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The roles of Dissociative and (Non-)Completive morphology in structuring Totela (Bantu) narratives

November 2015

DOI:10.1075/tsl.109.06cra

In book: Beyond Aspect (pp.145-176)

Authors:

Thera Marie Crane

University of Helsinki

. TAM categories and their uses in narratives

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The Roles of Dissociative and (Non-)Completive Morphology

in Structuring Totela (Bantu) Narratives*

Thera Marie Crane

University of Helsinki

Abstract

In Totela, infinitive-based ‘narrative’ morphology alternates with forms

inflected for tense and aspect. While narrative morphology can depict

sequential events, inflected forms are used with both non-sequential and

sequential event predicates. When inflected forms appear, especially in

contexts where narrative morphology might also be appropriate, they play

important roles in signaling narrative structure. The three most common

categories of inflected verbs in narratives indicate ‘completion’, ‘non-

completion’, and ‘dissociation’. Dissociative marking appears at the

beginning and ending of a narrative and frames it by shifting the cognitive

domain to a world, separate from the world of telling, where listener belief

is suspended to include narrative events. Inside that world, Completives

and Non-completives provide structure to the narrative and direct listener

responses.

*Many thanks to Cecilia Namasiku Namuyumba, Gertrude Sibeso, Violet Bumba,

Christopher Mwendo, Albert Mwenda, Phineas Simwaga Sishau, Gift Mwakamwi

Sishau, and Kelvin Sishau, and to other residents of Kwemba village, particularly to

headman Sishau White Maketu, for their extremely generous contributions to all aspects

of this research. Thanks also to the communities of Likemwa, Samisisi, and Malabwe in

Zambia, and of Makusi and Kachansi in Namibia, and to consultants and research

partners Michael Sililo, Veronika Kalimukwa, Clement Tubusenge, Tekulo Kachelo,

Samitiba Agatha Nasamu, Kelly Mutale, and Namasaka Imuwana. Work in Zambia and

Namibia was made possible through research affiliations with the University of Zambia

and the University of Namibia. Elicited material is based upon work supported in part by

a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship. Any opinions, findings,

conclusions or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author and

do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. Field research

was also made possible by grants from the UC Berkeley Graduate Division and the

Andrew and Mary Thompson Rocca Summer Pre-Dissertation Research Award in

African Studies (UC Berkeley), and by the Harvey Fellows program. Thanks also to the

editors of this volume and the two anonymous reviewers for their very careful readings of

an earlier version and their insightful and helpful comments. All errors, of course, are my

own. Portions of this paper are revisions of earlier work including Crane (2011a, 2011b,

2011c).

This pdf is the author accepted manuscript of the following copyrighted publication:

Crane, Thera Marie. The roles of dissociative and (non-)completive morphology in

structuring Totela (Bantu) narratives. In Doris L. Payne & Shahar Shirtz (eds.) Beyond

aspect: The expression of discourse functions in African languages, 145-176.

Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1075/tsl.109.06cra . Please contact the publisher for permissions to

reuse or reprint the material in any form.

Dissociative and (Non)-Completive Morphology in Totela Narrative

1 Introduction

As is the case in many Bantu languages (see e.g. Nurse 2008), the great

majority of verbs in Totela narratives are marked with narrative

morphology. Narrative morphology predictably appears on verbs

describing sequential events, and—as is also common—is formed in

Totela with a bare infinitive (cf. Carlson 1992: 82-83, who notes that

decreasing finiteness correlates with increasing “continuity”). Totela

narrative morphology is illustrated in example (1).1

(1) kú-kwààt-à kù-nèns-à kù-nèns-à

NARR-grab-FV NARR-beat-FV NARR-beat-FV

‘[then she] caught [him and] beat [him and] beat [him]’

(Kañandu)

Of greater interest in this article, however, is the use of verb forms that

are inflected for tense and aspect. These forms appear not only on verbs

describing non-sequential events, but are also used with some frequency to

mark sequential events, where narrative morphology might normally be

expected. This article deals with the uses of this ‘marked’ inflectional

morphology within Totela narratives, and the storytelling goals that

speakers fulfill when employing it.

The alternation of narrative and inflected forms can be thought of as a

kind of ‘tense switching’, for which Fleischman (1990) notes a variety of

functions, including marking shifts in “subject and/or of discourse topic”

(200), dividing a narrative “into spans centered around a setting or macro-

event” (201), helping with narrative “pace” (210-211), and shifting point

of view (216ff). Nurse further notes that when interrupted by non-

narrative forms, a sequence of narrative markers can be resumed “to stress

continuity” (2008: 120).

1 The practical orthography (PO) used in Totela examples is similar to that of siLozi (and

many other languages of Zambia). Significant departures from standard phonological

notation are as follows:

IPA

tʃ

hwu

hu (labialized, often nasalized glottal

fricative, occurring when glottal fricative

is followed by /u/)

Vowel length is indicated by vowel doubling when it is potentially lexically contrastive.

Some degree of vowel lengthening is also observed before prenasalized stops, but is not

contrastive and is not marked in the orthography. All tones (H and L) are exhaustively

marked on examples for which the tones have been verified in elicitation in order to

distinguish between all L utterances for which tone is known and utterances for which

tones have not been verified.

Dissociative and (Non)-Completive Morphology in Totela Narrative

In this article, I focus in particular on the three most common

categories of verbal inflection that appear within narratives: markers of

‘completion’, ‘non-completion’, and ‘dissociation’. The narrative uses are

seen to follow from the so-called ‘basic’ (i.e. non-narrative) meanings, and

a close examination of the categories’ uses in narratives in turn allows for

a fuller understanding of their overall nature. I argue that gaining such a

perspective requires us to move from purely temporal definitions of these

‘tense’ and ‘aspect’ forms to a broader, discourse-based, and—

ultimately—better analysis of their semantic and pragmatic functions.

The remainder of the article is organized as follows: Section 1.1

introduces the Totela language. Section 1.2 provides definitions of

terminology that will be used throughout the article and gives brief notes

about the orthography and other technical issues related to discussing the

narrative uses of TAM forms. These introductory notes are followed in §2

by general descriptions of the Completive, Non-completive, and

Dissociative forms analyzed in this article, along with their ‘basic’

functions in Totela. I argue in §2 that typical labels for tense and aspect

categories such as ‘perfective’ or ‘present’ serve to obscure rather than

expose the nature of Totela verbal forms, and that a different

conceptualization is necessary, both for understanding these forms in non-

narrative contexts, and for understanding how they are used in narratives.

Narrative uses of the forms and their alternations with narrative

morphology are explored in §3 (Completive and Non-completive forms)

and §4 (Dissociative forms). Section 5 concludes the article with a brief

discussion of the need for a holistic view of tense and aspect marking.

1.1 Totela

Totela is a highly endangered Bantu language spoken—in two

strikingly different varieties—in Zambia’s Western Province and in the

Caprivi Strip in Namibia (Crane 2011). It is classified as K41 in the

Guthrie classification system (see Maho 2009) and is part of the Bantu

Botatwe group, which comprises certain languages in the M and K zones,

including Tonga (M64), Ila (M63) and Subiya (K42) (see de Luna 2008

for further details). The true number of Totela speakers is unknown, but

Crane estimates around 3,000 Totela speakers in rural areas of Zambia’s

Western Province (2011: 56). Virtually no children learn Totela as a first

language in Zambia, so the Totela-speaking population in Zambia is

rapidly dwindling, and the variety may be considered moribund.

Data for this study are drawn from my corpus of narratives and

elicitation data collected during three research trips in 2006, 2007, and

2009. The article deals only with forms as they are used in the Zambian

variety of Totela, which exhibits significant phonological, morphological,

and tone differences from its Namibian counterpart (see Crane 2011 for

Dissociative and (Non)-Completive Morphology in Totela Narrative

details).

