Analyzing Najdi Oral Narrative: A Case Study of Alsharhan’s “The GMC Girls” Using Labovian and Rhetorical Frameworks
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17507/tpls.1605.24Keywords:
Najdi narratives, Saudi culture, Labov’s Narrative Structure Model, rhetorical strategiesAbstract
This study examines a selected Saudi Arabian narrative, specifically the Najdi oral narrative (The GMC Girls), narrated by Al-Sharahan, a Saudi well-known narrator. The aim is to uncover the hierarchical structure of oral narratives by analyzing their rhetorical components and Labov’s narrative framework. It also explores Saudi cultural practices and representations embedded within such narratives. The communicative elements of the rhetorical structure include prosodic phrasing, particle phrasing, pause phrasing, syntactic constituency, parallelism, repetition, and quotation marks. The interaction of these elements throughout the narrative is essential for forming lines, intonational groups, sections, and subsections. Labov’s narrative structure, on the other hand, includes abstract, orientation, complicating action, evaluation, resolution, and coda. Though this study focuses on a single narrative, it fills a gap in the study of Saudi oral narratives and contributes to the existing literature. It also highlights how Saudi cultural behaviors and customs influence these narratives, particularly in topics such as traditions and social etiquette. The analysis found that this narrative aligns with Labov’s model, with all components present. The narrator employs metaphorical features, such as similes, onomatopoeia, and evaluative devices, to depict events and help listeners visualize them. The study also offers insights for translators, teachers, and future research. This study has implications for understanding the cultural representations embedded in narratives.
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