Effects of coherence on speaker preference and rule-following

Rule-following is affected by multiple variables. A relevant aspect of rules regards whether they “make sense”, that is, the extent to which the instruction coheres with previously reinforced patterns of relational responding. The present study aimed to evaluate the influence of relational coherence upon rule-following. After mastering a particular set of conditional relations (e.g., A1B1, A2B2), the participants were exposed to two speakers, one of which would “state” relations that cohered (e.g., A1B1, A2B2) with the participant’s previous relational training and the other that would present relations that were incoherent (e.g., A1B2, A2B1). Then, rule-following was measured in a preference test in which the participant would have to choose which of the two speakers would provide instructions in each test trial. Results show that the participants preferred the coherent speaker to provide instructions and followed the rules presented by that speaker throughout the test. Coherence is discussed as a critical aspect of rule following and preference for particular narratives.

The Active Learner’s Construction-Combinatory Thesaurus: user-driven principles of compiling (a cognitive linguistic approach)

This article discusses the design of a new type of dictionaries, the Active Learner’s Construction-Combinatory Thesaurus (ALCCT) intended for adult learners of the second (foreign) language. The ALCCT is an ideographic dictionary where phrases, understood as instantiations of constructions, are arranged in accordance with the cognitive ontology of a particular conceptual thematic field. As such, the ALCCT is a project compatible with cognitive lexicography, a contemporary branch of dictionary-making that adopts the findings of cognitive science, cognitive linguistics in particular. The article proposes a cognitive profile of the dictionary’s target user, and makes it a departure point in elaborating the principles of compiling the ALCCT. They are defined as the principles of data selection, arrangement, and application. Data selection regards their thematic and formal coherence, their authenticity, and their prominence, or frequency. Data arrangement implies their relational coherence, and their elaboration. Relational coherence is realized through the lexicographic code, or the dictionary’s overall design that develops at three hierarchical levels: those of macrostructure (a conceptual ontology of the theme), mediostructure (the key words evolving into phrasal sets), and microstructure (description of phrasal lemmas). Elaboration of the data is provided via the overarching structure mapped onto the three hierarchical structures of the lexicographic code, and concerned with etymological, cultural, grammatical, and phraseological (metaphorical) extensions. Data application reaches out to the communicative situations in which the ALCCT’s resources can be used.

Stepping back to look ahead: neuter encapsulation and referent extension in counter-argumentative and causal relations in Spanish

abstractIn discourse comprehension, if all goes well, people tend to create a rich and coherent mental representation of the events described in the text. To do so, referential and relational coherence must be established in order to construct a connected discourse. The objective of this follow-up eye-tracking study (N = 72) is to explore the existence of an interaction effect between two factors: (a) the extension of the referent (short and long antecedent), and (b) the semantic relation (counter-argumentativea pesar de, and causalpor), when processing the neuter pronounelloin texts written in Spanish. No previous study has systematically compared the on-line processing of texts in which different extensions of the encapsulated anaphoric antecedent by the neuter pronounello(‘this’ or ‘it’ in English) are presented in diverse marked semantic relations (causal and counter-argumentative). Based on three eye-tracking measures, we found distinctive patterns of reading behavior when anaphoric neuter reference and semantic relations must be processed conjointly in order to construct a coherent mental representation. The main findings show that reading longer and more complex antecedents encapsulated by the neutral pronounselloexerts more cognitive effort in late processing (Look Back measure), particularly when simultaneously and in the same discourse construction there is an explicitly marked counter-argumentative semantic relation. Implications for theories of referential and relational coherence are discussed.

The space of coherence relations and their signalling in discourse

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.

Discourse

Discourse is the area of linguistics concerned with the aspects of language use that go beyond the sentence—and in particular, with the study of coherence and salience. In this chapter we present a few key theories of these phenomena. We distinguish between two main types of coherence: entity coherence, primarily established through anaphora; and relational coherence, expressed through connectives and other relational devices. Our discussion of anaphora and entity coherence covers the basic facts about anaphoric reference and introduces the dynamic approach to the semantics of anaphora implemented in theories such as Discourse Representation Theory, based on the notion of discourse model and its updates. With regards to relational coherence, we review some of the main claims about the relational structure of discourse—such as the claim that coherent discourses have a tree structure, or the right frontier hypothesis—and four main theoretical approaches: Rhetorical Structure Theory, Grosz and Sidner’s intentional structure theory, the inference-based approach developed by Hobbs and expanded in Segmented DRT, and the connective-based account. Finally we cover theories of local and global salience and its effects, including Gundel’s Activation Hierarchy theory and Grosz and Sidner’s theory of the local and global focus.

Reasonable force: the emergence of global policing power

This article introduces reasonable force as ontological to the performance of late modern police power. It argues that policing emerged through reasonable force as an innovation of military power and as a supplement to legal power. The article tracks the development of reasonable force in late modern policing through to its emergence as a vanguard strategy of post-Cold War global governance. Police power, the article finds, has transformed traditional sovereign power relations to incorporate governmental power. It finds policing power to be an expansive reforming force that exhibits a dynamic capacity to provide relational coherence to multi-layered policing constellations from the local to the global.