TEMA32: EL TEXTO NARRATIVO: ESTRUCTURA Y

CARACTERÍSTICAS

1.- INTRODUCTION: TEXT AND TEXT TYPES

- DESCRIPTIVE
- EXPLICATORY
- ARGUMENTATIVE
- CONVERSATIONAL
- NARRATIVE

2.- DEFINITION OF NARRATIVE TEXT

3.- BASIC STRUCTURE: UNIVERSALS

- ABSTRACT
- ORIENTATION
- COMPLICATION
- RESOLUTION
- CODA

4.- CHARACTERISTICS

- AUTHOR
- NARRATOR- POINT OF VIEW
- CHARACTERS
- PLOT/ STORY
- TIME
- SETTING
- READER/LISTENER

5.- VARIETIES OF NARRATIVE TEXTS

- FACTUAL
- FICTIONAL

6.- CONCLUSION

7.- BIBLIOGRAPHY

1.- INTRODUCTION:

As we know, traditional grammar focused its analysis on the sentence. However, during the 60s and
70s linguists began to realise that it was necessary to go beyond sentence-level syntax to understand
how meaning is attached to utterances. That is to say, that we have to look at language in context or
language in use rather than at isolated sentences. The study of this language in context is called
"DISCOURSE ANALYSIS" and it studies language in use: written texts of all kinds and spoken
data, from conversation to highly formal forms of talk.

The word TEXT is used in linguistics to refer to any passage, spoken or written, of whatever length,
which forms a unified whole and has a semantic unit. It may be anything from a single proverb to a
whole play, from a momentary cry to help to an all-day discussion on a committee. The features
that distinguish a text from a disconnected sequence of sentences are especially three: cohesion,
coherence and adequacy (see topics 29 and 31).
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 Texts can be classified into different text types. The existence of different approaches in
the study of types of texts makes it difficult to establish a single classification of universal
character. In this topic we are going to follow the criterion proposed by this “temario de
oposiciones”, which is based on the functional tenor of texts. According to their main function
there are 5 TYPES OF TEXTS:

 DESCRIPTIVE: A descriptive text is designed to give a mental picture of a scene, person,

thing, and situation. It is usually inserted in narrative or expository texts.
 EXPOSITORY: Its object is to explain, to clarify. They usually have an introduction, a
development and a conclusion and they use some devices such as examples, illustrations,
subdivisions in paragraphs, titles, subtitles, bold, italics, etc. Definitions, textbooks,
newspapers articles… are expository texts.
 ARGUMENTATIVE: They support or weaken statements whose validity is questionable.
Their structure is similar to that of explicative texts and they can be found in essays,
sermons, publicity, articles of opinion, debates…
 CONVERSATIONAL OR DIALOGICAL: A conversational text is made up by an
exchange or a series of verbal exchanges between speakers. They can be found in
interviews, drama dialogues, cinema…
 NARRATIVE: A narrative text tells a story. As narration is intimately connected with
time, the elements of this type of text cohere by means of temporal conjunctions.
They usually have an orientation, a complication and a resolution.

In this topic we are going to study narration in depth. Narration is thought to be the most
universal genre because storytelling episodes have been collected in many languages. Based
on such data, researchers claim that there is a universal structure, characteristics and elements
for narrative texts as we will see later, but first, we will provide a definition of what narrative
texts are.

2.- NARRATIVE TEXT

A.- Historical Background.
Narrative is the most universal genre because all cultures have story telling traditions.
Narrative texts are usually realised in the form of a novel. The 18th century was a period that
made the narrative grew in popularity.
The establishment of a literary market appeared thanks to : the appearance of a middle
class readership; the liberty of press and the Copyright Act (1709).
The most important writers of the period are, probably, SWIFT for being a satirist and
JOHNSON, for being the creator of the English Dictionary.

B.- Definition.
When trying to define narrative texts many scholars have concluded that any narration
involves a TELLER and a TALE. However, this may also be said of almost any speech event, so we
need to look a bit closer into narrative structure to see that narrations share certain characteristics:

o A degree of artificial fabrication not usually apparent in spontaneous conversation

o A degree of pre-fabrication. Narratives have recurrent chunks far larger than the recurrent
chunks we call words
o Narratives typically seem to have a goal. We expect them to have a beginning, middle and
an end.

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 o
o
o Narratives must have a teller, who is always important, no matter the point of view he
acquires.
o Narratives exploit displacement, that is to say, the ability of human language to refer to
things that are removed, in space or time, from either the speaker/writer or the addressee.

A narrative text more than recounting series of events or facts, it sequences people in time
and place. Through sequencing, the stories set up one or more problems, which eventually are
solved.
The basic function of the narrative text is to entertain and hold readers’ interest. However,
narratives can also be written to teach or to inform, to change attitudes, opinions, etc.
As we have already mentioned, there is no clear boundary which makes each genre remain
completely apart from the others. Thus, it is common to find in narratives, dialogical texts,
descriptions, etc.

