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ToappearintheCambridgeEncyclopediaoftheLanguageSciencesORALNARRATIVESOFPERSONALEXPERIENCEWillliamLabovThestudyofnarrativeextendsoverabroadrangeofhumanactivities:novels,shortstories,poeticandproseepic,film,folktale,interviews,oralmemoirs,chronicles,histories,comicstrips,graphicnovelsandothervisualmedia.
Theseformsofcommunicationmaydrawuponthefundamentalhumancapacitytotransferexperiencefromonepersontoanotherthroughoralnarrativesofpersonalexperience.
Afocusonspontaneousrecountingofexperiencewasgreatlystimulatedbythedevelopmentofsociolinguisticresearchinthe1960s,designedtocapturetheclosestapproximationtothevernacularofunmonitoredspeech.
Narrativesofpersonalexperiencewerefoundtoreducetheeffectsofobservationtoaminimum(Labov2001).
Sincethenithasappearedthatsuchnarrativesaredeliveredwithasimilarorganizationinawidevarietyofsocietiesandculturesasforexample,inthePortugueseoffishermeninnortheasternBrazil(Maranho1984).
ThediscussionoforalnarrativestofollowisbasedontheinitialanalysisofLabovandWaletzky1967,asdevelopedfurtherinthesuggestedreading.
Thediscussiontofollowwillfirsttreatthestructuralorganizationofnarrative(temporalorganization,orientation,coda),thenturntotheevaluativecomponent,andfinallytotheconstructionofnarrativeasafolktheoryofcausalityinstrumentaltotheassignmentofpraiseandblame.
StructuralorganizationAnarrativeisdefinedhereasonewayofrecountingpastevents,inwhichtheorderofnarrativeclausesmatchestheorderofeventsastheyoccurred.
(1)isaminimalnarrativeorganizedinthisway.
(1)aWell,thismanhadalittletoomuchtodrinkbandheattackedmecandafriendcameindandshestoppedit.
Thesameeventscouldhavebeenreportedinthenon-narrativeorderc,d,a,b,asin(2),whichemploysavarietyofgrammaticaldeviceswithinasingleclause.
(2)Afriendofminecameinjustintimetostopthispersonwhohadhadalittletoomuchtodrinkfromattackingme.
Narrativestructureisestablishedbytheexistenceoftemporaljuncturebetweentwoindependentclauses.
Temporaljunctureissaidtoexistbetweentwosuchclauseswhenachangeintheorderoftheclausesproducesachangeintheinterpretationoftheorderofthereferencedeventsinpasttime.
Thesearenarrativeclauses.
Narrativeclausesrespondtoapotentialquestion,"whathappenedthen"andformthecomplicatingactionofthenarrative.
AnarrativenormallybeginswithanOrientation,introducingandidentifyingtheparticipantsintheaction:thetime,theplace,andtheinitialbehavior.
Theorientationsectionprovidesanswerstothepotentialquestions,"whowhenwherewhatweretheydoing"Intheminimalnarrative(1),thefirstclause(a)istheorientation.
Moreinformationisusuallyprovided.
(3)amysonhasa--well,itwasafairlynewonethen.
bIt'sa60ccYamaha.
canditcouldmoveprettygood.
dThisfellaandIweregoingdowntheroadtogetherTheendofanarrativeisfrequentlysignaledbyaCoda,astatementthatreturnsthetemporalsettingtothepresent,precludingthequestion,"andwhathappenedthen".
(4)aAndyouknowthemanwhopickedmeoutofthewaterbHe'sadetectiveinUnionCity,candIseehimeverynowandagain.
Evaluation.
Mostadultnarrativesaremorethanasimplereportingofevents.
Avarietyofevaluativedevicesareusedtoestablishtheevaluativepointofthestory(Polanyi1989),Thuswefindthatnarratives,whicharebasicallyanaccountofeventsthathappened,frequentlycontainirrealisclauses—negatives,conditionals,futures,—whichrefertoeventsthatdidnothappenormighthavehappenedorhadnotyethappened.
(5)Andthedoctorjustsays,"Justthatmuchmore,"hesays,"andyou'dabeendead.
"(6)I'lltellyouifIhadeverwallopedthatdogI'dhavefeltsomebad.
(7)aAndhedidn'tcomeback.
bAndhedidn'tcomeback.
Irrealisclausesservetoevaluatetheeventsthatactuallydidoccurinthenarrativebycomparingthemwithanalternatestreamofreality:potentialeventsoroutcomesthatwerenotinfactrealized.
