Analyzing Narrative: Discourse and Sociolinguistic Perspectives

by Anna De Fina , Alexandra Georgakopoulou

• ISBN13: 9780521715133
• ISBN10: 052171513X
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2012-01-23
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

The socially minded linguistic study of storytelling in everyday life has been rapidly expanding. This book provides a critical engagement with this dynamic field of narrative studies, addressing long-standing questions such as definitions of narrative and views of narrative structure but also more recent preoccupations such as narrative discourse and identities, narrative language, power and ideologies. It also offers an overview of a wide range of methodologies, analytical modes and perspectives on narrative from conversation analysis to critical discourse analysis, to linguistic anthropology and ethnography of communication. The discussion engages with studies of narrative in multiple situational and cultural settings, from informal-intimate to institutional. It also demonstrates how recent trends in narrative analysis, such as small stories research, positioning analysis and sociocultural orientations, have contributed to a new paradigm that approaches narratives not simply as texts, but rather as complex communicative practices intimately linked with the production of social life.

Author Biography

Anna De Fina is Associate Professor of Italian Language and Linguistics at Georgetown University. Alexandra Georgakopoulou is Professor of Discourse Analysis and Sociolinguistics at King's College London.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. vii
Preface	p. ix
Note on transcription conventions	p. xiv
Narrative definitions, issues and approaches	p. 1
Introduction	p. 1
Narrative as text-type	p. 1
Narrative as a special text-type	p. 11
Narrative development and socialization	p. 12
Narrative as mode	p. 15
Analyzing narrative	p. 23
Narrative as text and structure	p. 26
Introduction	p. 26
Labov's model	p. 27
Ethnopoetics, stanza and verse analysis	p. 36
Narrative structure and conversation analysis	p. 43
Conclusions	p. 50
Narrative and sociocultural variability	p. 52
Introduction	p. 52
From texts to cultural contexts	p. 53
Narrative as performance	p. 56
Narrative as cultural grammar	p. 64
Narrative involvement and telling styles	p. 68
Narrative and cultural values: an appraisal	p. 73
Locating culture: a data analysis	p. 75
Conclusions	p. 83
Narrative as interaction	p. 86
Introduction	p. 86
From teller to co-tellership	p. 87
Audience participation	p. 91
Cooperation and conflict in narrative	p. 95
Telling rights	p. 107
Types of stories: beyond the prototype	p. 108
From big stories to small stories	p. 115
Conclusions	p. 123
Narrative power, authority and ownership	p. 125
Introduction	p. 125
Narrative and power	p. 126
Controlling stones in institutional contexts	p. 128
Authority and telling rights	p. 136
"My story": stories as "wholly owned" by their tellers	p. 147
Conclusions	p. 153
Narrative and identities	p. 155
Introduction	p. 155
The interactionist paradigm	p. 156
The storied self: identities within biographical approaches	p. 159
Shift to narrative and identities-in-interaction	p. 166
Sample analysis	p. 183
Notes	p. 191
References	p. 197
Index	p. 220
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