1.2 Terminology and conventions

The infinitive morphology used to mark consecutive events in narratives is

referred to as ‘narrative morphology’ (glossed as NARR).2 When an

infinitive form is used as, for example, a gerund or participle within a

verbal construction, it is glossed as an infinitive (INF).

Verbal prefixes of tense and aspect are written with dashes on both

sides of the morpheme if they follow the subject marker and precede the

root (e.g. -la-, as in ndi-la-neng-a ‘I dance’), or with standard prefix

notation if they precede the subject marker (e.g. na-, as in

na-ndi-la-neng-a ‘I will dance’). Although both are in fact verbal prefixes,

this notational convention allows for easily distinguishing between pre-

and post-subject-marker morphemes with the same segmental

morphology, such as prehodiernal Dissociative markers ka- (Imperfective)

and -ka- (co-occurring with Completive).

‘Perspective Time’ is defined following Condoravdi (2002) (along

with Cover 2010: 50) as the time from which a proposition’s truth value is

assessed. Although this time is typically equivalent to utterance time, it

may also be shifted. Condoravdi (2002: 62) gives the following example

from English:

(2) At that point he might (still) have won the game, but he didn’t in

the end (Condoravdi 2002: 62, ex 7).

From the first clause’s Perspective Time of ‘at that point’—which is

not equivalent to utterance time, but prior to it—it was true that the subject

had the possibility of winning the game. If utterance time were always

equivalent to Perspective Time, then the first clause would be necessarily

false.

Perspective Time is also sometimes referred to as ‘evaluation time’ in

the literature (see e.g. Hatav 2012, who defines ‘evaluation time’ as “the

orientation time of a clause” and points out that Reichenbach’s (1947)

‘reference time’ seems to encompass both evaluation time and ‘location

time’ (Hatav 2012: 611).

Setting Perspective Time to “time as it progresses through a

narrative” allows for the narrator’s use of non-past forms without

necessarily breaking out of the time of the narrative.

In comparing the use of narrative morphology and inflected verbs in

narrative, only non-quoted speech will be considered in this article.

2 It can be noted that Totela does not employ prototypical ‘serial’ verb constructions,

which might present difficulties in establishing narrative ‘events’. Narrative morphology

lacks some important characteristics of serial verb constructions. For example it can be

used across clauses, with changing subjects (whether overtly indicated or not), and it is

often linked by coordinating conjunction na-.

Dissociative and (Non)-Completive Morphology in Totela Narrative

Storytellers regularly use inflected verbs when speaking through the

voices of a character. The use of inflected verbs in quoted speech is

expected, as character speech mirrors everyday speech.

2 Dissociation and Completion in Totela

This section introduces the three tense/aspect categories that will be

discussed in §3 and §4 below. A shallow analysis of these categories

might lead to labeling them ‘perfective’, ‘present’ (or ‘non-past’) and

‘distal past’, but closer examination reveals that these labels do not

adequately describe their functions. Understanding them instead as

markers of ‘nuclear completion’ and ‘non-completion’ not only better

explains their temporal and semantic variations, but also illuminates their

narrative-structuring roles.

In §2.1 I discuss the notion of ‘nuclear completion’ (or non-

completion). This discussion requires an exposition of the basic situation

type (Aktionsart) categories in Totela (§2.1.1), and how they differ from

the Vendlerian categorizations typically applied to predicates in English

and many other languages. Sections 2.1.2-2.1.3 show how the main

situation types in Totela interact with verbal marking to produce

Completive and Non-completive temporal semantics.

Section 2.2 discusses Botne and Kershner’s (2008) notion of temporal

dissociation – which they argue constitutes true ‘tense’—and how it

manifests in Totela tense and aspect marking.

The discussion in §2.1-2.2 may be found in greater detail in Crane

(2013).

2.1 (Non-)Completion

2.1.1 Situation types

To understand the temporal semantics of (Non-)Completive forms in

Totela, it is necessary to recognize a basic distinction in Totela situation

types. Following Botne & Kershner (2000, who in turn draw ideas from

Beuchat 1966; Freed 1980; Botne 1983 and others), this article

distinguishes two main categories of situation type in Totela, here referred

to as ‘change-of-state’ and ‘durative’. These two situation types differ

primarily in terms of the situation ‘nucleus’, described by Botne &

Kershner as “constituting the characteristic and prominent feature of the

event” (2000: 165).

Specifically, a situation may have three phases: (optional) onset O,

(required) nucleus N, and (optional) coda C. The onset may include

preparatory phases, and the coda, result phases, either lexically-entailed or

otherwise.

Durative situations correspond roughly, though not precisely, to

Dissociative and (Non)-Completive Morphology in Totela Narrative

Vendler’s ‘states’, ‘activities’, and ‘accomplishments’. They do not

express a change from one state to another, and they have a non-punctual

nucleus. The nucleus coincides with the action or state described, and ends

upon termination of the situation. Durative situations can include non-

change-of-state statives (e.g. -saka ‘to want’; there are few such verbs in

Totela),3 activities (e.g. -samba ‘to bathe’), and other situation types that

do not encode a change of state. A simple event structure for durative

-samba ‘to bathe’ is schematized in (3).

(3)

[

bathing

]

(O)

(C)

Change-of-state situations, in contrast, have a nucleus that represents

the point of “change of condition or location of the experiencer or

patient”, potentially a “change or transition from one state to another”

(Botne & Kershner 2000: 165). These situations are sometimes referred to

as ‘inchoative’ and are somewhat analogous to Vendler’s ‘achievements’,

but entail a result state and are pervasively used to depict ongoing states.

An example of a change-of-state verb in Totela would be -komokwa

‘get/be surprised’, with the nucleus representing the change to a state of

surprise. Other examples include -bomba ‘soak’ and -ikuta ‘become full’.

The onset phase may or may not be a temporally-durative process. The

result states of these verbs (here, being surprised, being soaked, and being

full) cannot be expressed with a present-tense form. Rather, they require a

form locating Perspective Time in the post-nuclear state, as shown in (4–

5), which contrast Completive marking (a) with Non-completive forms

(b).

(4) a. ndá-kòmòk-w-à

1SG.CMPL-surprise-PASS-FV

‘I’m surprised’

b. ndì-lá-kòmòk-w-à

1SG-NONCMPL-surprise-PASS-FV

‘I’ll be surprised’

(5) a. òmwànjà wà-bòmb-à

CL3.cassava CL3.CMPL-soak-FV

‘the cassava is soaked’

b. òmwànjà ù-là-bòmb-à

CL3.cassava CL3-NONCMPL-soak-FV

‘the cassava is soaking / the cassava will soak’

In each pair, the contrast between (a) and (b) shows that a present stative

reading is obtained not with the Non-completive forms in (b), but only

3 Statives of perception, e.g. ‘hear/understand’ or ‘see’ can be used either as durative or

as change-of-state predicates in Totela.

Dissociative and (Non)-Completive Morphology in Totela Narrative

with the Completive forms in (a). The interactions of the Completive and

Non-completive forms with various situation types are discussed more

fully in subsequent sections. Note that in contrast, durative situations have

a past-tense reading with Completive marking, and a present or future

reading with Non-completive marking, e.g. ndà-sàmb-à (Completive, ‘I

(have) bathed’) and ndì-là-sàmb-à (Non-completive, ‘I (will) bathe’).

Example (6) gives a rough schematization of the change-of-state

situation -bomba ‘soak’.

(6)

in process of soaking

[

in state of being soaked

In this example, the nucleus represents the point at which the speaker

construes the subject in question to have passed from the process of

soaking to a state where can be considered to be ‘soaked’. The lack of a

closing bracket indicates that the end of the coda situation (being soaked)

is not necessarily a part of the situation's event structure.

Further distinctions can be made within the umbrella categories of

durative and change-of-state categories, and are discussed in Crane

(2011). For the purposes of the following discussion, the crucial

distinction is that between a change-of-state situation, which has a

punctual nucleus and a result-state coda, and a durative situation, which

has a non-punctual nucleus. It is important to note that—while details and

analyses differ somewhat—a distinction of this sort is prevalent across

many Bantu languages. For examples, see Fortune (1949), Botne (1983),

Botne & Kershner (2008), and Nurse (2008), among many others.

