Toward a Typology of Ranking Elements of Narrative Discourse

in Languages and Cultures:A Case Study in English and

Hobongan (and Beyond!)marla.perkins@dartmouth.edu

The Questions Given the four major components of

narrative discourse (causality, character, space, time: Zwaan, 1999, 1996; Perkins, 2009 for a review), are there typological variations in the use or ranking of those elements? (Yes.)

If there are variations, what are they, and how are they instantiated in languages?

Part of an Answer: English Closest link between

character and causality: people make things happen

Time after character: conflation of time and causality in many cases (post hoc ergo propter hoc fallacy)

Space last: some have claimed (Mark, 2004, p.c.) that English is impoverished in ways to describe spatial/locational information (Perkins, 2009, for alternative)

Part of an Answer: Hobongan

Closest link between location and causality: places make things happen

Character next: characters relatively backgrounded for narrative and responsibility (Perkins, 2013, 2014)

Time last: time measured by outside world, including locations (Perkins, 2014)

How to Know?: Instantiations

WHAT WORKS WHAT DOES NOT What native speakers

consider necessary for a coherent and cohesive narrative discourse—what counts as a discourse

Focus markers/strategies Discourse organization

patterns

Syntax: Both English and Hobongan are SVO

Morphology: Neither English nor Hobongan are particularly interesting morphologically

Phonetics/Phonology: neither English nor Hobongan are especially exotic

Language family: details to follow

In short—the rankings of elements of discourse MUST be a different category for typological purposes

New Questions With this kind of difference available,

are all of the logical possibilities available in the world’s languages? (Probably)

Are there universals? (Probably) How does this relate to the creation

and analysis of literature in language and typology?

Survey Survey of 53 languages from 21

language families (some field work, some published descriptions)

Focus markers in narrative discourse Pragmatic priorities, if available

Logical Possibilities: Character First

Character, time, space:• English (and many other Indo-European languages: Greek, Spanish, Russian)• Tagalog (Schachter and Otanes, 1972) (Austronesian)• Ponapean (Rehg, 1981) (Austronesian)• Thai (Smythe, 2002) (Thai-Kadai)• Sonora Yaqui (Dedrick and Casad, 1999) (Uto-Aztecan)• Comanche (Charney, 1993) (Central Numic branch of Uto-Aztecan)• Jacaltec (Craig, 1977) (Mayan)• Engenni (Thomas, 1978) (Edo branch of Kwa)• Central Bontoc (Reid, 1970) (Austronesian)• Anywa (Reh, 1996) (Nilo-Saharan)

Character, space, time:• Classical Tibetan (Beyer, 1992) (Tibeto-Burman)• Aleut (Bergslund, 1997) (Eskimo-Aleut)• Coastal Tsimshian/Sma’algyax (Dunn, 1995) (Tsimshian)

Overlap: • Mandarin: Character, space/time (Li and Thompson, 1981) (Sino-Tibetan)• Nahuatl: Character, space/time (Sullivan, 1988) (Uto-Aztecan)• Mam: Character/time, space (England, 1983) (Mayan)

Logical Possibilities: Space/Location First

Space, character, time:• Dyirbal (Dixon, 1972) (Pama-Nyungan)• Hobongan (Perkins, 2013)

Space, time, character: None found as yet

Logical Possibilities: Time/Duration First

Time, character, place• Bella Coola (Nater, 1984) (Salish)• Cahuilla (Seiler, 1977) (Uto-Aztecan)• Manambu (Aikhenvald, 2008) (Ndu)• Nishnaabemwin (Valentine, 2001) (Algonquian)• Timucua (Granberry, 1993) (Isolate)

Time, place, character: None yet Overlap:

• Itzaj Maya: Time/character, space (Hoffling, 2000) (Mayan)• Navajo: Time, character/place (Midgetted, 1995)

(Athabaskan)• Totonac: Time/space, character (Reid et al., 1968)

(Totonacan)

Indeterminate Thanks to incomplete grammars (up to syntax

at most):• Tzotzil (Cowan, 1969) (Mayan)• Mattole—last speaker (Li, 1930) (Athabaskan)• Phoenician—inscriptions (Harris, 1936) (Semitic)• Ugaritic (Segert, 1984) (Semitic)• Gulf Arabic (Oafisheh, 1977) (Semitic)• Kharia (Peterson, 2011) (Semitic)• Lakota (Buechel, 1939) (Siouan)• Sirionó (Firestone, 1965) (Tupí-Guaraní)• Wolio (Anceaux, 1952) (Austronesian)• Si-Luyana (Givón, 1970) (Niger-Congo)• Siwi (Walker, 1920) (Berber)• Abun (Berry and Berry, 1999) (West Papuan)• Yawuru (Hosokawa, 2011) (Nyulnyulan)• Taba (Bowden, 2001) (Austronesian)• Gunwinggu (Oates, 1964) (Arnhem)• Ngiyambaa (Donaldson, 1980) (Pama-Nyungan)• Konkani (Almeida, 1989) (Indo-Aryan)• Colloquial Guarani (Gregores and Suárez, 1967)

(Tupi)• Auca (Peeke, 1973) (Isolate)• Palauan (Josephs, 1975) (Austronesian)• Papago (Sepeda, 1983) (Uto-Aztecan)

Βɑlɑncedː Basque (DeRijk, 2008) (Isolate)

Thanks to a mix: Belizean Creole (Greene, 1999)—probably the source languages: character, time, space

Thanks to hierarchical/binary discourse analysis that are person-focused (Longacre, 1968):

• Mixe (van Haitsma et al., 1976) (Mixe-Zoquean)

• Japanese (Tsujimura, 1999) (Altaic)

Universals/Probabilities Causality is always at the top of the

list One or two of the other three

components links most closely with causality

Languages often have a word that links causality with the highest-ranked element: e.g., “motivation” in English (causality with character, Zwaan, 1999)

Implications for Linguistic Typology

Need to include analysis of patterns in narrative discourse (and other types of discourse) in grammatical descriptions of languages

Need to move beyond the assumption that people are the center

Need to examine different levels/types of narrative discourse (e.g., personal narrative vs. literary narrative)• How much of the information/patterning is shared?• How much of the information/patterning different?• What makes a discourse literary in a given language?

Implications for Literature These patterns in narrative discourse

are the starting points for the creation of literature, even if creative license moves beyond them

Literary typologies could be the starting point for additional creative exploration: what’s possible?

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Comments/Questionsmarla.perkins@dartmouth.edu