Introduction

[Noriko Watanabe]

Hi everyone,

        I am Noriko Watanabe, visiting assistant professor of Japanese at
the University of Wisconsin-Madison.  My degree is in linguistics from SUNY
at Buffalo, and I wrote a dissertation on Japanese narrative and
introduction of characters in both oral and written stories.
        My research interests include functional linguistics, discourse
analysis, pragmatics, cognitive science, literature and linguistic
anthropology.   I am writing a paper on what goes on in the pre-narrative
discourse of a humorous Japanese storytelling art, Rakugo.  The
pre-narrative discourse, which is called Makura, is a juncture leading to
the main narrative where prefacing in conversational narrative, rhetorical
styles of Buddhist preaching, the art of joke-telling and traditional
storytelling all come together.  Cognitively speaking, Makura functions to
shift the here-and-now of the event context to the deictic orientations of
the story.  Also, it activates cultural frames according to which the main
story is interpreted.
         Looking forward to stimulating discussions on discourse!


_______________________________________
Noriko Watanabe   渡辺則子
Department of East Asian Languages & Literature
University of Wisconsin-Madison
1204 Van Hise Hall
1220 Linden Dr.
Madison, WI   53706
Phone: 608-262-3871
Fax: 608-265-5731