What story-telling elements do all cultures share?
Categories: Literacy and Language Therapy
Consider that a child’s stories may be different than we expect because his culture and life experiences have taught him a different script. We can answer this question by identifying story elements that ARE and ARE NOT shared.
Narrative Elements that are Common to Most Cultures
The aspects of discourse and manner of oration that a speaker employs to tell his or her story vary from culture to culture. Initiating events, attempts, consequences, and resolutions are episodic features that are common to most languages. On the contrary, the uses of an internal response, discourse markers, or acting as either a listener or participant, are all culturally specific. These aspects appear in a language due to their strength and validity. Here are two quick reference charts with narrative abilities that most cultures share and those that may be different:
Narrative, Story-telling Elements are Common to Most Cultures
Narrative Element |
Definition |
Example (3 Little Pigs) |
Initiating Event |
The incident which introduces the central conflict in a story; | Mom said it was time to live on their own. |
Attempt |
The protagonist’s attempt to solve the problem. | The 3 pigs attempted to build houses. |
Consequence |
The results of the attempt (i.e. whether or not the goal was attained). | The houses were built. |
Resolution |
Whether or not the super-ordinate problem was resolved. | A house’s strength/value was proportionate to the effort put into building it |
Setting |
The physical or temporal context of the story. | The country. |
Narrative, Story-Telling Elements that are Culturally Specific
Narrative Element |
Definition |
Example (3 Little Pigs) |
Internal Response |
An emotional response to the initiating event |
The pigs were scared at the prospect of having to leave home. |
Discourse Markers |
A word or phrase that does not change the meaning of the sentence. |
“well,” “now,” “then,” “you know” |
Embedded stories |
Flashbacks and other editing cues that may impact the viewing experience. |
The pigs had built their houses based on something that had happened to their father. |
Causal Relations |
The relationship between an event (the cause) and a second event (the effect). |
The wolf blew the straw house down so the pig ran as fast as he could to his brother’s house. |
Causal Chain |
A series of causal events that lead from beginning to end. |
Story progressed from the straw house, then the stick house, and finally the brick house. |
Protagonist Identification |
Identification of the main protagonist in the story within the first scene of the program. |
Once upon a time there were 3 little pigs… |
Understand how culture influences story-telling and easily see why a child is not producing or recalling stories as we would expect.
References
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