Makonde Narrative Discourse
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Language and Culture DigitalResources Documentation and Description 29 Makonde Narrative Discourse Rhoda Martyn Leach Makonde Narrative Discourse Rhoda Martyn Leach SIL International® 2015 SIL Language and Culture Documentation and Description 29 ©2015 SIL International® ISSN 1939-0785 Fair Use Policy Documents published in the Language and Culture Documentation and Description series are intended for scholarly research and educational use. You may make copies of these publications for research or instructional purposes (under fair use guidelines) free of charge and without further permission. Republication or commercial use of Language and Culture Documentation and Description or the documents contained therein is expressly prohibited without the written consent of the copyright holder(s). Series Editor Mike Cahill Content Editor Ron Metzger Compositor Bonnie Waswick Abstract This study describes some of the discourse features of narrative texts in Makonde, using examples from a corpus of non-translated texts. Makonde (Ethnologue code [kde]) is a Bantu language, classified as P23 in the Guthrie system, spoken on the Makonde Plateau in nothern Mozambique. Contents Abstract Abbreviations Introduction 1 Constituent elements of a narrative text 1.1 The orientation section 1.2 The inciting episode 1.3 Developmental episodes 1.4 The peak episode 1.5 The denouement 1.6 The conclusion 2 Paragraphs 2.1 Temporal points of departure 2.2 Spatial points of departure 2.3 Referential points of departure 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 iv v 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 Appendix A: Makonde texts, charted and glossed Appendix B: Makonde texts, free translations References Abbreviations = clitic DEP dependent aspect PFV perfective aspect— 1, 1A, 2 noun class DM discourse marker PL plural rd 3SG ETC. 3 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 NEG negative marker TDM thematic development demonstrative marker DEM_NP non-proximal PAS passive marker VAR variant form of demonstrative demonstrative DEM_PROX proximal demonstrative PERS persisitive aspect VENT venitive marker vi Introduction 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 --- kumwaulila ndyagwe do: ndawika kukaja When.he.went told.her his.wife thus, and.arrived at.home 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). 1 2 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 A bird named “Nightjar” asks Elephant not to step on her eggs. When he Nightjar 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.