Makonde Narrative Discourse
Makonde Narrative Discourse
Rhoda Martyn Leach
SIL Language and Culture Documentation and Description 29
©2015 SIL International®
ISSN 1939-0785
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Abstract
Abstract Abbreviations Introduction
1 Constituent elements of a narrative text
1.1 The orientation section
2.3.1 Marked initial subjects that are not points of departure 2.4 Topic frames
2.4.1 Topic frames relating to possessives 2.4.2 Topic frames not relating to possessives 2.5 Tail-head devices
2.5.1 Perfective tail-head structures
3 Connectives
3.1 Juxtaposition
3.2 Napanelo ‘then, so, now’
3.2.1 Use of napanelo and napane to introduce new episodes 3.2.2 Use of napanelo to introduce background material
3.2.3 Use of napanelo to introduce thematically significant information 3.2.4 Use of napanelo to highlight significant information in a smaller unit 3.3 Kanji ‘but’
3.3.1 Kanji directly contradicting an idea explicitly expressed 3.3.2 Kanji in replacement focus constructions
3.3.3 Kanji countering an implicit expectation
3.3.4 Kanji introducing the central conflict of the narrative 3.4 Na ‘and’
3.4.1 The use of na ‘and’ at phrase level 3.4.2 The use of na clause-initially 3.5 Mwiu ‘indeed, so’
3.5.1 Mwiu giving confirmation in a stimulus-response situation 3.5.2 Mwiu giving confirmation in a non-stimulus-response situation 3.6 Bai ‘so’
3.6.1 Bai used to resume the event-line 3.6.2 Bai used developmentally
4 Participant reference
4.1 Introduction of participants
4.1.1 Introduction into a new mental representation 4.1.2 Introduction into an existing mental representation
4.1.3 Introduction of participants that can be assumed within an existing representation 4.2 Reference to participants within narratives
4.2.1 Description of the different participant reference options
4.2.2 Role within narrative discourse of the different participant reference options
5 Tense and aspect
5.1 Description of the use of tense and aspect in Makonde narrative
5.1.1 Default narrative (ku- + verb stem)
5.1.2 Past perfective (-ndí-)
5.1.3 Past imperfective (-shinda-)
5.1.4 Anterior (-ndi-)
5.1.5 Present participle (subject prefix + stem)
5.1.6 The -ka- consecutive
5.1.7 Purposive (na- + stem)
5.1.8 Present progressive
5.1.9 The narrative voice
5.2 ‘Mother and child’: tense and aspect charted in a whole text
6 Information structure
6.1 Sentence focus (presentational; thetic)
6.1.1 Presentational sentence focus
6.1.2 Event reporting sentence focus
6.2 Predicate focus (topic-comment)
6.2.1 Object preposing in predicate focus sentences
6.3 Argument focus (focus-presupposition; identificational)
6.3.1 Postposed subjects in argument focus
6.3.2 Conjoint verbs in argument focus
6.3.3 Ni structures in argument focus
7 Reported Speech
7.1 The placing and role of speech in Makonde narrative
7.2 Speech introducers: their use in Makonde discourse
7.2.1 No speech introducer
7.2.2 The kushidoni group: kushidoni, kudoni, kudo, doni, do
7.2.3 Speech verbs in speech introducers
= clitic DEP dependent aspect PFV perfective aspect—
1,1A,2 noun class DM discourse marker PL plural
3SG ETC. 3rd person singular etc. EMPH emphatic aspect pod points of departure
ANT anterior aspect EXCLAM exclamation POS possessive marker
APPL applicative suffix FUT future tense POT potential aspect
ASS associative marker FV final vowel PST past tense
CAUS causative suffix HAB habitual aspect Q question marker
COM comitative marker HOD hodiernal past tense RECIP reciprocal suffix
COMP complementizer IDEO ideophone REF referential marker
CONS consecutive tense IMPF imperfective aspect REFL reflexive marker
CONT continuous aspect INF infinitive prefix REL relative marker
COP copula INTERJ interjection SEQ sequential tense
DEG Degree adverb ITIVE itive marker STAT stative suffix
DEM_DIST distal demonstrative LOC locative marker SUB subjunctive suffix
DEM_MR metarepresentational
demonstrative
NEG negative marker TDM thematic development
marker
DEM_NP non-proximal demonstrative
PAS passive marker VAR variant form of
demonstrative
DEM_PROX proximal demonstrative PERS persisitive aspect VENT venitive marker
This study describes some of the discourse features of Makonde, a Bantu P23 language spoken on the Makonde Plateau in northern Mozambique.1
A note on the texts
All of the examples quoted in this study are taken from a corpus of eight texts, which are set out in charted form in the appendix (see the example from 03 Hyena and Pied Crow below). The columns are headed: Ref (reference number.), Con (connective), (Pre-nuclear) pre-nuclear element, SUBJECT (subject), VERB (verb), OBJ/COMP (object or complement), and Adjunct (adjunct).
Ref Con Pre-nuclear SUBJECT VERB OBJ/COMP Adjunct
16a. Paukile
ndawika kukaja
--- kumwaulila ndyagwe do:
When.he.went and.arrived at.home
told.her his.wife thus,
16b. Ndyangu taleka shakulya
“My.wife cook food.staple
16c. imbogwa (O) namanya nimwene (S).
sauce I.will.know I.myself.”
When he got home, he told his wife, “Get some food ready for me, wife—but as for the meat sauce, I’ll deal with that.”
Regarding each chart, Makonde is given in black type with a word-for-word gloss appearing in italics directly underneath. Relative clauses are marked in bold blue and speech in bold green. Where constituents have been moved out of their normal position, this is marked either by an accompanying tag as above, or where a space has been left with a tag indicating the new position, e.g., [AFTER VERB]. In addition, there is a dotted line dividing the Makonde text from the word-for-word gloss, a light solid line dividing clauses, and a heavier solid line dividing sentences.
Lastly, when an extract is quoted in the sections that follow from any of the texts, the particular Makonde word that is being described is highlighted in bold; if the extract is quoting speech, which is already in bold, the word being described is underlined. In the appendix, free translations are given independently for each complete text. For extracts quoted in the sections that follow, the free translation is given in italics directly under the quote, as shown above. In section 5 on tense/aspect in Makonde narrative, all quotes are tagged with tense/aspect markers.
The text is comprised of five folktales and three true stories. A summary of each story is given below.
1The study follows the format and terminology employed in ‘Digo Narrative Discourse’, Nicolle (2011) and in the
Malila and Fuliiru discourse write-ups (see bibliography). The Makonde language has therefore been referred to throughout this description as Makonde, and not as Plateau Shimakonde, see Leach, MB (2010).
Folktales:
01 Horned Animals There is a party for all the horned animals. Rabbit disguises himself with wax horns and gate-crashes the party, but is discovered and killed.
02 Lion and Hamerkop Lion gets a bone stuck in his throat; Hamerkop pulls it out. Jackal reproaches Lion for not having thanked Hamerkop, but Lion is unrepentant.
