Ambiguity Effect in the Fiction Reading Process: A Cognitive Narratology Perspective

Abstract

Ambiguity in fictional narration is utterly conducive to reader’s interest arousing. A branch of humanities, considering this function of ambiguity as an object of special studies, is cognitive narratology. Scholars of this branch consider main linguistic means of ambiguity effect on a recipient during her/his reading of a fictional work. This study aims to review the most significant conceptions of ambiguity state, formed on the linguistic level of a fictional text, within the scope of cognitive narratology. Roger C. Schank and Peter Stockwell view ambiguity state forming in the context of theory of scripts – structured representations, describing a stereotyped row of events in a particular context. Lubomir Dolezel, David Herman, Ruth Ronen, Marie-Laure Ryan, and Lisa Zunshine analyze gaps and their bridging while the flow of narration in the frame of possible-world theory. Porter H. Abbott, Shlomith Rimmon-Kenan, and Meir Sternberg consider ways of meaning-making by means of narrative gaps and pay special attention to suspense effect as one of the most intense expressions of narrative ambiguity. Study of ambiguity is a very productive task of cognitive narratology because it gives us unique means of observation of connections between mind and narrative.