ABSTRACT
The crucial generating unit of oral narrative performance is the image, and the function of image is to evoke an emotional response from members of an audience, then by organizing into patterns to shape that response. If a key emotion-evoking device in narrative is the image, the major shaping tool is repetition, patterning of various kinds that includes anticipation and predictability as essential aesthetic adjuncts. Patterning of image, moreover, continues to elicit emotions even as it shapes and clarifies that response. The precise organization of the images and the arrangement of the patterns are not necessarily known for the specific performance, and this unknown factor introduces a tension which contributes to yet another reservoir of emotions. Members of audiences of oral narrative performance experience identical relationships organizing like’ images, and unlike images. The essence of patterning in oral narrative is simplicity. Narratives do not become complex except as new forms are introduced to work with existing forms.
