scholarly journals Cataphoric it and backgrounding from the point of view of coherence relations

2012 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 2
Author(s):  
Maite Taboada

Following Harris & Bates’ (2002) observation that cataphora is allowed in subordinate backgrounded clauses, we examine backgrounding at the discourse level, making use of the nucleus-satellite distinction in Rhetorical Structure Theory (Mann & Thompson 1988). We extract examples of cataphoric it in an RST-annotated corpus and conclude that there is no strict correlation between cataphora and backgrounding, as cataphoric it appears in both nuclei and satellites. Using diagnostics in Ariel (1990), we propose that the occurrence of cataphora in nuclei is explained by: (i) cohesion, and (ii) first mention versus continuation of a discourse referent.

Linguistica ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 52 (1) ◽  
pp. 323-336 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juliano Desiderato Antonio ◽  
Fernanda Trombini Rahmen Cassim

According to Rhetorical Structure Theory, implicit propositions emerge from the combination of pieces of text which hang together. Implicit propositions have received various labels as coherence relations, discourse relations, rhetorical relations or relational propositions. When two portions of a text hold a relation, the addressee of the text may recognize the connection even without the presence of a formal sign as a conjunction or a discourse marker. In this paper we claim that some intrinsic spoken discourse phenomena like paraphrasing, repetition, correction and parenthetical insertion hold coherence relations with other portions of discourse and, thus, may be considered strategies for the construction of coherence. The analysis, based on academic spoken discourse (five university lectures in Brazilian Portuguese), shows that these phenomena are recurring and relevant for the study of spoken discourse.


2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 205-233
Author(s):  
Maite Taboada

Abstract I present an overview of the concept of coherence in discourse and explore how one of the essential elements to that coherence, relational coherence, has been studied and partitioned in different discourse traditions. I then introduce one of the theories that deals with discourse coherence, Rhetorical Structure Theory (RST). Through the description of RST, I investigate fundamental concepts in the study of coherence relations such as the classification of relations and their signalling in discourse.


Author(s):  
Ted J.M. Sanders ◽  
Vera Demberg ◽  
Jet Hoek ◽  
Merel C.J. Scholman ◽  
Fatemeh Torabi Asr ◽  
...  

AbstractIn this paper, we show how three often used and seemingly different discourse annotation frameworks – Penn Discourse Treebank (PDTB), Rhetorical Structure Theory (RST), and Segmented Discourse Representation Theory – can be related by using a set of unifying dimensions. These dimensions are taken from the Cognitive approach to Coherence Relations and combined with more fine-grained additional features from the frameworks themselves to yield a posited set of dimensions that can successfully map three frameworks. The resulting interface will allow researchers to find identical or at least closely related relations within sets of annotated corpora, even if they are annotated within different frameworks. Furthermore, we tested our unified dimension (UniDim) approach by comparing PDTB and RST annotations of identical newspaper texts and converting their original end label annotations of relations into the accompanying values per dimension. Subsequently, rates of overlap in the attributed values per dimension were analyzed. Results indicate that the proposed dimensions indeed create an interface that makes existing annotation systems “talk to each other.”


Author(s):  
Tomoyuki Kawase

Abstract This study is an extension of previous research on how writers of research articles (RAs) structure their texts to be coherent in the process of achieving communicative purposes of the RA genre. It examines how RA writers relate sentences in establishing a niche for their studies in the introduction section. Genre analysis methods and Rhetorical Structure Theory are used to analyse 40 applied linguistics RA introductions. The findings show that the RA writers who establish a niche by indicating a gap in previous research tend to use a concessive or contrastive relation to relate the gap statements to the descriptions of previous studies. The writers who establish a niche by indicating how their studies would extend previous research in the field tend to use a background relation to claim a niche based on the specific studies. The writers who indicate a real world problem for the niche establishment tend to use a background relation to reveal a niche based on contextual information surrounding the problem. Possible reasons for the selection of the relations are discussed in terms of the influence of the nature of the RA genre and/or the applied linguistics discipline.