With these main situation-type distinctions in mind, I now turn to a

discussion of how they interact with Completive and Non-completive

forms, respectively.

2.1.2 Completive -a-

Morphologically, the Totela Completive is marked by an -a- marker

that appears immediately after the subject agreement marker, fusing with

it morphologically (e.g. 1SG ndi- becomes nda-; 1PL tu- becomes twa-).

With durative verbs, -a- gives a past or perfect reading.

(7) twà-nèng-à

1PL.CMPL-dance-FV

‘we danced’ / (contextually available:) ‘we have danced’

(8) ndà-w-à

1SG.CMPL-fall-FV

a. ‘I fell [and got back up again]’ / b. ‘I have fallen [and am still

lying on the ground]’

Dissociative and (Non)-Completive Morphology in Totela Narrative

With change-of-state verbs, the -a- marker usually has a result-state

implicature at Perspective Time, as in (9).

(9) ndá-kòmòk-w-à

1SG.CMPL-surprise-PASS-FV

‘I’m surprised’

However, the result state does not necessarily hold at Perspective

Time and can be defeased by particular lexical items. For example, (10)

begins a narrative about cows trampling some crops.

(10) ndá-kòmòk-w-á sùnù!

1SG.CMPL-surprise-PASS-FV today

‘I had a surprise today!’

Table 1 summarizes the possible readings of Completive -a- with durative

and change-of-state verbs.

Table 1. Available readings of Completive -a- by situation type

Durative

Change-of-State

perfective

(default reading)

present stative

(default reading)

perfect

(contextually-available

reading)

perfective

(contextually-

available reading)

With this variety in its possible interpretations, the -a- form cannot be

neatly described as either a perfective or an imperfective marker ‘viewing’

the situation as a whole or from the inside. Likewise, the label ‘perfect’ as

it is typically used does not fit this marker. As seen in the examples above,

the Perspective Time is not necessarily in the result state (note the possible

interpretations of (8) as well as example (10)). Furthermore, as in (7), the

-a- form is used to express general (hodiernal) pasts. This use would be

unexpected with true perfect forms, which additionally—unlike -a- forms

in Totela—are rarely found in narrative sequences (Labov & Waltezky

1967: 90; Dahl 1985: 138; Fleischman 1990: 30). Further arguments on

why -a- cannot be analyzed as a perfect are given in Crane (2011a,

2011c).

Rather than as a ‘perfective’ or as a ‘perfect’, -a- can best be

described as a ‘Completive’ form that locates Perspective Time

subsequent to the situation nucleus. Perspective Time can either fall within

the result state—if such a state exists—giving perfect and resultative

Dissociative and (Non)-Completive Morphology in Totela Narrative

readings such as (8b) and (9), or after the nucleus and any result state,

giving past/perfective readings as in (7), (8a), and (10).

Examples (11) and (12) give simplified schematizations for a durative

and a change-of-state verb, respectively. PT represents the location of

Perspective Time. The (a) examples in each pair illustrate the default

readings, while the (b) examples represent other contextually-available

readings.

(11) a. ndàsàmbà ‘I bathed’

(O)

[

bathing

]

b. ndàsàmbà ‘I have bathed’

(O)

[

bathing

]

state of being clean

(12) a. wàbòmbà ‘It is soaked’

in process of soaking

[

in state of being soaked

b. wàbòmbà ‘It got soaked’

in process of soaking

[

in state of being soaked

]

2.1.3 Non-Completives

In contrast with Completive -a-, Totela’s Non-completive forms do

not necessarily have any overt TAM morphology associated with them.

They can occur either as a verb unmarked for tense and aspect

(SM-root-a) or marked with the morpheme -la- following the subject

marker (SM-la-root-a).

Unmarked verbs and -la–marked verbs are each restricted to certain

morphosyntactic environments, which are described in Crane (2011). The

morpheme -la- is clearly related to a historical disjunctive marker (cf.

Güldemann 2003, Nurse 2008: 205ff, and Crane 2011) and still retains

some traces of its disjunctive functions. For the purposes of this article, the

differences between unmarked and -la-–marked verbs are not significant,

and they can be treated as interchangeable. It can be noted that the Non-

completive is not necessarily a form of marking per se, but rather—

Dissociative and (Non)-Completive Morphology in Totela Narrative

especially in the case of the unmarked form—the absence of Completive

morphology.

With durative verbs, these forms allow ongoing (stative or active)

readings (13–14), near-future readings (15), and habitual and generic

readings ((16) and (17), respectively). These readings depend upon the

context in which the verbs are used.

(13) obwawu bu-la-shup-a

CL14.relish CL14-NONCMPL-cause.trouble-FV

‘relish is a problem’ (i.e. hard to come by)

(14) kùnò kù-là-lìl-w-à

CL17(LOC).DEM CL17(LOC)-NONCMPL-cry-PASS-FV

‘there is mourning [going on] here’

(15) ìjìlò ndì-là-y-á kù-mpìlì

tomorrow 1SG-NONCMPL-go-FV CL17(LOC)-CL9.fields

‘tomorrow I’ll go to the fields’4

(16) munsikunsiku ndi-la-yend-a

every.day 1SG-NONCMPL-walk-FV

‘I walk every day’

(17) otuyuni tu-la-tus-a abantu

CL13.bird CL13-NONCMPL-help-FV CL2.person

‘birds help people’

With change-of-state predicates, on the other hand, present and

stative readings are unavailable with -la- (although habitual readings

are possible). Instead, a future interpretation is forced, as may be seen

in the contrast between the main clause predicates in (18–19). In (18),

the state ‘to be happy’ with change-of-state verb -taba ‘become happy’

must be expressed with a completive form. When -la- is used with a

change-of-state form (19), the reading of that is of a future state that

does not hold at Perspective Time.

(18) àbá bà-yîmb-à bà-tàb-à

CL2.DEM CL2-sing-FV.RC CL2.CMPL-become.happy-FV

‘those who are singing are happy [CMPL]’

(19) àbá bà-ly-â bà-lékùt-à

CL2.DEM CL2-eat-FV.RC CL2-NONCMPL.become.full-FV

‘those who are eating will be full [NONCMPL]’

4 The Non-completive is generally restricted to hodiernal futures, but when conveying

certainty or immediacy, can also be used in post-hodiernal contexts.

Dissociative and (Non)-Completive Morphology in Totela Narrative

Table 2. Available readings of Non-completive by situation type

Durative

Change-of-State

present (stative/active)

near-future

habitual/generic

future

habitual/generic

In contrast to the Completive, then, Non-completive forms seen to indicate

that Perspective Time is located prior to the completion of the situation

nucleus. Since change-of-state situations have a punctual nucleus, they

must receive a future reading with Non-completive forms. With durative

situations, the Non-completive can locate situation time either prior to

(near-future) or within (present activity/state) the situation nucleus.

Sample schematizations are given in (20) and (21). (20a) represents a

present reading with a durative predicate, with Perspective Time located

within the situation nucleus; while (20b) shows the same predicate with a

future reading, where Perspective Time is located within a contextually-

construed onset.

(20) a. ndìlàsàmbà ‘I bathe / am bathing’

(O)

(C)

[

bathing

]

b. ndìlàsàmbà ‘I will bathe’

(C)

planning or preparing to bathe

[

bathing

]

Example (21) shows two possible readings with a change-of-state

verb, with Perspective Time located respectively within the onset phase

(a) and prior to it (b).

(21) a. úlàbòmbà ‘It is getting soaked’

in process of soaking

[

in state of being soaked

b. úlàbòmbà ‘It will (be) soak(ed)’

in process of soaking

[

in state of being soaked

2.2 Dissociation

Dissociative and (Non)-Completive Morphology in Totela Narrative

In addition to Non-completive and Completive expressions, Totela

also has forms that mark situations as having obtained before or after the

day of Perspective Time. This section introduces these forms and argues,

following proposals by Botne & Kershner (2008), that they should be

analyzed as shifting discourse to domains that are cognitively dissociated

from here-and-now reality.

