Sharing autobiographical memories in English computer-mediated discourse: a linguist's perspective

In linguistics, autobiographical memory is currently under research as a basis for a number of literary genres, namely, memoirs, autobiographies, and diaries. As such, it has been narrativized to a great extent. The narrative in its classical understanding that goes back to Labov's definition has been traditionally viewed as a standard form of representing autobiographical recall reports. In this paper, the author argues that the role of the narrative in its original narrow meaning presupposing the chronological succession of events has been significantly exaggerated when it comes to verbal manifestation of memory. As the society is getting accustomed to innovative ways of communicating information, there develop new forms of representing existing language phenomena. This article presents the author's findings as regards forms of sharing autobiographical memories in English computer-mediated discourse. Upon analyzing a significant number of collected samples, the author arrives at the conclusion that the retrospective monologue is a recurrent verbalizer of autobiographical memories in English online communication and aims at identifying and describing its structural, communicative, and discourse features in this quality