Formal story texts: Introduction

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1.1.1: Self-Introduction
1.1.2: My Childhood

Tian Jinggui, Dianfang Township, Longshan County
recorded on 30 May 2002

Mr Tian briefly introduces himself in this text. This is a prepared text, written down using Chinese characters as phonetic aide-memoires to indicate Tujia words.

01	nga² tian³jing¹gui² jie³-la¹, bi²zi¹ka³, long³sang¹ xian² dian²huan³ zeng²-nie³ luo⁴, long³bei³ nie³ hi² nie¹ se¹tong¹. My name is Tian Jinggui. I am Tujia, from Dianfang Township in Longshan County. I am now 72.
02	la² ge¹ ong¹ long¹ sa³ ri¹-lie³, yi²si¹ long³cun¹-nie³ sa³ ri¹-la¹, xian²wei¹ su¹ji¹, xian²zang¹, hu²zou¹zang¹, zeng²xie³ hu²zu¹xi³ la¹ dang¹-lie³. From 1950 onwards I was engaged in village work. I served as the County Party Secretary, County Governor, Vice-Governor of Xiangxi Prefecture, and Vice-Chairman of the Prefectural Chinese People's Political Consultative Committee.
03	la² ge¹ ge¹ la² long¹ tui²xiu¹, me³-lie¹ bi²zi¹ka³ ze²-la¹: "zong¹guai³ bi²zi¹ka³ xing²-nie³-xi²", "zong¹guai³ bi²zi¹ka³ di¹ga³-nie³ luo⁴", "hu³lang³ seng¹ zi² ming³cu³ zi² bi²zi¹ka³-nie³ ci¹pu¹" zu²-lie³; I retired in 1991, and have been engaged in Tujia research, publishing 'The Customs of the Tujia People of China', 'Historical Figures among the Tujia People of China', and the Tujia section of 'Hunan Province Records: Ethnic Records'.
04	"bi²zi¹ka³-nie³ geng¹ba¹ lun²weng³", "bai¹sou¹ guo¹wu¹ jian⁴gai²" zi¹liao² dian² a²-lie³. xia²mian¹ jian¹ yi³xie¹ si²qing³... I also wrote 'A Discussion of Tujia Origins' and 'A Brief Introduction to the Tujia Baishou Songs and Dances'. I'm going to talk about some other things below...

Tian Jinggui, Dianfang Township, Longshan County
recorded on 30 May 2002

In this text the speaker describes the rigours of his childhood, when he was growing up in Zhongxin village of Dianfang Township in Longshan County. This is a prepared text, written down using Chinese characters as phonetic aide-memoires to indicate Tujia words.

01	nga² bo¹li³, nga² bo¹li³-die¹-zu², nga² bi²kui¹-zu², ang² cu¹ se³ke¹ pe²ti¹ tai², When I was a child, during my childhood, when I was small, our family had no land.
02	a¹nie³, a¹nie³ a³ba¹ luo⁴die¹ bo³ hu³ri¹, luo⁴-nie³ se³ke¹ pe²ti¹ ri¹, tuo²ga¹ a³bu³ di³ mo³ nie⁴ka¹. My parents had to work for others, renting and planting other people's fields, and digging bracken and kudzu vine to get by.
03	nga² ong¹ se¹tong¹-zu², nie³ba³ da⁴xi⁴ mo³ zi³ luo², ha¹ce¹ luo², qie³bi² bu¹zi¹ wo¹, cuo⁴-nie³ ye³ ri¹. When I was five, I began helping my parents with the cooking, washing-up, and other household chores.
04	ta¹nie¹, rong⁴ ang¹ngai⁴ lao⁴ xiao², la² cuo⁴ luo⁴ ong¹ la¹hu³ zi³ ga², nie⁴ka¹-xi² lang¹. Later, my younger brother and sister arrived, and with five mouths to feed, life was very hard.
05	nie³ba³ la² long¹ duo³ ji³ku³ da², nga², ang¹ngai⁴, rong⁴ yi²si¹ cuo³xie² qi²la¹ cai² da²-bo³-da². My parents wore straw sandals all year round, and my brother, sister and I never wore good shoes or socks.
06	sa⁴-zu² ye⁴-lie³, jie² ji³ sa⁴ mo³ la¹be¹ mian¹jie¹ da⁴ze³. nie³ba³ hang²la³ me²di¹, zi³ cu³ga³la² ga², kang³ku¹-nie³ ha¹ce¹ ga² mo³ li²a⁴-bo³-da². In cold weather, our hands and feet turned the colour of carrots. My parents worked hard, so although we ate coarse food and wild vegetables, we never starved.
07	nie³ba³ ci¹ci¹ ha¹tai², qian²la²bu¹ qi²kui¹-bo³-la¹. As my parents were illiterate, they were often at a disadvantage and suffered many hardships.
08	nga² wo³ se¹tong¹-zu², a³ba¹ li³-xi² xi⁴: "nga² zi³ guo²-duo³ luo⁴bi³ duo³ ci¹tu¹." When I was six, my father told me he decided that even if he had to beg for food, he would still pay to send me to school.
09	nga² nie³ se¹tong¹-zu², a³ba¹ nga² si¹su¹ wo²tu¹ si²-alie³ ci¹tu¹, nga² nie³ba³-nie³, po²ga¹-nie³ sa³ ru³-xi² ca², xie¹qi¹ si⁴-bo³ ci¹tu¹. When I was seven, he sent me to a private school. I was very obedient to my parents and my teacher, and studied hard.
10	zi¹ge¹ la² long¹ sang¹zi²jing¹ be²jia¹xing² tu¹-ji²-liao³, hi² se¹tong¹-zu², si²su¹wu¹jing¹, zeng¹guan¹xian³weng³ tu¹-ji²-lie³. In the first year I read through the Sanzijing primer and the '100 Surnames'. When I was ten, I went on to read some of the classics.
11	bao¹xiao³ zong¹xing¹xiao³xiao² ci¹pu¹ a²si¹ tu¹, ci¹tu¹ ca² xie¹ luo⁴-nie³ zi¹ge¹. I went to the Baoguomin and Central schools to study, and came top of my class.
12	nga² zang⁴jing³ ci¹tu¹ mo³ la² si³ nie¹ se¹tong¹-zu², ming²xing¹lang¹, a³ba¹ se²-liao³, ci¹tu¹-dao². I studied really hard until I was twelve, when unfortunately my father died and I had to abandon school.
13	se³ke¹ pe²ti¹ qie³-xi² a²hhi¹, jie²ri¹-nie³ du⁴zi³zi² ke⁴-diu². jie²ri¹-zu², jie²ri¹; jie²ri¹-da²-zu², ce³ lu³ ka³ lu³ mo³ nie⁴ka¹. Instead, I learned to till the land, carrying the heavy burden of the farmer. In the busy season I worked on the land; in the slack season I sold firewood and water to make ends meet.
14	bo¹li³-die¹-zu² nie⁴ka¹-xi² mu²la¹ die²-za³lie³ lei⁴ da⁴ze³, la²bie¹ duo³ si¹ma³-da². Even now, I have vivid and unforgettable memories of my childhood.