Botne & Kershner (2008; see also Botne 2012, Sweetser &

Fauconnier 1996) describe two domains, or ‘cognitive worlds’, which they

label the ‘P-domain’ and the ‘D-domain’, respectively. The P-domain (or

“primary” domain, as in Botne 2010) represents the world of the time,

place, and reality of the speech act (or Perspective Time); in contrast, the

D-domain (or “Dissociative” domain) marks “relations of non-inclusion”

in the here-and-now world of Perspective Time. (Botne & Kershner 2008:

153). The two domains are schematized in Table 3.

Table 3. Cognitive domains in Botne & Kershner (slightly adapted

from Botne & Kershner 2008: 159)

P-Domain: Association

= inclusion in world of

Perspective Time

D-Domain: Dissociation

= exclusion from world of

Perspective Time

Reality

real

not real

Time

now

not now

Space

here

not here

Languages may encode any or all of the oppositions in Table 3.

Interestingly, identical morphemes often encode more than one opposition.

For example, the English Past can either encode time (I ate the cookie) or

reality status (If I ate the cookie...).

When used without additional domain marking, the Completive and

Non-completive forms discussed up to this point situate discourse in the

temporally associative P-domain. They can be used to describe past or

future situations, but without additional tense/aspect morphology they

usually reference situations with a nucleus that is at least partially

contained within the day of Perspective Time. To refer to situations prior

to the day of utterance,5 Totela speakers use either the marker ka-,

5 It should be noted that the ‘day of utterance’ seems to be construed by speakers as

starting at the time of going to sleep—not, as is claimed to be the case for many

languages, at sun-up (see e.g. Nurse 2008: 90). This timing of ‘hodiernality’ is supported

by the claims of Dahl (2008, 2009), who cites studies at Brown University and the Max

Planck Institute in Heidelberg suggesting that memories are stored both permanently in

the neocortex and temporarily in the hippocampus. The hippocampus is “wiped” during

sleep each night. In Totela, then, it seems that experiences stored in both short-term and

long-term memory are expressed with Associative forms, while experiences stored only

Dissociative and (Non)-Completive Morphology in Totela Narrative

prefixed to the subject marker, and with an associated tone pattern (22), or

the marker -ka-, which follows the subject marker and the Completive -a-

morpheme (23). These prehodiernal Dissociative forms will be

collectively referred to as ka forms.

Ka-SM is used to describe situations from an imperfective viewpoint;

the SM-a-ka form, which indicates nuclear completion in a prehodiernal

domain, has a prehodiernal perfective (Completive) reading.

(22) kà-ndì-yênd-à

PREHOD.IPFV-1SG-walk-FV

‘I was walking / I used to walk’

(23) ndà-kà-yènd-à

1SG.CMPL-PREHOD-walk-FV

‘I walked (yesterday or before)’

Similarly, a prefix na- is used when referencing situations a day or

more after the time of utterance. In all contexts where the -la- marker

would appear in hodiernal Non-completives (e.g. in most affirmative

main-clause indicatives), it also appears in forms with na-.

(24) ná-ndì-là-yènd-à

POSTHOD-1SG-NONCMPL-walk-FV

‘I’ll walk (tomorrow or later)’

Several lines of evidence point to the ka and na- forms as

referencing a separate cognitive domain, rather than merely indicating a

certain time frame.

First, there is some flexibility in the use of ka-/-ka- and na- for non-

hodiernal time frames. Although neither can in general be used for

situations that do coincide with the hodiernal (today) time frame, neither is

universally required when reference is made to non-today situations: there

is at least some optionality in their use. For example, the construction

in long-term memory are expressed using Dissociative marking. This distinction in access

to memories and the corresponding marking could be further evidence in favor of the

existence of cognitive domains that align with ‘today’ and ‘not-today’ situations. Indeed,

the majority of languages that morphologically mark distinctions in temporal distance

encode the difference between ‘today’ and ‘not today’ (although other systems exist).

This distinction may be seen as primary to other temporal distance distinctions (see e.g.

Dahl 2008, 2009; Botne 2012: 537). Note, however, that for many languages with finer

grained remoteness distinctions (e.g. today vs. yesterday vs. distant past), it can be argued

that only the distant past represents a dissociative domain (see e.g. Botne 2012 for

examples).

Dissociative and (Non)-Completive Morphology in Totela Narrative

chìlìmò chàmánà (‘last year’; literally ‘year that has finished’), without

prehodiernal -ka-, alternates with -ka-marked chìlìmò chàkàmánà, also

meaning ‘last year’, with the former version seemingly indicating a time

period that is somehow more relevant to the present.

A discourse example of a prehodiernal situation not marked with -ka-

is given in (25).

(25) Chwale nje-yeyi nchechi mwa-waan-a

INTERJ COP.CL9-CL9.DEM CL9.church 2PL.CMPL-find-FV.RC

‘and so that’s the church you(’ve) found [CMPL] [here today],

Inyweb a-Thera. Mwa-tu-waan-a

2PL.PRON 2PL-Thera 2PL.CMPL-1PL.OM-find-FV

Thera. You(’ve) found [CMPL] us

mu-mapulogalama a-mangi.

CL18(LOC)-CL6.program CL6-many

in the midst of a lot of programs.’

Although Completive forms are generally used for hodiernal situations,

they are used in (25) to describe my arrival several weeks prior to the

utterance. However, the relevant information in the utterance is the

busyness of church life in the village, which had not changed since my

arrival and which continued to affect the availability of certain research

consultants. The arrival, while not in the precise temporal domain of

Perspective Time (i.e. the day on which the utterance was made), was still

within its cognitive domain: the busyness of church life had a direct effect

on the here-and-now world of the research situation. A similar example is

given in (26).

(26) twà-yènd-á àmázùbà ò-bílè, ndé-tù-sìk-à

1PL.CMPL-walk-FV CL6.day CL6-two DM-1PL-arrive-FV

‘we(’ve) walked [CMPL] two days, now we’re just arriving

[NONCMPL]’

The use of a hodiernal form in (26) situates the walking event within the

cognitive domain of the arrival.

Even more common is the description of posthodiernal situations

without the use of the na- marker. For example, both (27a) and (27b) are

perfectly acceptable.

(27) a. ìjìlò ndì-là-y-á kù-mpìlì

tomorrow 1SG-NONCMPL-go-FV CL17(LOC)-CL9.fields

Dissociative and (Non)-Completive Morphology in Totela Narrative

‘tomorrow I’m going [NONCMPL] to the fields’

b. ìjìlò ná-ndì-là-y-á kù-mpìlì

tom. POSTHOD-1SG-NONCMPL-go-FV CL17(LOC)-CL9.fields

‘tomorrow I’m going [POSTHOD] to the fields’

Consultants commented that speakers using forms such as (27b) “are still

hesitating” about whether they will go, suggesting less epistemic certainty

or strength of speaker expectation with na- forms.

It seems, then, that prehodiernal pasts without -ka- depict situations

whose completion (and the ensuing state of affairs) is relevant enough at

Perspective Time to be represented as within the domain of Perspective

Time; prehodiernal futures without na- have enough certainty at

Perspective Time to be seen as inevitable outcomes already in progress.

Both of these situations can reasonably be construed as within the domain

of Perspective Time.

Further evidence for the Associative/Dissociative domain distinction

may be seen in morphological similarities between markers of temporal

distance and markers of spatial distance or irreality. Prehodiernal -ka-

(28a) is segmentally and tonally identical to a distal -ka- marker (28b) in

Totela (although they are distinguished by different melodic tone patterns

in relative clauses). The two markers may also co-occur, as in (28c).

