Information flow

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Information flow

Cuhbi’s morphosyntactic alignment has already been discussed briefly elsewhere, but it deserves a more comprehensive treatment taking into account Cuhbi’s system of managing information flow. Topicality and constituent salience are incredibly important to case assignment, constituent ordering and voice marking on the Cuhbi verb; indeed, it is arguable that Cuhbi’s case system is only secondarily used to mark grammatical/semantic role and is primarily a marker of topicality. We will first discuss the morphosyntax of topicality in Cuhbi alongside a broader consideration of valency; we will then move on to explore the notion of topicality and what constituents are typically assigned the topic role. Finally we will investigate other elements of the Cuhbi system of organisation of information, such as dislocation, the emphatic particle ru, specification and so on.

Topicality and agreement

Any given Cuhbi sentence has a constituent we can identify as a marked topic. Putting aside for the moment considerations of what criteria are used to select topics in the first place, it is possible to distinguish two main morphosyntactic properties of the Cuhbi topic: fronting/verbal agreement and case marking/promotion.

In a normative Cuhbi sentence an explicit topic (i.e. one not indexed on the verb) will be the first constituent:

moyi bzà xúuva tiltil ibabràa
mo=i bzà xúuva tiltil i-ba_REDUP-ø=ràa
my_sister=TOP SWITCH what.OBL glint ACT-sense-IMP.REAL=by_eyeWhat is my sister looking for today?

This occurs regardless of the constituent’s semantic role in the sentence:

qazqaʐi cìsèh da xá yàndàl dabyà ìin gènà
qazqaz-r=i cì=sèh da xá yàndà-r dabyà i-ʁ-n ge-n qazqaz-OBL=TOP CLASS[substance]=NEG MOD EMPH friend-OBL merchant ACT-do-PERF.IRR give-PERF.IRRQazqaz I wouldn’t sell to a friend

If a topic has already been stated, it may be implicit, in which case it is indexed using personal marking on the verb:

nyobàl caqucaqur mìmade nabelà
nyobà-r caqu-REDUP-r mìmade n-a-be-ø-r
market-OBL produce-ASS-OBL abundant 3p-STAT-stand-IMP.REAL-APP.INANThe markets in that place are rich with all kinds of produce

In general, either an explicit topic or prefixial person marking must be present in a Cuhbi sentence.

The second main property of Cuhbi topics is that they are always promoted as high in the case hierarchy as possible using the valency-modifying morphemes -r -n (applicatives) and i- u- (voice prefixes). Only animate constituents may be promoted to nominative; inanimate constituents may only be promoted to the oblique case. Adverbial arguments of any sort may be promoted to accusative using the applicative suffixes, which agree in animacy with the promoted constituent:

uquli mìmi daidai iisàntà ngii
uqu-r=i mìmi-ø daidai i-ʁ-t-n nge-t hut-OBL=TOP my_mother-NOM birth_pains ACT-do-PERF.REAL-APP.INAN be_in-PERF.REALThat hut is where my mother was born

Animate constituents may be promoted from accusative to nominative by means of the passive prefix u-:

nyòyi bzà tiltil ubàl geràa
nyò=yi bzà tiltil u-ba-ø-r ge-ø=ràa
my_husband=TOP SWITCH glint PASS-sense-IMP.REAL-APP[ANIM] give-IMP.REAL=by_eyeI’m looking for something for my husband.

In addition to these properties, the explicit Cuhbi topic almost always carries the topicality clitic -i or -yi:

Kàng Prííyi hógògà iisàpíɽaʔà
Kàng Príí=yi hógògà i-ʁ-ø-s=píɽ=ʔa Kàng Príí=TOP vomiting ACT-do-PERF-INCH=in_a_disgusting_manner=EVKang Prii began vomiting

Note also that women’s speech has an optional particle which often occurs in the presence of new topics:

mòyi bzà xúuva tiltil ibabràa?
mò=i bzà xúuva tiltil i-ba-ø=ràa
your_sister=TOP SWITCH what.OBL glint ACT-sense-IMP.REAL=by_eyeWhat can I do for you today?

Bzàoccurs exclusively with foreground information - i.e. information directly relevant to the main narrative - and derives from a reanalysis of a modal particle meaning ‘so, then’.

Occasionally a topic is not accompanied by a topicality clitic. This is usually when the noun is accompanied by numerous modifiers and may be the result of production errors.

