‘Oral versions of personal experience’: Labovian narrative analysis and its uptake

Abstract

William Labov is known across the human and social sciences for his work on oral narratives about personal experience. This article provides an overview of that research and discusses its uptake and influence in linguistics and in other fields. Subsequent scholarship on narrative has critiqued Labov's model on the grounds that it privileges a certain genre of personal-experience narrative and underplays the role of interlocutors and other contextual features in shaping oral narratives, but such scholarship inevitably borrows Labov's insight that the form of narrative is linked to its interactional functions. Narrative research in psychology and other fields often cites Labov without actually making much use of Labov's model, but Labovian narrative analysis has nonetheless had an enormous influence in making possible and legitimizing the study of everyday, vernacular narration. F€ ur seineArbeit zu m€ undlichen Erz€ ahlungen € uber pers€ onliche Erfahrungen ist William Labov in den Geistes-und Sozialwissenschaften bekannt. Der vorliegende Aufsatz bietet einen € Uberblick € uber diese Forschung; es wird er€ ortert, wie diese Forschung aufgenommen wurde und wie sie die Sprachwissenschaft und andere F€ acher beeinflusst hat. Wissenschaftler kritisierten in der Folge Labovs Erz€ ahlmodell mit der Begr€ undung, dass dieses ein gewisses Genre von Erz€ ahlungen € uber pers€ onliche Erfahrungen bevorzugt und die Rolle der Gespr€ achspartner sowie weiterer kontextueller Merkmale, die m€ undliche Erz€ ahlungen pr€ agen, herunterspielt. Diese Forschung entlehnt jedoch unvermeidbar Labovs Erkenntnis, dass die Form der Erz€ ahlung mit ihren interaktionalen Funktionen verbunden ist. Die Erz€ ahlforschung in Psychologie und anderen F€ achern zitiert Labov h€ aufig, jedoch ohne besonders viel Gebrauch von seinem Modell zu machen. Trotzdem hatte die Labov'sche Erz€ ahlanalyse einen enormen Einfluss, indem sie die Untersuchung von allt€ aglicher, umgangssprachlicher Erz€ ahlung erm€ oglicht und legitimiert hat. [German]

Facilitating intergenerational storytelling for older adults in the nursing home: A case study

“…In other words, they are "natural narratives" [37]. Secondly, Labov's model is based entirely on a talk by a single person, that is, the narrator, and it does not consider actual contributions by the audience [37]. In our case, most stories are personal narratives.…”

“…In our case, stories were life stories that related to the storyteller (the elderly), and were told in an informal manner. In other words, they are "natural narratives" [37]. Secondly, Labov's model is based entirely on a talk by a single person, that is, the narrator, and it does not consider actual contributions by the audience [37].…”

Supporting intergenerational memento storytelling for older adults through a tangible display: a case study

“…The basis for adopting structural analysis is that narratives are structured, which have plots with both temporal and spatial features [51], and the structure of stories is more stable than the content of stories [26]. We applied Labov's model [53] to conduct structural analysis, and the first reason is in our case, stories were related to the storyteller and were told in an informal manner, i.e., they are "natural narratives" [54]. While Labov's model is applicable to "natural narrative" as its origins are situated in the everyday practices of real speakers [55].…”

“…While Labov's model is applicable to "natural narrative" as its origins are situated in the everyday practices of real speakers [55]. Second, most stories collected in our study were single narratives, while Labov's model is based entirely on a single person-the narrator, without considering the audience [54]. According to Labov's model, narratives have formal properties, and each has a function.…”

Storytelling For Moral Education Of Schoolchildren In Self-Cognition Classroom

“…The narrative approach. Polkinghorne (1988) distinguished between key meanings of the narrative in social sciences and narrative in a broader sense is any written or oral narrative, and narrative in the narrow sense is a scheme for organizing experience (for instance, Labov's model) (Johnstone, 2016) that includes certain components. More often than not, the word 'narrative' is used simply as a synonym for the word 'story' or 'short story' (Barskiy, 2017).…”