Somsonge
Burusphat
Research
Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia,
A
comparison of sequential strategies in Mon-Khmer narratives
Contingent
temporal succession is a significant feature of narrative. It is marked by
various devices in different languages. This paper presents the sequential
devices which mark the storyline of narrative texts. The data were drawn from
written texts. They consist of twenty-six narrative texts of five Mon-Khmer
languages, namely, Samre, Kasong, Pray, Kmhmu, and Vietnamese. Theses texts are
analyzed using the framework of discourse analysis as expounded by Longacre
(1996). The analysis is focused on the etic
narrative salience scheme.
It
has been found that the sequential strategies frequently used in Mon-Khmer
narrative texts include temporal auxiliaries and perfective auxiliaries. Samre,
Kasong, Pray, and Kmhmu have temporal auxiliaries which are similar in form and
thus should be regarded as cognates. They are kɔ/22
(Samre), kɔ (Kasong), kɔ (Pral), gɔ
Kmhmu’. These temporal auxiliaries function to mark the storyline status of the
following happenings which are sequential to the previous ones. On the other
hand, Vietnamese has two different temporal auxiliaries, i.e., thiÝ:,
bEÝn
that have a similar function.
The
perfective auxiliaries function to signal a completion of previous happenings
which are sequential to the following ones. Samre, Pray, and Kmhmu’ share the
same perfective auxiliaries, that is, lEEw451,
lɛ:w, lE:w
respectively. Though lEÛ:w
is not found in Kasong narrative texts due to a limitation of data, it is found
in procedural texts functioning as a sequential indicator. In addition to lEEw451
(Samre), lɛ:w (Pray), lE:w
(Kmhmu’), Samre and Pray share the perfective auxiliary ¨u«c22
and roc respectively. Kasong has hoÛ:j
and jɔÝh
which have a similar function. The perfective auxiliary hoÛ:j
marks a completion of previous happenings and is usually glossed as ‘already’
whereas jɔÝh
functions to terminate previous happenings and is normally glossed as ‘finish,
completely’. Kmhmu uses ho:tɕ in a similar way as lE:w
but its use is more frequent than lE:w.
Vietnamese has three perfective auxiliaries, that is, zoÝ:j,
sɔ:ŋƒm,
dwa6:n
which are used in a similar way. zoÝ:j
has a wider usage than sɔ:ŋƒm
and dwa6:n.
The
temporal auxiliaries and perfective auxiliaries may co-occur to highlight a
happening. The part of narrative that has these two kinds of auxiliaries is at
the highest rank of the etic narrative salience scheme.
The
narrative is recounted as happening in the past or accomplished time, therefore
the occurrences of the temporal auxiliaries and perfective auxiliaries within
the narrative timeframe mark happenings which are on the storyline. However
these auxiliaries are neutral as to time reference so they may occur both in
accomplished and projected timeframes. When they occur in a projected timeframe
such as quotations, they do not mark the storyline which is in Band 1 of the
etic narrative salience scheme.
The
study of these auxiliaries reveals that language contact plays an important
role in their usage. Samre, Kasong, and Pral have been influenced by Thai and
Kmhmu’ by Lao.