Mental Worlds in Kahramanmaraş Earthquake Memorates: An Analysis within the Framework of Text World Theory
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.63556/ankad.v10i3.402Keywords:
Text World Theory, earthquake memorates, cognitive stylistics, trauma narratives, mental worldsAbstract
This article explores how survivors of a major earthquake cognitively and emotionally structure their experience when recounting it in narrative form. Drawing on Text World Theory, the study analyzes fifty-five first-person memorates drawn from the book “06 Şubat 2023 Kahramanmaraş Depremi Memoratları.” The aim is threefold: to identify the types of mental worlds constructed in these narratives, to examine how narrators shift between these worlds while recounting the earthquake experience, and to evaluate the usefulness of Text World Theory for the analysis of trauma narratives in disaster contexts. The memorates were qualitatively analyzed through close textual reading, focusing on linguistic cues of perception, cognition, modality, negation, and evaluation. The analysis identifies seven recurrent sub-world types: Perceptual Worlds, Internal Thought Worlds, Modal and Hypothetical Worlds, Negated Worlds, Counterfactual Worlds, Dream-like Worlds, and Symbolic or Spiritual Worlds. The analysis also shows that narrators frequently move between these worlds, producing layered narratives in which perception, interpretation, and imagined possibilities interact. The findings suggest that the earthquake is narrated not merely as a physical event but as a complex experience shaped by fear, responsibility, spirituality, and shared memory. This is particularly evident in references to family members and the possibility of harm to loved ones, which highlight the role of cultural values in shaping survivors’ mental worlds. In this respect, Text World Theory provides a useful theoretical framework for explaining how attention, emotion, and meaning are constructed in disaster and trauma narratives.
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