Multilevel Accentuation and its Role in the Memorization of Narrative

The paper is dedicated to the phenomenon of accentuation on multiple narrative levels. Accentuation is a textual device that indicates the elements of narrative that have to be memorized by readers. It is different from the well known notion of foregrounding, as accentuation does not violate the norm, but, on the contrary, is in itself conventional. While foregrounding draws readers' attention involuntarily, the accentuation is a way of facilitating the work of voluntary attention. In this latter case a text as if takes on itself a part of the unpleasant burden of purposeful concentrating of attention, so that the reading process becomes more comfortable. The paper describes the general principles of accentuation and also presents a typology of accentuation devices, based on a six-level model of narrative. It encompasses five main types (three syntactic ones and two semantic ones), including numerous subcategories.

[1]  T. Givón,et al.  The grammar of referential coherence as mental processing instructions , 1992 .

[2]  Victor Erlich.  Russian Formalism: History, Doctrine , 1956 .

[3]  Richard J. Gerrig,et al.  Readers' experiences of characters' goals and actions. , 2006, Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition.

[4]  A. Sanford,et al.  Mind, Brain and Narrative: Preface , 2012 .

[5]  P. Thorndyke.  Cognitive structures in comprehension and memory of narrative discourse , 1977, Cognitive Psychology.

[6]  Gregory A Petsko,et al.  A Christmas Carol , 2001, Genome Biology.

[7]  D. Rumelhart.  NOTES ON A SCHEMA FOR STORIES , 1975 .

[8]  G. Radvansky,et al.  The Fate of Completed Goal Information in Narrative Comprehension , 1997 .

[9]  Brent A. Olde,et al.  How does the mind construct and represent stories , 2002 .

[10]  W. Peer.  Introduction to foregrounding: a state of the art: , 2007 .

[11]  Simon Garrod,et al.  Referential processes in reading: Focusing on roles and individuals. , 1990 .

[12]  W. Kintsch,et al.  Strategies of discourse comprehension , 1983 .

[13]  J. Assmann,et al.  Collective Memory and Cultural Identity , 1995 .

[14]  Y. Lotman.  The Text within the Text , 1988, PMLA/Publications of the Modern Language Association of America.

[15]  K. Harding.  Flowers for Algernon , 2016, Practical Neurology.

[16]  G. Genette,et al.  Narrative Discourse, an Essay in Method. , 1980 .

[17]  L. S. Vygotskiĭ,et al.  The history of the development of higher mental functions , 1997 .

[18]  Anthony J. Sanford,et al.  Capturing the attention of readers? Stylistic and psychological perspectives on the use and effect of text fragmentation in narratives , 2006 .

[19]  Anthony J. Sanford,et al.  Shallow Processing and Attention Capture in Written and Spoken Discourse , 2006 .

[20]  Gotthard Lerchner.  Stylistics and Psychology. Investigations of foregrounding , 1989 .

[21]  Shlomith Rimmon-Kenan.  The Paradoxical Status of Repetition , 1980 .

[22]  Ebbe Klitgård.  Language in Literature: Style and Foregrounding , 2010 .

[23]  David S. Miall,et al.  Foregrounding, Defamiliarization, and Affect: Response to Literary Stories , 1994 .

[24]  David Crystal,et al.  A dictionary of linguistics and phonetics , 1997 .

[25]  Ross Camidge,et al.  Frankenstein: or, The Modern Prometheus , 2007, BMJ : British Medical Journal.

[26]  J. L. Myers,et al.  Connecting goals and actions during reading. , 1993, Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition.

[27]  A. Greimas.  Sémantique structurale : recherche de méthode , 2002 .

[28]  Teun A. van Dijk,et al.  NARRATIVE MACRO-STRUCTURES Logical and Cognitive Foundations* , 1976 .

[29]  G. Genette,et al.  Narrative discourse : an essay in method , 1980 .

[30]  Jean-Baptiste Lully,et al.  The collected works , 1996 .