Introduction

In this book, we have been analyzing referrals and narratives that have recurred in ‘second-positions’ of varying types and scope, from an article prefacing a noun (e.g. the- the) to a story told in 1982, 1984 and 1995. Although we have approached these recurrences from numerous directions, we have not yet brought them together by examining recurrent referrals within recurrent narratives. It is the goal of this chapter to do so.

In keeping with the general concerns of innovative vs. fixed, old vs. new and same vs. new running throughout this book, I return to stories that I have already discussed elsewhere and say something new about them. First is Susan Beer's capture story (analyzed in Chapters 6 and 7): here we examine Mrs. Beer's referrals to eight referents in relation to their actions and integration into the story (Section 8.2). Second is a narrative from a sociolinguistic interview that I first analyzed more than twenty years ago (Schiffrin 1984a, see Appendix 3). The story was told by Jack Cohen (a middle aged man from Philadelphia) about a childhood experience with a friend (Joey Bishop) who later became a well known comedian. In the story, Joey played a funny melody during a formal school performance with Jack of an elegy (a poem/song of sorrow or mourning). Immediately after telling what happened, Jack retold the complicating action and evaluation.