Contextualizing Modern Greek Storytelling: The Case of Historical Present and Constructed Dialogue

The latest approaches to spoken discourse in the linguistic area of Discourse Analysis draw attention to the context-dependence of formal choices. The idea put forth is that textual devices should not be treated as "given frames which have to be filled in but as constituted frames" (Bamberg 1990:281) shaped by their immediate and wider context of occurrence. In the present discussion, this contextualization thesis is employed as the interpretative frame for the devices of the Historical Present and Constructed Dialogue in Modern Greek storytelling. These were brought to the fore as major axes of narrative organization and evaluation by the analysis of authentic oral stories. However, their overwhelming occurrence in everyday stories among intimates was found to recede considerably in the case of stories addressed to children. Both these findings can be accounted for only with reference to situational and cultural constraints that underlie the Greek story's "recipient-design." Specifically, the devices' use is motivated by the all-embracing narrative function/purpose of performance and involvement; by contrast, their rare occurrence in stories for children is dictated by didactic purposes.