3.3.1 Kanji directly contradicting an idea explicitly expressed
Where kanji is used in direct contradiction, the second proposition which it introduces is always the more important. In the example below from 03 Hyena and Pied Crow, initially introducing Hyena and Pied
Crow as friends, the import of the sentence is ‘Hyena and Pied Crow were friends, but they weren’t really friends’. Note that this is also an example of the use of kanji to present the thematic problem or conflict
in a narrative see section 3.3.4 below.
03 Hyena and Pied Crow kanji used to directly contradict idea expressed in previous clause
1a. Litunu namu
Nashove vanu ava
kudyavalananga Hyena and
Pied Crow people these
were.friends 1b.
kanji Nashove
hashiwanawananga vila
but Pied Crow
he.was.not.going.around only
Hyena and Pied Crow were great friends, but Pied Crow was not happy in their friendship…
3.3.2 Kanji in replacement focus constructions
This use of kanji is well illustrated in the replacement focus construction example below from 07 Mother and child. In this sentence there is a situation of prototypical contrast; that is, there is one point of
similarity—what someone is like—and two points of difference—wife versus husband; brave versus cowardly. Note that the positive statement is given first, and then the negative.
07 Mother and child kanji in prototypical contrast construction
14b. nkongwe aju
avele nkongwe namene
woman this was
woman very 14c.
kanji nnume ntwagwe
avele likule
but man her.husband
was coward
“….that woman was very brave, unlike her fearful husband—what a coward” In the following example of replacement focus from 03 Hyena and Pied Crow, the positive statement
that occurs first is that Hyena is a meat-eater, but despite this he will not eat his friend Pied Crow. Hyena and Pied Crow 5b
5a. Nangu
ninkushulula mwiu
I eat.meat
true 5b.
kanji wako O
--- anikumamena.
but You
I.will.not.eat.” “I’m a carnivore, that’s true, but I’m not going to eat you.”
3.3.3 Kanji countering an implicit expectation
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