Expressive phonology as evaluative comment in personal oral narrative: The play frame and language learning

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Abstract This article presents a case study of phonological types of internal evaluation in the personal oral narrative of one non-native speaker of English. The purpose was twofold: (1) to study whether laughter and exhaled breath can serve the functions of expressive phonology; i.e., phonological features which provide commentary and point of view for the narrative and communicate the story’s tellability [Labov, W., 1972. The transformation of experience in narrative syntax. In: Language in the Inner City: Studies in Black English Vernacular. University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia, pp. 354–396] and (2) to determine whether an advanced non-native speaker exhibits these evaluative features in personal oral narrative. The results indicate that laughter and exhaled breath were used systematically and strategically to frame the discourse as humorous, and that expressive phonology as a form of internal evaluation was employed to comment on the events and communicate tellability to the listener. The subject used these features unconsciously and in complex ways for the purpose of creating a personal stance and for developing shared knowledge with the listener. The discussion includes techniques for teaching students to frame a narrative as humorous, and recommends further study of spoken discourse from a cognitive perspective.