Discourse Coherence Relations Research Articles

Towards a unified account of <em> na </em> in Akan

Grammatical accounts of na in Akan identify two different forms: nà with a low tone (LT-na) and ná with a high tone (HT-na). LT-na functions in two ways: as a focus marker or a conjunction, the latter of which can take a prefix and be realized as ɛna. While some scholars treat them as two different na’s, others point to a commonality between the two. HT-na has been analyzed as functioning as past and future tenses, and a logical connector. We argue that these three HT-na along with the two LT-na are subcategories of a super-category. We propose that the super-category is a non-tonal na (call it Root-na), with a common basic meaning which explains all five seemingly unrelated interpretations. Root-na links the na-clause with something in the common ground, i.e., to something that appeared in the previous context or is presupposed. It is spelled out as a LT-na or HT-na, depending on the kind of linking. LT-na marks discourse coherence relations such as focus and narrative-sequence, both of which are shown in the linguistics literature to be anaphoric. HT-na is an intensional marker which links times or possible worlds.

Global and Micro Analysis of Discourse Coherence Relations in English and American Literature

This research paper, titled Global and Micro Analysis of Discourse Coherence Relations in English and American Literature, delves into the intricate world of discourse coherence relations within the realm of English and American literature. Employing discourse coherence theory, the study conducts, global and micro-level analyses of selected literary works to uncover the profound connections between language, narrative, and the human psyche. The paper begins with an exploration of the background and significance of the study, highlighting the importance of understanding how literary texts achieve coherence and coherence relations. It emphasizes the interdisciplinary nature of discourse coherence theory, bridging the fields of literature and linguistics. The research objectives are outlined, focusing on the examination of overarching discourse coherence, micro-level linguistic and semantic connections, and their impact on character development, narrative structure, and thematic exploration. The literature review section provides an overview of previous research in the field, emphasizing the need for a comprehensive study combining both global and micro-level analyses of discourse coherence in literature. Scholars such as Teun A. van Dijk, Michael Hoey, and Walter Nash have contributed valuable insights into the analysis of coherence relations in texts. In conclusion, this research aims to enrich our understanding of the art of storytelling and the human experience as conveyed through language.

The effects of discourse coherence on the persistence of sentence structures.

We studied the role of discourse coherence relations on structure formulation in sentence production by examining whether a connective, an essential signal of coherence relations, modulates the tendency for speakers to reuse sentence structures (i.e., structural priming). We further examined three possible modulating factors: the type of connectives (additive vs. adversative connective), event similarity (similar event vs. different event), and topic cohesion (with or without available anaphoric antecedent). In four structural priming experiments, native Dutch participants were asked to read either a Dutch double object sentence or a prepositional object sentence and describe pictures that depicted ditransitive events. Critically, the prime and the target either were linked by a connective (en "and" or maar "but") or were not linked. The verb overlap between the prime and the target was also manipulated. In Experiment 1, the presence of en facilitated structural priming, but only when the verbs were different. In Experiment 2, maar reduced structural priming when the verbs were repeated. Experiment 3 replicated the findings of Experiments 1 and 2 in a within-subjects design. In Experiment 4, there was no referential link between the sentences. Now there was no connective effect on structural priming. Taken together, we demonstrated that the insertion of a connective influences syntactic persistence. The connective effects vary across semantic properties of the connectives, event similarity, and referential continuity, suggesting that the production of sentence structure is modulated by speakers' prediction about listeners' inference of coherence relations between consecutive utterances. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Vocabulary size and exposure to print predict mastery of connectives in teenage years

ABSTRACT Connectives such as because and but are crucial for signaling coherence relations in discourse. They contribute to a better reading comprehension and, thus, academic performance. The aim of this article is to contribute to our understanding of connective development during teenage years by studying individual differences in the performance of native Russian-speaking teenagers (N = 107, M age = 13.93, range: 11 to 17) in a connective-cloze task. The tested connectives marked six coherence relations and were used either predominantly in speech or in the written language. In addition, we examined whether students’ performance with the connectives was modulated by their general linguistic experience, as assessed by a vocabulary test and degree of exposure to print. Our results reveal that interpersonal differences in lexicon size and level of exposure to print were the strongest predictors of appropriate usage of connectives, whereas differences in age, connective mode, and polyfunctionality played a lesser role. This finding may indicate that, starting from age 11, biological age and intrinsic properties of connectives matter less for their mastery than general linguistic experience, as measured by vocabulary level and exposure to print.

