Beyond Time - Linguistics - University of California, Berkeley

(145) Sunu, twabuuka! Twabuuka ndetwaya kukunyuka obwizu kukakumula bweñanda
. . . Twakaboola [bwangu]. . . Kukaboola kukunyukula kwiza kusika kubawaana abantu
betu abo balitulibelele. Ndetwakumbila echibaka kuti tuchiya kunkwaya.
sunu twa-buuk-a! twa-buuk-a nde-twa-y-a
today 1pl.cmpl-wake.up-fv 1pl.cmpl-wake.up-fv dm-1pl.cmpl-go-fv
ku-ku-nyuk-a
obwizu ku-ka-kumul-a
cl17(loc)-narr-cut-fv cl14.grass inf-dist-cut(LOZ)-fv
bweñanda
. . . Twa-ka-bool-a [bwangu]
cl14.cl9.house(poss) . . . 1pl.cmpl-dist-return-fv [soon]
. . . ku-ka-bool-a ku-ku-nyukul-a ku-iz-a ku-sik-a
. . . inf-dist-return-fv cl17(loc)-inf-cut-fv narr-come-fv narr-arrive-fv
ku-ba-waan-a abantu betu abo
narr-cl2-find-fv cl2.people cl2.1pl(poss) cl2.dem
ba-li-tu-libelele.
nde-twa-kumbil-a echibaka kuti
cl2-pres.stat-1pl-wait.for.stat dm-1pl.cmpl-ask.for-fv cl7.excuse that
tu-chi-y-a ku-nkwaya
1pl-pers-go-fv cl15(loc)-cl9.choir
‘Today, we woke up [cmpl]! We woke up[cmpl], right then we went [cmpl] to
cut grass, to cut roofing grass. . . We came back [cmpl] soon. . . (When) we came
back [narr] from cutting grass, we came [narr] and arrived [narr] and found
[narr] them, the people who were waiting for us [ite]. Right then we asked [cmpl]
to be excused so that we could first go to choir [before doing other activities].’
The first completive predicate, twabuuka – repeated by the speaker with the same form
– opens the narrative and sets the time at the time of waking up. Immediately, the topic
changes and the speaker describes her first work of the day, going (twaya) to cut grass.
When the grass cutting work is concluded, the speaker returns (twakaboola with distal -kato
the village. Then the events occurring upon returning are described mostly with narrative
forms, with the exception of an -ite form used to describe a non-consecutive state. The final
completive predicate in the example (the narrative continues beyond the text given in (145))
is twakumbila. With this form, the speaker indicates the change of original plans that would
have continued the scene back at the village. Instead, the “village” scene is complete, and
the speaker moves on to choir activities.
In this example, then, as in others, -a- forms in narrative may mark the completion of
one episode of a story and the onset of another.
Another frequent device for scene change is -a- with the rising and setting of the sun, as
illustrated in examples (146) to (148).
144