“The Social Art of Language”: A Semiotic Response to Engagement Strategies in Performance Storytelling

Abstract:The aim of this article is to explore the effect of some common involvement strategies employed by storytellers on the dynamics of the storytelling event. Specifically, the way in which the competence to tell a story can be shared between teller and audience. Starting from a perspective that storytelling performances are innately theatrical, the sign systems (semiotic channels) that facilitate communication between teller and spectator are considered with reference to a case study of a single storytelling performance. Several involvement strategies are exemplified in the case study, and the effect of these on the competences that both storyteller and audience bring to the event (as those who produce and comprehend oral narrative), and the roles that they inhabit, are analyzed.