ERIC Number: EJ1399916
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2023
Pages: 20
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0167-8507
EISSN: EISSN-1613-3684
Preparing for the Deployment of Ready-Made Stories in Social Interaction: Reflexivity and Narrative Practices in Professional Communication
Merminod, Gilles
Multilingua: Journal of Cross-Cultural and Interlanguage Communication, v42 n6 p855-874 2023
Since the nineties, the idea that narratives are essential for an efficient communication has massively spread in management, marketing and politics, supported by the profuse publication of storytelling guides and criticized by a number of social commentators. Nevertheless, little is known about how reflexive activities specific to professional communication partake in the visibility and solidification of this specific way of conceiving the use of stories. Drawing on semiotic-inspired works in linguistic anthropology, studies on talk-in-interaction and narrative analysis, this article analyzes how reflexive activities contribute to the construction of specific conceptions of what narratives are and what they do in professional communication. To achieve this, the article relies on a single case study that details the kind of ready-made stories and contextualization devices a storytelling guide provides for its readers. The analysis shows that the storytelling guide builds up a cultural model that is both archiving past narrative situations (a "model-of" action) and potentially generating new narrative situations (a "model-for" action). By doing so, the storytelling guide not only singles out specific communicative resources but also fuels a metapragmatic model in which accomplished storytellers are at the top of the social structure.
Descriptors: Interpersonal Relationship, Story Telling, Business Communication, Personal Narratives, Models
De Gruyter Mouton. Available from: Walter de Gruyter, Inc. 121 High Street, Third Floor, Boston, MA 02110. Tel: 857-284-7073; Fax: 857-284-7358; e-mail: service@degruyter.com; Web site: http://www.degruyter.com
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A