Labov and narrative structure

Week 2

Hugo Bowles

Big story approach - Labov

Long stories obtained though interview (“tell me about a

life-threatening experience you have had”)

a story has a structure

a story has a chain of events and a most reportable event

a story has a point

according to Labov, if these are not present,then you don’t have a story

“veni, vidi, vici”

Would Labov think this is a story?

autobiographical, chain of past events but …

- no “most reportable event”- no “point”

So perhaps not a story for Labov

“I got up” is not a narrative A narrative is more than a statement

about a reportable event. If the reportable event is not an everyday occurrence then it requires an account.

A reportable event needs prior events to be explained (“how did that happen?)

So a story has a most reportable event and prior events

“I got up and smashed my head against the door” IS a narrative

“I smashed my head against the door” is the most reportable event

“I got up” is a prior event, causally linked to the most reportable events

Finding the most reportable event and the prior

events is called narrative pre-construction

What is the most reportable event in the Robbery story ?

What is the most reportable event in the Horses story ?

What are the prior events?

Labov’s structure Abstract = initial clause that reports the sequence of events

Orientation = setting or context of narrative

Complicating action = the set of events (chronologically ordered

clauses)

Evaluation = answers “what’s the point”?

Resolution = ends the complicating action(s)

Coda – returns story to the present

How to do a Labov-style analysis1. Find the most reportable eventThis could be the resolution

2. Find the sequence of prior eventsThese constitute the complicating

action(s)

3. Identify the orientation4. Identify the abstract5. Identify the coda