| Abstract
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This dissertation investigates Wolof Sufi oral narrative structure and its relationship with the context of production of the narratives. The findings of this study indicate that the structure of these narratives is characterized by (1) the salience of the complicating action, (2) the presence a pre-story stage, which announces the general topic, and (3) the presence of a closing evaluation stage, which is different from the internal evaluations within the complicating action. My data come from recorded audio-video materials featuring Sufi gatherings, which are attended by adepts of Sufi orders in Senegal, and during which Sufi narratives are used as basic form of communication. A complete Sufi oral story is composed of a pre-story, abstract, complicating action, which may include a dialogue, monologue, praise, or genealogy, and a closing evaluation. The speaker usually announces the general topic of the selected story before beginning the narration. In addition, he gives special preeminence to the complicating action or peak by means of various linguistic mechanisms both at discourse and syntax levels. Finally, the story ends with a closing evaluation, featuring the speaker's assessment of the significance of the story that has been told. Although aspects of the Labovian and Longacrean models were helpful in analyzing the forms of Wolof Sufi oral narratives, additional concepts were necessary to more fully explain some particular structures and their cultural functions in the narratives. The contribution of this study is the identification of a pre-story and a final evaluation, which have a significant function in Wolof Sufi oral narratives. By expanding the study of narrative and narrative structure to Sufi narratives, this study also contributes cross-cultural and cross-linguistic approaches to study oral narratives.
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