A Study on Korean Bridging Inferences Marked by Korean Demonstrative ‘ku’

Bridging inferences (or references) are important in a variety of contexts since they are quite often unconsciously employed by people as one of the most efficient linguistic devices to establish coherence relations in discourse. The present study aims to explore the utilization of the anaphoric demonstrative ku by Korean speakers in the formation of bridging references. 252 occurrences of bridging references identified in 184 Korean argumentative essays were scrutinized and their distributions were compared with those of two other groups - English speakers (ESs) and Korean EFL learners (KEFLs) - which had been examined by Crosthwaite (2019). This study revealed that the implementation of anaphora is distinctively realized in typologically different languages, grammar-based and discourse-based, thus serving as a reminder of linguistic relativity. Furthermore, the study posited that L1 transfer occurred only restrictively in the Attribute category of bridging references among KEFLs. After all, our study provides insights into Korean speakers’ capacity to use contextual information to efficiently form and maintain coherent discourse, in comparison with English speakers’ and KEFL learners’.

The use of antithesis and other contrastive relations in argumentation

This paper presents a study of use of the rhetorical figure of antithesis and other contrastive relations in several modern-day environmental science policy journal articles on issues of food security, climate change, and water resource management. The articles present the conflicting perspectives of environmentalists and engineers, i.e., the view that nature should be preserved and protected versus the view that it should be engineered to solve human problems. The main contribution of this paper is a taxonomy characterizing argumentative uses of contrastive relations in these articles based on our semantic/pragmatic interpretation of text including, in some cases, discourse coherence relations. The number of examples and the breadth of the taxonomy is indicative of the key role of contrastive relations in argumentation in this genre. This investigation is a necessary step towards comprehensive computational approaches to detecting antithesis and other contrastive relations and to identifying their argumentative roles.

French-speaking teenagers’ mastery of connectives: the role of vocabulary size and exposure to print

AbstractConnectives such as however and since play an important role for marking coherence relations in discourse and therefore are crucial for reading comprehension, which in turn is a strong predictor of academic success. Most research on the acquisition of connectives targeted younger children. Yet there is evidence that connective development extends well into adolescence and even adult speakers have difficulties with some coherence relations when they are conveyed by infrequent connectives bound to the written mode. In this paper, we tested the use of connectives encoding different coherence relations and bound to either the oral or the written modes. We studied the performance of native French-speaking teenagers (N = 154, Mage = 14.43, range: 12–19) in a cloze task and also assessed whether teenagers’ vocabulary level and degree of exposure to print predicted the accuracy of connective use. Our findings show that the ability to use connectives appropriately increases with age. However, age played a lesser role compared to vocabulary knowledge and degree of exposure to print, thus indicating that lexicon size and reading habits are important factors explaining individual differences in the acquisition of connectives.

Clause Structure and Illocutionary Force in Medieval Gallo-Romance: Clitic Position in Old Occitan and Early Old French Sentential Coordination

Abstract This paper analyzes the position of object and adverbial clitic pronouns in coordinated affirmative verb-first declaratives introduced by e(t) “and” in Old Occitan and early Old French, a context in which clitics are variably preverbal or postverbal. An empirical study reveals that this variation is principled and reflects semantico-discursive properties in the same way in these two related and grammatically similar medieval Gallo-Romance varieties. On a theoretical level, I posit that preverbal clitics occur when conjunction occurs at the TP level, and postverbal clitics occur when conjunction occurs at the CP level, and that the choice of clause structure (TP vs. CP) for second conjunct clauses depends on illocutionary force, which in turn depends on discourse coherence relations and the semantics of verba dicendi (verbs of utterance).

Clause Structure and Illocutionary Force in Medieval Gallo-Romance: Clitic Position in Old Occitan and Early Old French Sentential Coordination

AbstractThis paper analyzes the position of object and adverbial clitic pronouns in coordinated affirmative verb-first declaratives introduced bye(t)“and” in Old Occitan and early Old French, a context in which clitics are variably preverbal or postverbal. An empirical study reveals that this variation is principled and reflects semantico-discursive properties in the same way in these two related and grammatically similar medieval Gallo-Romance varieties. On a theoretical level, I posit that preverbal clitics occur when conjunction occurs at the TP level, and postverbal clitics occur when conjunction occurs at the CP level, and that the choice of clause structure (TP vs. CP) for second conjunct clauses depends on illocutionary force, which in turn depends on discourse coherence relations and the semantics ofverba dicendi(verbs of utterance).

