Locating Multiple Voices in Memoir: Modelling Voice Through Analysis of Interpersonal Linguistic Choices

Abstract

Memoir, as a literary genre, is a multisemiotic resource. Memoir texts are multilayered and contribute to greater discursive conversations through the variation in function between voices. These texts deal with complex social issues such as addiction, trauma and genocide. Situated within a wide range of historical discourses, they ought to be analysed linguistically because, as Coffin states, ‘if history is seen as a significant social phenomenon, surely its discourse merits some serious reflection and discussion in order to better understand it’ (Coffin 2006, p. 2). Different types of historical discourse construe history differently. This is because each text is underpinned by its own particular view of what occurred and how it should be told. While some texts are designed to provide an unbiased, detached analysis, others are designed to describe a gripping narrative. Memoir straddles the line between argument and narrative by using different voices to serve different functions. The result is a text that both describes the experiences of the memoirist and persuades the reader to follow a given point of view.