Below is my narrative written using dictate in Microsoft Word.
Today I’m going to tell you the story of when I got my cats. I have always had cats and or a dog Since I was little. The longest gap I’ve ever had between having cats Six years after I moved to Canada from England. There are many reasons that I didn’t have cats during this time that I won’t go into right now. The journey to getting my cat started in 2016 when my youngest son had a homework assignment over spring break to watch a mother cat who had just had kittens. His homework was to make it journal of how the kittens changed over the two weeks. We were supposed to stop in every day or so and watch as their eyes opened. They started to become more mobile and help the momma kitten. Looked after them. We watched a rescue called tinykittens.com. It’s based out of Fort Langley and It is a rescue that looks after colonies of feral cats and allows Mama cats who are failed to come inside to have their last litter of kittens before they are spayed. We really enjoyed the two weeks of watching The little family grow. And we even continued watching after the two weeks. Our love of tiny kittens was born. We watched many leaders come and be adopted. And thoughts of old Pharaohs who just needed a helping hand. Finally, in the spring of 2022, my husband and I decided that the house was finally finished all its renovations and it was time to get some kittens. We had been watching The current set of kittens and their Mama When it was finally my turn To apply. To hopefully get one of those kittens. We fell in love with it little kitten named Runa who was absolutely gorgeous. I filled out the application form and waited. The application was long and rigorous and we had to put all sorts of stuff like how we would look after the cats like if we had a vet lined up already. Unfortunately we weren’t successful but that letter, but about 3 weeks later I got a phone call and did an interview to see if we were suitable for. Kittens. Luckily they said yes and we were on the wait list for the next litter. A few days after, an absolutely gorgeous momma named Riviera came in with her one day old kittens. There were six kittens in total. They thought Riviera was around one in one year old. They weren’t quite sure. Maybe 1 1/2. She’d been a stray who had been looked after by a mechanic’s garage. One day the Canak mechanics came into the garage and there were kittens. They decided that while they could look after the Mama cat, they couldn’t look after the kittens. So they took her and her babies to a local rescue. The local rescue reached out to tiny kittens to see if they had any room, and they did. And this was when we got to start seeing our new babies. The kittens and their momma were live streamed on YouTube 24/7 so we could stop in anytime we knew that one of those kittens was ours. It came time to have a discussion about which kitten was going to be ours and we decided or we told them that we would like 2 kittens. They gave us a choice of which black and white kitten we had an which Siamese taxi we had. In the litter there were three Siamese taxis and three but they were calling cow kittens or duck sees. There were two girls and four boys. The kittens names were Maverick. Monterrey. To Reno. Pulera, Chevelle and Duster. Duster was a complete foof. And I have lots of long, gorgeous hair. We were allowed to pick our cow kitten 1st and we decided on Maverick because we always loved that name. And then they decided which time is kitten we would get and we got Monterrey there. Absolutely adorable and we were so excited. About five days later, I got a text from the adoption organizer at Tiny Kittens, and she said in your interview when? We were talking. You said that if there were three kittens, that you. That were bonded. You would be open to having three. Well, we have no one for the Mama, and we were wondering, since you were open to having three kittens, if you were open to having the Mama and two of her kittens. We said yes because we didn’t want her to be left out or not having adoption and after we eat. It was very exciting news for our house and we started to get ready. We went out and bought a litter box and toys and food bowls. We didn’t buy any food yet because we’re waiting to see what food they rescued told us we could have. Or should have. Finally, on July 16th, it was time. We had to take a ferry from Vancouver Island over to mainland BC and travel to. Fort Langley to pick up our kittens. We decided that it was a long journey so we were going to stay overnight in a hotel the next day, get the cats and then come back. We were all very excited. My mum, my two sons and myself went. To get the kittens. On the morning, it was time to get the kittens. We packed up all our stuff, made sure we had all the crates and packed up all our bags and we’re ready to go. We arrived at the house in Fort Langley where the rescue is based, and we walked up. I walked up to the front door. And there was the owner or the runner. Main person of the rescue and I was so excited to meet her because I’ve been watching and learning about her since 2016. We went in. And we were allowed I’d fill out some paperwork and we were allowed to go get. Or go see the kittens in their room. And we actually were on live on YouTube while we met our cats for the first time. It was amazing. The Mama cat Riviera was so friendly. The kittens were a little less friendly. We got them all packed up into their create and then we made our way at home on the ferry. There was lots of cutting of tiny kittens and lots of petting of a gorgeous Mama. Everyone was so good. Oh, the one thing I didn’t tell you is that before we went to get our kittens, the other four kittens went home to their homes. Everybody went home in pairs. So everyone had a little friend waiting at home. When we’re watching, just before we left to go get our kittens, they actually gave the wrong kitten to a family. So we were a bit worried because one of our kittens was in that. Carrier that went and another one to Reno that we were not supposed to have was there, which was fine. We weren’t too bothered. But Oh my goodness, the chat on YouTube was going crazy fast. Monterrey, it’s the wrong hit and. Anyways, he got all sorted out, they got hold of the person and they came back in. They switched out the kittens. The reason it was a problem was. The kittens that were picked up where a surprise for the the cat mom who was getting them, so the cat dad sent a friend to go get them so that she wouldn’t be suspicious ’cause they were a birthday present. And the friend didn’t actually know completely. Kittens are hard to tell parts and didn’t know completely which one was theirs and just assumed that the rescue would give them the right ones. They didn’t. So anyways, it got all sorted out, the person got called back, and everybody got put in the right carrier. And it was fine. It was all good. So is time for us to bring the kittens back. And the mom was back on the ferry and they did it awesome. There was no complaining, no nothings. No, they were all very happy. And when we got home, it was very exciting because when we opened. The carrier in the safe room that we had set up, thinking the mom would need some time. To just adjust to the new house and everything. She just walked out as if she owned the place. She felt at home and it’s never been different. So we’ve had the cats for three years now and they’re absolutely amazing. We love them and we will are so happy that we got them. That this story of me getting my cats.
