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Thursday 2 September
Narratives > Narrative Research @ Anglia Ruskin University

Basic introduction to Narrative Analysis & Research

Narratives have coherence in structure 'beginning; middle and end' but the sequence of narrative clauses in the narration may be different to the original sequence of related events. Free clauses refer to a condition true for the whole narrative.

Labov & Waletsky 1967 model

Seminal sociolinguistic approach which divides narratives clauses into 6 types:

  1. Abstract (intially summarises narrative)
  2. Orientation (information re: time, place, participants)
  3. Complication (reports what next happened)
  4. Evaluation (interpretation of consequences)
  5. Resolution (result or resolution of actions)
  6. Coda (brings narrator to present/relevant information not part of story)

Labov (1997) adds the importance of issues of the transfer of narrators experience to the audience:

  • * the biography of the speaker:
  • * the circumstances of narration;
  • * credibility;
  • * narrator's theory of causality & allocation of praise /blame and;
  • * narrator's viewpoint in shaping narrative.

The narrator is an exponent of cultural norms.

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