Personal Narrative: Zara

Mode, Genre, Audience and Purpose

Mode - spoken; Zara’s narrative is a transcript of speech. Genre - As a transcript, the narrative displays different features of spoken language, such as paralinguistic features which help to aid the communication of ideas, as well as false starts and hesitation indicators which identify the text as a spontaneous spoken discourse. Audience - Zara aims her narrative at people who haven’t been to Paris and thus have little, personal experience of it, as most of what she is talking about would be obvious to people who have had experiences of Parisian culture firsthand, such as people who have lived in Paris. Purpose - To inform people who haven’t been to Paris about what it is really like. For instance, she shows that Paris’ reputation is overrated, as she says ‘you get a million people gathered round some (.) big famous painting and it (.) can never live up to (.) what it’s meant to be.’ Secondary purposes might include persuading the audience to visit Paris and entertaining. Read it

Genre conventions: pauses punctuating paragraphs interrupted constructions (lines 23-25) false starts (line 4)  hesitation indicators ('erm' and 'err' line 21) dialogue with contextual information providing all encompassing understanding of the text informal ('don't' on line 24, 'kind of tunnely escalator things' line 42)

Context

The text is a personal narrative placed in the format of a transcript. The transcript was recorded in 2013, as a part of a set of narratives recorded by a woman named Zara and her mother Anna about their experiences of Paris. Anna moved to Paris with her family in 1968, and lived there for twenty years. The teller of this narrative is Zara. She discusses her first memories of Paris as a small child, Parisian culture, and fashion, art, food, and sport in Paris.

Both Zara and her mother make comparisons between London and Paris, which could mean that the audience they are speaking to have experience of London. Zara's comments about London and Paris; 'feels like you're in London but you're not' (line 5)  Paris has a big reputation for being fashionable, Londoners are more outlandish with their fashion choices, Parisians tend to go for a chic and classic look. Sport is less significant in Paris than in London, as football matches in London draw bigger crowds. More broadly, Zara discusses the following in her comparisons: first experiences of Paris as a child fashion sport

Actors, Actions and Circumstances

The actor of this narrative is a woman named Zara, she is the protagonist of this transcript, and introduces an internal perspective of Paris. Throughout this transcript, there are no direct actions of any kind, however, the hesitation continuing through this could be deemed as a dialogue action. Circumstances: Line 49 - ‘I went in the summer (.) by myself’

Point of View

For the most part of the narrative, the stories don’t relate directly to Zara herself, but rather to the events she has witnessed in Paris. Zara is therefore in a witness position, occasionally switching to a protagonist position. We only hear about what Zara deems to be important, and anything that she sees as irrelevant is omitted. Zara looks up to her mother, and is perhaps intimidated by her mother’s vast experience of Paris compared to her own; ‘I (1) am younger than my mum so I haven’t (.) spent as many years in Paris as she has (.) erm but I do find (.) that I keep going back there.’ This makes her seem less confident of how valid her experiences are, as this makes her mother’s seem more valid because her abundance of experience.

How Paris is Presented

Paris is presented as quite a boring and mundane place in comparison with the exciting and inspiring way that it has been presented throughout other texts, and how it is typically thought of. For example, one of her first evaluative comments is; ‘it just feels like you’re in London but you’re not.’ This shows how Paris can feel like any other ordinary city, as it isn’t as exciting or trendy as it has been portrayed stereotypically. Zara (perhaps unintentionally) challenges our expectations of what Paris is like. Our initial impression is perhaps that Paris is complex and sophisticated. For instance, Zara describes that ‘Paris has a very big reputation for being very chic and trendy (.) erm (1) but ... you can be a bit disappointed if you go thinking that and you walk around the streets and people look quite (.) plain (.) and people wear very (.) long conservative clothes.’

This is contrary to what we might think about Paris fashion as very ‘outlandish’, however, despite calling the Paris fashions ‘plain’ Zara also describes it as ‘an aim for very kind of classic’ and ‘almost traditional but (.) very chic and tailored things.’ This shows the value of simplicity in Paris, and that it’s the simple things that are important. This is also shown through her challenge of Paris’ food reputation; ‘it was just great to be able to get up and go and get a baguette (.) and cheese and like (.) just the most simple things and they have it everywhere’ Thus, Parisian lifestyle is not described as complex, but overwhelming simple, and Zara’s positivity helps to present the beauty of simplicity to the audience.

