Representation and Enactment in Autobiographical Narrative

Speech is multifunctional, both communicating denotational content and establishing interactional positions for interlocu-tors. In some cases, the denotational and interactional func-tions of speech interrelate and even depend on each other. This paper describes a type of speech event in which the interrela-tions between denotation and interaction are particularly sali-ent—autobiographical narratives in which the events described and the relationships enacted run parallel. Further study of such speech events promises to illuminate how the denota-tional and interactional functions of speech can sometimes contribute to each other.