Narrative Comprehension: A Discourse Perspective

by Catherine Emmott

Overview

There has so far been relatively little research by cognitive linguists on the comprehension of narrative texts. This book draws on insights from discourse analysis and artificial intelligence to explore how readers construct and maintain mental representations of fictional characters and contexts, and goes on to consider the implications of cognitive modelling for grammatical theory and a literary-linguistic model of narrative text-types.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780198236498
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	06/19/1997
Pages:	336
Product dimensions:	5.69(w) x 8.75(h) x 0.87(d)
Lexile:	1440L (what's this?)

About the Author

University of Glasgow

Table of Contents

Part I: Cognition and Discourse1. Narrative Comprehension: Text, Knowledge, and Inference-Making2. Key Topics in Processing Research3. A Discourse Perspective: Understanding Full, Real TextsPart II: Narrative Structure and Processing4. Creating Functional Texts5. Modifying, Switching, and Recalling Texts6. Characters and TextsPart III: Implications: Linguistic Theory and Narrative Theory7. Mental Representations, Inference-Making, and Reference Theory8. Distinguishing Narrative Types9. ConclusionBibliographyPart I: Cognition and Discourse1. Narrative Comprehension: Text, Knowledge, and Inference-Making2. Key Topics in Processing Research3. A Discourse Perspective: Understanding Full, Real TextsPart II: Narrative Structure and Processing4. Creating Functional Texts5. Modifying, Switching, and Recalling Texts6. Characters and TextsPart III: Implications: Linguistic Theory and Narrative Theory7. Mental Representations, Inference-Making, and Reference Theory8. Distinguishing Narrative Types9. ConclusionBibliography

Editorial Reviews

Draws on insights from discourse analysis and artificial intelligence to present a detailed model of how readers build, maintain, and use mental representations of fictional contexts, and how they keep track of characters and contexts and within a fictional world. Begins with a summary of current issues in text-processing theory and a discussion of the methodological importance of recognizing the hierarchical structure of discourse, then explores the significance of contextual monitoring in narrative comprehension. Later chapters examine the implications of contextual monitoring for reference theory and for a literary-linguistic model of narrative text types. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

Booknews

"a major advance in narrative analysis, the book will be an invaluable resource for discourse analysts, cognitive scientists, and narrative theorists alike." —David Herman, North Carolina State University

"any future serious treatments of written narrative, and particularly of anaphora, will have to take this work into account." —Professor Wallace Chafe, University of California, Santa Barbara

"This is a book which a lot of people should read. It has relevant things to say to linguists and psychologists interested in text and discourse analysis, narratologists, stylisticians, literary theorists, reading theorists and those interested in the empirical study of literature and in the teaching of literacy skills." —Professor Mick Short, Lancaster University, Journal of Literary Semantics

From the Publisher