Abstract
Represented by story grammar, the conventional analysis with a cognitive science approach regarded narratives as a process in which the character solved problems. This idea was invoked by folklore narratives and is insufficient for a display of narrative structures. With the idea that three conditions compose narratives in general—that are, 1) actual temporality, 2) flow of time, and 3) detachment from the narrator, this paper aimed to show that narratives are comprised of four layers: speech, foreground and background, and comment. As for the background, there are two types that exist: the microscopic type which magnifies the process part of motion, and the macroscopic type which compresses multiple events and presents them as a whole. Furthermore, to explain that these four layers are in figure and ground relationships with each other, and reflect these layers linearly onto discourse, recognition of presence of specific border expressions for each borderline is described.