03 Hyena and Pied Crow Hyena and Pied Crow are friends, but Pied Crow is worried he will be eaten. He sets a trap for Hyena to test his friendship, which Hyena fails. Their friendship ends.
04 Elephant and Nightjar
A bird named “Nightjar” asks Elephant not to step on her eggs. When he refuses and crushes them, she predicts his death from remorse. He goes home and dies.
05 Fisherman A very poor fisherman is given all he could ever want by a magic bird—with
one prohibition—not to open a door. When he does so, he returns to poverty.
True stories:
07 Mother and child During the war, a mother leaves her child in an occupied village and returns to rescue him, despite her husband’s prohibition, showing that she is the more courageous than he.
08 Archbishop When the Archbishop visits a village, he tells the church women not to lay out cloths for him to walk on, as if he were God.
09 Ákalimanya A hunter, named Ákalimanya, runs out of bullets and persuades his village to help him dig an elephant trap. When the elephant is caught, he refuses to share the meat with them and eventually is forced to leave the village.
1 Constituent elements of a narrative text
In this study of Makonde discourse the text corpus is restricted to ‘climactic’ narratives; that is,
narratives in which there is a problem or conflict that needs to be resolved. ‘Episodic’ narratives, which are not represented in this text corpus, involve a series of related events, usually involving mini-conflicts en route, but without an overarching theme; an example would be travel stories.
Climactic narratives can be divided into a number of sections, or constituent elements, each with its own function. These are referred to here as the orientation, the inciting episode, developmental episodes, peak, denouement and conclusion. The orientation section introduces the narrative and sets the scene; the inciting episode gets the story moving with the first action on the event line. Developmental episodes, which may be quite a few in number depending on the complexity of the story, build up the tension as the conflict is developed. Then, in the peak episode the story is brought to a climax, which is usually followed by a denouement and a conclusion. Also worthy of note is that in the denouement outstanding issues are resolved and events reflected on, whereas in the conclusion is the wrap-up, bringing the story to a definite close.
Section Horned
1.1 The orientation section
An orientation section is there to create a mental picture for the audience of the setting in which the drama is going to develop: time and place, participants, key themes can all be presented. In Makonde folktales, however, very little is obligatory. The very few ‘absolutes’ for the orientation section of a folktale include an absence of direct speech, a presentation of the key theme, and the presentation of at least one major participant.
In common with other Bantu languages, the following features may be present in the orientation of a folktale:
• a past tense of the verb kupagwa ‘to be, exist’
• a postposed subject (only with the verb kupagwa)
• a numeral; this is not always attached to the protagonist; it can refer to anything thematically prominent, such as a story itself, or the location of the story (see 09 Ákalimanya 02). It is not always the number one; in 04 Elephant and Nightjar 01, for example, the narrator says he wants to tell a story of two animals, nkong'o wavakoko vavili.
01 Horned Animals use of kupagwa, postposed subject and numeral in orientation
1. Nangu ngulota kuvalanga nkong'o umo
wavanyama.
I want to tell story one
of.animals.
2. [AFTER VERB] Vandípagwa vanyama vadimembe. (S)
They.existed animals of.horns I want to tell you a tale about animals.
Once there were animals with horns.
However, many folktales do not start with these features. Those that do not start with a kupagwa +
postposed subject construction tend to start straight in with a conjoint structure (see section 6.3.2), a ni
construction (see section 6.3.3), or a past imperfective, describing major participants who are known characters, such as: lion, hyena, elephant etc, and often introducing key thematic material directly without preamble.
02 Lion and Hamerkop use of present conjoint in orientation
1a. Ntumi ava PRES CONJ * nkoko
Lion is animal
1b. ánamamena dinyama.
who.eats meats.
Lion is an animal that eats meat.
One feature that appears in some other Bantu languages is locative inversion for the introduction of participants, where the verb agrees with one of the locative noun classes rather than the noun class of the participant.2 We do not find this occurring in our text corpus in Makonde.
Relative clauses and associative structures (in blue in these charts) may occur but are not obligatory in the orientations of Makonde folktales, although they are frequently attached to the introduction of one of the main participants. 02 Lion and hamerkop (see example above) has a subject relative clause
describing the protagonist, for example; and in both 01 Horned Animals and 04 Elephant and Nightjar we find the protagonist described by an object relative clause and an associative structure respectively (see below).
01 Horned Animals object relative clause describing protagonist in orientation section
6a. Napanelo [AFTER VERB] kupagwa nyama jumo (S)
Now existed animal one
6b. wavanshamanga shingula
whom.they.call rabbit Now there was once an animal called Rabbit….
2van Otterloo, R. (2011) section 1.2.1.
04 Elephant and Nightjar associative structure describing protagonist in orientation section
3b. na Nalubwabwa ni shuni
and Nightjar it.is bird
3c. wakunyambikanga namene
of.being.despised very. ….and Nightjar is a bird, of no significance at all.
For the use of demonstratives following the introduction of major participants, see section 4.2.2.v.1. For the use of topic frames in the orientation section (see section 2.4).
While the introductory features referred to above are all optional, what does seem to be obligatory in our text corpus is a presentation of the key theme. This is presented in many different ways, there is no standardized formula; however, there is often a more highly stylized type of discourse used to draw attention to the thematic material with features such as argument focus sentences (see section 6.3), parallelism, repetition, ni structures (see section 6.3.3), and topic frames (see section 2.4).
In the example below from the orientation section of 04 Elephant and Nightjar, the contrast between the relative sizes, and power, of the Elephant and the Nightjar is highlighted by parallel clauses each using a ni copula. The contrast is thematically significant in the story.
04 Elephant and Nightjar parallelism using the ni copula highlighting thematically significant contrast
3a. Nnembo aju ni nkoko nkumene
namene
katika mumwitu uti pakati pavanyama
Elephant this it.is animal big very concerning in.bush all among the.animals
3b. na Nalubwabwa ni shuni
and Nightjar it.is bird
3c. wakunyambikanga namene
of.being.despised very.
The Elephant is a huge animal, the biggest of all the animals of the bush—and Nightjar is a bird, of no significance at all.
The orientation sections of true, real-life stories are, perhaps unexpectedly, slightly more formulaic than those of folktales. None of the above features such as the use of kupagwa, postposed subjects, etc. is seen. Instead, the orientation starts with an author presentation such as ‘I want to tell the story of…’; this can occur in folktales (see 01 Horned Animals, 04 Elephant and Nightjar) but there it is optional. This is then followed by a fairly exact reference to the time and place of the event being narrated; no folktale gives any specific details about time or location. It is also much more common for real-life stories to include a relative clause directly as the story opens. All of the real-life stories in this text corpus have relative clauses in either the first or the second line, attached to thematic material rather than to the introduction of a participant.
The examples below show author presentations, specific references to time and place, and relative clauses. In the first example, from 07 Mother and child, the author presentation in 01 gives thematically important material—it is a story set during the war—and then sentence 02, involving a relative clause, gives the time and place.