Analysis and reflection:
1: How does the text deviate from conventions of written English?
This piece of text contains many run on sentences or sentences with punctuation in the wrong place. If there was a pause in speaking a period was put in as the pause signaled a complete thought to the computer. The sentence structure is also not a consistent as written English with tense not always being the same and more informal phrasing. There was also use of conversational phrasing and words usage.
Using speech to text was not a new process for me but it was the first time that I used it for a narrative. Being Dyslexic, speech to text is a part of my daily life. I use it for most things that I write and I have gotten good at speaking using written language when dictating my work. I even use it to write my report card comments at school. I found that when I was speaking my narrative, I had to check my language use and remember that I was telling a story. I think this was the reason for all the pauses that resulted in periods being put in the wrong spot. This was really interesting for me to do as it was a shift from why I normally use speech to text.
2. What is “wrong” in the text? What is “right”?
As noted above the missing or inconsistent punctuation is impeding a smooth reading of this text. The sentence structure often was broken and lacked clear subject verb agreements. There were also run on sentences and sentence fragments that would not be present in written English. The speech to text did capture the storytelling flow and rhythm that is present in oral storytelling. There were places were you could tell the emotion and even humour in the story. The text captured the beginning, middle and end of the story and was able to show personal style. This text was mor authentic and spontaneous than written English.
I found that this was a neat way to tell a story. It was like an automatic transcript. It opens a window to see what oral story telling is like and how it can flow without the conventional use of grammar. The story is not harmed by what is “wrong” and sometimes is more authentic for what conventions it did not attend to.
3. What are the common mistakes in the text and why do we consider them “mistakes”?
The most common mistakes were the misheard words or words that have the same pronunciation but different meanings and spellings (homophones). Another common mistake was the run on sentences and lack of punctuation. This is a problem in written English as we depend so much on the use of punctuation to communicate the cadence and flow of language.
I found the misspellings of homophones interesting as this pointed out to me the how natural this is when you are speaking but how distracting it is when it is written. I never really thought about it but there is no spelling to oral language only context and meaning. This is also the case for my second mistake as unless a person says a noticeably long sentence we don’t really notice run on sentences or sentence fragment in oral language. It is definitely more noticeable in written English.
4. What if you had “scripted” the story? What difference might that have made?
If this narrative had been scripted, then there would be more use of grammar and writing conventions. The text would probably have been more polished and been edited a few times before publication. The voice of the storyteller would not have been strong and it would be less conversational and more formal.
I think this is one of the most intriguing aspects of script writing, having the ability to write spoken language in a way that conveys how it needs to be said. When a narrative is scripted it loses so much authenticity and emotion. It would be much easier to read but would have lost its connection to the storyteller.
5. In what ways does oral storytelling differ from written storytelling?
There are four ways that I can think of for this answer. They are structure, language, engagement and effect. Oral storytelling is more conversational and does not attend to the conventions like spelling and grammar that written storytelling does. The language use is different and less formal in storytelling with more repetition and filler words, e.g. like or uhm. Written stories can be edited for clarity but loss the authenticity that is natural with oral storytelling. Engagement and effect are more natural with oral storytelling. More senses are involved you can hear and feel the emotion in the spoken words. There is a force to oral storytelling that can pull you in and make you feel like you are there. This can be achieved in written stories as well but not as easily.
Oral storytelling is an experience that people are a part of even if they are just listening. They unfold in real-time and are often a reflection of the mood of the audience. Oral storytelling can be a collective activity that can often lead to an interactive moment between teller and audience. I feel written stories are more individualistic and static. They are not as alive as oral stories.