Journal of Narrative and Life History - Volume 1, Issue 4, 1991

AbstractTranscription is the general procedure used in studies of discourse to re-present speech as written text. Different notation systems have been proposed, and emphasis is often placed on achieving a high level of precision and accuracy of transcripts. In this article, transcription is treated as an instance of the general problem of the representation of reality that appears in diverse fields, such as photography and the biological and natural sciences. Three studies are examined where alternative transcripts of the same stretch of speech were presented and analyzed. This comparison shows how different transcript formats both reflect and reflexively support theoretical aims and interpretations and serve rhetorical functions. The essential indeterminancy and ambiguity of the relationship be-tween language and meaning, which has emerged from the widespread critique of naive realism, both sets the problem and provides the context within which we can understand transcription as an interpretive practice. (Sociolinguistics)

AbstractThis article is concerned with the relationship between a witness' narrative style and judgments of jurors based on that style. It takes as its starting point the Duke University Law and Language Project results that a witness using a narrative style is judged more credible than a witness using a fragmented style. The main argument of this article is that it is not the use of narrative per se, but rather a particular narrative style that is valued in the courtroom. Data from a day of testimony in a murder trial is used to demonstrate two opposing narrative styles in testimony: that of the law enforcement officer and that of some nonexpert witnesses. It is shown first that the style of the law enforcement officers differs from ordinary conversation in its extreme explicitness. It is hypothesized that jurors will associate this style of delivery with credibility. It is further hypothe-sized that witnesses will lose credibility to the extent that they deviate from this style. After demonstrating the differences in the styles, the article draws on experimental work of other researchers to suggest that trial outcomes can be affected by the narrative style of the witness. (Linguistics)

AbstractThis study examined mother-child conversation about past events as a context in which children acquire the discourse skills for talking about the past and develop the ability to recall past events. Conversations about past events were recorded in one mother-child dyad from 20 to 28 months. Analyses focused on changes in the structure and content of the conversation over time as well as on the effects of retention interval on long-term memory. In addition, effects of repeated memory conversations about the same events were examined. Over time, the child was more active in participating in and then initiating conversa-tions about the past. Her contributions also became more evaluative with age. Repeated memory conversations did not affect the child's recall of the particular events that had been previously discussed, but over the 8 months she was able to recall more about events in general. These results suggest that early autobio-graphical memory development involves learning how to remember, not what to remember; the skills for retrieving and talking about memories emerge, but the specific content of repeatedly recalled events varies over retelling. (Psychology)

AbstractIn this research, mothers were asked to discuss four specific past events during which their 32- to 3 5-month-old children experienced happiness, sadness, anger, and fear. Results suggest that mothers discuss the emotions of sadness and anger quite differently with daughters than with sons. Conversations about sadness were longer and emphasized the causes of sadness more with daughters than with sons, and mothers seemed concerned with comforting daughters about being sad. In contrast, conversations about anger were longer with sons than with daugh-ters, and mothers accepted anger and accepted retaliation as an appropriate response to anger with sons but not with daughters. Daughters are encouraged to resolve anger by reestablishing the damaged relationship. Further, all four emotions were placed in a more social interactional framework with daughters than with sons. This pattern of results is discussed in terms of what young children may be learning about emotional experience and self-concept, as well as how these early differences in emotional socialization may be related to gender differences in adults' emotional processing. (Psychology)

AbstractNarrative structures serve the double function of selecting episodes and charac-ters to be included in the narration, as well as offering a generative mechanism for their sequencing, both functions being simultaneous and mutually interac-tive. According to Eco (1984), narrative structures are multilayered, including an abstract level of ideology. Few studies have been done on specific narrative subgenres, such as the historical novel. This article examines a historical novel by Latvian writer Karlis Zariņš (1938, 1948, 1975, 1985), which depicts a failed peasant uprising at Kauguri, Latvia in 1802. Bakhtine's (1978) theoreti-cal notion of chronotope is invoked, distinguishing the external chronotope— the general historical and geographic situation—from the internal chronotope—the sequence of individual transformations. In Kaugurieši, the ex-ternal chronotope is depicted as a sociopolitical chess game, in which the Rus-sian king and the German knights play active roles, the queen is chance, and the pawns (Latvian peasants) are helpless victims. The plot centers on a tragi-cally failed attempt by the Latvians to change the historical givens by becom-ing an active, collective force. The internal chronotopes reveal the paths of individual lives, some of which follow the abstract model of heroic quest and sacrifice. (Psychohistory)