Exploring Narrative Patterns in Zubair Ahmed's Waliullah is Lost Using Labov's Sociolinguistic Model

Abstract

The present paper highlights the narrative patterns of a Punjabi short story, Waliullah is lost, by Zubair Ahmed, through the application of a sociolinguistic model of narrative analysis introduced by William Labov in 1972. Although the model was initially developed for analysing oral narrative analysis based on the everyday discourse practices of "real speakers in real social contexts" (Sheikh, Awan, & Sheikh, 2021, p. 1), linguists and narratologists have found it equally productive and effective for the stylistic analysis of short stories and fiction. After a rigorous analysis of a large corpus of natural narratives, Labov identified recurrent features or structural elements, which include (i) abstract, (ii) orientation, (iii) complicating action, (iv) evaluation, narrative clauses, (v) result and orientation followed by a (vi) coda. The application of Labov's six schemas enriches our comprehension of the story by providing insight into the author's linguistic and narrative techniques. The researchers used a qualitative method of analysis to conduct the current research. The data analysis section demonstrates how the six elements of Labov's model prove to be of productive value in understanding the narrative features in Waliullah is Lost.