Toward a Typology of Ranking Elements of Narrative Discourse in Languages and Cultures: A Cross-Linguistic Survey

Perkins, Marla

doi:10.15462/ijll.v6i1.101

Cited by 3 publications

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“…Additionally, Graesser et al (1997) have suggested that a lack of coherence and consistency in spatial information in textoids (short narratives created specifically for use in psycholinguistic experiments) might have contributed to subjects' difficulties in working with spatial information. Further, my field investigations among speakers of several Austronesian languages on the island of Borneo and reviews of language descriptions indicate that the focus on character and the relative lack of focus on spatial information is language specific, with nearly all of the logically possible rankings of the four types of information in discourse being available in the world's languages (Perkins 2017a).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 95%

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2020

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Four main informational elements have been suggested and studied as central aspects of narrative discourse: causality, character, location, time. The research that scholars have previously undertaken on these aspects has been primarily on Indo-European languages, and more specifically on the European side of that language family. The linguistic limitations have indicated that character is the aspect of narrative that readers/listeners attend to most closely. However, in examining narrative discourses from non-Indo-European languages, challenges to the presumed primacy of character emerge. In a partial report on field work conducted in Borneo in 2012-2015, I compare and contrast patterns in the rankings of the four main aspects of narrative in three languages, English, Hobongan and Daqan. I also note the strategies by which the languages make their respective rankings clear, including focus particles (Hobongan), specificity of description (each), and amount of information provided about the aspects (each). I suggest that analyses of the patterns and rankings of information in narrative be included in typological categorizations and linguistic descriptions of languages. 1 An anonymous reviewer has pointed out that my status as a native speaker of English with minimal training in philosophy has impoverished my analyses of causality in the Austronesian languages. This is a problem that cannot be fixed in time for publication, but I take this to be an opportunity for further study and further research, and an opportunity for philosophers to become involved in the study and analysis of conceptualizations in the languages of the world. Field research in philosophy would be an outstanding contribution to language-and-culture documentation and conservation.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 95%

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2020

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Narrative Structures in Cross-linguistic Perspective: English, Hobongan, and Daqan

Perkins

2020

IJLL

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It has been noted (Perkins, 2009; Zwaan 1999; Zwaan and Radvansky, 1998) that causality, character, location, and time are the four main aspects of narrative discourse, even if not attended to in equal ways—for example, in English, character is highly ranked, and the locational/spatial components have often been underestimated. However, this is not a universal ranking. In a partial report on field work conducted in Borneo in 2012-2015, I note typological patterns in stylistic preferences within a selection of short narratives in English, Hobongan, and Daqan (the latter two are Austronesian). The strategies identified in the languages, by which the rankings of the various types of narrative information are foregrounded or backgrounded, include focus particles (Hobongan), specificity of description, or lack thereof (each), what component is most involved in driving the narrative forward (each), and frequency of information given about different components of the narrative (each). For example, English narratives center around a character or characters, and a great deal of specific information is given about such characters. In Hobongan, by contrast, the characters are backgrounded relative to the locational information provided, which is given specific description and is marked repeatedly as the focus of the narrative. In Daqan, still another pattern can be identified, that of a given duration providing the justification for and coherence throughout a narrative. It is suggested that analyses of the stylistics of information in narrative be included in typological categorizations and linguistic descriptions of languages, and that such analyses need, as much as possible, to be informed by an understanding of preferred patterns in different languages.

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Conceptualizing Measurement and Quantification in Hobongan: An Overview of the Lexicon and Uses

Perkins¹

2018

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In this survey of the Hobongan lexical items, I identify patterns in the Hobongan understanding of measurement and quantification. In Hobongan, there are many terms for measurements, usually some form of estimation. Hobongan has a four-based counting system, and those forms are used to estimate one is one or hardly any, and four is quite a lot and function as articles in sentences. Hobongan has also borrowed more counting terms and has the lexical items necessary for precise quantification, but those quantifications are used primarily within certain domains, such as determining what they should be paid for gold that has been mined or what should be paid in fines after legal judgments. Estimates of measurements can reference common objects, such as segments of bamboo or the height of a standing human. Perhaps the richest aspect of the system is that of measurement, in which terms that provide ways to estimate temperatures, magnitudes, and other amounts can indicate the ways in which the Hobongan make estimates from contextual information and apply the terms in use. In Hobongan, measurements in the form of estimates are primary and obligatory. Quantification with numbers is exclusively a type of symbolic and symbolized reasoning that must be combined with the estimate terms in order to be acceptable and functional.

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Toward a Typology of Ranking Elements of Narrative Discourse in Languages and Cultures: A Cross-Linguistic Survey

Cited by 3 publications

References 22 publications

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Narrative Structures in Cross-linguistic Perspective: English, Hobongan, and Daqan

Conceptualizing Measurement and Quantification in Hobongan: An Overview of the Lexicon and Uses

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