07 Mother and child true story showing author presentation, time, place and relative clause
1. --- Ngulota
kuvalanganga
maimyo apaing'ondo.
2a. Maimyo ala apaing'ondo
ni ing'ondo ailá itandi
Story this of.time.war
it.is war that first
2b. itandéke akuno ku
Moshambiki yavyaka kumi. that.happened here in Mozambique
of.years ten. I want to tell a story about something that happened during the war.
This story took place at the time of the first war here in Mozambique—the ten-year war.3
In the example below from 08 Archbishop, the author presentation in 01 gives the time, and the place comes immediately afterwards—‘here’, i.e., the location of which the narrator is when speaking— in the first clause of sentence 02. The relative, in 1a, stresses the eyewitness aspect of the narrative. (Sentence 02 has been analyzed here as part of the orientation section, but it shares some features with the inciting episode which starts properly in 03, such as a use of the default narrative and the verb ‘came’ (see 1.2 below), and could be viewed as bridging the two episodes.
08 Archbishop true story showing author presentation, time, place and relative clause
1a. Nangu ngulota kuvalanganga shinu
I I.want to.tell thing
1b. shangugwéne mumwaka elfu
mbili na saba.
that.I.saw in.year thousand two and seven.
2a. Nang'olo bispo Luis Simão kwida akuno
Old.one bishop Luis Simão came here, I want to tell you about something that I saw myself in 2007.
The Archbishop Luis Simão came here…
In many ways the true-story conclusions reflect their orientation sections (see section 1.6 below).
1.2 The inciting episode
The inciting episode in Makonde narratives shows many of the same features that have been observed in other Bantu languages.
The key feature, which occurs in almost all texts, is the connective Napanelo ‘Now/then’ right at the beginning of the section. This is usually followed immediately by a temporal point of departure (see section 2.1) which in most texts is muliduva limo ‘on one day’, or a variant of this such as liduvalyavaleke, ‘the day that they came’.
In the example below from 05 Fisherman, there is the classic combination Napanelo muliduva limo:
3This was the War of Independence from the Portuguese. The second war was the Civil War.
05 Fisherman ‘Napanelo muliduva limo’ opening the inciting episode
8a. Napanelo muliduva limo nae àvele mwingalava yake
Now on.day one he being in.boat his
8b. kutwala kwaloka DEF NARR shuni (S)
then came bird
8c. naikala pashanya mulingoti apalá
and.sat up.above on.mast there. Then one day he was in his boat when a bird came and settled above him up on the mast.
Equally frequent, there is a change in the verb form with the default narrative being introduced (see examples above and below). It is only in texts with informally structured orientations that this tense appears before the inciting episode. This is used from then on as the default tense, although many other tenses are used for specific purposes in this and later sections (for more detail, see section 5.1.) Note that the use of the -ka- consecutive below gives prominence to the default narrative speech introducer that follows it (see section 5.1.6).
03 Hyena and Pied Crow use of default narrative starting in the inciting episode
2a. Muliduva alyo --- vakaikala -KA-CONSECUTIVE pamo
On.day that they.sat together
2b. --- kumwaulila DEF NARR doni:
told.him thus,
2c. Nyaa wako namu
nangu
twadana vila.
“friend you with me we.follow.each.other only. So one day as they were sitting together, Pied Crow told his friend, “Listen, there’s a problem with us being friends, you and me…
In other Bantu languages it has been noted that there are frequently verbs of movement employed in the inciting episode.4 This is true also in Makonde narratives, but it seems that they often come in at
the end of the episode rather than the beginning, as can be seen in clause 8b in 05 Fisherman above, with the verb of motion kwaloka ‘to come’, as the bird comes and settles on the mast. Another example is from 08 Archbishop below, which has the same verb kwaloka ‘to come’, together with kugwilila ‘to land’, this time referring to an aeroplane coming and landing.
08 Archbishop use of verbs of motion ‘kwaloka’ and ‘kugwilila’ in the inciting episode
3a. Napanelo liduva
lyavaleke
vaaleke mundege vila
So day
that.they.came,
they.had.come in.aeroplane only
3b. mpaka ndagwilila mushiwanja akulá.
until and.landed on.airstrip there.
So they came by plane, and after a long journey landed over there on the airstrip.
4Nicolle, S. (2011), section 1.3.2.
The inciting episode in 04 Elephant and Nightjar opens and closes with verbs of motion; these refer to Elephant’s relentless progress as he eats his way through the bush (which is the point of conflict, since he is about to step on Nightjar’s eggs); the danger caused by his motion is reinforced by the parallel structure ending in …tu ‘just’ ...tu ‘just’.
04 Elephant and Nightjar inciting episode opening with verb of motion
4a. Napanelo muliduva
limo
Nnembo aju ashinapita
Now on.day one Elephant this he.was.passing
4b. alya mumwitu amu
he.eating in.bush this. Now one day Elephant was going along in the bush, eating.
04 Elephant and Nightjar inciting episode closing with verb of motion
6a. Bai Nnembo ankwida tu
So Elephant he.is.coming just
6b. --- ankulya tu
he.is.eating just. So Elephant keeps on coming, and keeps on eating.
In other Bantu languages it has also been observed that a major participant in a story usually performs the first action on the event line.5 In Makonde narratives it is helpful to distinguish between
two major participants, the protagonist and the antagonist. The protagonist is the main participant, the hero or heroine of the tale, while the antagonist is a major participant who acts as a foil to the
protagonist, often being the one who creates the conflict or problem situation. In our text corpus it is sometimes the protagonist who takes the initiative. Equally or more frequently, however, it is the antagonist who performs the first action while the protagonist is simply carrying on his daily business. The commonest scenario in this text corpus is that the orientation episode introduces the protagonist and gives his setting. In the inciting episode he is then described as continuing in this situation, at which point the action begins with the antagonist performing an action affecting him, or with some event happening to him.
For an example of the protagonist performing the first action on the event line, see the example from 03 Hyena and Pied Crow 02, above, where the Pied Crow challenges his friend Hyena about the relative strengths of his feelings of friendship and of his carnivorous tendencies. The example from 05
Fisherman 08 above, shows the antagonist, the magic bird, taking the initiative in the action, coming out of the blue to settle on the fisherman’s mast. The example below from 02 Lion and Hamerkop shows an event happening to the protagonist, precipitating the action. In this case the event is a bone getting stuck in the lion’s throat.
5Nicolle, S. (2011), section 1.3.2.
02 Lion and hamerkop event happens to the protagonist precipitating action of story
3a. Napanelo muliduva
limo
nae amamena inyama yake
Now on.day one he eating meat his
3b. [AFTER VERB] linímwikala ligwangwa (S) pang'ulo.
stuck.him bone at.throat. Now one day, while he was eating his meat, a bone got stuck in his throat.
In only one text in the text corpus, 07 Mother and child, does a minor character perform the first action in the narrative: this is when Portuguese soldiers invade the village, which precipitates the crisis resolved in the story. This could alternatively be interpreted, as above, as an event happening to the protagonist, the mother, rather than a minor participant starting the story line.
