Narrating in collaboration: Discursive constructions by an aphasic person

Abstract

This article uses the theoretical framework of Narrative Analysis (RIESSMAN, 1993; 2008; BASTOS, 2005, 2008), and brings structural (LABOV; WALETZKY, 1967; LABOV, 1972) and interactional (NORRICK, 2000; GOODWIN, 1986) perspectives of narrative analysis together in order to investigate the collaborative construction of narrative and the discursive construction of a person with aphasia. Through the analysis of narrative dimensions (OCHS; CAPPS, 2001), we observed the high involvement of co-tellers in the narrative construction, in the placement of the narrative in the discursive activity and in the construction of linearity. Furthermore, the aphasic teller has performed tactical rhetorical choices (of evaluation devices) to construct the narrative tellability and a positive, determined and constant moral stance.