Constructing discourse: An experimental approach (original) (raw)
Related papers
Signos 2021
This contribution aims at offering a state of the art about experimental research on mechanisms for referential and relational coherence, pivotal for the construction of discourse in the interlocutors' aim to recover of a relevant assumption in communication. The construction of discourse is a cognitive 'activity' that consists in decoding linguistic material of utterances and performing a series of mental operations to recover a relevant interpretation in a communicative exchange. For that purpose, interlocutors put to use linguistic mechanisms directed at establishing 'referential coherence' and 'relational coherence' to achieve discourse 'connectedness'. The cognitive effects of these mechanisms in terms of their consequences for discourse processing and interpretation can be approached by means of experimentation. Doing so allows the researcher to enrich scientific findings as provided by linguistic description and observational studies, helps refining theories of human verbal communication and comes along with a strong transfer potential for applied endeavors.
Grounding Coherence Properties of Discourse
2011
Abstract. In this paper we investigate two fundamental issues related to the production of coherent discourse by intelligent agents: a cohesion property and a fluency property. The cohesion aspects of discourse production relate to the use of pronominal anaphora: whether and in what conditions intelligent agents could acquire pronouns as means to express recently mentioned entities?
2015
In embodied conversation, non-linguistic events can make important contributions to the semantic content of the discourse. This talk explores a rich array of semantic dependencies between non-linguistic events and linguistically specified contents and shows that these dependencies are a critical part of the content of the interaction. Inferring these dependencies, inferring the rhetorical role of non-linguistic events, and conceptualizing non-linguistic events-i.e., associating them with a suitable description-are logically co-dependent tasks. Extending Segmented Discourse Representation Theory, I present an analysis of semantic dependencies between linguistic and non-linguistic units in embodied discourse, and explore how these dependencies affect discourse structure and constraints on developing such structure, such as the Right Frontier Constraint. Empirical evidence for the analysis is supported by a detailed corpus study, which I introduce in the talk.
Referential continuity and the coherence of discourse
Cognition, 1982
*A number of the arguments against story grammars which we discuss in the introduction are part of an 'oral tradition'. We know that similar points have been made by Emmon Bach and Keith Stcnning. Experiment
DISCOURSE COHERENCE–A BUILT-IN COGNITIVE MECHANISM?
2010
Abstract: The paper presents a proposal for correlating human's performance in discourse coherence with a linear model of immediate memory. We begin by estimating experimentally the discourse coherence as produced by humans, using for that a measure based on Centering transitions. Then we introduce a parametrised model of immediate memory, and we propose a simple access cost model, which mimics cognitive effort during discourse processing.
Discourse Coherence—From Psychology to Linguistics and Back Again
Language, Cognition, and Mind, 2021
The present volume explores recent advances in modeling discourse processes, particularly new approaches aimed at understanding pathological language behavior specific to schizophrenia. In this work, we examine the modeling paradigm of formal semantics, which falls within the scope of both linguistics and logic while providing overlapping links with other fields such as philosophy of language and cognitive psychology. This volume is based on results presented during the series of workshops on (In)Coherence and Discourse organized by SLAM (Schizophrenia and Language: Analysis and Modeling), a project developed to systemize the study of pathological language processing by taking an overarching interdisciplinary approach combining psychology, linguistics, computer science and philosophy. The principle focus is on conversations produced by people with psychiatric disorders (such as schizophrenia and autism). The series of (In)Coherence of Discourse workshops hosted by the Loria were held in Nancy, France in
Psicología Educativa
The aim of this article is to provide an overview of how the establishment of discourse connections among spoken statements has been studied by approaches to discourse analysis and psycholinguistic studies, in order to highlight what variables appear to be important for understanding how comprehension of spoken discourse can be facilitated. Consideration of discourse analysis approaches allows us to think about the role of the establishment of discourse connections among speech acts in the classroom, the uses of contextualization cues by bilingual students, the identification of social and cultural notions in teachers’ discourse, and the interactional effects of teachers’ interventions. Preliminary psycholinguistic studies contribute to our understanding of the role of establishing causal connections and integrating adjacent statements through the presence of discourse markers in the comprehension of spoken discourse by college students. The results of these approaches and studies provide insight into students’ comprehension of classroom discourse, and hold the potential for implications for instruction.