The other feature which occurs almost invariably in the inciting episode of Makonde narratives is the repetition of key ideas. Whether this is a verb, a relative clause relating to participants, or a noun phrase does not seem to be significant. What is significant is that by the end of the inciting episode, this thematic piece of information has been taken on board by the audience.
In the example below from 01 Horned Animals, the repetition is of the key phrase uti avalá vavénavo dimembe ‘all those horned animals’ and …uti vavénavo dimembe avalá ‘all those horned animals’ in 4a–b and 5. This is key information, as the reason Rabbit meets his end is because, as a non-horned animal, he has gatecrashed the horned animals’ party.
01 Horned Animals repetition in full of key idea: all those horned animals
4a. Kuvalalika uti avalá
Invited.them all those
4b. vavénavo dimembe
they.who.have horns
4c. vauke
they.should.go
4d. vakapite shikukulu asho.
they.should.pass feast this.
He invited every animal that had horns to come to this party.
And indeed all those horned animals began to get ready to go to the party.
In the example below, the key idea is lingwanga pang’ulo, the bone that has got stuck in Lion’s throat. This phrase is placed in the sentence-final focal position in two successive sentences for maximum impact.
02 Lion and hamerkop repetition in full of key idea: the bone stuck in Lion’s throat
3a. Napanelo muliduva
limo
nae amamena inyama yake
Now on.day one he eating meat his
3b. [AFTER VERB] linímwikala ligwangwa (S) pang'ulo.
4a. Nang'olo pashinu apalá
--- andílaga maduva oe
namene
Elder at.place that had.suffered days many very
4b. --- ashanga mwakulota
wondering how.to.want
4c. --- kuumila ligwangwa pang'ulo apa.
to.remove bone at.throat this. Now one day, while he was eating his meat, a bone got stuck in his throat.
Old Lion was there in awful pain for many days, at a complete loss as to how to get the bone out of his throat.
1.3 Developmental episodes
In developmental episodes the conflict or problem is developed, moving towards the resolution: there may be many successive developmental episodes, depending on the length and complexity of the narrative. Developmental episodes show a wide variety of discourse features, depending on their role in the narrative. In Makonde narratives, they frequently contain a high proportion of speech.
Although there is great variation between developmental episodes, they do have some common features. These features are described in more detail in the following sections of this study, and will only be referred to here in summary.
The first feature is the use of points of departure and connectives. Developmental episodes (DEs) frequently start with a point of departure. I refer to the temporal point of departure muliduva limo ‘one day’, introducing the DE no. 1 in 03 Hyena and Pied Crow (section 2.1), and perfective tail-head structures such as: tukawike apalá ‘when we arrived there’ opening the DE no. 3 in 09 Ákalimanya, (section 2.5.1).
Developmental episodes are also often introduced with a connective; the one most frequently is
napanelo ‘then, now’. It is used almost invariably for the introduction to the inciting episode, but is also used for introducing developmental episodes, such as 01 Horned Animals 7a at the beginning of DE no. 1 (section 3.2).
Another feature of developmental episodes in Makonde narratives is that subjects are usually made explicit even if there has not been any participant switch. This occurs both at the beginning and end of episodes. See for example the explicit participant marking in 01 Horned Animals 10a opening DE no. 2 (section 4.2.2.2.1), and in 01 Horned Animals 13a, closing the same episode.
The default narrative is used extensively in developmental episodes. In addition, the past perfective is often used for introducing new episodes. This occurs more frequently in the inciting episode, the denouement and the conclusion, but can also happen in developmental episodes. See for example 09
Ákalimanya 16a, where this tense introduces DE no. 2 (section 5.1.2).
1.4 The peak episode
The peak episode, which brings the story to its climax, is often highly-charged. This may be reflected in new discourse features, which mark a distinction between the end of the developmental episode and the climax described in the peak episode.
As in some other Bantu languages, there is a change in the use of verb tenses in the peak episode in Makonde. The default narrative does not drop out entirely. In some cases, such as 07 Mother and child
the default narrative continues to be used as the main tense, but this tends to occur in very short succinct peak episodes. Usually, some use of the default narrative is maintained, but with a much higher
09 Ákalimanya reduced use of default narrative tense in peak episode
40a. Kanji shinu ashi shindyaneka ANTERIOR do
But thing this was.seen thus,
40b. mushu
mwake mo
[AFTER VERB] vininkodya ANTERIOR vilwele vikumene namene (S).
future his that they.met.him illnesses great very.
41a. Vanavake kuula DEF NARR
Children.his got sick
41b. akashidoni -KA- NARRATIVE
he.said. thus,
41c. mwenu ngupwashela
“you(pl) help.me
41d. tuke kushipitali
let’s.go to.hospital.” But as it turned out, later on he had a problem with serious illness.
His children got sick, and he was saying, “Please help me, let’s go to the hospital.”
What is also interesting is that the peak episode is composed either completely or mostly of speech in more than half of the texts in this text corpus. This affects the features shown very significantly. For one thing, it tends to mean that in many cases the action is not spelt out: the audience is expected to draw conclusions from what has been said. For example, in the peak episode of 08 Archbishop below, where the church women have laid out cloths on the ground to welcome the bishop, his speech simply finishes with the question ‘who told you to do that’? This question is not answered, and the women are not explicitly told to take the cloths away. The audience understands from the peak episode speech that this reception committee has been stopped, which is confirmed by the denouement which states that ‘the thing was not done’ and that the women were very embarrassed. (Note that the speech introducer até doni introducing this peak episode declaration uses the anterior tense, the only speech introducer in the corpus to do so (see section 5.1.4 below).
08 Archbishop peak episode comprised of speech; action left to be inferred
8a. Vakamwau
-8b. um nangu hangunava shinu Nnungu.
“No, I I.am.not not.at.all God.
9a. Lyutu ali (O) apagwa Nnungu (S)
Place this is.being God,
9b. nangu - nimunu vila
I - I.person only
9c. na shinu ashi (O) alamulidilé nyani?
and thing this he.ordered.you who?”
02 Lion and hamerkop peak episode comprised of speech; participant’s reaction is theme of narrative
I I.have.thanked that.one,
20b. akalambwaladile nae (S)
he.should.thank he
20c. --- atwete lundomo lwake
he.who.took beak his
20d. --- kujela nkanywa mwangu
to.stick in.mouth my
20e. nangu bila kunkwanga lino.
I without to.scratch tooth.”
21. Aijá nangu nikaninnuma aijá.
That.one I I.could.have.chewed that.one.” 19 Lion replied, “You pipsqueak, what are you on about?
20 You think I should have thanked him? It’s he that should have thanked me, for letting him stick his beak into my mouth without me sinking my teeth into him.
21 I could have crunched him up.”
In other Bantu languages it has been observed that features such as interjections, a slowing down of the action (usually through repetition), and over-specification of referents (usually in these examples through use of independent pronouns) are often found in peak episodes.6 In the Makonde corpus these
features are predominantly found when the peak is communicated in speech, and much less so where the peak is a reported event in narrative.