Frequentlysuchevaluativeclausesareconcentratedinanevaluationsection,suspendingtheactionbeforeacriticalevent,andestablishingthateventasthepointofthenarrative.
Evaluativeclausesvaryalongadimensionofobjectivity.
Atoneextreme,narratorsmayinterruptthenarrativesubjectivelybydescribinghowtheyfeltatthetime.
(8)aIcouldn'thandleanyofitbIwashystericalforaboutanhourandahalfInamoreobjectivedirection,narratorsmayquotethemselves("Isaidtomyself,'Thisisit'"),orwithmorecredibility,citeathirdpartywitness,asin(5).
Attheotherextreme,objectiveeventsspeakforthemselves,asintheaccountofaplanedevelopingmotortroubleoverMexicoCity.
(9)Andyoucouldheartheprayerbeadsgoinginthebackoftheplane.
Evaluationprovidesjustificationforthenarrative'sclaimonagreaterportionofconversationaltimethanmostturnsoftalk,requiringanextendedreturnofspeakershiptothenarratoruntilitisfinished(Sacks1989).
Evaluationthusprovidesaresponsetothepotentialquestion,"Sowhat"(Spanish"Yque",French"Etalors").
Narrativesofpersonalexperiencenormallyshowgreatvariationinthelengthoftimecoveredbytheclausesinorientation,complicatingactionandevaluationsections,rangingfromdecadestominutestoseconds.
Sequencesofclausesofequaldurationmaybetermedchronicles;thesearenotdesignedtoreportandevaluatepersonalexperience.
Reportabilityandcredibility.
Areportableeventisonethatitselfjustifiesthedeliveryofthenarrativeandtheclaimonsocialattentionneededtodeliverit.
Someeventsaremorereportablethanothers.
Theconceptofreportabilityortellability(Norrick2005)isrelativetothesituationandtherelationsofthenarratorwiththeaudience.
Atoneendofthescale,deathandthedangerofdeatharehighlyreportableinalmosteverysituation.
Attheotherend,thefactthatapersonateabananaforlunchmightbereportableonlyinthemostrelaxedfamilysetting.
Mostnarrativesarefocusedonamostreportableevent.
Yetreportingthiseventalonedoesnotmakeanarrative:itonlyformstheabstractofanarrative.
Foranarrativetobesuccessful,itcannotreportonlythemostreportableevent.
Itmustalsobecredibleifthenarrativeisnottoberejectedasawholebythelistener.
Thereisaninverserelationshipbetweenreportabilityandcredibility:themorereportable,thelesscredible.
Narratorshaveavailablemanyresourcestoenhancecredibility.
Ingeneral,themoreobjectivetheevaluation,themorecredibletheevent.
Narrativepreconstruction.
Whenanarratorhasmadethedecisiontotellanarrative,heorshemustsolvethefundamentalanduniversalproblem:"WhereshouldIbegin"Themostreportableevent,whichwillbedesignatedhenceforthase0,ismostsalient,butonecannotbeginwithit.
Giventhemarkedreportabilityofe0andtheneedtoestablishitscredibility,thenarratormustanswerthequestion,"Howdidthis(remarkable)eventcomeabout"Theanswerrequiresashiftoffocusbackwardsintimetoaprecursorevente-1,whichislinkedtoe0inthecausalnetworkinwhicheventsarerepresentedinmemory(TrabassoandvandenBroek1985).
Intraversingthisnetworkinreverse,thecausallinksfoundmaybeevent-to-goal,goal-to-attempt,orattempt-to-outcome.
Theprocesswillcontinuerecursivelytoe-2,e-3,etc.
untilanordinary,mundaneevente-nisreached,forwhichthequestion"whydidyoudothat"isabsurd,sinceenisexactlywhatwewouldexpectthepersontodointhesituationdescribed.
TheeventenisofcoursetheOrientation.
ThusanarratortellingofatimehewasonshoreleaveinBuenosAiresbegins,(10)aOh,Iwassettin'atatabledrinkin'.
Triggeringevents.
Giventhemundaneandnon-reportablecharacteroftheorientation,itfollowsthatthefirstlinkinthecausalchainisatriggeringevent,whichdrivesthenarrativealongthechaintowardsthemostreportableevent.
Thus(10)isfollowedby(11).
(11)ban'thisNorwegiansailorcomeovercan'kep'givin'meabuncho'junkabouthowIwassittin'withhiswoman.
Howordinarysituationslike(10)cangiverisetothereportableandviolenteventsthatfollowedisamysterythatnarrativeanalysiscanonlycontemplate,sincetheyarepartandparcelofthecontingentcharacterofhistory.
