Determine Whether Hypothetical Narratives Exhibit Labovian Structure

Determine whether hypothetical narratives in Japanese can assume a Labovian macro-structural organization analogous to that of stories or habitual narratives, and specify the conditions under which such structural labeling is appropriate.

Background

The guideline extends Labov’s framework to include habitual narratives but withholds micro- and macro-level labels for hypothetical narratives due to uncertainty about their structural status.

Clarifying whether hypothetical narratives exhibit analogous Labovian structure would enable consistent labeling across narrative types and inform the design of annotation schemes and tools.

References

The status of hypothetical narratives, however, remains less clear. Therefore, we did not apply micro- or macro-level labels to hypothetical narratives. Future work will need to examine whether such narratives can assume a structure analogous to that of stories or habitual narratives.

— Developing a Guideline for the Labovian-Structural Analysis of Oral Narratives in Japanese  (2603.29347 - Watahiki et al., 31 Mar 2026) in Dataset and guideline, Clause type classification – Macro level (Subsubsection)