Cover not available
Article published In:
Methodology of Narrative Study: What the first thirty years of Narrative Inquiry have revealed
Edited by Allyssa McCabe and Dorien Van De Mieroop
[Narrative Inquiry 31:1] 2021
► pp. 214–235

Narrative as cultural representation

An analysis of Japanese-language learners’ storytelling styles from the perspective of coherence and cohesion

| San Francisco State University
This paper addresses issues related to narrative, cognition, and culture within the framework of foreign- or second-language (L2) narrative discourse, using a methodology of connecting the story- and language-related qualities of narrative discourse. The term “coherence” refers to whether or not a text makes sense at a global level, whereas “cohesion” describes the linguistic relationships among clauses in a narrative, such as how its surface linguistic elements are linked together at a local level. The paper (1) examines oral narratives, (2) reveals how both coherence and cohesion serve as the twin engines of narrative, and (3) emphasizes the significance of noting not only the narrative content/structure but also the appropriate use of linguistic devices, to identify language-specific ways of expressing affective elements in narrative. That is, the paper suggests the importance of developing conceptual understanding of L2 forms (e.g., grammatical variables) and their stylistic significance.
Keywords: L2 narrative discourse, oral narratives, Labovian methodology, macrostructural analysis, microstructural levels, first language (L1) transfer, perspective-taking, coherence, cohesion, voice, aspects
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • Theoretical framework: Narrative as linguistic expression
    • Labovian methodology: Macrostructural analysis for narrative coherence
    • Findings from studies on child bilingualism
  • Method
  • Results
    • Labovian methodology: Macrostructural analysis for narrative coherence
    • Microstructural levels of narratives: The choice of voice as a reflection of perspective-taking
    • Microstructural levels of narratives: Aspects te-shimaw-u and te-iru
  • Discussion
  • Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 17 November 2020
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/ni.20063.min
References
Bakeman, R., & Gottman, J. M.
(1997) Observing interaction: An introduction to sequential analysis (2nd ed.). New York: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bamberg, M.
(1987) The acquisition of narratives: Learning to use language. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Berman, R.
(1996) Form and function in developing narrative abilities: The case of ‘and.’ In D. I. Slobin, J. Gerhardt, A. Kytatzis, & J. Guo (Eds.), Social interaction, context, and language: Essays in honor of Susan Ervin-Tripp (pp. 243–268). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
(1997) Narrative theory and narrative development: The Labovian impact. Journal of Narrative and Life History, 7(1–4), 235–244. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Berman, R. A.
(2004a) The role of context in developing narrative abilities. In S. Strömqvist & L. Verhoeven (Eds.), Relating events in narrative, Volume 2: Typological and contextual perspectives (pp. 261–280). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
(2004b) Between emergence and mastery: The long developmental route of language acquisition. In B. A. Berman (Ed.), Language development across childhood and adolescence (pp. 9–34). Amsterdam, The Netherlands: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Berman, R. A., & Slobin, D. I.
(1994) Relating events in narrative: A crosslinguistic developmental study. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
Blum-Kulka, S.
(2004) The role of peer interaction in later pragmatic development. In B. A. Berman (Ed.), Language development across childhood and adolescence (pp. 191–210). Amsterdam, The Netherlands: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Chafe, W. L.
(1980) The pear stories: Cognitive, cultural, and linguistic aspects of narrative production. Norwood, NJ: Ablex.Google Scholar
Ervin-Tripp, S. M., & Küntay, A.
(1997) The occasioning and structure of conversational stories. In T. Givón (Ed.), Conversation: Cognitive, communicative and social perspectives (pp. 133–166). Amsterdam, The Netherlands: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kimura, H.
