe ‘who was shepherding the herds with him’
Simbiti People11b ono yaarë okobherekerwanga igha Iryënyi ‘who was called Iryenyi’ Crocodile6c ono yaarë mu-bhwato ‘who was in the boat’ Water 1b ono yaarenga na bhakaaye abhabhërë ‘who had two wives’
7.2.2 Relative clauses identifying entities
Another common function of the relative clause in Suba-Simbiti is to identify an entity that is mentioned in a preceding clause. These are all restrictive relative clauses, because they restrict the reference of the noun phrase.
In the narrative “Water” the origin of two different kinds of water is identified using restrictive relative clauses.
(56)Restrictive relative clauses
Water3 amanshë ghano gharëngë mu-kisima ikya Mösëërö
‘water that is in the Moseero well’ Water7d–e amanshë ghano ghatarë agha ikisima keera ‘water that was not from that well’ Relative clauses that identify entities most commonly follow the main clause on which they are dependent.
8 Reported speech
This section examines reported speech in Suba-Simbiti, including how direct and indirect speech are used, and the use of speech introducers and vocatives.
8.1 Direct and indirect speech
Direct speech is the default means of reporting speech in the text corpus. There are very few examples of indirect speech in the text corpus. Consider example (57):
(57)Water 6
Bhoono ömöntö uyö a-ka-teebhy-a bhakaaye bhonswe igho abhabhërë now 1.person 1.DEM_REF 3SG-NARR-tell-FV 2.wife 2.all complete 2.two igha bha-ghi bha-mo-reet-er-e amanshë agha mu-kisima kiyö COMP 3PL-go:SBJ 3PL-3SG-bring-APPL-SBJ 6.water 6.ASS 18.LOC-7.well 7.DEM_REF
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The complementizer igha can be used to introduce direct or indirect speech. However, the use of the third person plural subject marker and third person singular object marker in example (57) shows that this is indirect speech, since the referent of the subject is the addressee, and the referent of the object is the speaker in this particular speech event.
8.2 Speech introducers in direct speech
In Suba-Simbiti direct speech is almost always introduced by the complementizer igha, which normally follows some form of a speech verb.
(58) Origin 20b–c
... bha-bha-bhööry-a igha bhare abhaana na=bha-wë mö-re 3PL-3PL-ask-FV COMP 2PL 2.child COP=2.ASS-who 2PL-LOC
‘...they asked them, “You children, whose children are you?’’ ’
There are a few instances, however, where no speech verb is present or the complementizer igha is not used. Consider these examples:
(59)Inheritance 16b–d
a-ka-haan-w-a eketabho igha suwëënyu ya-a-ghamb-irë igha umwandö 3SG-NARR-give-PASS-FV 7.book COMP father:2SG.POSS 3SG-PST-say-PROX COMP 3.inheritance ughwaho ne=ketabho keno
3.2SG.POSS COP=7.book 7.DEM_PROX
‘He was given a book, “Your father said that your inheritance is this book.’’ ’ (60)Inheritance 17–18
A-ka-ghamb-a Ah nö=öni na-a-hansh-irë Taata... 3SG-NARR-say-FV EXCL COP=1SG 1SG-PST-love-PROX father
‘He said, ‘Ah, it is me who loved Father...’
In example (59) the complementizer igha is present without a speech verb to introduce the speech act. On the other hand, in example (60) a speech verb is present without igha.
8.3 Vocatives
The text corpus contains some examples of vocatives, expressions that are used to attract the hearer’s attention. The vocative always refers to the addressee and always occurs in direct speech.