(28) a. ndà-kà-sàmb-à

1SG.CMPL-PREHOD-bathe-FV

‘I bathed (yesterday or before)’

b. ndà-kà-sàmb-à

1SG.CMPL-DIST-bathe-FV

‘I bathed (today, elsewhere from here)’

c. ndà-kà-kà-sàmb-à

1SG.CMPL-PREHOD-DIST-bathe-FV

‘I bathed (yesterday or before, elsewhere from here)’

Although the two -ka- markers likely had separate historical developments

(see Botne 1999 for discussion of similar markers across Bantu and Crane

2011 for more on ka markers in Totela), their morphological and semantic

similarity is striking. Both separate the situation content from the domain

of the utterance, whether temporally or spatially.

A somewhat more tenuous connection may be seen between

posthodiernal na- and a counterfactual (‘not real’) na- past prefix, as

shown in (29).

(29) kámbè bà-kèz-à,

Dissociative and (Non)-Completive Morphology in Totela Narrative

COUNTER 3PL-DIST.come-FV

ná-twà-tàb-á sùnù

COUNTER-1PL.CMPL-become.happy today

‘if they had come, we would have been happy today’

Dissociative ka can also be used in relative tense constructions to

establish a time frame within which Associative forms can be used to

indicate relative temporal distance from the context situation. An example

is given in (30). In (30a), where the relative event (a death) happened on

the same day as the framing event (an arrival), an Associative form is used

to mark the relative timing of the death. In (30b), in contrast, the death

occurred at least one day prior to the arrival, and a Dissociative form is

used with both verbs.

(30) a. Context: a person died on the morning of the speaker’s arrival

... ndà-kà-mù-wààn-à á-fw-à

1SG.CMPL-PREHOD-3SG.OM-find-FV 3SG.CMPL-die-FV

‘I found him dead’ (i.e. ‘I found him [having] died [CMPL]’)

b. Context: a person died on Tuesday; the speaker arrived on

Wednesday

... ndà-kà-wààn-à à-ká-fw-à kàléè

1SG.CMPL-PREHOD-find-FV 3SG.CMPL-PREHOD-die-FV already

‘I found that he already died [CMPL] (the day before)’

The use of -ka- shifts the Perspective Time to the speaker’s at the time of

arrival; further information is given from that Perspective Time and is

marked accordingly. It is argued below that Dissociative ka is used to set

up a narrative’s content as outside of the time, space, and (possibly) reality

of its telling. Within the narrative, Associative forms can be used to

indicate that the content occurs within the domain of the narrative world.

2.3 Summary of verb forms

This section has outlined the use of several verb forms in Totela,

arguing that -a- is a marker of nuclear completion, that -la- and forms

unmarked for TAM coincide with nuclear non-completion, and that ka and

na- are markers of temporal dissociation. The morphemes discussed are

repeated in Table 4, along with brief recapitulations of their interpretations

and analyses.

Table 4. Summary of forms discussed in §2

Form

Interpretations

Analysis

Dissociative and (Non)-Completive Morphology in Totela Narrative

-a-

perfective, perfect,

present stative

Situates Perspective Time after the

completion of the situation nucleus

-la- /

unmarked

present (and present

stative), progressive,

future

Situates Perspective Time before

the completion of the situation

nucleus

-ka- / ka-

prehodiernal perfective

/ imperfective

Marks the situation as excluded

from (and prior to) the temporal

domain of Perspective Time

na-

posthodiernal future

Marks the situation as excluded

from (and after) the temporal

domain of Perspective Time

I hope to have established in this section that category labels such as

‘perfective’ and ‘present’ cannot capture the uses of Totela tense/aspect

marking, or their interactions with various situation types. The above

analysis of these forms also better accounts for their uses in narrative.

Sections 3 and 4 describe how speakers use the -a-, -la-/unmarked, and ka

forms within narratives as tools for adding structure and provoking

audience response. I first turn to a discussion the occurrence of forms

marking nuclear (Non-)completion.

3 (Non-)completion in Totela narrative

Completive and Non-completive forms are found frequently throughout

Totela narratives, and play important roles that are extensions of their

basic temporal semantics. Section 3.1 discusses Completive marking and

its use in structuring the narrative. Section 3.2 shows how Non-

completives are used to pace the narrative and encourage listener empathy

and participation.

3.1 Completion in narrative

As argued in §2.1.2 above, the Completive -a- form indicates that a

situation’s main content (nucleus) has ended prior to Perspective Time.

The narrative functions of the marker, which follow from its Completive

semantics, make it a useful narrative-structuring device. A Completive

form in a narrative indicates that a situation, or set of situations, has

reached completion with respect to Perspective Time. Verbs with

Completive marking can thus be used to indicate episodic boundaries.

They are additionally used to mark resumptively-functioning predicates

(referring back to previous events or summarizing a set of events) as well

as verbs depicting situations whose completion is crucial to the ensuing

action.

Dissociative and (Non)-Completive Morphology in Totela Narrative

3.1.1 Completive marking as episodic boundary marking

Probably the most important role of Completive morphology in Totela

narratives is to structure the narrative as a set of semi-discrete episodes or

‘scenes’. The use of the Completive to partition narratives into episodes

may be seen in the micro-narrative in example (31), which begins a

description of a speaker’s activities and experiences of that day. The

speaker uses Completive forms to mark ‘boundaries’ between the mini-

scenes of the narrative.

(31) Sunu, twa-buuk-a! Twa-buuk-a

today 1PL.CMPL-wake.up-FV 1PL.CMPL-wake.up-FV

‘Today, we woke up [CMPL]! We woke up [CMPL],

nde-twa-y-a ku-ku-nyuk-a obwizu

DM-1PL.CMPL-go-FV CL17(LOC)-INF-cut-FV CL14.grass

that’s when we went [CMPL] to cut grass,

ku-ka-kamul-a bweñanda... 6

INF-DIST-cut(LOZ)-FV CL14(POSS).CL9.house

to cut grass for the roof.

Twa-ka-ßool-a [bwangu] ... ku-ka-bool-a

1PL.CMPL-DIST-return-FV [soon] NARR-DIST-return-FV

We came back soon... (When) we came back [NARR]

ku-ku-nyukul-a ku-iz-a ku-sik-a

CL17(LOC)-INF-cut-FV NARR-come-FV NARR-arrive-FV

from cutting grass, we came [NARR] and arrived [NARR]

ku-ba-waan-a abantu betu

NARR-CL2.OM-find-FV CL2.people CL2.1PL(POSS)

and found them [NARR], those people of ours,

abo ba-li-tu-libelele.

CL2.DEM CL2-PRES.STAT-1PL.OM-wait.for.STAT

they were waiting for us.

Nde-twa-kumbil-a echibaka kuti

DM-1PL.CMPL-ask.for-FV CL7.excuse that

That’s when we asked [CMPL] to be excused so

tu-chi-y-a ku-nkwaya.

1PL-PERS-go-FV CL15(LOC)-CL9.choir

that we could first go to choir practice [before doing research

activities].’

The main topics dealt with in this brief narrative include going to cut

grass, returning to the village and what was found there, and requesting a

change of plans from the researcher. The speaker uses a Completive form

with each shift in topic or location, which marks the beginning of a new

6 Ellipses indicate utterances that are not reproduced here. They usually involve

repetition of the same information, with the same or similar verbal marking.

Dissociative and (Non)-Completive Morphology in Totela Narrative

mini-episode.

The passage begins with a Completive predicate, twabuuka ‘we woke

up’, which opens the narrative and, together with the adverb sunu ‘today’,

sets the main narrative time frame (see more on setting the time frame of a

narrative in §4 below). The speaker then immediately uses a Completive

form (ndetwaya... ‘that’s when we went...’) to introduce the first episode,

going to cut grass. After describing the grass-cutting activity, she uses

another Completive form, twakaboola ‘we returned from there’ (this -ka-

is a distal form), to indicate another shift between activities and locations.

