ABSTRACT
In recent years, several narrative researchers have questioned the notion of narrative in its traditional connotation of a solitary, individual performer telling a story. In contrast, these researchers have observed that in many verbal contexts, narratives are co-constructed by multiple speakers (Coates 1997; Falk 1980; Tannen 1989; Watson 1975) and that in some social groups and settings, these jointly constructed narratives may be more prevalent than solo narratives (Eder 1998; Tannock 1998). Even in situations where there is one primary speaker, in many genres of oral narrative the audience is expected to contribute through various forms of verbal and non-verbal backchannel talk (Duranti and Brenneis 1986; Goodwin 1981).
