7.1b ni chisa ambacho chaniphaha
miaka minji yotsupa
is story which
it got me years
many which passed 7.1c
na n’chisa ambacho n’cha kpweli.
and is story which is of
true ‘The story which I will tell you now is a story which happened to me many years ago and it
is a story which is true.’ In the scene setting episode, before the event line has begun, major participants who have already
been introduced can be referred to using a non-proximal demonstrative; the non-proximal demonstrative may precede the noun, as in 2.6a Hiye mchetu mvyere That senior wife and 2.6e hiye mwanawe that
child of hers, or it may follow the noun, as in 4.3a Mjeni hiye That stranger. Minor participants, in contrast, are referred to using distal demonstratives, e.g. yuya mchetu mdide that junior wife 2.6d.
1.3.2 Inciting episode
The inciting episode
2
is the point at which the event line starts and the often problematic situation upon which the story hinges is introduced. A time reference such as Siku mwenga One day 1.3 may
indicate the start of the inciting episode see also 2.7a. This is often the point at which one or more of the major participants performs his or her first action on the event line. At this point, a major participant
which has already been introduced is sometimes referred to using a proximal demonstrative after the noun, e.g. mutu hiyu person this 1.3 and Asichana hinya these girls:
3.2 Asichana
hinya a-phiy-a
ku-enda-nyendek-a. 2.girls
2.
DEM
_
PROX
3
PL
.
PST
-go-
FV INF
-
ITIVE
-walk-
FV
‘These two girls went to go and walk.’ In Text 7, the inciting episode, if it can be called this, describes the narrator’s decision to leave
home early since this caused him to encounter a lioness on his way to work. This episode begins with a detailed time reference:
7.2 Kala ni
mwaka wa 1969 mwezi
wa phiri
tarehe kumi
na tahu.
it was year
3of 1969 month of second
date ten
and three
‘It was in the year 1969 on the 13th of February.’ Verbs of movement andor grammaticalized movement expressions are common in the inciting
episode, as in the example above from Text 3 and the following example see also 2.12c and 6.3: 1.4c
fisi ra-kpwenda-m-fukul-a
mura dibwa-ni,
5.hyena 5.
PST
-
ITIVE
-3
SG
-dig_up-
FV
18.
DEM
_
DIST
5.pit-
LOC
1.4d ri-chi-m-gurut-a
ku-phiy-a na=ye.
5-
CONS
-3
SG
-drag-
FV INF
-go-
FV COM
=3
SG
.
REF
‘a hyena came and dug her up from in the pit, and it dragged her to go with her.’
1.3.3 Developmental episodes
The developmental episodes advance the situation introduced in the inciting episode, and lead in a climactic narrative to the peak; for this reason, they are also referred to as ‘pre-peak’ episodes.
2
Also called the complicating action Labov and Waletzky 1967:93, cited in Stegen 2011:109.
Throughout the developmental episodes, the default way of referring to the major participants is with agreement markers only or distal demonstratives, typically yuya for third person singular referents
and hara for third person plural referents see 3.14b, 3.15a, and 3.16a. This is also the default way of referring to major participants in episodic narratives see Text 4. There may be a number of paragraphs,
each starting with a past tense with subsequent consecutive tense marking see section 2 for further details.
Direct speech discussed in section 8 may be introduced with the verb amba say either with past or consecutive tense marking, or with the continuous aspect marker na- as in 6.10, 6.13, 6.14, and 6.15.
In Text 5, all of the speeches introduced with the verb amba say use the continuous aspect marker na- from 5.11 forward; lines 3–10 function like an inciting episode, in that they set the scene for the rest of
the story, and in this part of the narrative, the consecutive tense marker chi- is used when the protagonist is speaking to himself 5.3 and
5.8 .
1.3.4 Peak episode