(2014) Koto, kokoro, kotoba – Genjitsu o kotoba ni suru shiten – [Things, mind, and words: A perspective that puts reality into words]. In K. Karasawa & T. Hayashi (Eds.), Jin-bun-chi 1 Kokoro to kotoba no mēkyū [Humanities 1: Labyrinth of mind and words] (97–118). Tokyo: University of Tokyo Press.Google Scholar
Kuno, S.
(1987) Functional syntax: Anaphora, discourse and empathy. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Kuno, S., & Kaburaki, E.
(1977) Empathy and syntax. Linguistic Inquiry, 8(4), 627–672. [URL]
Labov, W.
(1972) Language in the inner city: Studies in the Black English vernacular. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press.Google Scholar
(1997) Some further steps in narrative analysis. Journal of Narrative and Life History, 7(1–4), 395–415. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2006) Narrative pre-construction. Narrative Inquiry, 16(1), 37–45. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2013) The language of life and death: The transformation of experience in oral narrative. New York: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Labov, W., & Waletzky, J.
(1967) Narrative analysis: Oral versions of personal experience. In June Helm (Ed.), Essays on the verbal and visual arts: Proceedings of the 1966 annual spring meeting of the American Ethnological Society (pp. 12–44). Seattle, WA: University of Washington Press.Google Scholar
Landis, J. R., & Koch, G. G.
(1977) The measurement of observer agreement for categorical data. Biometrics, 33(1), 159–174. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Mayer, M.
(1969) Frog, where are you? New York: Dial Press.Google Scholar
Maynard, S. K.
(1990) An introduction to Japanese grammar and communication strategies. Tokyo: The Japan Times.Google Scholar
Minami, M.
(2002) Culture-specific language styles: The development of oral narrative and literacy. Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2011) Telling stories in two languages: Multiple approaches to understanding English-Japanese bilingual children’s narratives. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.Google Scholar
(2015a) Narrative, cognition, and socialization. In A. De Fina & A. Georgakopoulou (Eds.), The handbook of narrative analysis (pp. 76–96). Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2015b) Narrative development in L1 Japanese. In M. Nakayama (Ed.), Handbook of Japanese psycholinguistics (pp.181–215). Berlin/Boston, MA: De Gruyter Mouton. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2016) The influence of topic choice on narrative proficiency by learners of Japanese as a foreign language. In M. Minami (Ed.), Handbook of Japanese applied linguistics (pp. 223–251). Berlin/Boston: De Gruyter Mouton. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2019) Connecting L1 and L2 acquisition: From the perspective of macro and micro narrative structure. Journal of Japanese Linguistics, 35(2), 143–164. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Minami, M., & McCabe, A.
(1991) Haiku as a discourse regulation device: Stanza analysis of Japanese children’s personal narratives. Language in Society, 20(4), 577–599. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(1995) Rice balls and bear hunts: Japanese and North American family narrative patterns. Journal of Child Language, 22(2), 423–445. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ohta, A. S.
(2017) From SCOBA development to implementation in concept-based instruction: Conceptualizing and teaching Japanese addressee honorifics as expressing modes of self. Language and Sociocultural Theory, 4(2), 187–218. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Peng, G.
(2016) Nitchū ryōgo no voisu ni mirareru shiten no arikata [Perspectives in Japanese and Chinese voices]. In M. Ono & Q. Li (Eds.), Gengo no shukansei [Language subjectivity] (pp. 35–51). Tokyo: Kurosio Publishers.Google Scholar
Peterson, C., & McCabe, A.
(1983) Developmental psycholinguistics: Three ways of looking at a child’s narrative. New York: Plenum. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(1991) Linking children’s connective use and narrative macrostructure. In A. McCabe & C. Peterson (Eds.), Developing narrative structure (pp. 29–53). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
Polanyi, L.
(1985) Telling the American story. Norwood, NJ: Ablex.Google Scholar
Riessman, C. K.
(2008) Narrative methods for the human sciences. Los Angeles, CA: Sage Publications.Google Scholar
Toolan, M. J.
(1988) Narrative: A critical linguistic introduction. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Yamanashi, M.
(2009) Cognitive syntax: Gestalt of grammar. Tokyo: Taishukan Publishing.Google Scholar