What Is a Story?

Abstract

MOST STUDIES of the structure of folk tales are based on the assumption that in all cultures there are items of oral narrative that are recognized as tales or stories (these terms are used synonymously). Such items may be as short as a couple of sentences o r so long that they require several days to tell, but it seems that a listener can always identify such an item as a story, and that the criteria by which he does so are based o n structure rather than on content.This paper attempts to answer the question, "What is a story?" It examines the assumption that there exists universally in the human mind the concept of a certain structure that we call a story. I t poses two hypotheses which support the assumption. These are: (1) A listener will accept an item as a story only if it has a certain structure, and this structure has a certain minimal and maximal complexity. (2) The degree of complexity and the nature of such minimal and maximal structures' will be the same in all cultures.The hypotheses will be tested by (a) examining reports about oral narrative from ethnographers and folklorists in which there are statements by informants which show that story-tellers and their audiences have clear though not always explicit criteria by which a piece of oral narrative is judged t o be a story; and (b) by presenting oral items to a sample of adults and asking them t o accept o r reject each item as being a satisfactory story and to give reasons for their acceptance o r rejection.The idea that there is a "story-shaped structure" built into the human mind seems more plausible when we consider the work of recent linguists. The work of Lenneberg, especially that on language learning by children, and the work of Chomsky, especially his demonstration that the deep structure of all languages is much the same, suggest that a sense of grammar is built into the human mind. Linguists have found that a speaker can distinguish a grammatical from a non-grammatical sentence in his own language, although he may not be able to verbalize his grammatical knowledge. The sentence seems t o be a natural psychological unit.I hope t o demonstrate that the story is similarly a natural psychological unit. It is certainly easy t o show many instances of both conscious and unconscious knowledge of the requirements t o be met by a properly structured story. Rules for composing oral 1085

Patterns in Award Winning Data Storytelling

“…The notion of story pieces and required ordering of these pieces into a (data) story is consistent with the fundamental nature of stories. Stories or those stories that are considered meaningful have specific narrative structures that are recognisable by an audience (Rayfield 1972). In fact, stories have certain structure could be used to legitimately recognise it as such (Rayfield 1972).…”

“…Stories or those stories that are considered meaningful have specific narrative structures that are recognisable by an audience (Rayfield 1972). In fact, stories have certain structure could be used to legitimately recognise it as such (Rayfield 1972). Thus, stories have some implicit complexity comprising structure, elements and concepts (Lee et al 2015).…”

When Horizons Do Not Merge

“…Additional characteristics that render a narrative accepted, convincing, or reliable were described by other researchers. A narrative perceived as "good" is one that is organized along a certain chronological line (Franzosi, 1998), constructed along a logical axis, and its events unfolding naturally from one another without leaving loose ends (Rayfield, 1972). Alternatively, it may be assessed according to its progressiveness (Gergen & Gergen, 1988), consistency, or lack of contradictions (DeGloma, 2007;Goldthorpe, 1998).…”

“…Not every narrative perceived as truthful is actually so (Medford, 2006;Rayfield, 1972). Nevertheless, the literature offers a few principal methods on which to base research credibility: Intense acquaintance with the culture studied (Stoller & Olkes, 1987) triangulation-in which multiple perspectives guide narrative research (Hall, 2011;Lincoln & Guba, 1985) and others (Watson, 2009;Hannes, Lockwood, & Pearson, 2010).…”

Narrative Interviews: An Approach to Studying Teaching and Learning in English Classrooms

“…The study of narratives offers a valuable means of investigating and understanding social life. Scholars in a broad range of disciplines (Bruner, 1986Gee, 1985;Rayfield, 1972;Turner, 1980) have turned to the study of stories as a way of understanding human cognition and conduct. These same scholars have developed a range of approaches for analyzing stories, their methods generally reflecting their disciplinary interests and inclinations.…”