Implicit causality of action verbs at the interface between conceptual structure and discourse coherence relations

Abstract Implicit causality of interpersonal transitive verbs (IC) pertains to preferences to attribute the cause of a given action to the subject or the object referent in active clauses. Causal attribution is operationalized as the probability of referential continuation in a subsequent explanatory clause. This paper presents an explorative investigation into the causal biases of action verbs, which in contrast to affective verbs have received less attention in IC research. We approach implicit causality as a discourse level phenomenon based on the textual level of discourse representation and enriched by conceptual knowledge. In study 1, we targeted IC effects of German action verbs (N = 52) in sentences containing causal, additive and adversative connectives. Results showed that IC based categories of subject-object-, and non-biasing predicates were clearly discernable in causal contexts only. In study 2, we examined effects of situational knowledge (physical affectedness & social acceptability) and affective appraisals (valence & arousal) represented in the conceptual structure of the verbs on the construal of causality biases and their interplay with immediate contextual information such as gender of referents. Results show that higher degrees of physical affectedness were associated with causal attribution to the object referent. This effect was modulated by the affective properties of the verbs. Our findings revealed the influence of physiological arousal, an affective dimension not considered in previous investigations of IC. Actions with a strong physical impact that were characterized by high arousal, e.g., kick, or tickle were more likely to be explained with reference to the subject. Participants also considered the available contextual information, as indicated by the significant interactions of gender information with arousal. Within the subsample of non-biasing verbs, higher estimates for social behavior increased probabilities of causal attributions to the subject.

Discourse Coherence as a Cue to Reference in Word Learning: Evidence for Discourse Bootstrapping.

Word learning depends critically on the use of linguistic context to constrain the likely meanings of words. However, the mechanisms by which children infer word meaning from linguistic context are still poorly understood. In this study, we asked whether adults (n=58) and 2- to 6-year-old children (n=180) use discourse coherence relations (i.e., the meaningful relationships between elements within a discourse) to constrain their interpretation of novel words. Specifically, we showed participants videos of novel animals exchanging objects. These videos were accompanied by a linguistic description of the events in which we manipulated a single word within a sentence (and vs. because) in order to alter the causal and temporal relations between the events in the discourse (e.g., "One animal handed the baby to the other animal [and/because] the baby started crying in the talfa's arms"). We then asked participants which animal (the giver or the receiver) was the referent of the novel word. Across two experiments, we found evidence that young children used the causal and temporal relations in each discourse to constrain their interpretations of novel words.

Voice Mismatch Meets Neurolinguistics

This paper aims to investigate Korean advanced L2 English learners’ strategies for ellipsis resolution during sentence processing. Ellipsis resolution is known to involve several stages of information processing from the initial step of detecting an ellipsis-licensing element by the parser to the final stage of integrating the ellipsis site with the information retrieved from the antecedent of the ellipsis site. In examining these steps, we have manipulated three factors: (i) TP vs. VP-ellipsis; (ii) two types of discourse coherence relations (resemblance(-contrast) vs. cause-effect relations); (iii) voice match vs. mismatch. We found through the ERP recordings that voice mismatch in TP ellipsis elicited N400, followed by P600, irrespective of discourse coherence relations. In contrast, voice mismatch in VP-ellipsis registered N400 only in resemblance(-contrast) relation, but not in cause-effect relation. These findings lead us to conclude that Korean advanced L2 learners of English seem to undergo the full sequence of processing stages required for ellipsis resolution.

