EN280 Quiz: A Story as Sharp as a Knife P.295-371
Document Summary
A story as sharp as a knife: 295-371. He (swanton) evidently hoped in the beginning to record such a story for each surviving lineage 298. In the end, he got stories of this kind for five families only. There is a past experiential, used when speaking from personal knowledge. There is a past inferential, for stating knowledge gained at second hand. There is also past habitual (i always used to go). But the forms we meet most frequently in southern haida myth texts are the putative past and the definitive past. Putative verbs are when acts are talked, thought or asked about. The definitive past is used where time is framed or self-enclosed. The principal theme is the link between people and place. The result is a narrative deed of land and declaration of title. As further proof, a piece of distinctly historical hardware- a pocket knife- appears in the opening lines 299.
