The Role of Two Cognitive Constraints in the Management of Oral Narratives

Abstract

The nature and supporting evidence for two well-known and frequently discussed cognitive processing principles, the CLOSURE and the GIVEN-NEW constraints, are reviewed. The two constraints are then evaluated against data from experiments dealing with the production of oral narratives under controlled conditions. It is concluded that the two constraints, for which the majority of supporting evidence has come from comprehension studies, are also operative in language production. CLOSURE is found to be highly salient and central in the production of such narratives, while the GIVEN-NEW constraint is shown to function in a somewhat more complex manner, depending on the type of narrative being produced. Possible reasons for the differences in salience are suggested.