Discourse structure, information structure, coordination, and extraction

Abstract

AbstractWe propose that discourse relations indirectly condition extraction from coordinate structures, through the intermediary of topicality. We implement this proposal in Segmented Discourse Representation Theory (SDRT). Key components of the analysis are the SDRT distinction between coordinating and subordinating discourse relations; Txurruka’s claim that English ‘and’ signals a coordinating discourse relation; SDRT’s taxonomy of coordinating discourse relations in terms of their relationship to a discourse topic; von Fintel’s analysis of the relationship between sentence topic and discourse topic; a link between sentence topic and extraction from weak islands; Postal’s claim that adjuncts are weak islands; and Munn’s claim that noninitial conjuncts are adjuncts. These ideas, combined, lead to two main predictions: 1) only topical material may extract from noninitial conjuncts, while there is no such constraint on initial conjuncts; 2) only certain discourse relations allow extraction from noninitial conjuncts, because not every relation permits the required distribution of topical material.