A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE ...

of the whole discourse” (Longacre 1976:468). In other words, these elements mark the
backbone of the discourse. Because of this backbone marking function, this lead Salser
et al. to label ˈcari as a “backbone tag” (Longacre 1976:469, Salser et al. 1976). Affixes,
such as the Cayapa suffix –ren, may carry this function as well. Some of these elements
may also either show digressions from the main event, or that important events which
entail role reversals are eminent or forthcoming. Longacre demonstrates the role
reversing function with the following example from Cayapa where the suffix -n shows up
on a variety of words, i.e. verb, noun, conjunction, and adverbials, within a narrative to
show such a distant role reversal is coming later on in the narrative. In the following
example, strategic words in the story are marked by -n to preface the eventual downfall of
a man who forgot to pay his bill.
(15) Suffix -n as a discourse marker (from Longacre 1976:471)
“He was seated at a table eating, and since he was long conversing (-n), he
arose and left without remembering to pay the bill. This man took a long
time before he returned. Three years later he went to the same place (-n) and
ordered another meal. Then he said to the owner, ‘Godmother, long ago I
ate (-n) a meal here but I forgot to pay for it and left. Now I want to pay for
it: what do I owe you?’ So the woman answered, ‘You owe me seven
pesos.’ So-being (-n) the woman’s son spoke to her, “Mother, why do you
say seven pesos? That isn’t right, Mother…’”
As Longacre explains, this story turns on the unpaid bill. When the son interceded and
demanded an outrageous amount of money instead, difficulties ensued which eventually
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