What exactly constitutes a Cuhbi topic is a somewhat complicated discussion. What we term ‘topic’ here might, in one analysis, be treated simply as a subject (we avoid that term however because of its regular confusion with ideas of agency and nominativity, both of which are distinct from the topic in Cuhbi). The topic conflates many of the crosslinguistic functions of topic and focus. It might be best viewed as a method of keeping fronted the most salient constituent over the length of a discourse in which that constituent plays a constant and important role. In this sense, it is not unlike the usage of the English passive which maintains a discourse-salient constituent in subject position. Consider the following description:

M!áá Dtəri kaaga nyà kaskas iyìin nge
M!áá_Dtə-r=i kaaga nyà kaskas i-ʁ-ø-n nge-ø
M!áá_Dtə-OBL=TOP people family mingle ACT-do-IMP.REAL-APP.INAN be_in-IMP.REALIn this city many kinds of people come together

nyobàl caqucaqur mìmade nabènà
nyobà-r caqu-REDUP-r mìmade n-a-be-ø-n
market-OBL produce-ASS-OBL abundant 3p-STAT-stand-IMP.REAL-APP.INANAnd its markets are rich with all sorts of produce

Tsii xáxáx nyibabàn nge
Tsii xáxáx n-i-ba-REDUP-ø-n nge-ø Tsi crackling 3p-ACT-hear-IMP-IMP.REAL-APP.INAN be_in-IMP.REALA Tsi feels at home here

This continues in the same vein. Across these three sentences the city M!áá Dtə remains the topic, although if we reverse the transformations which promote the topic, we find that the city is actually occupying two different grammatical roles here (in the first and the last sentences it is an additional oblique argument annexed to the verb by the locative verb nge and in the second sentence it is an unmarked possessive). The reason it is selected as the topic is because of its importance to the discourse.

In this case, the noun marked as topic is old information, introduced in a previous sentence as a non-topical constituent (although in the examples given this is not clear). Even taken in isolation, this section of discourse has two sentences where the topic is clearly old information because it is implicit; i.e. indexed on the verb. In this function, the Cuhbi topic clearly fulfils some of the criteria of topicality found cross-linguistically. Even many new topics have been previously referenced or are assumed by the speaker to be mutually understood without further explanation, and in this function the topic marker can be seen as simply foregrounding information which was previously available but not considered immediately salient. Consider, for example, the first sentence of the example given above and the preceding utterance:

nyooɭ bdɛ k!ɔɔŋal M!áá Dtər nasènà
nyoog-r bdɛ_k!ɔɔŋ-r M!áá_Dtə-r n-a-se-ø-r
borderland-OBL garrison_city-OBL M!áá_Dtə-OBL 3p-STAT-be_beyond-IMP.REAL-APP.INANThe borders of this land begin at the garrison city of M!áá Dtə

As we can see, M!áá Dtə appears first as an oblique, non-topical constituent in a sentence where the actual topic is a previously referenced territory. Here the switch in topic is clearly simply foregrounding already-extant information.

However, there are many examples of new topics which cannot be interpreted as old information where topicality acts as a kind of specifier marking that this constituent will be discussed further or will play an important role in the discussion. For example:

Kàyi pafàn ugva ngàci mvà ikàtòndù
kà=i pafàn ugu-a ngà=ci mò-a i-a/kà-t=òndù
man=TOP yesterday house CLASS=3p my_sister-OBL ACT-VEN/go-PERF.REAL=I_affirm
A man came to my sister’s house yesterday

Here -i’s role has no obvious parallel in English, but can perhaps be seen as equivalent to ‘a certain’. There are other cases where -i plays a similar role although with less clearly indefinite constituents:

Here the topic is ‘my husband’, who is then further discussed and described in following utterances. Occasionally in this role the topic can be interpreted as contrastive, as in the preceding sentence. When strong contrast is required, however, it is more common to dislocate the topic to the right of the verb, attach a form of the verb ʁ- with identical marking to the main verb and index it with pronominal marking:

bzà tiltil kubàl geràa nyòyi uvùuɽ
bzà tiltil k-u-ba-ø-r ge-ø=ràa nyò=yi u-ʁ-ø-r
SWITCH glint 3p-PASS-sense-IMP.REAL-APP give-IMP.REAL=by_eye my_husband=TOP PASS-do-IMP.REAL-APPI’m looking for something for my husband.