Structure

Clearly defined structure; Introduction - of herself and how she knows things about Paris  Opening: 'erm (.) hi (.) this is Zara (.) erm talking about (.) Parisian culture' - abstract of the discourse (first of Labov's six stages of storytelling), reveals what she will be talking about, seems somewhat planned, as if she is reading her notes or has practiced this part a lot First memory in Paris Descriptions of the fashion, art, food and sport in Parisian culture The structure is almost like a checklist or responses to someone asking her questions - responding to a prompt (‘erm (1) and (1) err (.) art’) As this is a transcript, there are no full stops or commas in sentences, just different symbols for pauses. Paragraphs made by pauses she takes and their content Makes writing fluid, more like natural speech Unlike a polished piece of prose, some sentences are unfinished.

‘I don’t really know much about (.) it’s not very in your face’ Shows hesitation/lack of confidence speaking Hesitation/spontaneity is a characteristic of natural speech Conventional narrative: it has an obvious structure, which includes the teller’s comments.

Language and Literary techniques

Informal register - The narrative uses informal language, (e.g. ‘it’s kind of tunnely escalator things’), as is typical of the spoken mode. The informal register is also evident through Zara’s use of contractions, such as ‘isn’t’ and ‘don’t’. Zara uses exaggeration to make her points, for example ‘you get a million people gathered round some (.) big famous painting.’ This is a prominent feature informal register, as formal register is more likely to specify the exact number of people. There is quite positive language used in Zara’s descriptions of things. For example, she uses adjectives such as ‘fashionable,’ ‘chic’ and ‘trendy.’

Spoken Language Features

Phatic language: 'hi', line 1 Paralinguistic features: Theses are things in the transcript that aid communication but don’t actually constitute as language. e.g) Zara’s laughter shows that she feels awkward whilsts she is speaking. (lines 44 & 47) Prosodic features: ‘Sound effects’ of spoken language, such as stress, intonation and pitch. Although pitch and intonation aren’t very clear in this text, it is clear that Zara places stress on particular words (indicated by bold print), which contribute to the meaning she conveys. e.g) ‘massive canvasses’ emphasises the large size of the canvasses. (line 39) Interrupted construction: lines 23-24 Topic marker: Zara introducing her personal narrative (‘talking about (.) Parisian culture’ acts as a topic marker for the transcript, as it establishes the topic of conversation. (line 1)

Topic shifter: This feature is typically used in transcripts of dialogue, rather than personal narratives, however Zara uses topic shifters such as ‘and (.) food’ or ‘art’, as if she is reminding herself of the next topic she has in her notes. (line 21) False starts: There is a lot of cases of false starts in the transcript, where Zara stops mid-sentence and rephrases her thoughts. e.g) ‘I kind of (.) I guess my first memories going there’ (line 4) Hesitation indicators: The transcript also features a lot of hesitation indicators, such as ‘erm’ and ‘err.’ This shows that Zara is playing for time and thinking of the next thing to say, which would suggest that she is either nervous or underprepared for recording her personal narrative. (line 21) Fillers: Zara inserts the filler ‘like’ into her spoken discourse. This could reflect part of her own idiolect. (line 13)

Memories used in Narratives

Throughout this transcript, Zara mentions various small memories and experiences, some of which are her own memories, as well as, things she’s seen. Line 4 - Memory of her as a small child dismissing Paris - ‘I guess my first memories of going there (.) is (.) as a very small child’   Line 45 - Memory of an exhibition - ‘I think I’ve been twice (.) I went one time when it was (.)I was doing work experience at a magazine’ Line 49 - Memory of buying food - ‘I went in the summer (.) by myself and it was just great to be able to get up and go and get a baguette (.)’

Labov’s Six Stages of StoryTelling

Labov has six stages of storytelling and some of these are included in the transcript. Coda - Line 10 - ‘but (.) going back (.)’  Abstract - Line 1 - ‘erm talking about (.) Parisian culture(.)’  Conflict - Line 7 - ‘what this isn’t the real Paris this isn’t Disneyland Paris (.)’  Resolution - Fallen in love with the culture of Paris - Line 10 - ‘really really fell in love with it in that kind of cliched way’  Evaluation - Line 3 - ‘I do love it a lot.’ Orientation - Memories of Paris - Line 2 - ‘I haven’t (.) spent as many years in Paris as she has (.)’