Who Says? How Viewpoint Markers Affect Narrative Perception

How can writers and editors ensure that readers understand the intended perspective in a narrative?

In third-person narrative style, the difference between a narrator’s point of view and a character’s point of view can determine how a reader interprets specific information. A narrative with an ambiguous point of view can confuse readers about whether certain information is coming from the perspective of the character or narrator. An author might intend for readers to understand a story from a certain point of view, but without a viewpoint marker (such as looked or felt), readers could very well interpret it completely differently.

THE RESEARCH

Dr. Kobie van Krieken’s (2018) research “Ambiguous Perspective in Narrative Discourse: Effects of Viewpoint Markers and Verb Tense on Readers’ Interpretation of Represented Perceptions” addresses precisely this issue. To clarify various longstanding and contradictory claims, Van Krieken explored how third-person observations are processed by Dutch readers. 

This research included two experiments, with the second confirming the results of the first. In both, participants were given different third-person-point-of-view texts in which an observation was made from an ambiguous point of view. The sentences either included or did not include a viewpoint marker, as exemplified from these two examples from the first experiment (Van Krieken 2018, 776; emphasis added):

• Viewpoint Marker Included: “Lukas observed the room. Three chandeliers hung from the ceiling.”
• No Viewpoint Marker Included: “Lukas entered the room. Three chandeliers hung from the ceiling.”

The participants were then asked to determine whether the character or the narrator made the observation. A scale of 0 (Narrator) to 100 (Character) was used to quantify that determination. While the first experiment used sample texts that were two sentences long, the second experiment used short stories that were seven sentences long. 

The results gathered through both experiments indicated that readers’ attribution of perspective to the narrator or the character in ambiguous situations is affected by the use of viewpoint markers. When a viewpoint marker was not given, readers more strongly associated ambiguous textual observations with the narrator, even if the character had been mentioned in the previous sentence. This contradicts the recurring claims the researchers cited in their literature review that a reader naturally attributes any observation to a character if that character is simply mentioned prior to the observation. 

THE IMPLICATIONS

Understanding how a reader’s mind parses a sentence can help both authors and editors determine how a passage should be written. Dr. Van Krieken concludes, “Perspectivization is indeed often ambiguous but…contextual viewpoint markers can fulfill a disambiguating role” (2018, 783).

Authors can know that their intent to convey a certain perspective is effective, and their use of even a single viewpoint marker could make a difference in a reader’s interpretation of the text. Likewise, editors should be aware of ambiguous perspective and should familiarize themselves with the use of viewpoint markers to subtly clarify perspective between the narrator or the character.  

To learn more about viewpoint markers, read the full article:

Van Krieken, K. 2018. “Ambiguous Perspective in Narrative Discourse: Effects of Viewpoint Markers and Verb Tense on Readers’ Interpretation of Represented Perceptions.” Discourse Processes 55 (8): 771–786. https://doi.org/10.1080/0163853X.2017.1381540.

—Ashlyn Tilby, Editing Research

FEATURE IMAGE BY NITIN ARYA 

Find more research

Explore Laurel Brinton’s (1980) research analysis for more on narrative perspective: “‘Represented Perception’: A Study in Narrative Style.” Poetics 9: 363–381. https://doi.org/10.1016/0304-422X(80)90028-5.

Take a look at Aidan Christian Hill’s Editing Research article for more on narration and how it impacts readers: “Who Should Be the Narrator of Your Story?”