This form is followed by a series of narrative forms, all describing the

events that occurred upon arriving at the village, as well as a stative form

(balitulibelelele ‘they’re waiting for us’) that describes a situation that was

happening in the background of the speaker’s own progression of actions.

The excerpt is brought to a close with a Completive utterance

(ndetwakumbila ‘right then we asked’), indicating a shift from planned

and expected activities (working with the researcher) to a new set of

activities (choir practice).

The Completive’s use in marking episode boundaries is seen

especially in its very common co-occurrence with verbs of coming and

going, such as -ya ‘go’, -boola ‘return’, and -sika ‘arrive’. These types of

verbs are used to shift, via character movement, the story’s action from

one location to another. They often coincide with episode boundaries. For

example, (24) shows the ending of a narrative scene. In this scene, an old

hag tricks a young mother into handing over her baby.

(32) “Àngù ndì-là-bòòl-à.” Ii!

soon 1SG-NONCMPL-return.FV INTERJ

‘“I’ll come right back [NONCMPL].” And she [the young woman]

Nòkú-sùm-ùnùn-à kù-mú-p-à.

COM.NARR-tie-REVERS-FV NARR-3SG-give-FV

untied [NARR] [the baby from her back] and gave it to her [NARR].

Á-y-à.

3SG.CMPL-go-FV

She [the old hag] left [CMPL].’ (Kalima Mawundu)

The narration following this excerpt describes the parallel activities of

the hag and the baby in one location, and the mother in another.

Completive àyà ‘she left’ marks the boundary. In this case, the use of

Completive marking also marks a change in participants from the young

woman to the old hag, but participants also frequently change within a

string of forms with narrative marking (participants are often, though not

universally, overtly named in such cases—see, for example, (35) below),

and the Completive can also be used without a change in participants.

Dissociative and (Non)-Completive Morphology in Totela Narrative

The use of the Completive with verbs of coming and going is a

consequence of its use as a boundary marker, and not merely an

epiphenomenon of location-changing predicates being used as episode

boundaries. This can be seen in the following examples, in which the

Completive is used in boundary predicates that are not location changing

(33–34), and in location changing predicates that do not mark episode

boundaries (35).

Examples (33) and (34) are from the story of an animal skin that

magically transforms into a woman and does housework every day while

the owner is away. Each day’s work comes to an end when the owners

arrive and the woman has to transform back into an animal skin to protect

her secret identity; the arrival is marked with a Completive form (bàsìkà

‘they arrived’).

(33) Kù-màn-à kù-zàbik-à pèlè nò-ká-kòlàm-à

NARR-finish-FV INF-soak-FV PART COM[NARR]-DIST-ascend-FV

‘She finished [NARR] soaking [the millet], then went up [NARR]

kóòkó èkál-à, kù-màlìbélà

CL17.DEM 3SG.stay-FV CL17(LOC)-CL6.corner

to where she stays [NONCMPL.RC], in the corner

éèñándà. Nàbó... àbénì...

CL6(POSS).CL9.house COM.CL2.DEM CL2.owner

of the house [stuck in the roof]. And those owners

béèñándà bà-sìk-à.

CL2(POSS).CL9.house CL2.CMPL-arrive-FV

of the house arrived [CMPL].’ (Kanyama)

(34) Aa! Nàbó àbénì bà-sìk-à.

INTERJ COM.CL2.DEM CL2.owner CL2.CMPL-arrive-FV

‘Aa! Then those owners arrived [CMPL].

Nàkó nòkú-yàngàm-á mwìjúlù.

COM.CL12.DEM COM.NARR-raise.(self).up-FV L18(LOC).CL5.top

And it [the little skin/woman] hung herself up [NARR] in the

roof beams.’ (Kanyama)

Example (35) comes from the final scene of a narrative, after villagers

arrive in a field and discover the aftermath of a crime and run back to call

the others to come look. The journey to and from the village does not

constitute an episode change, and is marked with narrative, rather than

Completive, morphology.

(35) Nòkù-làwùk-à ò-ká-kùw-á àbàntù

COM.NARR-run-FV COM.NARR-DIST-call-FV CL2.people

Dissociative and (Non)-Completive Morphology in Totela Narrative

‘Then they ran [NARR] and called [NARR] the people

kù-mùnzì ... Nò-kèz-à kwìz-à

CL17(LOC)-CL3.village COM.NARR-DIST.come-FV NARR.come-FV

in the village... They [the villagers] came [NARR]

kù-wààn-à...

NARR-find-FV

and found [NARR]...’ (Fumako)

In addition to its occurrences at scene boundaries, the Completive’s

non-occurrence within scenes provides further evidence of its episode

boundary marking function. Of particular interest is its non-occurrence

following songs.

Songs are a vital part of storytelling across Africa (see e.g. Finnegan

2013: 419ff, who notes that “without [songs], in many cases, the stories

would only be a bare framework of words” (419)). When performing a

Totela folk narrative, speakers frequently employ songs to develop both

the storyline and the characterization of participants, as well as to invite

listeners to actively join the storytelling process. Characters often have

‘signature’ songs, which may change somewhat in content as the story

moves forward. Songs also set the mood, foreshadow coming events, and

enliven the action. Typically, a speaker will start a song and sing any

changing verses, with the audience joining in on choruses.

Even as songs move the storyline forward, they are somewhat

disruptive to story action. However, they typically occur within an

episode, rather than at its boundary. Correspondingly, the Completive is

used quite rarely with verbs immediately following songs in narratives.

Instead, consecutive narrative forms are almost universally used, as shown

in example (36), taken from the comically gruesome story of a father who

murders his child and is chased by the child’s singing disembodied head.7

(36) Sà-ù-y-á bù-yîmb-à

DM-CL3-go-FV CL14-sing-FV

‘It [the child’s head] went along [NONCMPL] singing [MANNER].

/ [SONG] /

Aa! Nòkù-ìnd-á èchíkàtà kù-sòw-à

INTERJ COM.NARR-take-FV CL7.carrier NARR-throw.away-FV

Aa! Then [the father] took [NARR] the carrying wrap [from his

head] and threw [it] away [NARR].’ (Namayoyo)

7 As also shown in this example, songs are almost always introduced with a Non-

completive form. This use is discussed in §3.2.1.

Dissociative and (Non)-Completive Morphology in Totela Narrative

In calling the audience’s attention back to the episode-in-progress, the use

of a narrative form, rather than a boundary marking Completive, helps to

increase within-scene continuity (cf. Nurse 2008: 120, who notes that

narrative forms can be used to “stress continuity”).

3.1.2 Resumptive and other uses of Completive marking

As an indicator of episode boundaries, the Completive functions on a

textual, information-structural level. The Completive also occurs in

clauses where its use is both textual and linked to narrative-internal time,

either marking non-sequential events—i.e., clauses in which narrative

morphology would be inappropriate—or functioning resumptively,

recalling or summarizing important events already described in the

narrative. While such uses are not always optionally replaced by narrative

morphology, a speaker’s choice to use a resumptive clause is nonetheless

significant in structuring the narrative, especially in calling (or recalling)

the listeners’ attention to important points in the story.8

Resumptive use of the Completive is especially common with the

verb -mana ‘finish’ in temporal clauses or summaries of a state of affairs.

These uses are illustrated in (37) and (38), where they signal the

completion of something that will be important for the rest of the story.

For example, the birth in (37) and the mother’s subsequent actions set the

stage for the abduction witnessed in example (32) above. Use of the

Completive and the repeated naming of the situation mark the birth as a

significant action within a sea of narrative predicates, setting in motion all

the events to come.

(37) Áàwò kà-lì mùntù. Ii!

CL16(LOC).DEM IPFV.CL1-be CL1.person INTERJ

‘Once, there was [PREHOD.IPFV] a man. Ii!

Nòkú-sès-á òmwánàkázì,

COM.NARR-marry-FV CL1.woman

And he married [NARR] a woman,

kwíbbàl-ìl-a=kó òmwáànà. Ii!

NARR.bear-APPL-FV=CL17(LOC) CL1.child INTERJ

and she bore him [NARR] a child. Ii!