Metahumaniora ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 115
Author(s):  
Desi Damayanti

ABSTRAKJepang merupakan negara dengan tiga perusahaan telekomunikasi ternama didunia, salah satunya SoftBank, sehingga perusahaan tersebut menggunakan berbagaicara kreatif untuk mempromosikan produknya, termasuk melalui media iklankomersial. Sells dan Gonzalez (dalam Astuti, 2005:3) menyatakan bahwa bahasa dalamiklan sedikit menyimpang dari kaidah tata bahasa, yang mempengaruhi keterpaduanmaknanya (koherensi). Tujuan dari penelitian ini adalah untuk mengidentifikasipenanda kekoherensian, hubungan kekoherensian serta faktor penyebab terjadinyakekoherensian pada wacana iklan komersial dalam website SoftBank yang dianalisisberlandaskan pada teori struktur iklan Bolen (1984), struktur retorika Mann danThompson (1988) serta koherensi Ramlan (1993). Penulis menggunakan metodedeskriptif analisis dalam penelitian ini. Dari hasil analisis data, teridentifikasi bahwapenanda kekoherensian yang sering muncul berjenis perturutan, contohnya seperti“maka dari itu”. Kemudian terdapat tiga jenis hubungan koherensi yang sering munculdalam kedua belas wacana iklan komersial tersebut, yakni uraian, latar belakang danurutan. Faktor penyebab kekoherensian adalah adanya pengetahuan yang dibagibersama (shared knowledge) dari pengiklan kepada konsumen, sehingga konsumendapat mengetahui dan ingin tahu lebih lanjut mengenai isi iklan.Kata kunci: wacana, iklan komersial, koherensi, struktur iklan, struktur retorikaABSTRACTJapan is a country with top three telecommunication brand companies in theworld, one of them is Softbank. This company uses a variety of methods to promote theirproducts, including the use of commercial ads. Sells and Gonzalez (from Astuti, 2005:3)declare that ads have a bit linguistic deviation that affecting the unity of meaning(coherence). The aim of this research is to identify the coherence markers, coherencerelations and coherence factors of SoftBank’s commercial adverting discourse (CAD)analyzed based on advertising theory from Bolen (1984) and rhetorical structure theoryfrom Mann and Thompson (1988) and Ramlan (1984). The writers use descriptivemethod in this research. The results of data analysis, it is identified that coherencemarkers like continuation are often used, for example “therefore”.Then, the twelve CADshave three kinds of coherence relations that often come in the CAD, such as elaboration,background, and sequence. The factor of the coherence is a sharing a knowledge fromadvertiser to consumer, so that consumer can be informed and want to know more aboutthe content of the ads.Keywords: discourse, commercial ads, coherence, ad’s structure, rhetorical structure


Author(s):  
Andrew Potter

Abstract Rhetorical structure theory (RST) and relational propositions have been shown useful in analyzing texts as expressions in propositional logic. Because these expressions are systematically derived, they may be expected to model discursive reasoning as articulated in the text. If this is the case, it would follow that logical operations performed on the expressions would be reflected in the texts. In this paper the logic of relational propositions is used to demonstrate the applicability of transitive inference to discourse. Starting with a selection of RST analyses from the research literature, analyses of the logic of relational propositions are performed to identify their corresponding logical expressions and within each expression to identify the inference path implicit within the text. By eliminating intermediary relational propositions, transitivity is then used to progressively compress the expression. The resulting compressions are applied to the corresponding texts and their compressed RST analyses. The application of transitive inference to logical expressions results in abridged texts that are intuitively coherent and logically compatible with their originals. This indicates an underlying isomorphism between the inferential structure of logical expressions and discursive coherence, and it confirms that these expressions function as logical models of the text. Potential areas for application include knowledge representation, logic and argumentation, and RST validation.


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