William Labov - Discourse structure

William Labov is a sociolinguist and theories who studied about discourse structures. Labov is famously known for his work of discourse structure, in addition to the work he done on language variation and change. One of his most important involvements in the discourse structure was that he made a model of the spoke narrative.

summary of the structural approach of the fundamental problems of discourse analysis -

A - Abstract; This is the indication that a narrative is about to start and that the reader wants the listeners attention before beginning.

O - Orientation; Setting the scene by providing additional contextual information. Such as who/what/where/when/why etc.

CA - Complicating Action; This is the main body that provides us with a range of narrative detail.

R - Resolution; The end of a narrative, the final events that give a closure.

E - Evaluation; Additions to the basic story that highlight attitudes and grabs the listener's attention at certain moments.

C - Coda; A sign the narrative is completed.

As well as this, Labov also studied different types of evaluations. This include internal, external, intensifying and explicative evaluations.     

Internal - These occur at the same time but are not usually a part of the series.

External - Not usually a part of the series and they are added by the narrator at the time.

Intensifying - Contribution via gestures.

Explicative - Providing reasons for narrative events.