3.- BASIC STRUCTURE: UNIVERSALS

There have been many attempts to analyse the structure of narratives: From Aristotle’s
beginning, middle and end to Vladimir Propp’s study of the morphology of Russian fairy
tales…

When analysing narrative texts researchers realised that they showed a number of common
elements in their structure. They are known as universals. Text universals are not always present in
all texts. Some of they do, and they are called "obligatory elements". Other elements are either
"optional" or "iterative" (if they are repeated in the same text)

Universals are:

o ABSTRACT: This is the title or introductory topic. It is an optional element, although

it is usually present. "This is the story of the ‘Three Billy Goat Gruff’…"

o ORIENTATION: In order to inform listeners or readers about the world of the story,
narratives usually begin with an orientation which includes:
-a time orientation: "once upon a time",
-a place orientation: "in a very far country" and
-a character or role identification: “there were three Billy goats called Gruff”.

This is an obligatory element and as far as syntax is concerned here we can find presentatives
"there was/were", relative clauses: "who was loved by everyone" and initial adjuncts such as: “long
ago”, “in a far country”.

o COMPLICATION: Once the story is set up, the writer can begin to set up the story line.
Most stories involve a hero who has a goal to be accomplished, But there is usually some problem
that prevents an easy attainment of the goal. "The three Billy goats wanted to cross over the bridge
to eat the grass on the other side. But, under the bridge, lived an ugly old troll…"
So the hero develops a plan to solve the problems and attain the goal. This is an obligatory
element and it usually consists of a set of action clauses arranged in a chronological list: first, then,
finally. (Example: The Tree Billy goats Gruff).

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 o RESOLUTION: Also called climax. In this final part the goal is attained, although the hero
may be defeated in some tales. For example: “ and so the three Billy Goats Gruff crossed over the
bridge and ate the grass to their hearts’ content ”.
This element is obligatory whatever the result may be.
o CODA: This constitutes a bridge from orientation to reality, it brings the reader back to the
real world. It may also contain moral or evaluation which summarises the relevance of the story
for the readers.
For instance: "Do you think the grass always look greener on the other side?"

4.- CHARACTERISTICS OF NARRATIVE TEXTS:

When researchers analysed narrative texts from different storytelling traditions, they realised
that they shared a number of common characteristics or elements. Narratives have an author, a
teller, a plot, which includes time, characters and setting and a reader. All these elements can be
represented in a diagram as follows:

FICTIONAL WORLD

NARRATOR-POINT OF VIEW
CHARACTERS
AUTHOR >>>>>>>>>> STORY/PLOT >>>>>>>>> READER
TIME
SETTING

In this point 3 we are going to analyse all these elements in detail to better understand the
articulation of narrative texts.

o AUTHOR: The author is the physical, real person who writes the story, who creates a
fictional world addressed to reader.

o NARRATOR- POINT OF VIEW: The narrator is the speaking voice inside the fictional
world. When telling a story, the narrator has to choose the point of view from which he is going to
tell the story. The narrative point of view is connected with the stance the narrator takes in relation
to the story and it is very important because it creates a distance between the characters and the
reader. There are three main types of narrator:

 The omniscient narrator is the most common in literature. He knows everything which is
going to happen and refers to his characters in 3 rd person or including himself with the personal
pronoun "we". One important device developed in the 20th c for omniscient narrators is the
stream of consciousness through which the thoughts of the characters are shown as they are,
without any interference or organisation on the side of the narrator. This technique is used by
authors such as J Joyce (Ulysses) or Virginia Woolf (Mrs Dalloway).

 The limited point of view is when the narrator has a limited knowledge of what is going to
happen. Here the narrator can tell the story in first or third person:
- The 1st person narrator impersonates a character. The personal pronoun "I" gives more
verisimilitude to the story, but it is also more subjective because he gives his own opinions. An
autobiography is told in the first person, for example Daniel Defoe's Moll Flanders or Robinson
Crusoe.
- The 3rd person narrator observes the action from outside using the personal pronouns "he,
she, they" but it is more credible because the narrator is more objective. It can be either intrusive
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 or fringe. Intrusive narrators give direct comments and interrupt the action, for example in Henry
James' The Europeans. Fringe narrators only observe the action.

- The combined point of view is when there are more than one point of view and more than
one narrator. For example Chaucer's Canterbury Tales has a third person narrator and different
kinds of narrator for each tale. Another example of the use of this combined point of view is
Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury.

o CHARACTERS: There are 2 general tendencies in the study and presentation of characters
in narrative texts: to present them as individuals or as types.

- As individuals: Here the narrator is organised around an individual character, his problems
and feelings. These are also called "round characters" by Forster. They are represented as
individuals, as real people, they develop as the narration goes on and they occupy the narrator's
attention. Ex: Dicken’s David Copperfield

- As types: In contrast to individuals, some characters are represented as types. They

represent conventional attitudes or ideas about human behaviour. Forster calls them "flat
characters" and they represent a kind of personality not very important in the story.
Forster points out that a sentence would be enough to define a flat character, whereas a round
character would need much more. Ex: Snow White’s stepmother.

Greimas devised the Actant model and he proposed that there are just 6 roles underlying all
narrative, which comprised 3 interrelated pairs:
1. giver/receiver 2.subject/object 3.helper/opponent

The 3 pairs are diagrammatised as follows:

sender >>>>>>>>>>>>>> object>>>>> >>>>>>>receiver

helper>>>>>>>>>subject<<<<<<<<<<<<opponent
This scheme can be easily seen through a traditional or a fairy tale (ex: Little Red Riding Hood), but
in modern narratives the basic role of the character is not as important as what the character is like.

o PLOT / STORY: All narratives have a plot and they are based on a story.

-The story is a series of events arranged chronologically.

-The plot is a series of events arranged in a cause-effect pattern.
So, a novel can follow the story line in a straightforward way or not. Sometimes in narrative
texts the natural order and the narrative order of events do not coincide. This change of the natural
order can be seen in the manipulation of time by the author.

o TIME:According to Genette there are three types of temporal manipulation in narrative

texts: order, duration and frequency.

Order refers to the relation between the assumed sequence of events in the story and the
actual order of presentation in the text. Any change in the order of presentation is called an
anachrony. Anachronies may be divided between analepses and prolepses. Analepses or flashbacks
are movements backwards in the story, while prolepses or flashforwards are movements forwards in
time.

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Ex: we can start a novel “in media res” and then go back and tell what had happened before. Ex:
The Odyssey starts in the middle of things, when Odysseus is travelling around the Mediterranean
Sea and then it takes us backwards in time.

Duration concerns the relation between the extent of time that events are supposed to have
actually taken up and the amount of text devoted to present those same events. Ellipsis is when no
text space is spent on a piece of story duration. It is a spatiotemporal jump. On the other hand we
have the descriptive pause: text without story duration. Ex: when the visitor visits the monastery in
the Name of the Rose the narrator spends a whole chapter to describe the door of a church where a
biblical story is represented through sculptures. There are also summaries and scenes. In summaries,
the pace of the narration is accelerated and in scenes it is decelerated. Summaries are textual
compressions of a given story period into a relatively short statements of its main features. In
scenes, story and text duration are conventionally considered identical, e.g. purely dialogue
passages, where the author shows (and not tells) us what the characters are saying.

We can establish a scale of duration:

Ellipsis Summary Scene Descriptive pause

 - = +

accelerated slowed down

So, the speed of the narration can be accelerated or slowed down depending on the effect the author
wants to create on the reader.
Frequency refers to how often something happens in the story related to how often it is
narrated in the text. There are different types of frequency:

-Singulative: we tell n times what happens n times.

-Repetitive: we tell n times what happens only once.
-Iterative: we tell once what happened n times to avoid redundancy.

o SETTING: Setting can be merely used as a background setting or it can affect the
characters in two ways: causal and analogical. If features of the setting cause how characters are
and behave, it is causal. If the setting reinforces the tale by being similar to a character or
characters, we can say that it is analogical. Even if the setting does not affect or resemble
characters, it seems quite clear that settings play an important role in promoting verisimilitude.

o READER / LISTENER:
Although it is not an internal element of the narration, it clearly influences it. Each writer has a
particular kind of reader in mind when writing the novel and the style will be adapted to the
expected reader.
In some novels we can also find a fictitious reader, that is, one who is a character in the story, as
those novels are written in the form of a letter, as in Richardson’s Pamela and Clarissa.

5.- VARIETIES OF NARRATIVE TEXTS:

There are a lot of different varieties of narration but the main ones can be classified under these two
types:

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 FACTUAL NARRATIVE: It tells a true story and it is a record of actual events. It includes
historical stories, biographies (such as Lady Di's) and news stories among others.

 FICTIONAL NARRATIVE: it is a record of imaginary events but told as if they were true. It
includes: short stories, for example “The Cask of Amontillado” by Poe, fairy tales such as
Cinderella, fables* such as Aesop’s The Hare and the Tortoise, anecdotes or parables and
novels such as Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein…

Fables and parables have in common their use as moral or thematic illustration. They may be
also considered as expository texts, since, although they tell brief stories, their principal interest is
to illustrate and teach the reader.

6.- CONCLUSION:

As a conclusion, it is important for our Ss to know the structure and characteristics of

narrative texts because it is the most universal genre. They will find narrative texts everywhere.

Narrative devices are taught in early stages of the language learning and in Bachillerato
more complex narrative texts are presented. At this stage students should be able to master narrative
texts both receptively and productively because in the PAU exam they will find a reading
comprehension (and it is very often a narrative text) and a composition.

In order to train our Ss better for this exam, we should make our Ss read a lot of texts
including graded readers and make them write lots of compositions.

7.- BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Toolan, M. Narrative. A Critical Linguistic Introduction. Rutledge,1992

Genette, T. Narrative Discourse. OUP. Oxford, 1980.

Raban, J. The Technique of Modern Fiction. London, 1997.

Lodge, D. The Art of Fiction. London. Penguin.1992

Halliday and Hasan. Cohesion in English. Longman, 1985

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