Metaphors in Dialogue: How Metaphorical Constructions and the Remembering Process Intertwine in Narrative Interviews

The two narratives (according to the structure proposed by Labov & Waletzky) presented and analysed in this paper (scil. exc. 1 and exc. 5) share the same narrative strategy, since in both of them Hilde Rudberg seems to understate the emotional content, rather putting emphasis on how she succeeded in (partly) skirting highly dramatic situations. Through these formulations the speaker gives expression to emotions and attitudes which otherwise are not easily verbalised. A close linguistic investigation of these metaphorical formulations, interwoven with an analysis of agency can prove very fruitful in revealing aspects of the speaker’s subjectivity that are not explicitly presented in the course of the interview