In some cases there are multiple constituents with high discourse salience, as in the following sentence from a Cuhbi joke about a dog:

jòyi xímà ruful sekseka ivaaʔà
jò=i xímà rufu-r sekseka i-va-t=ʔà
man=TOP CLASS=one dog-OBL money ACT-push-PERF.REAL=EV
A man buys a dog

Here the man and the dog are both salient for a long period after they are initially introduced. The choice of the man as the topic is motivated by animacy and agency (i.e. the fact that the man is already nominative). In cases where two constituents of equal animacy are present, the topic typically changes repeatedly.

Old vs new information, individuation

Cuhbi does not have a particularly well-developed system for contrasting old and new information. As we have seen, the main concern in its system of managing information flow is one of discourse salience. However, Cuhbi does distinguish between newly introduced nominal constituents by means of deixis, demonstratives, and quantifiers. The juxtaposition of old and new information by various means is closely tied to the individuation of nominal constituents, which we will explore alongside the old-new contrast.

Individuation refers to the degree to which a nominal constituent is distinguished from others of its class. Clearly, individuation is a scale: at one end we have generic nouns, mass nouns and abstractions; at the other, we have highly individuated, specific cases like ‘my younger sister’. Generally speaking, the addition of modifiers such as adjectives or possessives, as well as higher discourse salience, results in a higher degree of individuation.

Individuated old constituents are often accompanied in Cuhbi by a proximal demonstrative pá/ijá (inanimate and animate respectively):

cìyi luuxa ìnyìn Odìdyà xíjá yàn ngáhokànabaspòndu
cì=i luux-a i-nyi-n Odi-REDUP-a xí=ijá yàn ngá=o-kà/ʁ-n=baspa=òndu
CLASS[substance]=TOP soup-OBL ACT-put_in-PERF.IRR, Odi-HYP-OBL CLASS=this killing hence=CONJ-VEN/do- PERF.IRR=quickly=I_affirm You put this in his soup, it will kill (this) Odi.

nyobàl àng ruful ʂipá ciʂuu kàaʔà
nyobà-r àng rufu-r ʂi=pá k-u/i-ʂi-t kà-t=ʔà
market-OBL ACC dog-OBL CLASS=this 3p-ACT-VEN/take-PERF.REAL go-PERF.REAL=EV
So he takes the (this) dog to the market…

This ties into a much broader trend of conceptualising established information as spatially close to the speaker, which regularly triggers venitive marking in the verb, as seen in both of the above examples. Occasionally venitive marking appears in the same capacity without a demonstrative:

ruful tsàngatsànga cigogà ʐohuuyàʔà
rufu-r tsàng-REDUP-a k-i-o/ge-ø-g ʐo-ø=uuyà=ʔà
dog-OBL sweetmeat-ASC-OBL 3p-ACT-VEN/give-IMP.REAL-DIST VEN/pass-IMP.REAL=surprising=EV
And he keeps giving the dog this sweetmeat and that sweetmeat…

On the other hand, new individuated nominal constituents are often (but not compulsorily) accompanied by the number -mà ‘one’.

rufva àng ʂimà atse nyivaʔà
rufu-a àng ʂi=mà atse n-i-va-ø=ʔà
dog-OBL ACC CLASS=one arrow 3p-ACT-push-IMP.REAL=EV
He shot a dog

-mà may attach to explicitly marked plural constituents, and may even in the preceding sentence be interpreted as plural:

rufva ʂibàngamà atse nyivaʔà
rufu-a ʂi=bàng=mà atse n-i-va-ø=ʔà
dog-OBL CLASS=PL=one arrow 3p-ACT-push-IMP.REAL=EV
He shot some dogs

The accusative particle àng may only precede non-generic constituents, and is much more likely to precede highly specified nouns.

àng rufva ʂimà atse nyivaʔà
àng rufu-a ʂi=mà atse n-i-va-ø=ʔà
ACC dog-OBL CLASS=one arrow 3p-ACT-push-IMP.REAL=EV
He shot a dog

For male speakers ru and àng co-occur and fuse as àɳ; for female speakers they cannot co-occur (the form is ru only):

♂àɳ rufva atse nyivaʔà
àng-ru rufu-a atse n-i-va-ø=ʔà
ACC-EMPH dog-OBL CLASS=one arrow 3p-ACT-push-IMP.REAL=EV
He shot the dog

♀ru rufva atse nyivaʔà
ru rufu-a atse n-i-va-ø=ʔà
EMPH dog-OBL CLASS=one arrow 3p-ACT-push-IMP.REAL=EV
he shot the dog

Emphasis

We have seen that the topic can occasionally be secondarily contrastive. However, Cuhbi also commonly dislocates non-topical nominal constituents to the immediate post-verbal position for emphasis, prefixing them with ru (male speech) or xá (women’s speech):

ʐyà ru ratàl sekseka nùngáá xùùnyèh
ʐé-a ru ratà-r sekseka n-u-ngá-t xo-t=ìnyèh
your_brother-OBL EMPH knife-OBL money 3p-PASS-push-IMP.REAL CAUS-IMP.REAL=EV
It was a knife I sold your brother

xódòri xá socè oʐii socènzà!
xódò-r=i xá so=cè o-ʐe-t so=cè=nzà week-OBL=TOP EMPH CLASS[flat]=two CONJ-pass-PERF.REAL CLASS[flat]=two=it_means!It’s been two weeks now, two!

Especially when the noun has a classifier and a clitic, only the classifier and associated clitics are dislocated:

mòyi jòva ru ʐulè qoqo iisà!
mò=i jò-a ru ʐu=lè qoqo i-ʁ-t
your_sister=TOP man-OBL EMPH CLASS[foreigners]=three cunt ACT-do-PERF.REAL
Your sister fucked three foreigners!

A classifier alone may also follow ru even when there are no clitics:

mòyi pxaya ru ʐu qoqo iisà!
mò=i pxai-a ru ʐu qoqo i-ʁ-t
your_sister=TOP Tsi-OBL EMPH CLASS[foreigners] cunt ACT-do-PERF.REAL
Your sister fucked Tsi!

Emphasis may be achieved for pronominal elements - including topics - by use of the pronominal suffixes, which do not distinguish theta-role or number and must be disambiguated by context.

ugva ìngèntiiqeda
ugu-a n-i-nge-t-nii=qeda
house-OBL 3p-ACT-go_in-PERF.REAL-3p=by_foot
he walked into the house

Old constituents (i.e. ones which have already been referenced or which are available to both speakers) which are specific (i.e. not generic) may be additionally indexed on the verb with an echoing emphatic pronoun suffix:

Zayamahayi ugva ìngèntiiqeda
Zayamaha=i ugu-a i-nge-t-nii=qeda
Zayamaha=TOP house-OBL ACT-go_in-PERF.REAL-3p=by_foot
Zayamaha walked into the house

In addition, emphasised constituents are often repeated after the verb with the clitic -nzà ‘it means’, ‘which means’:

xódòri xá socè oʐii socènzà!
xódò-r=i xá so=cè o-ʐe-t so=cè=nzà week-OBL=TOP EMPH CLASS[flat]=two CONJ-pass-PERF.REAL CLASS[flat]=two=it_means!It’s been two weeks now, two!

In contrasts where two nouns are distinguished by a quality ascribed to them by an adjective - that is, where the adjective is the contrastive element - the adjective may be placed before the noun rather than after it. Unlike normal prenominal adjectives, they do not show conchord with the following noun:

xá nyapì ka atse nyivaaʔà
xá nyapì ka-a atse n-i-va-t=ʔà
EMPH tall man-OBL arrow 3p-ACT-push-PERF.REAL=EVID
It was the tall man he shot

Background vs foreground information

Cuhbi is considerably less elaborate than many European languages in its distinction between foreground and background information. Often background information - such as that introducing a narrative - is simply expressed in exactly the same manner as foreground information:

yaʂayi bitá ipáá sàngi sole ngáhoʐii
yaʂa=i bitá i-pá-t sàng=i so=lè ngá=o-ʐi-t
chief=TOP sash ACT-put_on-PERF.REAL month=TOP CLASS=three then=CONJ-pass-PERF.REAL
The chief had taken up his position three months before

Literally this sentence reads ‘the chief took up his position, then three months passed’. The narrative then continues. Cuhbi lacks a mechanism like the pluperfect to mark that the event is occurring previous to the main time reference, and is considerably more amenable than English is to the simple annexation of this background information to the body of the narrative. However, Cuhbi does possess a very commonly used morphological mechanism for marking information as background or less relevant to the main narrative, the conjunctive prefix o- which replaces normal voice marking. Note for example:

bàtsènì bdʰá niiyàmááya pààʂoli sotèng oʐii
bàtsènì bdʰá n-i-ʁ-ø=mááya pààʂo-r=i so=tèng o-ʐe-t
gloriously sash 3p-ACT-do-IMP.REAL=in_a_praiseworthy_manner year-OBL=TOP CLASS[flat]=five CONJ-pass_time-PERF.REALIn the fifth year of his glorious rule

Here the sentence reads literally ‘he is reigning gloriously; five years passed’. This sentence plays much the same role as the previous example but is phrased somewhat differently. The clause indicating duration is subordinated to the main clause, indicating that rather than being an equally weighted event in the continuing narrative, it is further elaboration (perhaps unnecessary to the main narrative) of the clause to which it is subordinated.

The conjunctive prefix is regularly used in a way somewhat equivalent to a relative clause in English, adding additional background information about a noun in the preceding clause:

nyooɭ bdɛ k!ɔɔŋal M!áá Dtər naselà bàtsèr ngáádoptol qààn odè
nyoog-r bdɛ_k!ɔɔŋ-r M!áá_Dtə-r n-a-se-ø-r bàtsè-r ngáádopto-r qaad-n o-dè-ø
borderland-OBL garrison_city-OBL M!áá_Dtə-OBL 3p-STAT-be_beyond-IMP.REAL-APP.INAN, glorious-OBL empire-OBL north-OBL CONJ-be_atop-IMP.REALThe borders of this land begin at the garrison city of M!áá Dtə in the north of the glorious empire

Note that topics can be shared between the main clause and the conjunctive clause. If a new topic is introduced in the conjunctive clause, however, it is ignored for the purpose of topic-continuity in the foreground of the discourse:

M!áá Dtəri bàgàgà cààn lììn ngà ùhvà tadada iivlaqààqoM!áá_Dtə-r=i bàgàgà cààn lììn ngà ùhù-a tadada i-ʁ-ø-b-r=qààqo M!áá_Dtə-OBL=TOP countryside_people at_night in_daytime ACC people-OBL shiver ACT-do-IMP.REAL-INT-APP.INAN=in_a_terrible_wayThe people of M!áá Dtə are terrified day and night by the country dwellerstfúúdòli oʐèh bàgàgàyi m!áá ùùh PRE-fúúdò-r=i o-ʐe-ʔ bàgàgà=i m!áá o-ʁ-ʔ DIM-moment-OBL=TOP CONJ-pass_time-IMP.IRR countryside_people=TOP investigation CONJ-do-IMP.IRRWho we shall investigate in a momentnyààɳiisayè xááxál kùùyil qààn fáʐu nyiil dè
nyààn-r-i-ʁ-t-yè xááxá-r kùùyi-r qaad-n fáʐu n-i-ʁ-ø-r dè-ø stake-OBL-ACT-do-PERF.REAL-NO.OBL great-OBL ditch-OBL north-OBL forearm 3p-ACT-do-IMP.REAL-APP.INAN be_upon-IMP.REALA great ditch filled with spiked stakes protects the city in the north

Note that the third clause resumes the topic of the first without having to restate it as would be the case if the topic of the main discourse had shifted. Note also the subordination of another conjunctive clause to - or perhaps coordination of another conjunctive clause with - the second clause: ‘a moment will pass, and we will investigate…’

Conjunctive verbs are also used alongside clause-internal conjunctions. The conjunction ngá- often links sequential events in a narrative:

nxàr nyutònguuyè cùnacùn nyiiyàpíɽ
nxà-r nyutòng-ø-n-u-ʁ-ø-ì-a cùnacùn n-i-ʁ-ø=píɽ
town-OBL ghost-NOM-3sg-PASS-do-PERF-NO-OBL disembowel 3p-ACT-do-PERF=in_a_disgusting_mannerHe murdered the town's priest by disembowelment…

hógògà nyiisàpíɽaʔà qógògà ngáhuusàsàpíɽaʔà bahe yiràngi ʂànɡoʐii
hógògà n-i-ʁ-ø-s=píɽ=ʔa qógògà ngá=o-ʁ-t-s=píɽ=ʔa bah-e yi=ràng=i bzà ʂànɡ=o-ʐe-t
vomiting 3p-ACT-do-PERF-INC=in_a_disgusting_manner=it_is_known diarrhoea then=CONJ-do-PERF.REAL-INC=in_a_disgusting_manner=it_is_known day-OBL CLASS[flat]=ten=TOP NEW CONJ-pass-PERF.REALthen after ten days passed Kang Prii began to vomit and pass diarrhoea in the most terrible fashion

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