Assignment: Narrative Analysis, for LG554 Sociolinguistic Methods (Prof Peter L Patrick, University of Essex)

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Narrative Analysis

By Peter L Patrick

For LG554, Univ of Essex

[based on an assignment by Wm. Labov at University of Pennsylvania]

Purpose:

This assignment introduces you to Labovian-style analysis of a personal narrative. It must be done in conjunction with the recording of at least one sociolinguistic interview containing a personal narrative -- but it's recommended that you plan to record several interviews, in case you don’t get a good narrative right away!

The task:

· Read about narrative analysis.

· Collect (or select) a personal narrative.

· Transcribe it according to Labov’s system.

· Analyse it according to Labov’s system.

Length: As with all our assignments in LG554, you should write a report of 1500 words or more. I will not penalise reports of up to 3000 words, but if you can express yourself clearly in 1500, please do. Under-length (ie, under-1500 words) reports may suffer from lack of content and be marked accordingly.

Please hand in at least one narrative recording and one Narrative Analysis assignment to the Main Office, and email me a copy.

1. Readings:

· the Labov articles (1972), "The Transformation of Experience in Narrative Syntax" (Ch. 9 of Language in the Inner City),

· and 1997 ("Some Further Steps in Narrative Analysis", http://www.ling.upenn.edu/~labov/sfs.html).

· Also see directions for transcription, and sample narrative "Losing the Ring" (class materials).

· Optional: For further reading you may wish to look at

o Debbie Schiffrin’s (1994) book Discourse Analysis (brief chapter on narrative analysis),

o Schiffrin’s more recent volume In other words: Variation in reference and narrative (2006); and

o volume 7 (1997) of the Journal of Narrative & Life History many brief articles in a state-of-the-art survey (Labov 1997 appeared there).

2. Selection:

Select a personal narrative from your tapes to hand in. If you don’t have one in your sociolinguistic interview(s), or did not record any interviews, you’ll probably have to do so now. See class instructions and materials on the sociolinguistic interview.

You must balance several criteria in selecting a personal narrative:

Interviews you participated in are obviously best: you know the most about them.
Narratives should be ones that are performed and dramatized (see "Types of evaluation devices" in Labov 1972).
They may involve conflict between people, and should preferably be told as first-person experiences by the narrator(s).
Avoid pseudo-narratives. If you’re not sure, check with me early. Not everything that seems to “tell a story” is a personal narrative!
Narratives connected to other themes you pursued in modules or ethnographic reporting are of greatest interest.
They should be long enough to make for interesting analysis – look for one of 10 or more narrative clauses – though a good narrative may be of almost any length. A very long narrative is not only harder to analyse, but may not be as coherently told.

3. Transcription:

Follow the handout "Conventions for the Transcription of Narrative" (W. Labov/G. Sankoff 1988, class materials), except that line z is to be followed by line aa, bb, etc. Use names (your real name) or pseudonyms, never initials. See the example below.

4. Further analysis of your narrative includes these parts (to be discussed in class and/or readings):

labelling of narrative structure
temporal organization of narrative
skeleton of objective events
discussion of narrative, including most-reportable event, orientation, praise/blame, etc.
linguistic comments (e.g., Phonology; Past v. Historical Present; other relevant features)

Labelling Of Narrative Structure

For each main clause, label it as one of the structural/functional categories below:

1. AB= Abstract

2. OR= Orientation

3. CA= Complicating action

4. EV= Evaluation

5. RE= Resolution

6. CO= Coda

drawing on the discussion in Labov (1972, 1997) and examples in class. Incorporate these in the transcript.

Temporal Organization of Narrative

1. Identify and mark the range of each narrative clause in the transcript, following Labov 1997. ("The range of a narrative clause is the set of narrative clauses between the first preceding and next following temporal juncture"). This is trickier than it looks, so take your time! Mark the narrative range by a left subscript indicating the number of preceding narrative clauses the particular clause is simultaneous with, and a right subscript indicating the number of following clauses it is simultaneous with.

2. Identify each sequential clause as either free, bound or restricted (see example); incorporate this in the transcript.

Skeleton of Objective Events

Make up a chart or table which isolates the key OBJECTIVE events of the narrative – those that an objective observer at the scene would have to agree took place (see Labov's definition and discussion, 1997). Attribute each of them to an ACTOR or cause. Divide them into Reported (in the narrative) versus Inferred (by the hearer). Correlate both kinds with the narrative clauses. (See example and handout in class for "Losing the Ring".)