In the peak episode from 03 Hyena and Pied Crow below, the independent pronouns have been highlighted in red. They all occur within speech. Vocatives with person markers (you.my-friend) have been included, as the person marker is not obligatory, compare nyangu ‘my.friend’ in 22f and unyangu
‘you.my.friend’ in clauses 24 and 25b. Note also the repetition of the theme of friendship ending, in clauses 23 and 25a, and the interjections ee and um in clauses 22c and 25b (ee, unusually, is outside speech).
03 Hyena and Pied Crow peak episode showing high density of independent pronouns within speech
22a. Patandile
6See van Otterloo, R. (2011) section 1.2.4; Eaton, H. (2011) section 1.3.4; and Nicolle, S. (2011) section 1.3.4.
22d. kwikala pashanya
You with me friendship does.not.exist.
24. Wako unyangu unkushulula namene.
You
you.my.friend
you.are.eating.meat very.
25a. Imbodi ai itimbikangila popo apa
Friendship this it.ends right.here here
25b. mwaa unyangu (S) um unkumamodya
because you.my.friend no you.are.getting.worse
25c. liduva na liduva
wako (S) nangu (O) unangumamena.
day and day
You me you.will.eat.me.”
22a But then just as he took hold of Pied Crow, about to break off a piece of meat, Pied Crow suddenly flew up and perched up on top of the house. He said, “Didn’t I say so, Hyena? 23 This is the end of our friendship.
24 Your problem is that you’re such a meat-eater.
25 And right here is where we stop being friends, because you’re getting worse and worse—and one of these days you’ll end up by eating me.”
The peak episode in 04 Elephant and Nightjar is also mostly speech, this time a tight-knit
conversation, and shows repetition of the theme, and also a frequent use of interjections. The theme is the loss of Elephant’s appetite, leading shortly to his death from hunger, and this theme is drawn out as the wife continues to press him to eat something, and Elephant continues to refuse. The interjections are marked in red.
04 Elephant and Nightjar peak episode showing slowing down of action and frequent use of
interjections
28a. Nae -
She,
28b. ii hashinapagwa shinu
“No, doesn’t.exist not
28c. ashikutishanga vila ajo (S)
she.was.threatening.you only that.one
28d. wako ikala apa
you stay here
28e. ulye!
29a. Nae --- do:
He thus,
29b. gwe! Wako haunatangole davo
“[interjection]! You don’t.talk like.this
29c. nangu (S) po panguvele
apa
hanguve dimongo
I where.I.am here I.don’t.have strength.
30a. Mwiu --- andidikila apalá
Truly he.bent.down there,
30b. ndyagwe --- do:
his.wife thus,
30c. mene twala shakulya ashi
“No take food this
30d. ulye
you.eat.”
31a. Kudo:
Say.thus:
31b. aa nangu (O) kulya aku hakunangunagwela
shinu
“Aah, I eating this is.not.pleasing.me nothing.”
32. Kumwisho
kwake nang'olo Nnembo andípela
At.end his old.one Elephant died.
28 “No,” she said, “it’s all nonsense; she was just making empty threats. Now you sit down here and have something to eat.”
29 “You watch out,” he replied, “you don’t know what you’re talking about—I feel all weak.”
30 He sat with bent head; his wife said to him, “Go on, just take this food and have something to eat.” 31 He said, “Don’t bother me, I just don’t feel at all like eating.”
32 And in the end old Elephant died.
The unusual peak episode is that in 05 Fisherman, which although being entirely non-speech narrative text, shows the features of increased vividness and detail that have been observed in other Bantu languages.7 Not only are there two different ideophones (one repeated three times) in the
following examples, but also two highly marked structures, a conjoint verb and a ni copula (see sections 6.3.2 and 6.3.3). The ideophones are marked in red. In this peak episode the protagonist, after receiving all that he could desire as a gift from a magic bird, loses it through his breaking of the only prohibition he is given. Here, after opening the forbidden door, he whirls through darkness and finds himself back in his boat.
05 Fisherman peak episode showing increased vividness (see use of ideophones)
35a. Shinantandi kumevo (O) kumwidile [conjoint
anterior]
kudimba (S)
First to.eyes came.to.him darkness
7See especially van Otterloo, R. (2011) section 1.2.4.
35b. ni [copula]
it.is
35c. palipindikulila do:
where.somersaults thus:
35e. andiikala mo mwingalava
amu
kavili
he.has.sat in.that boat this again
35f. shanjaa! ankutambisha kavili na indawana
yake
[ideophone ] he.is.fishing again with hook his. Suddenly he was plunged into darkness and found himself rolling and somersaulting, tossed over and over, until—there he found himself sitting down back in his boat, sitting there again at his fishing line.
1.5 The denouement
In her write-up of Malila discourse,8 Eaton notes that the denouement may consist of a summary of the
story, may describe post-climax events, or give the narrator’s perspective. In one text in her corpus the denouement also consists of the main participant’s own reflections.
In the Makonde text corpus, all of these types of denouement also exist. What is interesting, however, is that although most of them appear to be clarifications of some type; i.e., what happened in the story or post-climax, why it happened, etc., they frequently do not clarify the overall purpose or moral of the story. In addition, Makonde conclusions (see section 1.6 below) do not include morals either. So in the majority of cases, the moral or the teaching point is left implicit at the end of the narrative; or even if partially expressed, there is a good deal still left for the audience to think about.
Some examples will help to clarify this: in 01 Horned Animals below, an explanation is given for why Rabbit is killed at the end of the story, but it only tells the audience what it already knew: he is killed because he should not have been at the party in the first place. As Rabbit is always a hero, the audience is left to ponder in what way exactly it was heroic to gate-crash the horned animals’ party, and be killed for the attempt. No explanation is given in the narrative.
01 Horned Animals explanation of events in denouement leaves teaching point open to interpretation
18c. kuntanola
they.killed.him
18d. kwamwaa nae andyúka ndatimbanga ashilá shikukulu
for.reason he went and.spoilt that feast
18e. shikashimushu nae.
which.not.belong him
…and Rabbit was taken away and killed, because he’d come and spoilt the party which he had no right to come to.
8Eaton, H. (2011), section 1.3.4.
In the denouement of 05 Fisherman below, again there appears to be an explanation of the teaching point, as the fisherman, back in his boat and minus any riches, says to himself, “Ahh, now I know what the bird meant when it said, ‘Receiving is drunkenness’.” But in fact, although the fisherman may have worked it out, he doesn’t share his knowledge. The audience is left to draw their own conclusions as to the possible similarities, in the light of the events of the story, between a person who has suddenly got lucky and someone who has got drunk.
05 Fisherman explanation of events in denouement leaves teaching point implicit
36a. Bai nae(S) popo kwanjanga kukumbukila do:
So he right.there began to.think thus:
36b. baa kumbe - shashitangola shuni ashilá
Ah, at.last what.he.was.speaking bird that
36c. kupata aku ni kulegwa
receiving this it.is drunkenness!