The division of labor in explanations of verb phrase ellipsis

In this paper, we will argue that, of the various grammatical and discourse constraints that affect acceptability in verb phrase ellipsis (VPE), only the structural parallelism constraint is unique to VPE. We outline (previously noted) systematic problems that arise for classical structural accounts of VPE resolution, and discuss efforts in recent research on VPE to reduce explanations of acceptability in VPE to general well-formedness constraints at the level of information structure (e.g. Kehler in Linguist Philos 23(6):533–575, 2000; Coherence, reference and the theory of grammar, CSLI Publications, Stanford, 2002; Proceedings of semantics and linguistic theory, vol 25, 2015; Kertz in Language 89(3):390–428, 2013). In two magnitude estimation experiments, we show that—in line with Kehler’s predictions—degradation due to structural mismatch is modulated by coherence relation. On the other hand, we consistently find residual structural mismatch effects, suggesting that the interpretation of VPE is sensitive to structural features of the VPE antecedent. We propose that a structural constraint licenses VPE, but that sentences violating this constraint can nevertheless be interpreted. The variability in acceptability is accounted for not by additional constraints on VPE in the grammar, but by the numerous general biases that affect sentence and discourse well-formedness, such as information structural constraints (as proposed by Kertz 2013), discourse coherence relations (Kehler 2000), sensitivity to Question Under Discussion structure (e.g. Ginzburg and Sag in English interrogative constructions, CSLI Publications, Stanford, 2000; Kehler 2015), and thematic role bias at the lexical level (e.g. McRae et al. in J Mem Lang 38:283–312, 1998). We test the prediction that thematic role bias (Experiment 3) and QUD structure (Experiment 4) will influence both elliptical and non-elliptical sentences alike, while structural mismatch continues to degrade elliptical sentences alone. Our proposal differs from existing proposals in cutting the explanatory pie in a different way with respect to how variations in acceptability are accounted for. We suggest that degradation can result from at least two distinct and separable sources: violating construction-specific grammatical constraints, or from complexity differences in interpretation related to very general discourse level information.

Factors Affecting Pronoun Resolution by Vietnamese EFL Learners

This study examined the effects of verb semantics, discourse unit and discourse coherence relations pronoun interpretations by Vietnamese EFL learners. Using a sentence continuation test with 32 Vietnamese EFL learners, three significant insights contributed to the existing L2 literature. Firstly, Vietnamese EFL learners were highly sensitive to semantic cues and discourse coherence when resolving pronouns. Secondly, learner preferences for in within-sentence and between-sentence contexts’ pronoun antecedents were mostly indistinguishable, suggesting that discourse unit had a negligible impact on anaphora resolution processes. Finally, verb semantics and coherence relations exhibited a dynamic interaction effect on L2 pronoun resolution Verb types varied sharply when co-occurring with different types of coherence relations.

Referent Predictability is Affected by Syntactic Structure: Evidence from Chinese.

This paper examines the effect of syntactic structures on referent predictability. Focusing on stimulus-experiencer (SE) verbs, we conducted two sentence-completion experiments in Chinese by contrasting SE verbs in three structures (active canonical, active ba, and passive). The results showed that although verb semantics and discourse coherence relations produce a strong referential biases, the stimulus referent is overall less likely to be rementioned in the active canonical structure than in the other two structures. The findings thus indicate that referent predictability is determined by not only semantic but also syntactic factors. We discuss the theoretical implications for the nature of referent predictability and its relationship with referent accessibility.

Categories of coherence relations in discourse annotation

Over the last decennia, annotating discourse coherence relations has gained increasing interest of the linguistics research community. Because of the complexity of coherence relations, there is no agreement on an annotation standard. Current annotation methods often lack a systematic order of coherence relations. In this article, we investigate the usability of the cognitive approach to coherence relations, developed by Sanders et al. (1992, 1993), for discourse annotation. The theory proposes a taxonomy of coherence relations in terms of four cognitive primitives. In this paper, we first develop a systematic, step-wise annotation process. The reliability of this annotation scheme is then tested in an annotation experiment with non-trained, non-expert annotators. An implicit and explicit version of the annotation instruction was created to determine whether the type of instruction influences the annotator agreement. The results show that two of the four primitives, polarity and order of the segments, can be applied reliably by non-trained annotators. The other two primitives, basic operation and source of coherence, are more problematic. Participants using the explicit instruction show higher agreement on the primitives than participants used the implicit instruction. These results are comparable to agreement statistics of other discourse corpora annotated by trained, expert annotators. Given that non-trained, non-expert annotators show similar amounts of agreement, these results indicate that the cognitive approach to coherence relations is a promising method for annotating discourse.

