A Case Study in English and
Hobongan (and Beyond!)
marla.perkins@dartmouth.edu
 Given
the four major components of
narrative discourse (causality, character,
space, time: Zwaan, 1999, 1996; Perkins,
2009 for a review), are there typological
variations in the use or ranking of those
elements? (Yes.)
 If
there are variations, what are they, and
how are they instantiated in languages?
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Closest link between
character and causality:
people make things happen
Time after character:
conflation of time and
causality in many cases
(post hoc ergo propter hoc
fallacy)
Space last: some have
claimed (Mark, 2004, p.c.)
that English is impoverished
in ways to describe
spatial/locational
information (Perkins, 2009,
for alternative)
Closest link between
location and causality:
places make things
happen
 Character next:
characters relatively
backgrounded for
narrative and
responsibility (Perkins,
2013, 2014)
 Time last: time measured
by outside world,
including locations
(Perkins, 2014)
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WHAT WORKS
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What native speakers
consider necessary for a
coherent and cohesive
narrative discourse—what
counts as a discourse
Focus markers/strategies
Discourse organization
patterns
WHAT DOES NOT
Syntax: Both English and
Hobongan are SVO
 Morphology: Neither English
nor Hobongan are particularly
interesting morphologically
 Phonetics/Phonology: neither
English nor Hobongan are
especially exotic
 Language family: details to
follow
In short—the rankings of
elements of discourse MUST be
a different category for
typological purposes

 With
this kind of difference available, are
all of the logical possibilities available in
the world’s languages? (Probably)
 Are there universals? (Probably)
 How does this relate to the creation and
analysis of literature in language and
typology?
 Survey
of 53 languages from 21 language
families (some field work, some
published descriptions)
 Focus markers in narrative discourse
 Pragmatic priorities, if available

Character, time, space:
•
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•
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English (and many other Indo-European languages: Greek, Spanish, Russian)
Tagalog (Schachter and Otanes, 1972) (Austronesian)
Ponapean (Rehg, 1981) (Austronesian)
Thai (Smythe, 2002) (Thai-Kadai)
Sonora Yaqui (Dedrick and Casad, 1999) (Uto-Aztecan)
Comanche (Charney, 1993) (Central Numic branch of Uto-Aztecan)
Jacaltec (Craig, 1977) (Mayan)
Engenni (Thomas, 1978) (Edo branch of Kwa)
Central Bontoc (Reid, 1970) (Austronesian)
Anywa (Reh, 1996) (Nilo-Saharan)
Character, space, time:
• Classical Tibetan (Beyer, 1992) (Tibeto-Burman)
• Aleut (Bergslund, 1997) (Eskimo-Aleut)
• Coastal Tsimshian/Sma’algyax (Dunn, 1995) (Tsimshian)

Overlap:
• Mandarin: Character, space/time (Li and Thompson, 1981) (Sino-Tibetan)
• Nahuatl: Character, space/time (Sullivan, 1988) (Uto-Aztecan)
• Mam: Character/time, space (England, 1983) (Mayan)
 Space, character, time:
• Dyirbal (Dixon, 1972) (Pama-Nyungan)
• Hobongan (Perkins, 2013)
 Space, time, character: None
found as yet
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Time, character, place
•
•
•
•
•
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Bella Coola (Nater, 1984) (Salish)
Cahuilla (Seiler, 1977) (Uto-Aztecan)
Manambu (Aikhenvald, 2008) (Ndu)
Nishnaabemwin (Valentine, 2001) (Algonquian)
Timucua (Granberry, 1993) (Isolate)
Time, place, character: None yet
Overlap:
• Itzaj Maya: Time/character, space (Hoffling, 2000) (Mayan)
• Navajo: Time, character/place (Midgetted, 1995)
(Athabaskan)
• Totonac: Time/space, character (Reid et al., 1968)
(Totonacan)

Thanks to incomplete grammars (up to syntax
at most):
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•
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•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
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Tzotzil (Cowan, 1969) (Mayan)
Mattole—last speaker (Li, 1930) (Athabaskan)
Phoenician—inscriptions (Harris, 1936) (Semitic)
Ugaritic (Segert, 1984) (Semitic)
Gulf Arabic (Oafisheh, 1977) (Semitic)
Kharia (Peterson, 2011) (Semitic)
Lakota (Buechel, 1939) (Siouan)
Sirionó (Firestone, 1965) (Tupí-Guaraní)
Wolio (Anceaux, 1952) (Austronesian)
Si-Luyana (Givón, 1970) (Niger-Congo)
Siwi (Walker, 1920) (Berber)
Abun (Berry and Berry, 1999) (West Papuan)
Yawuru (Hosokawa, 2011) (Nyulnyulan)
Taba (Bowden, 2001) (Austronesian)
Gunwinggu (Oates, 1964) (Arnhem)
Ngiyambaa (Donaldson, 1980) (Pama-Nyungan)
Konkani (Almeida, 1989) (Indo-Aryan)
Colloquial Guarani (Gregores and Suárez, 1967)
(Tupi)
Auca (Peeke, 1973) (Isolate)
Palauan (Josephs, 1975) (Austronesian)
Papago (Sepeda, 1983) (Uto-Aztecan)
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Βɑlɑncedː Basque (DeRijk, 2008)
(Isolate)
Thanks to a mix: Belizean Creole
(Greene, 1999)—probably the
source languages: character, time,
space
Thanks to hierarchical/binary
discourse analysis that are personfocused (Longacre, 1968):
•
•
Mixe (van Haitsma et al., 1976) (MixeZoquean)
Japanese (Tsujimura, 1999) (Altaic)
 Causality
is always at the top of the list
 One or two of the other three
components links most closely with
causality
 Languages often have a word that links
causality with the highest-ranked
element: e.g., “motivation” in English
(causality with character, Zwaan, 1999)
 Need
to include analysis of patterns in
narrative discourse (and other types of
discourse) in grammatical descriptions of
languages
 Need to move beyond the assumption that
people are the center
 Need to examine different levels/types of
narrative discourse (e.g., personal narrative
vs. literary narrative)
• How much of the information/patterning is shared?
• How much of the information/patterning different?
• What makes a discourse literary in a given
language?
 These
patterns in narrative discourse are
the starting points for the creation of
literature, even if creative license moves
beyond them
 Literary typologies could be the starting
point for additional creative exploration:
what’s possible?
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marla.perkins@dartmouth.edu