here - 5th International Conference on Bantu Languages

Participant Reference in Eastern Bantu Narrative Texts
Steve Nicolle, SIL <strong>International</strong> and Africa <strong>International</strong> University, Nairobi
steve_nicolle@sil.org
Because they constitute a very large number of closely related languages, Bantu languages provide an
excellent laboratory for fine-grained comparative linguistics analysis. Much comparative work has
been conducted on core grammatical topics such as noun class prefixes, object marking, tense and
aspect, and verbal suffixes, but t<strong>here</strong> are far fewer comparative studies concerned with linguistic
features of longer stretches of discourse.
This paper is concerned with the question of how participants are introduced, reactivated, and
tracked throughout narrative texts in the following eleven languages: Fuliiru [flr] DJ63 (7 texts),
Mulenge (dialect of Rwanda [kin]) DJ63 (18 texts), Digo [dig] E73 (7 texts), Jita [jit] EJ25 (10 texts),
Kwaya [kya]) EJ251 (10 texts), Suba-Simbiti [ssc] EJ403 (8 texts), Kabwa [cwa] EJ405 (11 texts),
Rangi (Langi) [lag] F33 (66 texts), Bena [bez] G63, (10 texts), Malila [mgq] M24 (14 texts), and
Makonde [kde] P23 (8 texts).
Three main strategies are found for introducing participants: a) using locative inversion, b)
using an existential verb plus suffixed locative clitic with a post-verbal subject, and c) using an
existential verb with a post-verbal subject. One language, Bena, has a mixed strategy in which a post-
verbal subject is preceded by two existential verbs: one agreeing with the subject and the other with a
locative subject marker.
The languages in the survey also differ concerning how participants are referred to once they
have been introduced. For example, t<strong>here</strong> is significant variation in the functions of different
demonstratives. In most of the languages, distal demonstratives are used when a participant is
reactivated after an absence, but in Rangi distal demonstratives tend to be used to continue the active
status of a major participant. T<strong>here</strong> are also more subtle differences. In Makonde, distal demonstratives
are markers of saliency for minor participants and props, but when referring to major participants,
they mark key developments in the narrative. Similarly, in Fuliiru, distal demonstratives referring to
major participants are used to indicate major developments in the narrative, but distal demonstratives
in Digo refer to major participants and in particular protagonists regardless of whether t<strong>here</strong> is a major
development.
Referential (non-proximal) demonstratives are used to maintain reference to an active subject
in Jita, Kabwa and Suba-Simbiti, but in Rangi they are used to reactivate a major participant after an
absence, and in Bena they are used when the participant is inactive or has no specific role. In Digo,
referential demonstratives are only found in the orientation section and occasionally in the
denouement, w<strong>here</strong> they refer to major participants, but in Fuliiru referential demonstratives indicate
regular developments in the narrative, and t<strong>here</strong>fore occur predominantly in developmental episodes.
This variation, together with cross-linguistic differences in the use of independent pronominal
forms and the conditions under which other noun phrases occur, is not discernible from most
grammatical descriptions and elicited data. The comparative study of narrative texts t<strong>here</strong>fore opens
up new avenues of comparative analysis.
GS