Narrative Comprehension: A Discourse Perspective

Author:   Catherine Emmott (Lecturer in the Department of English Language, Lecturer in the Department of English Language, University of Glasgow)
Publisher:   Oxford University Press
ISBN:  

9780198238683


Pages:   340
Publication Date:   01 April 1999
Format:   Paperback
Availability:   To order   Availability explained
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Narrative Comprehension: A Discourse Perspective


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Overview

Despite the current explosion of interest in cognitive linguistics, there has so far been relatively little research by cognitive linguists on narrative comprehension. Catherine Emmott 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 within a complex, changing fictional world. The book 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. The core of the book explores the significance of contextual monitoring in narrative comprehension and looks particularly at the cognitive demands placed on readers by flashbacks. Later chapters examine the implications of contextual monitoring for reference theory and for a literary-linguistic model of narrative text types. The study focuses on anaphoric pronouns in narratives, assessing the accumulated knowledge required for readers to interpret these key grammatical items. The work has implications for linguistic theory since it questions several long-held assumptions about anaphora, arguing for a `levels of consciousness' model for the processing of referring expressions.

Full Product Details

Author:   Catherine Emmott (Lecturer in the Department of English Language, Lecturer in the Department of English Language, University of Glasgow)
Publisher:   Oxford University Press
Imprint:   Oxford University Press
Dimensions:   Width: 13.80cm , Height: 1.90cm , Length: 21.60cm
Weight:   0.510kg
ISBN:  

9780198238683


ISBN 10:   0198238681
Pages:   340
Publication Date:   01 April 1999
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   To order   Availability explained
Stock availability from the supplier is unknown. We will order it for you and ship this item to you once it is received by us.

Table of Contents

Part I: Cognition and Discourse 1: Narrative Comprehension: Text, Knowledge, and Inference-Making 2: Key Topics in Processing Research 3: A Discourse Perspective: Understanding Full, Real Texts Part II: Narrative Structure and Processing 4: Creating Functional Texts 5: Modifying, Switching, and Recalling Texts 6: Characters and Texts Part III: Implications: Linguistic Theory and Narrative Theory 7: Mental Representations, Inference-Making, and Reference Theory 8: Distinguishing Narrative Types 9: Conclusion Bibliography

Reviews

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, USA, Language 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 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, USA


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