Judy Delin

Expressing procedural relationships in multilingual instructions

In this paper we discuss a study of the expression of procedural relations in multilingual user instructions, in particular the relations of Generation and Enablement. These procedural relations are defined in terms of a plan representation model, and applied in a corpus study of English, French, and Portuguese instructions. The results of our analysis indicate specific guidelines for the tactical realisation of expressions of these relations in multilingual instructional text.

Presupposition and shared knowledge in it-clefts

Abstract In this paper, I present a view of the relative roles of logical presupposition and shared knowledge in it-cleft constructions. I Will argue for a view of it-clefts in which presupposition on the one hand, and indicators of shared information on the other, are understood to have separate functions: indicators of shared knowledge, including prosody, are argued to relate to a speakers assumptions about the state of the hearers knowledge and attention, while presuppositions generated on the basis of syntactic form are argued to indicate a speakers requirements for what should be included within the hearers discourse model. In the light of this view, I review three common assumptions about clefts relating in particular to the interrelationship of logical presupposition, shared knowledge and prosody, and show how the view argued for here gives an improved analysis of some previously problematic examples. Finally, I make some suggestions regarding what a strict separation between logical presupposi...

Towards a contrastive pragmatics : Syntactic choice in English and French instructions

Abstract In this paper, we set out a framework for the description and contrastive analysis of limited-domain syntactic choice in English and French. Using a corpus of naturally-occurring English and French sets of instructional texts, we look at the expressions available in each language for conveying the two procedural semantic relations of generation and enablement (cf. Goldman 1970). Following an approach first set out in Delin et al. (1994) and refined by Grote (1995), we analyse which expressions can convey each part of the semantic relation, and look at the effect contextual factors such as serial ordering have on further determining what expressions are used. Having described some differences between English and French based on these syntactic and semantic considerations, we go on to discuss how rhetorical and pragmatic factors will further constrain the choice between the small sets of expressions remaining in individual functional slots. We present our approach as a formal and replicable means of stating the rules for syntactic choice within languages, which, additionally, can form a solid basis for inter-language comparison.

Language-specific mappings from semantics to syntax

We present a study of the mappings from semantic content to syntactic expression with the aim of isolating the precise locus and role of pragmatic information in the generation process. From a corpus of English, French, and Portuguese instructions for consumer products, we demonstrate the range of expressions of two semantic relations, GENERATION and ENABLEMENT (Goldman, 1970) in each language, and show how the available choices are constrained syntactically, semantically, and pragmatically. The study reveals how multilingual NLG can be informed by language-specific principles for syntactic choice.

Rhetorical Structure Theory

This article describes Rhetorical Structure Theory (RST), developed in the USA in the mid-to-late 1980s by William C. Mann and Sandra Thompson. RST provides a means of analyzing the hierarchy of relationships between elements of language – typically clauses, sentences, and combinations of those structures, that contribute to the production and understanding of coherent texts. The article details how the theory came about, gives an overview of the applications of and adaptations to the theory since its inception, and discusses some controversial issues surrounding its use.

Keeping in Step: Task Structure, Discourse Structure, and Utterance Interpretation in the Step Aerobics Workout

In this study, I examine the monologues given by instructors in step aerobics classes, focusing on the way language both arises out of ongoing action and is constitutive of it. Following Levinson (1992), I show how the structure of the activity constrains the interpretations that are made of the utterances that arise throughout the workout. Aerobics participants need specific pragmatic knowledge, a key part of which is the ability to detect and interpret 5 distinct functions of utterance, defined according to their timing and placement in the hierarchical structure of tasks that the class is performing. I demonstrate that it is beat placement, rather than grammatical form or sequential organization, that is the most important cue for this interpretative task. Having presented the utterance functions and the cues to their interpretation in detail, this article goes on to outline how participants achieve the correct assignment of pronoun reference and ellipsis in the instructors monologue. This is explained by means of an approach to discourse modeling first suggested by Grosz and Sidner (1986), showing how instructors set up ephemeral actions as complex conceptually salient discourse entities, making them accessible for subsequent reference.

A brief introduction to the GeM annotation schema for complex document layout

In this paper we sketch the design, motivation and use of the GeM annotation scheme: an XML-based annotation framework for preparing corpora involving documents with complex layout of text, graphics, diagrams, layout and other navigational elements. We set out the basic organizational layers, contrast the technical approach with some other schemes for complex markup in the XML tradition, and indicate some of the applications we are pursuing.

Pragmatic determinants of intonation contours for dialogue systems

This paper describes an implemented computational model that generates intonation contours for dialogue systems. We concentrate on the relationship between pragmatics and two aspects of intonation: pitch range and pitch accent placement. Pitch range is computed based on the position of an utterance in the discourse structure: utterances that introduce a new topic have an expanded register compared to utterances that continue a topic. Pitch accent placement is based on two pragmatic factors: cognitive status (what the speaker assumes the hearer is attending to) and informativeness (what the speaker assumes to be the interesting or informative component of a phrase). This work suggests that even simple models of discourse topic structure, cognitive status, and informativeness will lead to improved register determination and pitch accent placement in practical conversational systems.

A multi-level account of cleft constructions in discourse

This pal~;r presents an analysis and synthesis of the factors relevant to the decision to use a cleft construction in discourse. The model described, based on a corpus of 587 naturally-occurring cleft constructions in written and spoken discourse, consists of two stages. The first stage concerus the decision to use a cleft construction rather than a non-cleft; the second describes the factors relevant in deciding between three types of cleft: it-clefts, such as that in example (1), wh-clefts, such as (2), m~d reverse wh-clefts, such as (3):

Genre and Multimodality: Expanding the Context for Comparison across Languages

In this chapter, we are concerned with an appropriate unit of comparison for comparative or contrastive textual studies. Traditionally, researchers investigate ‘texts’ in differing languages, focusing on their syntactic, semantic and/or discourse-functional characteristics. More recently, the ‘monomodality’ (or ‘monomediality’) of this viewpoint has come under closer scrutiny (cf. Kress and van Leeuwen 2001). In many cases it appears that the restriction to single ‘modes’ — e.g. the ‘text’ as traditionally conceived — may not be appropriate when moving between cultures and practices in which very different uses of available semiotic modes are made. There is a growing field of research in which the mutually supportive use of various communicative modes is assumed to play a fundamental role (cf. Royce 1998; O’Halloran 1999). We show with respect to linguistic and then multimodal analyses of instructional texts and wildlife guides the outline of a multimodal model, the GeM model, that offers a framework for the cross-linguistic comparison of document genres.