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Chapter 4 A Prototypical Narrative Each of the narratives I examined can each be divided into six sections : introduction, background, main event, explication, reflection, and conclusion. The main events section is comprised of a series of events plus elaborations. The elaborations provide additional detail to the story. The remainder of this chapter uses the narrative “Moment of Silence” to illustrate the sections of a narrative and to explain how divisions were made. Moment of Silence That makes me think of something that happened in my classroom. I was teaching at an interpreter training program. I had two students in my class who were from Oklahoma City. Exactly one week, the week after the bombing, an announcement was made that there would be a minute-long moment of silence at 9 o’clock. This is fine with me. This would be during my class which met from 8 to 10, which was fine with me. At the designated time we all got up and stood quietly in a circle. After about a minute I opened my eyes. I thought enough time had elapsed. I look up and am startled by what I see. Daamn, the two students from Oklahoma City were crying. I looked at them and thought, “Wow.” I was moved by it. I found out that several of their friends had died in the bombing. So, they knew some people there. As I was looking at this I thought, “Wow, I wonder what that is like?” The experience really touched me. Introductory Section The introduction serves two purposes, to secure the floor or mark the beginning of a new story and to introduce the subject of the narrative. In the narratives I examined, the signers take four steps to introduce the narrative’s subject: they identify the topic of the story, introduce the participants , identify the location, and foreshadow events to come. In the “Moment of Silence” narrative, which is told in a group setting, the narrator has to secure the floor before he begins his narrative. The conversation 53 54 : a p r o t o t y p i c a l n a r r a t i v e preceding this narrative revolved around the Oklahoma City bombing at the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in April 1995. The narrator secures the floor by linking his story to the one that has just been told by the man seated to his left. Figures 4.1a and b illustrate how the narrator connects his story with the one that was just told. The signer first signs awful, “That would be awful.” This is his comment on the preceding signer’s comment. He directs his eye gaze toward the previous narrator and signs pro-1 think poss-1 class thereà|classroom event| ,“It makes me think of my class.” This comment links the story he will tell with what has just been discussed. Once he has secured the floor, he continues his introduction by identifying the topic of the narrative, the participants, and the location where the events took place. This information is provided by the signing illustrated in figure 4.1b–d. The signer’s eye gaze is alternatively directed toward two of his addressees throughout the introduction. Maintaining eye contact with an addressee is typical of periods of T narration. In figure 4.1b and c the signer is looking toward the addressee on his left. While his eye gaze is to his left, he signs pro-1 think poss class thereà|classroom event| , “It makes me think of my class,” and then pro-1 teach interpret training program thereà|classroom event| ,“I taught at an interpreter training program a.  awful That would be awful. b. pro-1 think poss-1 class thereà|classroom event| “That makes me think of something that happened in my classroom.” Figure 4.1 Introductory section. A Prototypical Narrative : 55 Figure 4.1 continued c. pro-1 teach interpret training program o-k-a-c-i-t-y thereà|classroom event| “I had two students in my class from Oklahoma City.” d. have two student from there.”These two lines along with the addressees’ background knowledge identify the topic and location of the event that took place in a classroom. The signer, for example, never uses the sign classroom. Based on one’s experience with where teaching typically takes place, it would be natural to assume that a classroom would be the location for the story. The signer next directs...

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