Labovs Narrative Categories When a speaker talks for an extended period, we can say that he or she is narrating.

Most of us would expect a written narrative to have a clear discourse structure. In the same way, we can apply a framework to spoken narratives, which may involve quite detailed storytelling. The sociolinguist William Labov put forward a six-part structure for oral narrative, based on his extensive fieldwork in New York, analysing oral accounts of narrative events. The narrative categories below are listed in the order they would be expected to appear in a narrative. Abstract (A) the indication that a narrative is about to start and the speaker wants a listeners attention. Orientation (O) the who, where, what and why of the narrative. This sets the scene and provides further contextual information for the listener. Complicating Action (CA) the main body providing a range of narrative detail. Resolution (R) the final events, the rounding off to give the narrative closure. Evaluation (E) additions to the basic story, to highlight attitudes or to command the listeners attention at important moments. Coda: (C) a sign that the narrative is complete. This might include a return to the initial time frame before the narrative A narrative may not contain all of the above. Also, evaluation may occur at any point, as shown on figure 9 of your handout.