discourseanalysis.pptVIP

Labov(1972), Labov and Waletsky(1967)provided a systematic framework for the analysis of oral narrative- a framework that illustrates quite well the variationist approach to discourse units. This framework defines a narrative as a particular bounded unit in discourse, and it defines parts of narrative as smaller units whose identities are based on their linguistic (syntactic, semantic) properties and on their role in the narrative. Narratives have a linear structure in which different sections present different kinds of information. Each section has a different function within the story. In addition, each section is comprised of different types of clauses whose syntactic and semantic properties contribute to their identity as units within the story, and to their function. Narrative structure Narratives are opened by an abstract, a clause that summarizes the experience and presents a general proposition that the narrative will expand. Orientation clauses follow the abstract: they describe background information such as time, place, and identity of characters. The main part of the narrative is comprised of complicating action clauses. Each complicating action clause describes an event--- a bounded occurrence in time--- that is understood to shift reference time, i.e. it follows the event immediately preceding it, and precedes the event immediately following it. Evaluation pervades the narrative: speakers can comment on events from outside of the story world, suspend the action through embedded orientation clauses, and report events that themselves indicate the significance of the experience. Result or resolution is concerned with what finally happened. Finally, the story is closed by a coda--- a clause that shifts out of the past time frame of the story to the time frame of the current talk. 1.Abstract: What, in a nutshell, is this story about? 2.Orientation: Who, when, where, what? 3.Complicating action: Then