Discourse markers as the locus of signaling the main-event line in Alsea narratives

Abstract This article argues that in Alsea ([aes]; Penutian/isolate; dormant; Oregon Coast) the main event line (mel) of narratives is reliably signaled by a particular combination of clause-initial particles, functioning as discourse markers, and not by a specific set of verb forms, the means usually identified and discussed in the literature as a cue for the mel status of a clause. The strength of the link between this combination of discourse markers and the mel, then, represents a cross-linguistic situation that seems rare. Alsea has a rich system of discourse markers and a rich system of verbal affixes, with over 20 potentially co-occurring markers in each. The relative wealth of these discourse markers and their potential combinations make an intricate system of signaling the syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic relationship between clauses and their immediate environment, essentially signaling their discourse status. One combination of markers has the function of signaling the mel. Alsea verbal affixes, on the other hand, play a major role in event semantics and aspectual construal, but a minor one in discourse structuring. This allows for seemingly paradoxical uses of irrealis or imperfective verb forms on the mel of narratives, where the later coerces the event into specific types of bounded and realis readings.