Overview

This book introduces 'performed' oral storytelling into the debate, using data from traditional and contemporary storytellers in French to explore the narrative tenses, the discourse-pragmatic effects of tense switching, as well as broader questions concerning the nature of oral discourse.

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9781904713111

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The strength of the book is in showing how much more complex Tense-Switching is in oral narratives than could have been expected, and - even more importantly - the need to use all kinds of tools... It also encourages a new broader look at a whole range of different kinds of discourse with an oral dimension. And from the reader's point of view it includes, en passant, a wonderfully clear exposition of areas that s/he may have not looked at closely, given the tendency to concentrate on one approach only. Namely, Moeschler's summary of the theoretical approaches to temporal sequencing (in convenient diagram form), different approaches to tenses on the narrative line (Weinrich, Benveniste, Waugh, Vetters, Revasz, myself, and others), Smith's Narrative mode and Report Mode, Leech and Short's continuum of discourse forms (another useful diagram), Fleisshman's table of markedness oppositions for the past and present tenses in ordinary language (adapted), and, Borillo's classification of subordinators... Altogether a most enlightening book. -- Anne Judge Journal of French Language Studies, 19.3, 2009, 414-416 Carruthers' book is a genuinely original contribution to the field that puts the performed story on the map as a new genre for linguistic study and also improves our understanding of tense usage and temporal patterning in French. -- Mairi McLaughlin French Studies, 64.1, 2010, 126-127

The strength of the book is in showing how much more complex Tense-Switching is in oral narratives than could have been expected, and - even more importantly - the need to use all kinds of tools... It also encourages a new broader look at a whole range of different kinds of discourse with an oral dimension. And from the reader's point of view it includes, en passant, a wonderfully clear exposition of areas that s/he may have not looked at closely, given the tendency to concentrate on one approach only. Namely, Moeschler's summary of the theoretical approaches to temporal sequencing (in convenient diagram form), different approaches to tenses on the narrative line (Weinrich, Benveniste, Waugh, Vetters, Revasz, myself, and others), Smith's Narrative mode and Report Mode, Leech and Short's continuum of discourse forms (another useful diagram), Fleisshman's table of markedness oppositions for the past and present tenses in ordinary language (adapted), and, Borillo's classification of subordinators... Altogether a most enlightening book. -- Anne Judge Journal of French Language Studies 19.3, 2009, 414-416 Carruthers' book is a genuinely original contribution to the field that puts the performed story on the map as a new genre for linguistic study and also improves our understanding of tense usage and temporal patterning in French. -- Mairi McLaughlin French Studies 64.1, 2010, 126-127

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Janice Carruthers

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