pron: I, me pn: (name of speaker) vt: to shout, call vsuff: [continuous, repetitive] n: Tujia minority pn: Longshan (county in Xiangxi Prefecture) n: county pn: Dianfang (township in Longshan County) n: township suff: ['s] n: person advt: this year num: seven num: ten num: two cl: year (of age) num: one num: nine num: five cl: year n: words, matters vt: to work, do vsuff: [past] advm: all n: village pn: County Party Committee n: secretary n: county head n: vice-prefectural governor n: Chinese People's Consultative Conference (CPCC) n: vice-chairman cl: a while vt: to serve as vi: to retire n: belly nsuff: [at, from] vt: to tell pn: China vt: to trust, believe vsuff: [that which] advt: formerly pn: Hunan n: province n: annals n: people (ethnic group n: book vi: to go out n: foundation n: thesis n: Tujia 'baishouwu' dance n: singing and dancing n: introduction n: information n: a little vt: to write n: below vt: to tell num: some n: matter n: child nsuff: [plural] suff: [then] n: small (one) pron: we n: home n: (irrigated) field n: field (non-irrigated) vi: to not have n: mother n: father pron: (other) people part: (IO) vi: to labour n: bracken n: kudzu vine vt: to dig (up) part: (-wise) vi: to live, get by n: parents vt: to help n: cooked rice, meal vt: to cook n: vegetables n: bowl n: chopsticks vt: to wash n: house n: thing n: back n: younger sister n: younger brother num+cl: one (person/animal) vt: to have+[now] cl: (for people) vt: to eat, bite vi: to be difficult advm: all n: straw sandals vt: to wear n: shoes n: cloth (for binding round foot) n: good (one) vsuff: [stative] vsuff: [not] vi: to be cold vt: to arrive n: hand n: foot n: Chinese radish vi: to be red vt: to resemble advm: like this vi: to be obedient n: coarse (one) n: (in the) mountains vi: to be hungry n: writing, books vt: to not know n: lots vi: to come to grief num: six vt: to say vt: to hear vt: to beg vsuff: [want] n: son vi: to read, study n: private school n: inside vt: to send vsuff: [go] n: teacher vt: to hear vi: to be good n: strength, effort vt: to use n: front pn: 'Three Character Primer' pn: the common people vt: to read, study vsuff: [end] vsuff: [past+now] pn: The Four Books and the Five Classics pn: (name of a book) pn: Baojing People's School pn: Central School n: new (one) n: some vi: to make progress num: ten vi: to be unlucky vi: to die vsuff: [not+now] vt: to plough vt: to study vi: to labour vi: to be (very) heavy vt: to carry (usually with a carrying pole) vsuff: [come+now] n: water vt: to sell n: firewood advt: now vt: to think of vsuff: [achieved] advt: today advd: some vt: to forget