Not Voice but Case Match Matters in VP Ellipsis and Pseudogapping of English

This paper develops a Case/case-theoretic account for what Merchant (2008) calls voice mismatch in ellipsis constructions of English. Merchant (ibid.) reports that VIP ellipsis as an elision of smaller size VP allows voice mismatch, but Pseudogapping and Sluicing as an elision of bigger size vP/TP do not. However, Tanaka (2011) argues against Merchant`s dichotomy in voice mismatch between VP ellipsis and Pseudogapping, reporting that voice mismatch in both types of ellipsis is permissible or not while interacting with what Kehler (2000) calls discourse coherence relations between ellipsis and antecedent clauses. Departing from Kehler`s (2000) insight, we suggest that vP undergoes ellipsis in a resemblance discourse relation, but VP does so in a cause / effect discourse relation. Given the asymmetry in the size of ellipsis in tandem with discourse relations, we argue that since Accusative as well as Nominative Case is checked outside VP, the VP to be elided can meet the identity condition on ellipsis with its antecedent VP as the object element in the former and the subject one in the latter or vice versus have not been Case-checked yet, thus being identical in terms of Case-feature at the point of derivation building a VP.

Pragmatic Markers in Eugene O’Neill’s Ile: Discourse Coherence Relations

This study aimed to investigate the types of pragmatic markers in a drama entitled Ile. The study is based on Fraser’s theories of pragmatic markers and discourse coherence relations. This research employs a descriptive qualitative research method since the presentation of the results of the analysis is in the form of tabulation and description of the data. The present study employs one of those three kinds of triangulation suggested by Miles and Huberman that is expert triangulation. The results of the analysis of the data indicate that from 4,369 words in the drama, 415 linguistic items are identified as pragmatic markers which are distributed into four major types of pragmatic markers: basic markers (159 items), commentary markers (5 items), parallel markers (121 items), and discourse markers (130 items). Coherence relations which are found in drama Ile shows that those pragmatic markers provide the bridge between the propositional parts of the discourse that making it possible for the characters in drama to move quickly and smoothly from one topic to another

Establishing coherence relations in discourse: The influence of implicit causality and connectives on pronoun resolution

Many studies have shown that readers and listeners recruit verb-based implicit causality information rapidly in the service of pronoun resolution. However, since most of these studies focused on constructions in which because connected the two critical clauses, it is unclear to what extent implicit causality information affects the processing of pronouns embedded in other types of coherence relations. In an eye-tracking and completion study we addressed this void by varying whether because, but, and and joined a primary clause containing the implicit causality verb, with a secondary clause containing a critical gender-marked pronoun. The results showed that the claims made for implicit causality hold if the connective because is present (i.e., a reading time delay following a pronoun that is inconsistent with the implicit causality bias of the verb), but do not generalise to other connectives like but and and. This shows that the strength and persistence of implicit causality as a pronoun resolution cue depends on the coherence relation in which the verb, the antecedent and the pronoun appear.

A probabilistic reconciliation of coherence-driven and centering-driven theories of pronoun interpretation

Two classic theories of pronoun interpretation have each sought to specify the relationship between pronoun use and discourse coherence, but make seemingly irreconcilable claims. According to Hobbs (1979, 1990), pronoun interpretation is not governed by an independent mechanism, but instead comes about as a by-product of utilizing world knowledge during the inferential establishment of discourse coherence relations. Factors pertaining to the grammatical form and information structure of utterances do not come into play. According to Centering Theory (Grosz, Joshi & Weinstein 1995; inter alia), on the other hand, pronoun interpretation is predominantly determined by information structural relationships within and between utterances (e.g., topic transitions) and the grammatical roles occupied by potential referents. Factors pertaining to world knowledge and the establishment of informational coherence relations do not come into play. In this paper, we describe a series of psycholinguistic experiments that ultimately suggest a reconciliation of these diverse approaches. These experiments reveal a definitive role for coherence relationships of the Hobbsian sort, demonstrating that pronoun interpretation is affected by (i) probabilistic expectations that comprehenders have about what coherence relationships will ensue, and (ii) their expectations about what entities will be mentioned next which, crucially, are conditioned on those coherence relationships. However, these experiments also reveal a role played by the topichood status of potential referents. These data are reconciled by a probabilistic model that combines the comprehender's prior coherence-driven expectations about what entities will be referred to next and Centering-driven likelihoods that govern the speaker's choice of referential form. The approach therefore situates pronoun interpretation within a larger body of work in psycholinguistics, according to which language interpretation results when top-down predictions about the ensuing message meet bottomup linguistic evidence.