NONVERBAL REGULATORS IN STRUCTURAL SEQUENCES INITIATION AND CLOSURE OF CONVERSATION NARRATIVES: A SOCIOPRAGMATIC STUDY

Abstract

This study investigates the behavior of nonverbal regulators of beginning and closure of structural sequence in conversational narratives, based on 54 conversational narratives constructed by couples of speakers of Santiago, Chile, in relation to the factors of sex and socioeconomic group. From an inductive analysis of the data and following Guerrero’s initial proposal (Guerrero, 2017b), a categorization of nonverbal regulators of narrative structural sequence closure is proposed, an attempt is made to determine their distribution in the narrative sequence and they are associated to sex and socioeconomic group variables. Finally, the use of nonverbal regulators of the beginning and closing of structural sequence in the narrative is contrasted. The work allows to conclude that there are 38 of well-defined sequential regulators. The role of glances in all sections of the narrative is especially highlighted and it is also relevant that there are some very frequent and diverse nonverbal regulators at the climax of the story. The findings also verify that there is variation in the use of this type of regulators, since, in general, they are more frequent among female-female couples and among speakers of the low and middle socioeconomic groups. Finally, it is verified that the closing regulators are more diverse and more frequent than those of beginning of structural sequence in the narrations, and that they are more used in the orientation and in the complication of the narration.