Bullfighting Narrative, collected by Manuel Camacho

Bullfighting Narrative, collected by Manuel Camacho

Bullfighting Narrative, collected by Manuel Camacho
C3.LA.347.GR
Clause
Str Cat
Range
OR
0a8
Free
CA
0b0
bound
CA
0c0
bound
and- and he says, and he says to me “I am a torero”
CA
0d0
bound
I say to him “and I am a bricklayer” (laughter)
CA
0e0
bound
And he starts telling me stories…
EV
0f4
restricted
RE
1g0
restricted
RE
0h0
bound
RE
0i0
bound
I say “well I am a friend of his, and a very good friend”.
CO
0j0
bound
I stayed there until seven in the morning!
Type
Gitano
I was drunk the other night, Pepe, somewhere,
Rubio:
There came a miñato (chap) along with a gachìs (girl)
he had picked up, a bailaora (flamenco dancer),
just likely stories.
And I said to him, “Well look,
I am a friend of Gitanillo Rubio, do you know him?”
“yes he’s a lunatic (laughter), a drunkard
and he recites, he’s a lunatic”
C3.LA.347.GR
Clause
Str Cat
Range
OR
0a8
Free
CA
0b0
bound
CA
0c0
bound
y- y me dice, y me dice “Yo soy torero”
CA
0d0
bound
le digo “Y yo soy albañil” (risas)
CA
0e0
bound
y empieza a contarme historias…
EV
0f4
restricted
RE
1g0
restricted
RE
0h0
bound
RE
0i0
bound
digo “Pues yo soy amigo de él. Y muy amigo además”.
CO
0j0
bound
Me estuve hasta las siete de la mañana!
Type
Gitano
La otra noche borracho, Pepe, en un sitio,
Rubio:
llega un miñato todo con una gachí
que había ligado, una bailaora,
puras historias.
Y le digo “Pues mire,
pues yo soy amigo de Gitanillo Rubio, ¿tú lo conoces?”
“Si ese es un loco (carcajadas), un borracho,
y recita, ese es un loco”
Comments by Manuel:
Narrative 4... [is] told by a speaker that holds the lowest educational level (elementary school), ... a retired
bullfighter. ‘Gitano Rubio’ is a very talkative person who has plenty of stories about his past life as a bullfighter; he is
also a vernacular poet and a flamenco singer, around 60 years old. Most of his stories aim at self-aggrandisement by
projecting a dense net of acquaintances with famous people.
His vocabulary, as shown in this narrative is highly folkloric: miñato, bailaora, gitanillo [most people would say
just Gitano]. He tends to address the listeners, calling them by their names from time to time. He begins his telling by
uttering an orientation clause a, which very effectively captures the audience’s attention due to the quite strong image
that is being referred (la otra noche borracho…), as well as by calling one person’s name (‘Pepe’); this way, he seems to
count for sure on at least one listener.
The next sequence of clauses is made up of complicating actions that do not allow the listener to get lost along
the story. One evaluating action f (according to L&W 1967, the evaluation function can be carried out by repetitions that
suspend the action) is embedded in the whole narrative. It is a means of positioning himself above the other character
(the miñato), by disqualifying the information supposedly provided by the latter.
After this point, a quite simple set of clauses g-j leads to the ending of the story. h implies the action “he said”
that permits the flow of the narrative event to continue. A coda j is also provided, as a bound action that undoubtedly
signals the end of the story.
What makes the narrative special is the style shown to recount events by using mainly bound clauses as
complicating actions, and very few orientation references (if any).
Comments by PLP:
I’m not sure I would count g-i all as Resolution – perhaps just i. Otherwise Manuel’s analysis seems right to me.
Note the changes of tense and aspect: Past and imperfective (a, j) to Historical present and perfective (b-i). It’s the
switch back in (j) that makes it function as a Coda. I might also call the last clause evaluative as well as a Coda, in that it
conveys Gitano Rubio’s enjoyment of the trick he played, and evaluates the antagonist (the miñato) as a fool.