The Structure of Discourse A Corpus-Based Cross-Linguistic Study Gylling-Jørgensen, Morten Document Version Final published version Publication date: 2013 License CC BY-NC-ND Citation for published version (APA): Gylling-Jørgensen, M. (2013). The Structure of Discourse: A Corpus-Based Cross-Linguistic Study. Copenhagen Business School [Phd]. PhD series No. 38.2013 http://libsearch.cbs.dk/primo_library/libweb/action/dlDisplay.do?docId=CBS01000656121&vid=CBS&afterPDS=tr ue Link to publication in CBS Research Portal General rights Copyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. 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Sep. 2021 copenhagen business school of Discourse The Structure handelshøjskolen solbjerg plads 3 dk-2000 frederiksberg danmark www.cbs.dk The Structure of Discourse A Corpus-Based Cross-Linguistic Study Morten Gylling PhD Series 38-2013 ISSN 0906-6934 Print ISBN: 978-87-92977-88-5 LIMAC PhD School Online ISBN: 978-87-92977-89-2 Department of International Business Communication PhD Series 38-2013 The Structure of Discourse A Corpus-Based Cross-Linguistic Study Morten Gylling Supervisor: Iørn Korzen Ph.D. School LIMAC Programme in Language and Culture Copenhagen Business School Morten Gylling The Structure of Discourse A Corpus-Based Cross-Linguistic Study 1st edition 2013 PhD Series 38.2013 © The Author ISSN 0906-6934 Print ISBN: 978-87-92977-88-5 Online ISBN:978-87-92977-89-2 LIMAC PhD School is a cross disciplinary PhD School connected to research communities within the areas of Languages, Law, Informatics, Operations Management, Accounting, Communication and Cultural Studies. 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Table of contents Foreword ...................................................................................................................................... vii Abstract .......................................................................................................................................... ix Resumé .......................................................................................................................................... xi 1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 13 2 A framework for the analysis of linguistic structures ........................................................... 21 2.1 Linguistic structures ....................................................................................................... 21 2.1.1 A cognitive-functional approach ............................................................................ 24 2.1.2 A rhetorical approach ............................................................................................. 28 2.1.3 Text and discourse revised ..................................................................................... 31 2.1.4 Defining information .............................................................................................. 37 2.1.5 Cohesion and coherence ......................................................................................... 38 2.1.6 Linguistic structures: an overview .......................................................................... 41 2.2 The relevance of linguistic structures to other disciplines ............................................. 42 2.3 Components of a cross-linguistic analysis of linguistic structures ................................ 44 2.4 Previous studies of linguistic structures in parliamentary discourse ............................. 45 2.5 Summing up ................................................................................................................... 49 3 Data description..................................................................................................................... 51 3.1 The texts: genre and typology ........................................................................................ 52 3.2 Data criteria .................................................................................................................... 55 3.3 Terminology and translations ........................................................................................ 60 3.4 Annotation ..................................................................................................................... 61 3.4.1 Inter-annotator agreement....................................................................................... 64 3.5 Text segmentation .......................................................................................................... 69 3.5.1 Elementary Discourse Units ................................................................................... 72 3.5.2 Text segmentation principles .................................................................................. 75 3.6 Summing up ................................................................................................................... 84 4 The text structure of parliamentary discourse ....................................................................... 87 4.1 Dependency and realisation of EDUs ............................................................................ 88 4.2 The deverbalisation scale ............................................................................................... 92 4.3 Text structure in Danish, English and Italian................................................................. 96 4.3.1 Danish versus Italian .............................................................................................. 96 4.3.2 English versus Italian ............................................................................................. 97 4.3.3 Hypotheses ............................................................................................................. 98 4.4 Dependencies of EDUs ................................................................................................. 99 4.4.1 Three examples from the corpus ............................................................................ 99 4.4.2 Overall dependency patterns in Danish, English and Italian ............................... 102 4.5 Realisations of subordinate EDUs .............................................................................. 109 4.6 Summing up ................................................................................................................ 114 5 The discourse structure of parliamentary discourse ........................................................... 117 5.1 Rhetorical Structure Theory ........................................................................................ 122 5.1.1 RST in argumentative texts.................................................................................. 128 5.2 Rhetorical relations in parliamentary discourse .......................................................... 130 5.3 The five most frequent semantic relations .................................................................. 131 5.3.1 Circumstance ....................................................................................................... 133 5.3.2 Elaboration ........................................................................................................... 134 5.3.3 Non-Volitional Cause .......................................................................................... 136 5.3.4 Purpose................................................................................................................. 137 5.3.5 Volitional Cause .................................................................................................. 138 5.4 The five most frequent pragmatic relations ................................................................ 140 5.4.1 Background .......................................................................................................... 140 5.4.2 Concession ........................................................................................................... 142 5.4.3 Evidence............................................................................................................... 143 5.4.4 Justify ................................................................................................................... 144 5.4.5 Summary .............................................................................................................. 145 5.5 Rhetorical hierarchy and syntactic dependency .......................................................... 146 5.5.1 Conjunction .......................................................................................................... 147 5.5.2 Cause or Result? .................................................................................................. 148 5.6 Cross-linguistic differences in discourse structure ..................................................... 150 5.7 Summing