Discuss the Narrative

Identify the most-reportable event. If it is directly expressed in a narrative clause, identify the clause; if it is not, link it to the immediately relevant clauses that are directly expressed. Argue for your interpretation in general, and give any background information needed to understand your narrative. In particular, be sure to comment on the role of orientation clauses: how do they establish cultural norms as a framework for the action & its evaluation? Comment on causality, credibility and the assignment of praise and blame as they occur in the narrative. Make clear your reasons for assigning any clause to the category of evaluation. (In my view it’s possible for a clause to be both Evaluative and some other type at once, eg Coda.)

Linguistic Comments

Comment on any vernacular features which are relevant, especially those which seem functionally or expressively related to the narrative (e.g., in "Losing the Ring", Beth's drawing out of the word "nn:ow", and the sudden cluster of discourse markers that follow it). You should consider at least phonology, discourse and syntax; if there are any uses of Historical Present verbal /-s#/, and/or any absence of Past-marking on verbs where it is expected, please note and discuss them. (A useful reference here is Deborah Schiffrin 1981, "Tense variation in narrative", Language 57(1):45-62.)

SUMMARY. You'll hand in:

I) A narrative, in the discourse transcription style given; double or triple spaced. Please identify IVer, IVee, Recording number & Location. (See instructions for Term 1’s Descriptive Report assignment for details on record-keeping.) This will be Page 1 (if your narrative is 1 page long).

II) The same narrative, on a separate page, now marked for narrative structure and temporal organization. (Page 2)

III) The skeleton of objective events, on a page of its own (Page 3)

IV) Your discussion of the narrative, and your comments on its linguistic features, on a separate page (Page 4)

(Obviously, if your narrative transcript runs over 1 page, the numbers of pages above will differ. A long narrative is not necessarily a better one, and determining just where a narrative begins or ends is important. It is sometimes useful, however, to include a line or two of context before or after the narrative proper -- if you do this, mark only the narrative lines themselves with letters, leaving the contextual lines unmarked.)

Please email me a copy of the assignment and, if possible, the recording.

Language of Narration

It may be easiest for you to record the narrative in a language other than English. This is fine. If the speaker’s first language is not English, record them in their best language for casual speech. Choose a shorter narrative to analyse, however, as you will have to translate it. In transcribing and translating from a foreign language, the task is twice as hard, so do half as much! but a complete narrative, all the same.

Make the translation on a separate, parallel page -- a “facing-page translation” -- not on the line below. Match line numbers on the two pages. If only a few words or a line of the conversation are not in English, however, you can put the translation on the line below (but then indicating simultaneous speech becomes trickier). An example of a facing-page translation is available here.

A Sample Narrative Transcription

from Labov (1997)

In the first column, the lines are all given letters in sequence from (a-k), except for the fourth and tenth lines which are not independent (= not sequential) clauses. The subscripts for line (a), ₀a₂, indicate that (a) is not simultaneous with any preceding events, but does overlap with the two following (and with the free clause (d), which is not counted). But (a) is not simultaneous with (e), since at that point the narrator is no longer simply sitting at the table drinking.

In the second column, the orientation (OR) clauses are picked out (a, d), as are the evaluation (EV) clauses (h, j); there is no abstract or coda, and the other sequential clauses are all complicating action (CA).

In the third column, each sequential clause is identified as free, bound or restricted. In the fourth column, the narrative is transcribed.

(version 1")

₀a₂	OR	restricted	Oh I w's settin' at a table drinkin'
₁b₀	CA	restricted	And - this Norwegian sailor come over
₀c₀	CA	bound	An' kep' givin' me a bunch o' junk
			About I was sittin' with his woman.
d	OR	free	An' everybody sittin' at the table with me were my shipmates.
₀e₀	CA	bound	So I jus' turn aroun'
₀f ₀	CA	bound	An' shoved 'im,
₀g₀	CA	bound	An' told 'im, I said, "Go away,"
₀h₀	EV	bound	[and I said,] "I don't even wanna fool with ya."
			An' nex' thing I know
₀i₂	CA	restricted	I'm layin' on the floor, blood all over me,
₁j₀	EV	restricted	An' a guy told me, says, "Don't move your head."
₀k₀	CA	bound	[and he said,] "Your throat's cut."

Details of Assessment for LG554

LG554 Sociolinguistic Methods page

References for Lg554

Peter L. Patrick's home page

Last updated on 10 October 2011