UNIVERSALS OF NARRATIVE PRAGMATICS - A POLYNESIAN CASE-STUDY

Detailed discussions of the microlinguistic organization of narrative have concentrated on European languages. This paper broadens the scope of enquiry with a study of oral narratives in Tokelauan, a Polynesian language. It provides some support for the view that there are univer sals of narrative pragmatics, describable in general terms as requirem ents for narrative texture or grounding, realized in part through tens e/aspect, and for embedded evaluation. Tokelauan narratives display st ructural and functional similarities to those of English and Romance l anguages. Basic narrative clauses have distinctive syntax, and tense/a spect and word order are the major means for conveying different level s of grounding. An aspectual alternation found in narrative clauses ha s a similar function to the historic present tense alternation charact eristic of European languages. I suggest that evaluative strategies in volving lexical and clausal units, such as repetition and constructed dialogue, are universal or at least widespread stylistic features of t he oval narrative genre, whereas grammatical features that convey affe ctive or evaluative meaning are highly language-specific and result in distinctive textual patterns and narrative poetics, yet these operate within a framework that is recognizably the same as that which has be en observed elsewhere.