À-màn-à kwíbbàl-á òmwáànà...

CL1.CMPL-finish-FV INF.bear-FV CL1.child

When she had finished [CMPL] giving birth to the child...’

(Kalima Mawundu)

In (38), which is drawn from a description of daily routines in past

times, use of the Completive with -mana similarly marks the pounding of

8 In contrast to narrative forms being used after songs to stress narrative continuity,

‘resumptive’ clauses (used in the sense of e.g. Seidel 2008: 380) provide overall structure

and portray situations as particularly important.

Dissociative and (Non)-Completive Morphology in Totela Narrative

grain into flour as a necessary predecessor to what follows.

(38) Esi twa-man-a oku-twa ku-ijik-a

COND 1PL.CMPL-finish-FV INF-pound.FV NARR-cook-FV

‘When we (had) finished [CMPL] pounding, we cooked [NARR]

ku-li-a.

NARR-eat-FV

and ate [NARR]’ (Akale-kale)

Example (39) is taken from a procedural description of daily work. The

Completive is used several times, referring back to previously completed

actions that were necessary for what followed. Note that -mana can also

be used non-resumptively, and indeed is used with narrative forms

throughout the example.9

(39) Ku-man-a ku-sanz-a. Esi

NARR-finish-FV NARR-bathe.CAUS-FV COND

‘We finish [NARR] washing [NARR] [the millet]. When

a-bomb-a noku-leet-a ku-twa.

CL6.CMPL-soak-FV COM.NARR-bring-FV NARR-pound.FV

it’s soaked [CMPL] then we take [NARR] it and pound [NARR] [it].

Ku-man-a ku-twa ku-leet-a

NARR-finish-FV NARR-pound-FV NARR-bring-FV

We finish [NARR] pounding [NARR] and bring [NARR] [it]

kwijik-a insima.

NARR.cook-FV CL9.porridge

and cook [NARR] nshima.

Wobulya obusu twa-twa

CL16(LOC).CL14.DEM CL14.flour 1PL.CMPL-pound.FV

That flour we pounded [CMPL],

ku-tuul-a mu-mpoto kwijik-a.

NARR-put-FV CL18(LOC)-pot NARR.cook-FV

we put [NARR] [it] in the pot and cook [NARR] [it].

Ku-man-a kwijik-a ku-tuul-a

NARR-finish-FV NARR-cook-FV NARR-put-FV

(When) we finish [NARR] cooking, we put [NARR] [it]

a-misuba. Alya a-misuba

CL16(LOC)-CL9.pot CL16(LOC).DEM CL16(LOC)-CL9.pot

9 Note that the perfect/present stative use of Completive -a- can also be seen in this

example (esi abomba ‘when it’s soaked’).

Dissociative and (Non)-Completive Morphology in Totela Narrative

on plates. Those plates

twa-tuul-a nelo nde-tu-ind-a ku-li-a.

1PL.CMPL-put-FV now DM-1PL-take-FV NARR-eat-FV

we put [CMPL] [it on], that’s when we take [them]

[NONCMPL/UNMARKED] and eat [NARR]’ (Emisebezi yetu)

3.1.3 Completion in Totela narrative: summary

The semantics of the Completive form in Totela make it a valuable

discourse-structuring device. Indicating that a situation—or, by extension,

a related set of situations—has reached completion with respect to

Perspective Time, it highlights the importance of that completion. It marks

an episode boundary or signals that a completed situation is important for

what follows.

3.2 Non-completion in narrative

Non-Completive forms, whether morphologically unmarked or marked

with ‘disjunctive’ -la-, also play an important role in structuring Totela

narratives. Rather than being linked to narrative-internal time, Non-

completive forms serve to invite empathy and response from the listeners,

as if temporarily pulling the narrative content from the distant time and

place of its setting (see §4) to the here-and-now of the storytelling setting.

3.2.1 Non-completion and songs

As noted in section 3.1.1, songs form an integral part of many Totela

folk tales, and are often repeated throughout the narrative, sometimes with

subtle changes reflecting the current state of affairs. They depict character

personalities and desire, and some narratives have different songs for

different situations. They can be the means for invoking magical powers to

provide solutions. They also invite audience participation, as listeners

typically join in after the first chorus.

Nearly every song in my corpus of Totela narratives is introduced

with a form involving the discourse-marking prefix se- (or sa-) and a Non-

completive predicate. Speakers translate se- as indicating ‘the very next

thing’ or ‘what followed after’ or ‘then X began...’. Examples (40) and

(41) are illustrative of typical progressions leading up to songs.

(40) Sà-lì-kà-ìlè. Nàwó òmútwì

DM-PRES.STAT-DIST-go.STAT COM.CL3.DEM CL3.head

‘There he goes [STAT]. And that head [following him]

sà-ù-lá-yìmb-à: / [SONG]

DM-CL3-NONCMPL-sing-FV

Dissociative and (Non)-Completive Morphology in Totela Narrative

sings [NONCMPL]:’ [SONG] (Fumako)

(41) Kù-kà-sìk-à=kóò

NARR-DIST-arrive-FV=CL17(LOC)

‘They [the children] got there [to the tree] [NARR]

ò-kà-tànt-à ò-kà-bùlùmùn-à

COM.NARR-DIST-climb-FV COM.NARR-DIST-knock.down-FV

and climbed up [NARR] and [shook it and] knocked down [NARR]

ò-kà-bùlùmùn-à.

COM.NARR-DIST-knock.down-FV

and knocked down [NARR] [the fruit].

Ò-kézùzy-à [ezinkalanga].

COM.NARR-DIST.become.full.CAUS-FV [CL8.basket]

They filled [NARR] [their baskets].

Nàlyó èkìshíkìshì nòkù-sìk-à.

COM.CL5.DEM CL5.goblin COM.NARR-arrive-FV

And that ekishikishi also arrived [NARR].

Sà-bà-lá-yìmb-à: / [SONG]

DM-3PL-NONCMPL-sing-FV

Then the children begin to sing [NONCMPL]: / [SONG]

(Kumangwembya)

The Non-completive (along with se-/sa-) in these cases performs

several functions. First, se- marks the song as a response to the previous

narrative events. The Non-completive form indicates an incomplete

situation: the song represents a break in the actions currently underway.

Furthermore, the shift from a narrative form to an inflected, Non-

completive form temporarily links the time frame of the narrative to the

time of the telling, inviting the listeners to participate.

Other examples of the Non-completive in narrative temporarily slow

the narrative pace and invite listener empathy, portraying situations and

events more vividly than simply another narrative form in a string of

narrative forms would portray them. For example, (42) comes after a man

has just married and brought his wife home.

(42) ...òkù-mú-twààl-á kù-mpìlì.

INF-3SG.OM-carry-FV CL17(LOC)-CL9.field

‘...he took her to the fields.

À-lá-kàngwà.

3SG-NONCMPL-be.impossible-PASS-FV

Dissociative and (Non)-Completive Morphology in Totela Narrative

She can’t do it [farming work] [NONCMPL].’ (Lobwa Lobwa)

The shift to a Non-completive form seems to invite the listener to take

the perspective of the husband, and to experience his dismay. In the

recording of example (42), the utterance àlákàngwà (‘she fails’/ ‘she can’t

do it’) is preceded by a brief pause, and followed by a pause of nearly two

seconds, furthering the sense that this is a statement of import. Indeed, the

failure of the wife as a farm worker is an ominous sign: she is later

discovered to be a zebra.

Another example of the use of the Non-completive as a pacing device

and to increase vividness comes from the story, already mentioned in

examples (36) and (40), of a disembodied head following its murderous

father. Having thrown away all of his possessions in an effort to get away

more quickly, the desperate father begins to cut off his own limbs during

the chase.

(43) Aa! Nòkwìnd-á èchìbèlò kù-kòsòl-à

INTERJ COM.NARR.take.FV CL7.leg NARR-cut-FV

‘Aa! Then he took his leg [NARR] and cut it off [NARR]

kù-sòw-à ... Sà-yènzy-á ìtèndè lyònkéè.

