UNIT 3. NARRATIVE ANALYSIS Flashcards
How do Labov and Waletzky define a narrative?
As a particular unit in discourse which contains smaller units having particular syntactic and semantic properties
Whate are Labov’s Narrative Clauses?
A set of temporally ordered clauses that form the skeleton of a text.
What are the elements of a narrative?
- Abstract
- Orientation
- Complicating Action
- Evaluation
- Result or resolution
- Coda
What is the abstract?
One or two clauses summarizing the theory
What is Orientation?
One or more clauses which give information about the place, time and the participants or the situation. Who, were, when
What is Complicating Action?
The sequential clauses which describe the events.
What is Evaluation?
The means used by the narrator to point out the aim of the narrative, i.e., why it was told.
What is result or resolution?
The set of complicating actions which follow or coincide with the most reportable event.
What is the Coda?
A free clause at the end which indicates the end of a narrative.
What is the simplest possible narrative like? How do we call these?
It consists of just a complication without a clear resolution.
We call them minimal narratives and they only have a complication and a resolution.
What are more complex narratives?
The structure O-C-E-R-C appears to be the most common of these
What did Labov mean when talking about the sequential clauses of the complicating action?
He meant clauses that can be an element of a temporal juncture, and two clauses are separated by a temporal juncture.
What is the basic characteristic of all narrative?
Its temporal structure.
What is reportability?
It refers to the fact that telling a narrative requires a person to hold the floor longer and the narrative to carry enough interest for the audience to justify its telling. It distinguishes between a reportable event and a most reportable event.
What’s the difference between a reportable event and a most reportable event?
- A reportable event is defined as “one that justifies the automatic reassignment of speaker role to the narrator”
- A most reportable event is the event that is less common than any other in the narrative and has the greatest effect upon the needs and desires of the participants in the narrative”.
