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A Cross-Linguistic Analysis of Dream Narratives: Japanese and Mandarin
Laura Cariola, M.A.
This qualitative study examines 21 Japanese and Mandarin dream narratives of male and
female speakers in relation to structural and functional differences. The findings
demonstrated that, independent from cultural and linguistic context, dream narratives
follow a similar structural format as that proposed by Cariola (2008), i.e., 1) Topic
introduction, 2) Orientation, 3) Complication, 4) Evaluation, and 5) Coda. However,
significant culturally-dependent discursive functional and linguistic differences were
established. Japanese dream recall primarily focuses on an objective theme-oriented
perspective that emphasizes an external locus, such as social involvement. In contrast,
Mandarin dream narratives reflect an internal locus, accentuating an emotion-driven recall
and the tendency to describe objects in terms of what they are not rather than what they
are, referred to as an indirect strategy (Kaplan, 1966).
Keywords: Contrastive rhetoric, cultural differences, dream recall, autobiographical memory,
consciousness, identity |
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