Well he sat there and began to think, “Now I get what the bird was saying, that getting lucky is getting drunk!”
In the denouement of 03 Hyena and Pied Crow, there is no ambiguity, but there is also no
clarification of the story’s teaching point. Hyena has fallen into the trap set by his friend Pied Crow and has attempted to eat him. It is not difficult to work out that the moral of the story—that it is unwise to make friends with a potentially dangerous person, whatever he promises—he will ‘eat you up’ in the end, if it suits him to do so. However, this is left implicit in the narrative, where the denouement simply confirms what has already been stated, that their friendship came to an end.
The teaching point is similarly left implicit in 02 Lion and Hamerkop, 04 Elephant and Nightjar, and 08 Archbishop. 07 Mother and child gives the narrator’s viewpoint, but this simply comments admiringly on the courage of the mother and the cowardice of her husband, without drawing any teaching point.
In this text corpus, 09 Ákalimanya is the only text, which explicitly draws a clear teaching point or moral; and as it is a true story, it is expressed in direct speech in terms of what the narrator learnt personally from the experience. The final lines of the denouement are given below:
09 Ákalimanya teaching point explicitly drawn in denouement
46b. na ndilipundisha poe
and I.learnt much
46c. kudo
said. thus,
46d. aa tukatenda shinu pamo
“ah, if.we.do thing together
46e. indivaikila tuvanu
it.merits we.people
46f. twigwane.
we.should.agree.
[Now all this was very good for me] and I learnt a great deal from it, such as, well, if we do something together, it’s important that we should be in agreement with each other.
the wind with a net?’9 where tricky Lion has himself been tricked into allowing his daughter to marry
Rabbit. The narrator addresses his audience with a vocative mmanalikola ‘family members’ and tells them specifically to beware of being tricksters, as they will likely meet up with a greater trickster than they and lose what they have to him. He concludes that the deserving (monkeys with nice flat stomachs, looking good in trousers) will go without, while the undeserving (Rabbit and his sticking up ears) will scoop the pool!
Unlike some other Bantu languages, Makonde requires a denouement in narratives. So in 02 Lion and Hamerkop, where the narrator initially moves directly from the climax (19–21) to the slightly unusually phrased conclusion (22), he catches himself and adds a denouement (23) before a second, formulaic conclusion (24). All the other texts have denouements. This may be because conclusions do not provide a vehicle for the narrator’s own views (see section 1.6 below).
Another feature of the denouement in Makonde narratives is that it is very unusual to find direct speech. The only times it occurs are where a speech, which has been reported earlier, is then repeated in the denouement so as to make a point, as in 07 Mother and child 15, or where the protagonist’s own reflections are expressed as direct speech. See the example above in 05 Fisherman 36.
The most striking linguistic feature of the Makonde denouement, however, is the high frequency of relative clauses relating to thematic material in these sections. Thematic relative clauses are found in six of the eight texts in this corpus. Some examples are given below (the relative clauses are highlighted in blue):
01 Horned Animals relative clause with thematic material in the denouement
18d. kwamwaa nae andyúka ndatimbanga ashilá shikukulu
for.reason he went and.spoilt that feast
18e. shikashimushu nae.
which.not.belong him …because he’d come and spoilt the party which he had no right to come to.
04 Elephant and Nightjar relative clause with thematic material in the denouement
33a. Kanji - shimpadídye nae (S) But what it was that killed him was that word ‘remorse’.
07 Mother and child relative clause with thematic material in the denouement
13a. Napane maimyo
ala
nangu nimwona
Now story this, I I.see.her
13b. nkongwe aijá kuva nkongwe
wantima mwiu
woman that to.be woman of.heart true
13c. akashijopakulota dashi Now in this story, that woman showed herself to be truly courageous, since she was not afraid (= who was not
fearing) to die on behalf of her child.
1.6 The conclusion
The conclusions in all the texts in this corpus have the following in common: they are all short, they do not introduce any new information, and they do not include any morals, proverbs or songs.
Given the general features described above, conclusions divide into two groups, depending on whether they belong to folktales or to true stories: Folktales have a formulaic ending, flexible enough to vary slightly from tale to tale, but still instantly identifiable. They are all impersonal (with no reference to the narrator, except occasionally a possessive—‘my/our’); they do not refer to any of the participants or to the action in the narrative; and they invariably include the word mwisho ‘end’ or a semantic equivalent. In addition, almost all of them use the ni copula structure, with one exception: 03 Hyena and Pied Crow replaces the ni copula with a default narrative kuva ‘to be’, in keeping with the high rate of use of the default narrative throughout that particular narrative (see sections 6.3.3 and 5.1.1). The four examples below are all from different narrators.
01 Horned Animals folktale ending with ‘pamwisho’ and ‘ni’ copula
19. Apa ni pamwisho wankong'o.
Here it.is at.end of.story.
And this is the end of the tale.
04 Elephant and Nightjar folktale ending with ‘pamwisho’ and ‘ni’ copula
34. Apa ni pamwisho
Here it.is at.end.
This is the end.
03 Hyena and Pied Crow folktale ending: ‘ni’ copula replaced with default narrative ‘kuva’, to be
27. --- Kuva pamwisho.
It.is (to.be) at.end. The end.
02Lion and hamerkop second conclusion, first conclusion had missed out denouement; use of ‘mwisho’ and ‘ni’ copula
24. Mwisho wangu ni wowo au!
End my it.is this.very this.one! And this is the end of my tale!
Conclusions in the true stories on the other hand vary more in their content; i.e., what they share is that they are all confirmatory, and they all contain relative clauses. What they confirm differs, however, in that the true story, which is not an eyewitness account (07 Mother and child), the conclusion
(08 Archbishop and 09 Ákalimanya), the confirmation is of their accuracy as eyewitness accounts with references to the time of the event in both cases, and a confirmation of the place in 09 Ákalimanya where the place is thematically important. They also both use a ni copula construction.
In all three stories, there are relative clauses relating to the material they confirm: in the case of the non-eyewitness account, the reference is to the key event in the story and in the other two, the
conclusion confirms that the narrator acted personally in the story or was an eyewitness of the events.
07 Mother and child conclusion to true story: confirming action, with relative clause marking key event
16a. Namwiu anímwambola aijá mwanagwe
And.true she.saved.him that her.child
16b. kumwidanavo
brought.him.with
16c. atukuta kulyutu
running to.place
16d. lyapagwíte aijá ntwagwe.
where.was that her.husband.
And indeed she rescued her child, and ran back carrying him to the place where her husband still was.
08 Archbishop conclusion to true story: eyewitness reliability confirmed using a relative clause
11. Ashi ni shangugwene muliduva alyo.
This it.is what.I.saw on.day that. This is what I saw on that day.
09 Ákalimanya conclusion to true story: eyewitness reliability confirmed using two relative clauses
48a. Kanji ni ala maimyo
But it.is this story
48b. angugwene nimwene
that.I.saw I.myself
48c. na atutandile pamo mulikaja lya pa Lishee
mwaka na samanini.
and that.we.did together in.village of at Lishee year of eighty. But this is a true story: I saw it myself, and took a part in it, in the village of Lishee, in 1980.
2 Paragraphs
Imagine a story which is a seamless unity: where there is the same cast of participants from beginning to end, where the events follow each other without interruption, where the location remains the same or any movement between locations is narrated step by step, and where the topic is maintained constantly throughout. It would be a skillful storyteller who could hold his audience’s attention with such a story. Well-told narratives usually maintain interest, develop the topic and highlight significant events with switches between different sets of participants, jumps in time, flashbacks, explanatory comments, and variations between speech and narrative text.
One of the commonest of these signposts is the use of points of departure: these are words or phrases placed sentence-initially (sometimes after a connective), which are bidirectional. That is, they present already established information and create a link between what follows with what has already been said. They signal the underlying segmentation of a text, which allows its division into paragraphs (or larger groupings). Levinsohn (2003) categorizes points of departure as marking either a switch, moving to a new constituent, or as a renewal, returning to an earlier topic. He analyses the
discontinuities that they mark as ones of situation (time and place), reference (participants and topics) and action.10
Our task here is to identify the points of departure that are used as bridges over the discontinuities found in Makonde narratives.
2.1 Temporal points of departure
Temporal points of departure are frequently encountered in Makonde narratives, of which the
commonest is probably muliduva limo ‘one day’, often used to mark the inciting episode (see section 1.2 above and the example there from 05 Fisherman). In the example below, the same temporal point of departure (with Kanji ‘but’ as a connective) is used in 03 Hyena and Pied Crow at the beginning of the first developmental episode, marking a discontinuity of time after the inciting episode.
03 Hyena and Pied Crow
7. Kanji muliduva limo Nashove aninninga Litunu.
But on.day one Pied Crow he.tests.him Hyena. But one day Crow decided to test Hyena.
In the example from 05 Fisherman 30 below, we find liduva ali ‘this day’. This is functioning in the same way as liduva limo ‘one day’ and does not refer to a day already mentioned, despite the proximal demonstrative dem1. The discontinuity of time is clear: there is a summary statement of how good life is for the fisherman over a general passage of time at the end of developmental episode #1, then sentence 30 starts developmental episode #2 with this temporal clause, indicating that the general passing of time has finished and a new episode is about to begin.
05 Fisherman
29a. Munu aijá aikele maduva matatu
nsheshe, mwedi
Person that stayed days three four, month
29b. kwanjanga kunyeta
began to.fatten.up
29c. kwalala shana
became.beautiful very.
30a. Liduva ali amwaulila ndyagwe do:
Day this he.informing.her wife.his thus:
30b. wako tangwing'a myungulilo
vyashumba ashilá
you give.me keys of.room that
30c. nangu nikashimule
I I.go.open.
29 Time went by—a few days, a month; the fisherman began to fill out and look good.
30 But one day he said to his wife, “Come on, just give me the keys to that room; I’m going to open it.”
2.2 Spatial points of departure
In Makonde, locative phrases are normally in post-nuclear position, and it would be tempting to analyse any left-dislocated locative phrase as a spatial points of departure. Sentence-initial locative phrases do occur in Makonde, but it is doubtful whether they are actually spatial points of departure. In this text corpus and elsewhere, they do not seem to be marking discontinuities, and have probably been preposed either as a topic frame (see section 2.4 below), or in order to give prominence to a sentence-final
constituent. It is worthy to note that no unambiguous examples of a spatial point of departure have been found.
The example from 09 Ákalimanya 03 below shows an initial locative phrase palikaja apalá ‘in that village’ that is not a point of departure since there is no discontinuity; in fact, it is a repetition of
information just introduced with a distal demonstrative added. The locative phrase should be analysed as a topic frame in a presentational sentence introducing the main participant. Such sentence focus
structures commonly have highly marked word order (see section 6.1.1).
09 Ákalimanya
2a. Mumwaka
wasamanini au
nangu nindípagwa likaja limo
In.year of.eighty this I I.was village one
2b. lyavashema Lishee.
of.they.calling Lishee.
3a. Palikaja apalá [AFTER VERB] andípagwa nang'olo jumo (S)
In.village that there.was old.man one
3b. lina lyake, --- vashinshema Ákalimanya.
name his they.were.calling.him Ákalimanya. In 1980, I was in a village called Lishee.
In that village there was an old man called Ákalimanya.
The following preposed locative phrase pashinu apalá ‘at that place’ could not in any case be analysed as a spatial point of departure as it follows the subject, and so is within the nucleus of the sentence. There is also no discontinuity of place. However, it serves as an example of the preposing of a locative phrase to give extra prominence to the clause-final constituent maduva oe namene ‘very many days’ (i.e., the long time that the lion spends ‘in that place’ suffering with a bone in his throat). Normal word order would place the locative phrase at the end of the clause.
02 Lion and hamerkop
4a. Nang'olo pashinu
apalá
--- andílaga maduva oe
namene
Elder at.place that had.suffered days many very
4b. --- ashanga mwakulota
wondering how.to.want
4c. --- kuumila ligwangwa pang'ulo apa.
to.remove bone at.throat this.
2.3 Referential points of departure
A referential point of departure relates to topic or participants; these are rare in Makonde. The default position of a subject in a SVO order language—if there is no connective or other initial element—will be sentence-initial. In order to analyze an initial noun phrase as a referential point of departure, therefore, it is necessary to establish that there is a clear discontinuity, and preferably an intonational pause, a spacer, and a trace later in the nucleus of the sentence that refers back to the point of departure.11
The example below from 01 Horned Animals 14 fits these criteria: the noun phrase is nang'olo mwene ave ashamile shikukulu aju ‘the old-one owner who was the one who called the party this-one’. Here there is a clear discontinuity as the story has been focussing on the protagonist Rabbit, and now returns after something of a gap to the antagonist, the leader of the horned animals who has called a party that Rabbit gate-crashes. This is a critical sentence in which the old-one owner sees Rabbit—exposed as hornless after his wax horns have melted and fallen off—and immediately orders that Rabbit should be killed. There is an intonational pause after aju, the relative clause ashamíle shikukulu acts as a spacer, and aju
‘this one’ (referring to the antagonist) operates as a trace. Note that the full noun phrase referring to the antagonist, the leader of the horned animals, is nang'olo mwene ave ashamíle shikukulu aju ‘the old-one owner who was the one who called the party this-one’, with the proximal demonstrative aju ‘this-one’ wrapping up the long description and maintaining its cohesiveness.
01 Horned Animals
14d. shingula aijá dimembe dindigwanga.
rabbit that horns have.fallen.
Then the leader of the horned animals, the one who was giving the party, saw Rabbit dancing away without any horns.
2.3.1 Marked initial subjects that are not points of departure
However, all sentence-initial subjects in Makonde need to be handled with care. Many sentence-initial noun phrases are heavily marked, and as it is not always necessary to mark the subject at all in Makonde and other Bantu languages, it is tempting to start analysing virtually all initial noun phrases, pronouns and demonstratives as referential points of departure (pod). But a heavily marked noun phrase at the beginning of a sentence alone is not enough; a referential pod requires a discontinuity and marked word order, provided by a pause, a spacer and/or a trace.
The two examples below show marked subjects, but not as referential pods. There is no
discontinuity, and the noun phrase is followed immediately by the finite verb—with no pause, no spacer, and no trace.
In 01 Horned Animals 10 below, the sentence-initial nae shingula ‘he rabbit’ may look like a point of departure, as it is sentence-initial and heavily marked. However, the noun phrase is not preposed, being in the default subject position before the ni copula. In addition, the heavy marking of independent
pronoun nae + noun is due to this being the beginning of developmental episode #2 (see section 4.2.2.2.1).
01 Horned Animals
10a. Mwiu nae shingula ni kutwala upula aulá
True he rabbit it.is to.take beeswax that
10b. --- kuumbaumbanga
to.arrange
10c. kutwala --- kulinamatidya mmuti amulá
then to.stick on.head that
10d. nae kutwala mwanda
he to.take journey
10e. kuka akulá
kushikukulu.
to.go there to.feast.
And so Rabbit took some beeswax, made himself some horns and stuck them on his head; then off he went to the party.
The example below might also look like a referential pod, but perhaps a better analysis would be to say that the locative phrase kukwaka ‘at the hunt’ has been left-dislocated in order to raise the
prominence of the temporal phrase kila mo mwaushwela ‘every single dawn’, which is now in sentence-final position. As a result, the independent pronoun nae ‘he’ has also been left-dislocated. Grammatically the subject concord marker on the verb now operates as the subject within the nucleus.
05 Fisherman
5. Nae (S) kukwaka hashishalegwa kila mo mwaushwela
He at.hunt he.did.not.be.absent every when of.it.was.dawning. Not a day dawned when he failed to go fishing.
One of the most interesting examples of something that looks like—but is not—a referential point of departure (pod) is 03 Hyena and Pied Crow 01, where the sentence starts ‘Litunu namu Nashove, vanu ava… (Hyena and Pied Crow, these people…)’. This looks at first like a referential pod with its pause, and noun + demonstrative operating, as a trace. However, it cannot be analyzed as a point of departure for the very good reason that it is the first sentence in the whole narrative and therefore cannot be marking a discontinuity or presenting already established information. One possible analysis of this is as a much abbreviated thetic presentation of the main participants simply in a noun phrase, with the common post-introduction proximal demonstrative dem1 ava immediately following.
03 Hyena and Pied Crow
1a. Litunu namu Nashove vanu ava kudyavalananga
Hyena and Pied Crow people these were.friends
Hyena and Pied Crow were great friends…
2.4 Topic frames
These are ‘topic frames’; that is, ‘fronted and left-dislocated topical information about a primary or secondary topic’ which set the frame within which the subject acts.12 (This is probably the same as
Eaton’s ‘external topics’.)13 What we are seeing in Makonde is that they form a very strong link between
two sentences, looking somewhat like a quasi ‘tail-head’ construction consisting of noun (+/-
demonstrative) without a verb. They have many of the characteristics of a point of departure, and indeed they could simply be viewed as a special kind of pod, although certainly unusual ones as they stand completely outside the grammar of the sentence, and bridge the usual pod categories such as referential, temporal, etc. Whatever terminology is used, these topic frames occur frequently and highly specifically in Makonde narrative (see below).
2.4.1 Topic frames relating to possessives
One context in which topic frames are very frequently used in Makonde narratives is where there is a possessive referring to a participant mentioned in the previous sentence. The topic frame stands outside the normal grammar of the sentence, relating directly to the possessive phrase only. These topic frames occur most frequently in the orientation section or near the beginning of narratives, after a sentence introducing either a main participant or key information such as location.
In the example from 01 Horned Animals (03 below), the topic frame vanyama vovava ‘those same animals’ consists of a noun + demonstrative phrase where the noun repeats the final constituent of the previous sentence 02, and the postposed subject vanyama vadimembe ‘horned animals’. The topic frame also relates in 03 to the possessive wavanyama ‘of animals’. The subject of that sentence is nang'olo wavanyama, ‘the leader of the animals’ and the sentence could stand grammatically without the topic frame.
elder of.animals began to.invite feast.
2 Once there were animals with horns.
3 Now the leader of those horned animals sent out invitations to a party.
In 02 Lion and Hamerkop below, the topic frame nae ‘he’ is an independent pronoun, referring back to the subject of the previous sentence 01, Ntumi ‘Lion’, and relating forward in 02 to the possessive
shake ‘his’. The subject of sentence 02 is shakulya shake, his food, although unusually the verbal agreement is with the focus of the sentence, dinyama ‘meats’, rather than with shakulya. Again, grammatically the sentence could stand alone without nae.
02 Lion and hamerkop
1a. Ntumi ava nkoko
Lion is animal
12See Floor, S. J. ‘From Information Structure, Topic and Focus, to Theme in Biblical Hebrew Narrative’, section
3.2.4.
13See Eaton, Helen (2011) ‘Malila Narrative Discourse’ section 2.2.1.
1b. ánamamena dinyama.
who.eats meats.
2. Nae shakulya shake diva dinyama.
He food his they.are meats.
1 Lion is an animal that eats meat. 2 That’s just what he eats—meat.
The example below from 09 Ákalimanya follows the pattern above; i.e., the topic frame is
Ákalimanyaaju nae ‘this Ákalimanya he’. It is in the orientation section, and the sentence could stand without it. In addition, it relates back to the noun in sentence-final position in 03, Ákalimanya, and in 04 it relates to the possessive shake ‘his’.
09 Ákalimanya
3a. Palikaja apalá [AFTER VERB] andípagwa nang'olo jumo (S)
In.village that there.was old.man one
3b. lina lyake, --- vashinshema Ákalimanya.
name his they.were.calling.him Ákalimanya.
Ákalimanya this he work his it.was.being to.hunt. 3 In that village there was an old man called Ákalimanya.
4 Now Ákalimanya was a hunter by trade.
2.4.2 Topic frames not relating to possessives
In the example from 07 Mother and child 3a below, the topic frame does not relate to a possessive, but in other respects is similar to the examples above. Ing'ondo ailá ‘that war’ at the beginning of clause 3a is not grammatically part of the sentence (it is not during that war) but relates to the topic of war in both of the previous sentences and sets the context in which sentence 03 describes specific manoeuvres during the war.
07 Mother and child
1. --- Ngulota kuvalanganga maimyo apaing'ondo.
I.want to.tell story of.time.war.
that.happened here in Mozambique of.years ten.
3a. Ing'ondo ailá vajungu vashindauma po pa Mweda apa
War that white.people they.were.leaving here at Mueda here
3b. kupita
