Beyond Time - Linguistics - University of California, Berkeley

the head of his murdered child, frantically cuts off limb after limb. After he cuts off his leg,
he continues walking with one leg (sàyènzyà ìtèndè lyònkê) until his next self-amputation.
This excerpt is also immediately followed by a song.
(245) Aa! Nòkwìndá èchìbèlò kúkòsòlà kùsòwà . . . Sàyènzyá ìtèndè lyònkê.
aa! noku-ind-a echibelo ku-kosol-a
interj com.inf-take-fv cl7.leg narr-cut-fv
. . . se-a-yenzy-a itende lyonke.
. . . dm-3sg-walk.caus-fv cl5.foot cl5.one
ku-sow-a
narr-throw-fv
‘Aa! Then he took his leg and cut it off and threw it away. Then he’s walking on
a single leg.’ (ZT2009NarrA7.GS.33-36, Fumako)
The temporal components of se- and the non-completive marker allow speakers to use
them to pace narratives, as well, as predicted by Fleischman (1990). Adding a song significantly
slows down the sequence of narrative events, possibly creating further suspense
and excitement. The invited audience participation may also be signaled by the use of a
non-completive form, which may be interpreted both as non-complete with respect to story
time, and to respect to the time of narration.
Most other uses of non-completive inflection in narrative are relative clauses giving further
information about the situation. In these cases, as above, a narrative marker noting
merely a sequence of events is inappropriate. Expressing non-completion can signify that
the situations are ongoing with respect to the story-internal perspective, as in (246).
(246) Kùmànà kùzàbìkà pèlè nòkákòlàmà kôkó èkálà, kùmàlìbélà êñándà.
ku-man-a ku-zabik-a pele no-ka-kolam-a
inf-finish-fv inf-soak-fv dm com.[inf]-dist-ascend-fv
a-ikal-a, ku-malibela
a-iñanda.
3sg-stay-fv.rc cl17(loc)-cl6.corner cl6-cl9.house
koko
cl17(loc).dem
‘Finishing[narr] soaking[narr] [the millet] then she went up[narr] to where she
stays[pres.rc], in the corner of the house [in the roof].’ (ZT2009NarrA13.GS.50,
Kanyama)
Aside from these more common uses, -la- and -Ø- non-completive forms appear occasionally
in narratives and appear to serve particular speaker purposes, such as the following
example, describing the failure of a new wife to cultivate:
(247) . . . okùmútwààlá kùmpìlì. Àlákàngwà.
oku-mu-twaal-a ku-mpili.
a-la-kang-w-a
inf-3sg-carry-fv cl17(loc)-cl9.field 3sg-noncmpl-be.impossible-pass-fv
‘[Having brought her home]. . . he brought her to the fields. She can’t do it [cultivate].’
200