NARR-throw-FV DM.3SG-walk.CAUS-FV CL5.leg CL5.one

and threw it aside [NARR]. Then he’s walking [NONCMPL] on just

one leg.’ (Fumako)

In summary, use of the Non-completive in Totela narrative allows the

speaker to temporarily slow the pace of the narrative and to encourage

listener empathy and participation by aligning narrative-internal time with

the time of the storytelling. While the Completive marks the boundary of

an episode (‘this is finished’), the Non-completive not only marks

something as not finished, but also brings it into the here-and-now of the

narrative’s audience.

4 Dissociation in narrative

While the Completive and Non-completive appear with some

frequency throughout narratives, and are used to structure and pace them,

Dissociative forms are found only at the beginnings and ends of

narratives—virtually never in the main body—and serve to situate the

narrative in (possibly fictional) time and space. This section deals with

Dissociative prehodiernal ka; posthodiernal na- does not appear in my

narrative corpus outside of the quoted speech of characters.

Dissociative and (Non)-Completive Morphology in Totela Narrative

4.1 Abstract and orientation

In the corpus of narratives, the first verb is almost universally a

Dissociative (prehodiernal imperfective or Completive) form, followed

either by a series of such forms, or by a narrative form. Examples (44–46)

show the opening lines of three narratives. Each starts with a formulaic

‘once there was [PREHOD.IPFV]’. In (44) and (45), several more verbs

marked with a prehodiernal form set the stage, giving background

information on the characters and their circumstances. Example (46)

plunges straight into the narrative action after introducing one of the

characters.

(44) Áàwò kà-lì mùchèchè

CL16(LOC) PREHOD.IPFV-be CL1.child

‘There once was [PREHOD.IPFV] a child,

à-ká-fwìlw-á bà-nyìnà.

CL1.CMPL-PREHOD-die.APPL.PASS-FV CL2A-his.mother

his mother died on him [PREHOD.CMPL].

Éènì chwàlè nìngá bà-ká-fwà

yes INTERJ NINGA CL2A.CMPL-PREHOD-die.FV

Yes. Well, when she died [PREHOD.CMPL],

bà-nyìnà, ná-à-ká-sìyàl-á

CL2A-his.mother DM-CL1.CMPL-PREHOD-be.left-FV

his mother, that’s when he was left [PREHOD.CMPL]

kù-bésì. Bési nokú-ses-a

CL17(LOC)-CL2A.his.father CL2A.his.father COM.NARR-marry-FV

with his father. Then his father married [NARR]

yu-mwí omwánakázi.

CL1-other CL1.woman

another woman.’ (Kañandu)

(45) Kà-tù-lì tùchèchè nàkàchèmbèlè

PREHOD.IPFV-CL13-be CL13.child COM.CL12.old.person

‘There once were [PREHOD.IPFV] children, and a little old lady

ká-kèèkál-à mu-chiole

PREHOD.IPFV-CL12.stay-FV.RC CL18(LOC)-CL7.bush

who lived [PREHOD.IPFV] in the bush,

mu-mutemwa. Eènì.

CL18(LOC)-CL3.forest yes

in the forest. Yes.

Kà-ká-pòn-áàng-á òbwíìlì. ...

PREHOD.IPFV-CL12-live-HAB-FV.RC CL14.tuber

Dissociative and (Non)-Completive Morphology in Totela Narrative

She lived [PREHOD.IPFV] on obwiili roots.

kà-ká-yààk-à nèñándà. Íngà

CL12.CMPL-PREHOD-build-FV COM.CL9.house DM

And she also built [PREHOD.CMPL] a house.

nàtó !tóòtò òtùchèchè

COM.CL13.DEM CL13.DEM CL13.child

And so those children

kà-tù-yèmbèl-áàng-à mù-mútèmwà

PREHOD.IPFV-CL13-herd-HAB-FV.RC CL18(LOC)-CL3.forest

who herded [PREHOD.IPFV] in the forest

nòkwíjàlwil-á òtùpóngò.

COM.NARR-open.APPL-FV CL14.goats

let out [NARR] the goats. (Namayoyo)

(46) Áàwò kà-lì mú!kwáámè

CL16(LOC).DEM PREHOD.IPFV.CL1-be CL1.man

‘There once was [PREHOD.IPFV] a man,

nò-kà-tòbèl-á òmwánàkázì. Kù-mú-lèèt-á

COM.NARR-DIST-seek-FV CL1.woman NARR-CL1.OM-bring-FV’

he went to seek [NARR] a wife. He brought her [NARR]

à-mùnzì.

CL15(LOC)-CL3.village

to the village.’ (Choncho)

In the above examples, imperfective ka- forms give information about

the setting and the state and habits of the participants. The Completive

-a-ka- forms detail actions leading up to the story line. Together, this

information forms what Labov & Waletzky (1967) call the story’s

‘orientation’. Orientations in Totela narratives not only give background

information, but the use of Dissociative forms in them also signals to

listeners that the story that is about to be told takes place in a time and

place—and, in the case of fictional folk narratives, another reality—than

the time of its telling.

While the stories in the narrative corpus generally open with an

orientation similar to those in examples (44–46), the orientation section is

occasionally preceded by what Labov & Waletzky (1967) term ‘abstract’,

that is, a brief initial summary or introduction. Narrative abstracts, when

they occur, also use prehodiernal Dissociative forms, as in example (47).

(47) Mwáà-ká-chìt-íl-à

CL18(LOC).CL1.CMPL-PREHOD-do-APPL-FV.RC

Dissociative and (Non)-Completive Morphology in Totela Narrative

‘This is how he acted [PREHOD.CMPL],

yóòyó òmùntù …

CL1.DEM CL1.PERSON

that person...’ (Nyanyambe)

Example (47) is followed by a short orientation, and then the main action

commences.

As noted above, after the orientation, Dissociative forms virtually

never appear within the main narrative body outside of quoted speech.

Instead, the narrative and inflected forms detailed in previous sections are

used. The orientation sets the scene, and then the imaginary world of the

narrative becomes the base world from which Perspective Times are set.

4.2 Coda

At the end of almost every narrative, the Dissociative appears once

again, this time in a conventionalized ‘coda’, as in (48).

(48) Pó-lwà-kà-màn-ín-à

CL15(LOC)-CL11.CMPL-PREHOD-finish-APPL.FV

‘That’s where the story ended’ (Kanyama)

Labov (2001: 65) describes the function of a coda as indicating

“termination of the narrative by returning the time frame to the present”.

Labov & Waletzky note that this effect is often achieved through use of

deixis, for example, “obviate” ‘this’ and ‘those’ in contrast to the

“proximate” ‘these’ and ‘here’ that are used throughout the man narrative

(Labov & Waletzky 1967: 100). Dissociative marking on the verb fits this

description neatly. It shifts Perspective Time from the story time set by the

orientation, back to the here-and-now of telling. It reminds the listeners

that the narrated events are removed from their own time, space, and

reality.

4.3 Dissociation in narrative: summary

During a narrative, listeners suspend disbelief and are figuratively

transported to the cognitive domain of the narrative. The use of

Dissociative markers in the narrative’s abstract and orientation signal this

shift. At the end of the narrative, another Dissociative marker in the coda

closes the domain of “story-reality” and brings listeners back to the

Dissociative and (Non)-Completive Morphology in Totela Narrative

present world of the storytelling. In framing a narrative, Dissociative

marking delineates a world, separate from the world of telling, where the

narrative events—fantastic or mundane—take place. Inside that world,

associative forms reflect story-internal reality.

5 Conclusion

Table 5 summarizes the TAM categories discussed in this article and

their specific uses in narrative, as shown in the preceding sections.

Table 5. TAM categories and their uses in narratives

The roles of Dissociative and (Non-)Completive morphology in structuring Totela (Bantu) narratives

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