Text 441
nda aamadu woo wane baba di, i-i boyrey  ganji di ra,
and Amadou Dem Poss father Def, 3PIS-Impfconverse wilderness Def Loc
and this Amadou’s father, they were conversing out in the bush.

(“this Amadou’ = the protagonist Amadou Sambourou ...; ‘the bush’ here means
anywhere outside of settled areas)

woo di har a se, ‘seeku?' a har ‘m?’

Dem Def say 3Sg Dat, ‘Sékou?" 3SgS say ‘huh?”

That one (=Amadou’s father) said to him, ‘Sékou?" He (=Sékou) said, ‘what?’

‘Yaa ijemeyre di yo koy yer na duu ngi wane alxabar,’
‘since child-small Def Pl go 1PIS Neg get 3PIF Poss news,’
(Father:) ‘Ever since the boys went away (to fight), we haven’t had news of them.’
a har a se kaa ‘ije-meyre di yo

3SgS  say 3Sg Dat that ‘child-small Def Pl

He (=Sékou) replied to him, ‘(concerning) the boys,

ni si haa i-kur parce que ni ije foo di
2SgS ImpfNeg inquire  AbsolPl-all because 2Sg child one Def
you’re not (really) asking about all of them; (it's) because your son (=Amadou) alone
kaa goo i ra, woo di se na no-o hai ga,’

Rel be 3Pl Loc, Dem Def Dat Foc 2SgS-Impf inquire 3SgO,’
who is among them (=boys), that’s why you are asking about it.’

(woo di seis focalized postpositional phrase)

a har a se kaa a na &—, a na ¢&i

3SgS say 3Sg Dat Rel 3SgS Neg be—, 35gS Neg be

He (=father) replied to him that it wasn't—, it wasn't

ngu wane jje  foo di, aljamaa kaa koy, ngi-ye na duu
LogoSg Poss child one Def, group Rel go, LogoPIS Neg get

his own son alone, the group (=army) that had gone, they (two) had not had

ngi  alxabar ngu si bey i bun wala i huna,
3PIF news LogoSgS ImpfNeg know 3PISdie or 3PIS live,

any news of them; he (=father) didn’t know whether they were dead or alive.

haya keyna bari di kaa, a kaa ta gar a Jjow

thing small horse Def come, 3SgS come Inf find 3SgS take

Shortly thereafier the horse amived. It happened that he (=Amadou) had taken
(haya keyna ‘little thing’ often has temporal sense ‘a while’)

ngu wane Citaab di, a kan-ndi a beene,

3ReflSg Poss  book  Def, 3SgS  lie-Caus 3S5g on-top,

his (own) Koran, (and) he had laid on top of it (=book)

(éitaab~kitaaw denotes a Koran as a physical object)