Die struktuur van die spontane mondelinge vertelling in Afrikaans met spesiale verwysing na die rol van tempusverwisseling

Abstract

There are various opinions as to what can be described as a narrative. In this study the point of departure has been that a narrative can be seen as an intentional linguistic act consisting of at least two time-ordered clauses with a central theme as the cohesive factor. The nature of the narrative demands that two subject disciplines be involved when the narrative is analysed, viz. linguistics and narratology. These two components supplement each other in the narrative so that one can see that a one-sided analysis would be incomplete. The narrative is a firm unity in which, for analytical purposes, various structural elements are distinguished. These structural elements are distinguishable but not always divisible, and function in conjunction with each other in the narrative. Ten structural elements are distinguished in the well-constructed oral narrative, viz. announcement, orientation, complicating action, climax, evaluation, result, coda, slip of the tongue, pauses and tense-switching. It has been found that switches in tense are characteristic of the spontaneous oral narrative in Afrikaans, and that these are functionally applied to delimit the narrative into episodes. A new turn in the narrative is usually linked to a switch in tense. Tense changes do not necessarily indicate changes of time. Actions are anchored in time by means of referential time. Where tense switches do occur, the preterite and the historic present are used in turn. From the study it emerges that where large segments are in the historic present, especially in the part of the complicating action, many direct quotations occur in these segments.