Thetransformationofexperience.
Theparticipantsinmanynarrativesincludeprotagonist,antagonistandthirdpartywitnesses,ofwhichthefirstisthemostcomplex.
ElaboratingonGoffman(1981:144-5),onecanidentifymanyegospresent:theselfasoriginalauthorofthenarrativeanditsimmediateanimator;theselfasactor;theselfasgeneralizedother(normallyas"you");theanti-selfasseenbyothers;andtheprincipal,theselfinwhoseinterestthestoryistold.
Thatinterestisnormallyadvancedthroughavarietyoftechniqueswhichdonotrequireanyalterationinthetruthfulnessoftheeventsreported.
There-creationofthecausalnetworkinvolvestheassignmentofpraiseandblameforthecriticaleventsandtheiroutcomes.
Mostnarrativesofconflictinvolvelinguisticdevicesthatcontributetothepolarizationofprotagonistandantagonist,althoughwithinthefamily,otherlinguisticformsleadtotheintegrationofparticipants.
Thedevicesusedtoadjustpraiseandblameincludemostprominentlythedeletionofevents,anoperationwhichcanoftenbedetectedbyclosereading.
Keyelementsinfurthermanipulationarethegrammaticalfeaturesofvoice:activevs.
passive,butalsozerocausativeswhichassignagency("Hedrovethroughtownwithachauffeur")orverbswhichimplytheexertionofauthorityandresistancetoit("Mydadletmegowithhim").
Othernarrativedevicesfunctiontoincreasetheimpressionofagency:pseudo-eventsthatmaynotcorrespondtoanyphysicalevent("Iturnedtohimand","Itookthisgirland","Istartedtohithimbut").
NarrativeanalysiscanshowhowthePRIMAFACIEcaseisbuilttofurthertheinterestsoftheprincipal.
Thisinvolvesdetectinginsertionsofpseudo-eventsandremovingthem;detectingdeletionsandreplacingthem;andexchangingexcusesfortheactionexcused.
Itisthenpossibletoapproximatetheoriginalchainofeventsonwhichthenarrativeisbased.
AusefulexerciseistodevelopacomplementarySUB-ROSAcaseintheinterestsoftheantagonist.
Thecomparisonofthesetwoconstructionsdeepensourunderstandingofhownarrativeskillsareenlistedtotransformthesocialmeaningofeventswithoutviolatingourcommitmenttoafaithfulrenderingofthepast.
WorksCitedandSuggestionsforFurtherReadingGoffman,Erving.
1981.
FormsofTalk.
Oxford:Blackwell.
Labov,William.
2001.
TheSocialStratificationofEnglishinNewYorkCity.
2ndedition.
Cambridge:CambridgeUniversityPress.
Labov,WilliamandJoshuaWaletzky.
1967.
"Narrativeanalysis".
EssaysontheVerbalandVisualArts,ed.
J.
Helm,12-44.
Seattle:U.
ofWashingtonPress.
.
ReprintedinJournalofNarrativeandLifeHistory7:3-38,1997.
Maranho,Tulio.
1984.
"Theforceofreportivenarratives.
"PapersinLinguistics17(3):235-265.
InternationalJournalofHumanCommunication.
Canada:LinguisticResearch,Inc.
Norrick,NealR.
2005.
"Thedarksideoftellability.
"NarrativeInquiry15:323:344.
Polanyi,Livia.
1989.
TellingtheAmericanStory.
Cambridge,MA:TheMITPress.
Sacks,Harvey.
1992.
LecturesonConversation.
Vol.
IandVol.
II.
EditedbyGailJefferson.
Oxford:Blackwell.
Trabasso,T.
,andP.
vandenBroek.
1995.
"Causalthinkingandtherepresentationofnarrativeevents.
"JournalofMemoryandLanguage27:1-22.
SuggestionsforfurtherreadingLabov,William.
2001.
"Uncoveringtheeventstructureofnarrative.
"GeorgetownUniversityRoundTable2001.
Thisarticledevelopsthesearchfortheeventsunderlyingthenarrative.
Labov,William.
2004.
"OrdinaryEvents.
"InSociolinguisticVariation:CriticalReflections.
ed.
C.
Fought,31-43.
Oxford:OxfordUniversityPress.
Anexplorationoftheevaluativeeffectofinsertingordinaryeventsintonarrative.
Labov,William.
2006.
"Narrativepreconstruction.
"NarrativeInquiry16:37-45.
Afullerdevelopmentofthistopic.