Language Contact and Documentation: Contacto Linguistico y Documentacion

338 Ulrike Mosel
(16) a. Eve he tahi bona bono taapeau.
3sg.pron conj throw 4sg art spear
‘He threw the spear at him.’ (lit. ‘… threw him the spear’)
(San_01R.105)
b. A si otei paa gono koa bono taapeau
art dim man tam get just art spear
‘The dear man just got the spear’
me=paa tahi bona.
and=tam spear 4sg
‘and speared him’
(San_01E.083)
5.4 Elaboration
The spontaneously narrated legends often lack some information that the editor
considers as essential for the readers’ comprehension. Typically arguments
and various kinds of modifiers are added. In the following example the adjectival
phrase a gigo ‘pregnant’ and the object ta bai ‘a mango’ are added.
(17) a. E − peho taem me=a si moon paa hino,
art indef time and=art dim woman tam ask.for
‘One day the woman asked, (“Give me, please, a mango!”)’
(Mat_01R.008)
b. A si moon vai a gigo hino vai ta bai,
art dim woman dem art pregnant ask now art mango
‘This pregnant woman asked (them) for a mango,
(“Give me, please, a mango!”)’
(Mat_01E.004)
While the fact that the woman was pregnant is essential for the story and
should have been mentioned by the narrator, the mention of the object ta bai
‘a mango’ is not necessary because it can easily be understood from the context
and, consequently, does not need to be expressed according to the grammatical
rules of Teop. In contrast, other additions seem to be of a more grammatical
or phraseological nature like the addition of directional particles, or the addition
of a verb in the verb complex to form a serial verb construction. Both kinds
of additions are found in (18):