Chapter 11. Cultural and cognitive aspects of narrative
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Ming-Ming Pu
Abstract
This article proposes an integrated cognitive-cultural approach to conducting narrative analysis that not only accounts for the ways speakers perceive, construe and structure narrative, but also explores constraints and motivations underlying the narrative process. The approach is exemplified by using data elicited from native speakers of Mandarin Chinese and American English, who produced narratives after watching the same short film and under the same conditions. The results have given evidence to narrative as a complex process motivated and governed by the cognition-culture-language interaction, as reflected in cross-linguistic characteristics of narrative structure and organization on the one hand, and culture-specific differences in lexical choice, event coding, and degree of objectivity and empathy on the other.
Abstract
This article proposes an integrated cognitive-cultural approach to conducting narrative analysis that not only accounts for the ways speakers perceive, construe and structure narrative, but also explores constraints and motivations underlying the narrative process. The approach is exemplified by using data elicited from native speakers of Mandarin Chinese and American English, who produced narratives after watching the same short film and under the same conditions. The results have given evidence to narrative as a complex process motivated and governed by the cognition-culture-language interaction, as reflected in cross-linguistic characteristics of narrative structure and organization on the one hand, and culture-specific differences in lexical choice, event coding, and degree of objectivity and empathy on the other.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Foreword vii
- Introduction. Language, culture and identity 1
- Chapter 1. Philosophy and philosophical practice 7
- Chapter 2. Translation and transnationality in the Himalaya 23
- Chapter 3. North-South relations in linguistic science 43
- Chapter 4. My journey as an indigenous Xinguan teacher and researcher 63
- Chapter 5. The representation-cohesion-stance hypothesis 75
- Chapter 6. A framing-based account of critical cultural awareness 111
- Chapter 7. Cultural “Signs of life” in politics 141
- Chapter 8. Construing the self in discourse 157
- Chapter 9. Embodiment, personification, identity 181
- Chapter 10. Mid hefigum byrþenum 203
- Chapter 11. Cultural and cognitive aspects of narrative 227
- Chapter 12. How can I persuade you without making self-assertions? 249
- Chapter 13. “Keeping up with the times” 275
- Chapter 14. A study of Chinese non-basic color terms from the perspective of cognitive semantics 295
- Index 317
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Foreword vii
- Introduction. Language, culture and identity 1
- Chapter 1. Philosophy and philosophical practice 7
- Chapter 2. Translation and transnationality in the Himalaya 23
- Chapter 3. North-South relations in linguistic science 43
- Chapter 4. My journey as an indigenous Xinguan teacher and researcher 63
- Chapter 5. The representation-cohesion-stance hypothesis 75
- Chapter 6. A framing-based account of critical cultural awareness 111
- Chapter 7. Cultural “Signs of life” in politics 141
- Chapter 8. Construing the self in discourse 157
- Chapter 9. Embodiment, personification, identity 181
- Chapter 10. Mid hefigum byrþenum 203
- Chapter 11. Cultural and cognitive aspects of narrative 227
- Chapter 12. How can I persuade you without making self-assertions? 249
- Chapter 13. “Keeping up with the times” 275
- Chapter 14. A study of Chinese non-basic color terms from the perspective of cognitive semantics 295
- Index 317
