Structure and message: A look at four Swahili stories

Abstract

For some time now I have been interested in structures in Swahili which seem to relate to the question of ‘self’ versus ‘non-self’. For example, the expression in English ‘he was seized with remorse’ seems to suggest to some extent that remorse is something separate from the self—although “he was seized by remorse' would give the impression even more strongly. In Swahili it is normal for expressions with regard to emotion, illness, pain and other states affecting the self to be expressed in terms of subject and object, with the 'non-self, i.e. the feeling, as the active participant, for example, alishikwa na homa—‘he was seized by fever’; homa ilimshika—‘fever seized him’.