(61)Buffalo 15
A-ka-her-r-a suwaabho amangʼana igha Taata engʼera eno öröndë 3SG-NARR-take-APPL-FV father:3PL.POSS 6.news COMP father 9.buffalo 9.REL 11.DEM_DIST yi-it-irë engʼombe iyëëtö n-gi-it-irë
9:PST-kill-PROX 9.cow 9.1PL.POSS 1SG-9-PST:kill-PROX
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12a --- Akaghamba igha [12b–13]
he.said [NARR] that
12b
[Sengʼombe seno sërëngë ka hano--- muushe okohaana bhano bharëngë yeeka hano na oora uwa mo-maghinga
Preposed cows these
[PROX] which.are [HAB] at.home here
you.come [SUB] to.give [INF]
these [PROX] who.are [HAB] at.home here and that [DIST] of in-islands
13
Kasi oora uwa bhoraaya--- muushe komohaana Preposed eketabho keno
nkyo mötëghëëyë] but that [DIST] of
Europe
you.come [SUB] to.give.him [INF]
book this [PROX] is.that
I.have.left.for.him [ANT]
14a Bhoono omoghaaka oora akaheta
now old.man that [DIST] he.passed [NARR]
14b --- akakwa
he.died [NARR]
15a Abhandë bhano bhakatwenerwa sengʼombe seera
others these [PROX] they.were.bequeathed [NARR]
cows those [DIST]
15b kora oora uwa
ko-maghinga wonswe
akatwenerwa even that [DIST] of
at-islands also
he.was.bequethed [NARR]
16a
[Hano uwa bhoraaya oora yaaghya ukuusha] when of Europe that [DIST] he.went [P3] to.come(2)
16b --- akahaanwa [16a] eketabho igha [16c–16d]
he.was.given [NARR] book that
16c
[suwënyu yaaghambirë ighayour.father he.said [P1] that
16d
umwandö ughwaho ne-ketabho keno]inheritance your is-book this [PROX]
17a --- Akaghamba
[17b–18d] he.said [NARR]
17b
[Ah --- ---Ah
18a
Nö-öni naahanshirë taatais-me I.loved.him [P1] father
18b
iyakë --- akörrë ahaayë abhandë ëbhëntöhow he.has.done [ANT]
he.gave [P1]
others wealth
18c
kasi --- ---but
18d
öni --- angʼaayë Preposed eketabho]me he.has.given.me [ANT] book
19a Bhoono
öröndë rono
--- akaraara
now
another(day) this [PROX]
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19b --- akaroota aratëëbhibwa
igha [19c–19d] he.dreamed [NARR]
he.is.told [PRES]
that
19c
[--- Honyora eketabho ikyaho kiyöopen book your that [REF]
19d
ahasë hano handëkirwë igha Mataayo]place where it.is.written [ANT] that Matthew
20 Eketabho kiyö ni Ibhibhuria yaarë
book that [REF] is Bible it.be
21a
[Nyinkyo hano --- yaabhökirë]morning when he.awoke [P1]
21b --- Ti-yaaröndërrëyi
[21a]
amangʼana ghayö hë
not-he.follow.up matters these [REF] NEG
22 Urusikö
urwöndë ghwiki
--- akaroota bhuyöbhuyö
day
another again
he.dreamed [NARR] same.thing
23a
[Bhoono hano --- bhwakëëyë]now when sun.rose [P1]
23b --- akaghoota [23a] eketabho keera
he.held [NARR] book that [DIST]
23c --- akakehonyora ahasë aha Mataayo
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24a
[Bhuyö --- yaakëhönyöyë igho]thus he.opened.it [P1]
completely
24b --- akasikana-mo [24a] ishëëki iya bënki [24c–24e]
he.found-in [NARR] check of bank
24c
[eno --- yöörökyanga igha[24d–24e]
which it.was.showing [P2.HAB] that
24d
[--- ena seeherait.has money
24e
seno --- sëkërrë ëbhëntö bheera bhawamwabho bhaatwënëëywë] which it.has.exceeded [ANT] wealth that [DIST] of their.place
they.were.bequethed [P1]
25 Këmwë umumura uyö akahaatera emeremo gheera yaakoranga
immediately youth that [REF] he.left [NARR] work that [DIST] he.was.doing [P2.HAB]
26a --- Akaasha
he.came [NARR]
26b --- akahaghaasha waabho hayö
he.built [NARR] their.place there [REF]
27a --- Yaabha umwamë kora bhoono igho
he.was [P3] rich.person even now
completely
27b we akötöörya abha waabho hayö
it.is.he he.helps (people)of their.place there [REF]
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28a
[Ku bhuyö hano--- ohaaywë ëkëntö]
therefore when you.be.given [SUB] thing
28b --- otakakesera hë [28a]
you.not.refuse NEG
29 Ekesaka --- bhakunyiira Preposed mo emeremo
gërëngë
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Dooley, Robert A., and Stephen H. Levinsohn. 2001. Analyzing discourse: A manual of basic concepts. Dallas: SIL International.
Maho, Jouni. 2003. A classification of the Bantu languages: An update of Guthrie’s referential system. In Derek Nurse and Gérard Philippson (eds.), The Bantu languages, 639–651. New York: Routledge. Werth, Paul. 1999. Text worlds: Representing conceptual space in discourse. Harlow, United Kingdom: