Cover not available

Article published In: Methodology of Narrative Study: What the first thirty years of Narrative Inquiry have revealed
Edited by Allyssa McCabe and Dorien Van De Mieroop
[Narrative Inquiry 31:1] 2021
► pp. 4–27

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload PDF

The Narrative Dimensions Model and an exploration of various narrative genres

ORCiD logo with link | KU Leuven
Open Access logo
Available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC) 4.0 license.

For any use beyond this license, please contact the publisher at rights@benjamins.nl.

Published online: 28 July 2020
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/ni.19069.van
Abstract
In the last few decades, the analytical scope of narrative studies has widened from a sole focus on “prototypical” narratives of personal experience to a wide variety of narrative genres. However interesting this may be, there are also some problems with these genres as there is not only sometimes considerable overlap between different genres, but there are also differences within these genres. Furthermore, real-life stories often consist of a mix of various genres, which makes applying genre-labels to these narratives problematic. Hence, instead of making such genre classifications, I propose an abstract “Narrative Dimensions Model” to tease out the relevant characteristics of and differences between various types of narratives. This model consists of two three-dimensional clusters, viz., one revolving around the narrator and containing the dimensions of ownership, authorship and tellership, and one revolving around the narrated events, containing the dimensions of frequency, time and evaluation. I illustrate this by a theoretical exploration of various narrative genres and I conclude by sketching the advantages of conceptualizing and scrutinizing narratives by means of this model.
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • Starting point
  • Operationalization: The Narrative Dimensions Model
  • Narrative dimensions in relation to non-canonical narratives
  • Narrator
    • Dimension of ownership
    • Dimension of authorship
    • Dimension of tellership
  • Narrated events
    • Dimension of frequency
    • Dimension of time
    • Dimension of evaluation
  • Conclusions
  • Notes
  • References
References (69)
References
Atkinson, P., & Delamont, S. (2006). Rescuing narrative from qualitative research. Narrative Inquiry, 16(1), 164–172. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bakhtin, M. (1986). The Problem of Speech Genres. In C. Emerson & M. Holquist (Eds.), Speech Genres and Other Late Essays (pp. 60–102). Austin: University of Texas Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bamberg, M. (2006). Stories: Big or small; Why do we care? Narrative Inquiry, 16(1), 139–147. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Baynham, M. (2006). Performing self, narrative and community in Moroccan narratives of migration and settlement. In A. De Fina, D. Schiffrin & M. Bamberg (Eds.), Discourse and Identity (pp. 376–397). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Briggs, C., & Bauman, R. (1992). Genre, intertextuality, and social power. Journal of Linguistic Anthropology, 2(2), 131–172. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Carranza, I. E. (1998). Low-Narrativity Narratives and Argumentation. Narrative Inquiry, 8(2), 287–317. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2015). Narrating and Arguing; From Plausibility to Local Moves. In A. De Fina & A. Georgakopoulou (Eds.), The Handbook of Narrative Analysis (pp. 57–75). Chichester: Wiley Blackwell.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Chang, C.-J., & McCabe, A. (2013). Evaluation in Mandarin Chinese children’s personal narratives. In A. McCabe & C.-J. Chang (Eds.), Chinese Language Narration: Culture, cognition, and emotion (pp. 33–56). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cheshire, J., & Ziebland, S. (2005). Narrative as a resource in accounts of the experience of illness. In J. Thornborrow & J. Coates (Eds.), The Sociolinguistics of Narrative (pp. 17–40). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Clifton, J., Schnurr, S., & Van De Mieroop, D. (2020). The Language of Leadership Narratives: A Social Practice Perspective. Abingdon: Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
De Fina, A. (2003). Identity in Narrative, A study of Immigrant Discourse. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
De Fina, A., & Georgakopoulou, A. (2008). Analysing narratives as practices. Qualitative Research, 8(3), 379–387. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
De Fina, A., & Perrino, S. (Eds.). (2017). Storytelling in the Digital Age: New challenges [Special issue]. Narrative Inquiry, 27(2).Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Georgakopoulou, A. (2001). Arguing about the Future: On Indirect Disagreements in Conversations. Journal of Pragmatics, 33(12), 1881–1900. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2002). Narrative and identity management: discourse and social identities in a tale of tomorrow. Research on Language and Social Interaction, 35(4), 427–451. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Goffman, E. (1979). Footing. Semiotica, 25(1/2), 1–29. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Goodwin, C. (1984). Notes on story structure and organization of participation. In J. M. Atkinson & J. Heritage (Eds.), Structures of social action: Studies in conversation analysis (pp. 225–246). London/New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hanks, W. F. (1987). Discourse Genres in a Theory of Practice. American Ethnologist, 14(4), 668–692. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hyon, S. (1996). Genre in Three Traditions: Implications for ESL. TESOL quarterly, 30(4), 693–722. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hyvärinen, M. (2015). Analyzing narrative genres. In A. De Fina & A. Georgakopoulou (Eds.), The Handbook of Narrative Analysis (pp. 178–193). Chichester: Wiley Blackwell.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hyvärinen, M., Hydén, L.-C., Saarenheimon, M., & Tamboukoun, M. (2010). Beyond narrative coherence: An introduction. In M. Hyvärinen, L.-C. Hydén, M. Saarenheimon & M. Tamboukoun (Eds.), Beyond narrative coherence (pp. 1–15). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Johnstone, B. (2001). Discourse analysis and Narrative. In D. Schiffrin, D. Tannen & H. Hamilton (Eds.), The handbook of discourse analysis (pp. 635–649). Malden: Blackwell.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kitagawa, C., & Lehrer, A. (1990). Impersonal uses of personal pronouns. Journal of Pragmatics, 14(5), 739–759. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Labov, W. (1982). Speech Actions and Reactions in Personal Narrative. In D. Tannen (Ed.), Analyzing Discourse: Text and Talk (pp. 219–247). Georgetown University Press: Washington DC.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2011). Narratives of Personal Experience. In P. Hogan (Ed.), Cambridge Encyclopedia of the Language Sciences (pp. 546–548). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Labov, W., & Waletzky, J. (1966). Narrative Analysis: oral versions of personal experience. In J. Helm (Ed.), Essays on the Verbal and Visual Arts (pp. 12–44). Seattle: Universiy of Washington Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lerner, G. H. (1992). Assisted storytelling: Deploying shared knowledge as a practical matter. Qualitative Sociology, 15(3), 247–271. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Linde, C. (1993). Life Stories: The creation of coherence. Oxford/New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mandelbaum, J. (1987). Couples sharing stories. Communication Quarterly, 35(2), 144–170. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Martin, J. R., & Rose, D. (2008). Genre Relations: Mapping culture. London: Equinox.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Minami, M., & McCabe, A. (1995). Rice balls and bear hunts: Japanese and North American family narrative patterns. Journal of Child Language, 22(2), 423–445. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Minister, K. (1991). A Feminist Frame for the Oral History Interview. In S. Berger Gluck & D. Patai (Eds.), Women’s Words: the feminist practice of oral history (pp. 27–42). New York: Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2004). Humor, tellability, and conarration in conversational storytelling. Text, 24(1), 79–111. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2005). The dark side of tellability. Narrative Inquiry, 15(2), 323–343. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2007). Conversational storytelling. In D. Herman (Ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Narrative (pp. 127–141). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2013a). Narratives of vicarious experience in conversation. Language in Society, 42(4), 385–406. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
O’Connor, P. E. (1994). ‘You could feel it through the skin’: Agency and positioning in prisoners’ stabbing stories. Text, 14(1), 45–75. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ochs, E., & Capps, L. (2001). Living narrative: Creating lives in everyday storytelling. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Page, R. (2010). Re-examining narrativity: small stories in status updates. Text & Talk, 30(4), 423–444. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Peterson, C., & McCabe, A. (1983). Developmental Psycholinguistics: Three Ways of Looking at a Child’s Narrative. New York: Plenum. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Prince, G. (1982). Narratology. The form and functioning of narrative. Berlin: Mouton Publishers. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(1992). Narrative as theme. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Riessman, C. K. (1993). Narrative analysis. London: Sage.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sacks, H. (1986). On the analyzability of stories by children. In J. J. Gumperz & D. Hymes (Eds.), Directions in sociolinguistics: the ethnography of communication (pp. 325–345). Oxford: Basil Blackwell.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(1992). Lectures on Conversation (2 vols, edited by Gail Jefferson with introduction by Emanuel A. Schegloff). Oxford, UK/Cambridge, USA: Blackwell.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Shuman, A. (2005). Other People’s Stories: Entitlement Claims and the Critique of Empathy. Urbana Il.: University of Illinois Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2015). Story ownership and entitlement. In A. De Fina & A. Georgakopoulou (Eds.), The Handbook of Narrative Analysis (pp. 38–56). Chichester: Wiley Blackwell.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Stirling, L., & Manderson, L. (2011). About you: Empathy, objectivity and authority. Journal of Pragmatics, 43(6), 1581–1602. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Swales, J. (1990). Genre Analysis: English in Academic and Research Settings. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Toolan, M. J. (2001). Narrative: A Critical Linguistic Introduction (2nd ed.). London: Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Van De Mieroop, D. (2011). Identity negotiations in narrative accounts about poverty. Discourse & Society, 22(5), 565–591. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2015). Social Identity Theory and the Discursive Analysis of Collective Identities in Narratives. In A. De Fina & A. Georgakopoulou (Eds.), The Handbook of Narrative Analysis (pp. 408–428). Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2019). Implying identities through narratives of vicarious experience in job interviews. Journal of Pragmatics, 1521, 61–75. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(forthcoming). Applying the Narrative Dimensions Model. VAKKI Publications 11, Workplace Communication III. Available at: [URL]
(2016). Life Stories. In J.-O. Östman & J. Verschueren (Eds.), Handbook of Pragmatics (pp. 1–20). Amsterdam: Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Van De Mieroop, D., Miglbauer, M., & Chatterjee, A. (2017). Mobilizing master narratives through categorical narratives and categorical statements when default identities are at stake. Discourse & Communication, 11(2), 179–198. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Vindrola-Padros, C., & Johnson, G. A. (2014). The Narrated, Nonnarrated, and the Disnarrated: Conceptual Tools for Analyzing Narratives in Health Services Research. Qualitative Health Research, 24(11), 1603–1611. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cited by (32)

Cited by 32 other publications

Fodor, Mónika & Réka Lugossy
2025. Constructing moral stance in intergenerational trauma memory narratives. Narrative Inquiry DOI logo
Gou, Dicong, Ya Sun & Gongyuan Wang
2025. Small Stories With Big Roles: Mapping Sage, Pursuer, and Hero Archetypes Onto Authority, Fandom, and Heroism in Chinese Banks’ Weibo Posts. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication 68:3 ► pp. 379 ff. DOI logo
Holmes-Elliott, Sophie, Thomas Packer-Stucki & Becky Howard
2025. Telling tales. In Variation in Language Acquisition [Trends in Language Acquisition Research, 34], ► pp. 64 ff. DOI logo
Koskinen, Emmi, Melisa Stevanovic, Liisa Voutilainen, Mariel Wuolio & Anssi Peräkylä
2025. Accounting for experiences of inattention: The case of narcissism. Discourse Studies DOI logo
Poppi, Fabio IM
2025. De figuris caporali: The emerging social representations and ideologies of caporali in narratives of power and control. Discourse & Society DOI logo
Schachtner, Christina
2025. World in motion. Narrative Inquiry 35:2 ► pp. 238 ff. DOI logo
Schildt, Laura, Dorien Van De Mieroop & Bart Deygers
2025. Language tester identity in policy contexts: A narrative analytical approach. Applied Linguistics DOI logo
Ya, Sun, Gou Dicong & Wang Gongyuan
2025. 2025 IEEE International Professional Communication Conference (ProComm), ► pp. 334 ff. DOI logo
Yao, Huiyi, Shanshan He, Yidan Sun & Yanhong Li
2025. Being Calm When It Comes—An Illness Narrative Study of Children with Cancer. Chinese Education & Society ► pp. 1 ff. DOI logo
April, Kurt
2024. Self-Care and Compassion Enablers and Stumbling Blocks: The Personal Costs within the Context of Capitalism. In Care and Compassion in Capitalism, ► pp. 125 ff. DOI logo
Holmgreen, Lise-Lotte
2024. Narrating organisational identity. Narrative Inquiry 34:1 ► pp. 30 ff. DOI logo
Shu, Jack
2024. An Autoethnography of Teaching Drama to Student Teachers in Hong Kong. Education Sciences 14:8 ► pp. 835 ff. DOI logo
Van De Mieroop, Dorien, Melisa Stevanovic, Minna Leinonen & Henri Nevalainen
2024. A different perspective on epistemics and deontics. Narrative Inquiry DOI logo
Yang, Yang
2024. “By whom was I left behind?”. Narrative Inquiry 34:1 ► pp. 53 ff. DOI logo
Al-Khulaifi, Afra & Dorien Van De Mieroop
2023. Othering the expat majority: Qatari junior academics’ identity work at the interface of migration and institutional reform. Language and Intercultural Communication 23:2 ► pp. 167 ff. DOI logo
Al-Khulaifi, Afra & Dorien Van De Mieroop
2024. “Why not the thoub and the abaya?”An interactional sociolinguistic approach to the interplay between nationality, gender, and professional identity in the Qatari academic workplace. Journal of Arabic Sociolinguistics 2:1 ► pp. 94 ff. DOI logo
Bergroth, Mari, Júlia Llompart-Esbert, Nathalie Pepiot, Sven Sierens, Tjaša Dražnik & Karin Van Der Worp
2023. Whose action research is it?: Promoting linguistically sensitive teacher education in Europe. Educational Action Research 31:2 ► pp. 265 ff. DOI logo
Farzin Abdehgah, Ehsan, Sayedeh Babooneh Rastgooyan & Mohammadjavad Khadivi
2023. A bibliometric study of organizational storytelling/narrative research. Journal of Design, Business & Society 9:2 ► pp. 221 ff. DOI logo
Kilger, Magnus
2023. Psychologizing childhood in the reality show Biggest Loser. Narrative Inquiry 33:1 ► pp. 91 ff. DOI logo
Naborn, Lars, Dorien Van De Mieroop & Eline Zenner
2023. Emotion in multivarietal family language policy in Flanders. International Journal of Bilingualism 27:2 ► pp. 181 ff. DOI logo
Satti, Ignacio
2023. When it’s “now or never”. Narrative Inquiry 33:1 ► pp. 222 ff. DOI logo
Stavridou, Anastasia, Haiyan Huang, Kim Schoofs, Stephanie Schnurr & Dorien Van De Mieroop
2023. Negotiating identities in stories of anti-Chinese racism during the COVID-19 pandemic. Language, Culture and Society 5:1 ► pp. 43 ff. DOI logo
Al-Khulaif, Afra & Dorien Van De Mieroop
2022. Beyond dichotomies. Gender and Language 16:2 ► pp. 149 ff. DOI logo
Goodnight, Melissa Rae
2022. “We went in favor of rebellion”: The decisions that made India’s Annual Status of Education Report (ASER). International Journal of Educational Development 94 ► pp. 102656 ff. DOI logo
Grove, Nicola
2022. Exploring Narrative Competence of Persons with Severe Intellectual Disabilities: Insights from Complementary Inclusive Analytic Frameworks. Scandinavian Journal of Disability Research 24:1 ► pp. 224 ff. DOI logo
Koester, Almut
2022. Small stories in short interactions. Narrative Inquiry 32:1 ► pp. 86 ff. DOI logo
McCabe, Allyssa & Dorien Van De Mieroop
2022. Editorial. Narrative Inquiry 32:2 ► pp. 245 ff. DOI logo
Van De Mieroop, Dorien, Jonathan Clifton & Stephanie Schnurr
2022. Narratives as social practice in organisational contexts. Narrative Inquiry 32:1 ► pp. 1 ff. DOI logo
Veselovsky, Anna & Alena Witzlack-Makarevich
2022. Linguistic variation in customer reviews. Register Studies 4:2 ► pp. 288 ff. DOI logo
Rolón-Dow, Rosalie & Michelle J. Bailey
2021. Insights on Narrative Analysis from a Study of Racial Microaggressions and Microaffirmations. American Journal of Qualitative Research 6:1 ► pp. 1 ff. DOI logo
Schoofs, Kim & Dorien Van De Mieroop
2021. Epistemic competitions over Jewish Holocaust survivors’ stories in interviews. Discourse & Society 32:6 ► pp. 728 ff. DOI logo
[no author supplied]
2025. . Experimental and Clinical Transplantation 23:1 DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 28 november 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.

Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue