Kabwa Walker 2011:39–40 Various speech verbs occur in speech orienters in Kabwa. A speech verb is obligatory and an invariable
quotative marker the complementizer ega occurs in about half of all speech orienters.
8.3 A proposed linguistic cycle for speech orienters
The speech orienters described in §8.2 reflect what I believe to be different stages in a ‘linguistic cycle’ Hodge 1970 in which quotative markers develop from speech verbs and are then lost and replaced by
new quotative markers derived from different speech verbs, and so on. The stages of this proposed linguistic cycle are described below, with representative languages listed in parenthesis.
•
Stage A: Various lexical verbs are used to introduce speech with one verb with a general meaning of ‘say, tell’ predominating; a verb is the sole speech orienter, since there is no quotative. Rangi
• Stage B: One lexical verb with a general meaning of ‘say’ occurs in almost all speech orienters,
either as the only verb of speech or in combination with other speech verbs, and does not require the support of a quotative marker or complementizer. Digo
• Stage C1: As in Stage B, but the infinitive form of the verb ‘say’ functions as a complementizer not
just with speech verbs but also with verbs of perception, cognition andor intention. Bena •
Stage C2: As in Stage C1, but the verb becomes phonologically reduced and ‘defective’. Malila •
Stage D: The original verb ‘say’ or a specific form of it develops into a quotative marker or complementizer which is almost obligatory in every speech orienter; other speech verbs possibly
including a new lexical verb ‘say’ may precede the new quotative marker, but cannot occur without it. Jita
• Stage E1: The quotative marker or complementizer becomes optional and may be preceded by a
variety of speech verbs possibly including a new lexical verb ‘say’ which may occur with or without the quotative marker. Suba-Simbiti, Kwaya
• Stage E2: Various optional quotative markers occur, optionally preceded by a variety of speech
verbs. Fuliiru and Makonde •
Stage F: The quotative marker or complementizer can no longer function alone as a speech orienter; a lexical speech verb is obligatory except in closed conversations and the quotative marker or
complementizer becomes less frequent. Kabwa, some Kwaya texts •
Stage Aʹ: A quotative marker or complementizer no longer occurs before direct speech, leaving various lexical verbs as the sole speech orienters, with one verb with a general meaning of ‘say,
tell’ predominating. Rangi
9 Conclusion
Narrative texts from twelve eastern Bantu languages were studied. The main findings of this study are summarized below.
9.1 Structure of eastern Bantu narrative texts
In all of the climactic eastern Bantu narrative texts it is possible to identify the orientation, inciting episode, developmental episodes, peak episode, denouement and conclusion. In Kwaya and Digo,
songs—often containing nonsense words, archaic language or another language entirely—are sometimes sung by a major participant who is in trouble at places where important developments occur in the story.
In all eastern Bantu languages, many paragraph divisions are marked by points of departure with temporal points of departure predominating. Most languages make use of tail-head linkage to maintain
continuity at various points in a narrative, and in many texts tail-head linkage has the additional function of highlighting the following event. Tail-head linkage in Jita does not signal discontinuities and
thus do not indicate paragraph breaks.
Thematic development markers do not occur in Digo, Jita and Kwaya. In other languages they take various forms such as connectives, as in Ekoti, Suba-Simbiti, Bena, Malila; demonstratives, as in Fuliiru
and Makonde; and locative demonstratives, as in Kabwa.
9.2 Connectives
The variety of connectives used differs between languages, ranging from nine intersentential connectives in Suba-Simbiti to five in Bena and Malila, of which all but two are very infrequent. Cognate connectives
do not necessarily have the same discourse functions; for example, the class 16 relative pronoun pe in Bena introduces temporal relative clauses glossed as ‘when, after’ but the cognate form in the closely
related language Malila introduces main clauses glossed as ‘then’ whilst it is the class 14 relative pronoun we that introduces temporal relative clauses.
The comitative marker na ‘and, with’ or a cognate form occurs in all of the languages surveyed, but is extremely rare inter-clausally and inter-sententially. When it does occur, it typically serves one of
the following three functions: 1 it connects non-sequential events, 2 it introduces the most important event in a sequence of events, or gives prominence to a whole conjunct, or 3 it indicates contrast
between participants in conjoined clauses.
Adversatives and concessives are extremely rare, and are often borrowed words. Suba-Simbiti has just kasi ‘but’ which occurs in only three texts, indicating either a contrast between participants or that
the following clause contains surprising or unexpected events. The largest inventory of adversatives and concessives is found in Jita, but this still only amounts to three expressions, one of which is borrowed
from Swahili.
Text-structuring connectives, which signal some kind of discontinuity within the text and often indicate paragraph breaks, were found in Digo, Jita, Kabwa, Malila and Makonde. The most common
function of text-structuring connectives in the languages surveyed is to resume the event-line after background information, extended direct speech or a song.
9.3 Participant reference
