Topic 4 Sociolinguistic approaches to narratives: Norrick http://it.bookzz.org/book/969122/61af58

Norrick Resting on Labov and Waletsky (1967), Labov (1972), and Polanyi (1981, 1985), develops a new model for the analysis of narratives Focus on conversational storytelling Internal structure, formulaicity, repetition Narrative contexts (who tells stories to whom, in which contexts, with what responses and what interpersonal consequences) Differently from Labov, Norrick places emphasis on teller strategies (repetition, formulaicity ,disfluences…) as structuring elements, more than on sequential ordering.

The rhetoric of storytelling Teller strategies can be collected under the heading of rhetoric of storytelling Used to enhance coherence Modulate involvement Facilitate production, comprehension, remembering

Since tellers and listeners can allot only limited cognitive resources to the construction and understanding of narratives, they rely on repetition, dialogue, tense shifts and formulaicity, to reinforce evaluations and to segment stories into manageable chunks (Norrick 2000: 42)

Conversational narratives’ internal structure Abstract orientational information Background General frame Narrow frame Main action Resolution Coda + Evaluation

Steps for analysis 1. construction of a basic narrative amalgamating teller and audience contributions, eliminating disfluencies 2. tagging the parts of the narrative 3. consideration of formulaic elements, dialogue, disfluences, tense and perspective shifts, verb classes, chunking of intonation units (to cast a light both on teller’s strategies and on the cues heares use to make sense of convesational storytelling (cf. April’s first job story and its reconstruction on handouts 3 and 4)

Conventions for representing oral storytelling Written texts are structured around complete sentences, while spoken language is organized around intonation units These tend to be about 5 words long, contain one idea unit each (typically subject + predicate) contain one or more intonation peaks And I was so interested The fire was all gone

The rhetoric of storytelling: Internal structure Formulaicity Repetitions Narrative context (and tellability) Prefaces responses

The rhetoric of storytelling: formulaicity Any relatively fixed unit of two or more words which recurs in the discourses of a linguistic community Narratives structured around a figurative formula (“like a leaf in the wind”, cf. next slide) Formulaicity story openings and closing

Formulaic story openers The first/most_____in my life I remember the most_____in my life Guess what? Remember the time/when? Meant to attract the attention of the audience

Formulaic story closers Proverbs and clichés And I lived to tell the story (p. 51)

Local formulaicity Referred to cases where an otherwise non formulaic phrase takes on formulaicity through repetition E..g. “it was really weird” p. 55-57 Can help tellers organize their narratives into chunks, thus guiding listeners Can signal teller’s attitude and guide listeners to adopt the same perspective.

The rhetoric of storytelling: Repetition restarting/rephrasing at story beginnings and transition points - Serves an organizational function (segments the story or marks a progression) + functions as a marker of story opening Parallel structures to mirror parallel reported events - Intensifies the dramatic effect of reported scenes - Highlights the teller’s evaluation

Repetitions’ organizational function 1 Includes rephrasing in introductions (false starts and restarts, i.e. disfluences) Disfluences show that a speaker is beginning a story, help orient the listener on how to receive the story Sherry: we had a- my mom always had a dish-cloth that had holes in it [the restart makes the story more relevant to the context, as Sherry’s interlocutor had just told a story about her mother)

Repetitions’ organizational function 2 Parallel (semantic, syntactic and phonological structures) for key events P. 60-61 Are you the people with… (6/49) Dad going down the hall for his nap (20 -47) So he went /over he went (23/54) There’s nothing/there’s no (35-36) Saturday- Sunday- Monday (40-44) Diddled and dawdeld (56)/ learned and determined (58)

Repetitions’ organizational function 2 Paul went back with the shovel, hurled it / I mean, just threw it That damn shovel came right down on his head / I mean, it came down and flattened him -> dramatic effect I mean, what is the likelihood…/ I mean, who would have thought… -> repetition to emphasise unlikelyhood/bizarreness, hence worth telling

Narrative context Tellability A narrator must be able to defend a story as relevant and newsworthy in order to justify the extended turns it requires Stories are thus prefaced to argue their tellability and to signal the expected response Tellability is, however, a matter for negotiation (stories which are not newsworthy can be told in some contexts, e.g. routinely told familiar stories)

Prefaces Prefaces are used by conversationalists to indicate the intention of taking the floor to tell a story. They divide into prefaces bidding to change the current topic of talk introduce a new narrative connected with foregoing talk

Prefaces can change the current topic of talk Jean: wasn’t that awful about the guy that went hunting and killed his son cataphorical Strong evaluation: generates interest Signals attitude Signals expected reaction

Prefaces can change the current topic of talk Jean: wasn’t that awful about the guy that went hunting and killed his son abstract

Prefaces can introduce a new connected story

Responses Responses can show recognition of a story Offer additional details (in case of familiar stories) Provide evaluation of the events told Solidify participants’ rapport Responses can also take the form of a second story, parallel to the first one

Alignment The teller often bids to win the hearer over to a particular point of view about the events told This can be done thorugh open expression of stance

Varieties of conversational narratives Purpose Self-aggrandizement narratives: enhance the teller’s reputation Explicit vs implicit Embarassment narratives (can also have an covert self-aggrandizement function: self-directed humour as a positive quality) Trouble narratives Dream tellings Type First vs third person