A structural and functional analysis of dream narratives.

Abstract

This article demonstrates that elicited dream narratives use a differing narrative structural and functional framework, as proposed by Labov and Waletzky's (1967) The term narrative structure generally refers to the structural framework underlying the order and manner in which a narrative is recalled and presented to a reader, listener, or viewer. In a previous linguistics study entitled Narrative analysis: Oral versions of personal experiences, Labov and Waletzky (1967) established a formal structural framework for narratives, outlined in structural units: (1) Abstract, (2) Orientation, (3) Complication, (4) Evaluation, (5) Result, and (6) Coda.The structural abstract unit of a story provides the listener with an outline of the main content and the relatability of a subsequent recapitulated narrative. The structural orientation unit informs the listener about the narrative's participants and their temporal, local, and behavioral circumstances, often found embedded in the opening sequence of a narrative or placed in between the abstract and complication units in the form of free clauses. The structural complication unit conveys a specific or interlinked chain of actions. This is followed by a structural evaluation unit, which functions as the main kernel of a narrative as it establishes the personal relation and interest and conveys the point of the story and its significance in relation to its relatability.

Multimodal Texts from Around the World

“…A considerable amount of description already exists on the pattern of a narrative discourse (e.g. Watson, 1973;Halliday and Hasan, 1985;Mann, Matthiessen and Thompson, 1992;Cariola, 2008). However, this chapter presents the first such description of an Òkó folktale.…”

The evolution of narrative identity in a “returning home” man: The psychological and cultural place of farming in the Chinese psyche

“…In his analysis of dreams, Jung discovered that certain dream stories have mythological, narrative contents and structure. The clinical use of dreams in both the Freudian and Jungian schools places particular emphasis on the initial dream as a diagnostic hint that can foreshadow the most salient issues the patient will subsequently need to address in therapy (Atwood, 2017; Bradlow & Bender, 1997; Bressler & Mizrachi, 1978; Cariola, 2008; Freud, 1911; Gallbach, 2006; Glucksman & Kramer, 2012; Jung, 2014b; Kaija, 2010). Jung (2014a, pp.…”

The nightmare and the narrative.

“…we can consider the question "When dreams cannot be deemed narrative structures, what narrative features do they exhibit or fail to exhibit?" We could classify individual dreams according to their specific narrative features and look for patterns (e.g., Cariola, 2008). Another approach would be to consider categories of dreams and ask whether a particular type of dream consistently showed, or lacked, certain narrative features.…”

“…Hunt offers a possible way out of this rather pessimistic consensus: “What might we learn,” he asks, “by considering more directly the ways that dreams fall short—or better yet, just fall short—of being literary?” (1991, p. 237). We can follow this line of thought, and rather than ask “Are dreams narrative structures?” we can consider the question “When dreams cannot be deemed narrative structures, what narrative features do they exhibit or fail to exhibit?” We could classify individual dreams according to their specific narrative features and look for patterns (e.g., Cariola, 2008). Another approach would be to consider categories of dreams and ask whether a particular type of dream consistently showed, or lacked, certain narrative features.…”