Table Of ContentPROLEGOMENA TO
INFERENTIAL DISCOURSE PROCESSING
Pragmatics & Beyond
An Interdisciplinary Series of Language Studies
Editors:
Hubert Cuyckens
(Belgian National Science Foundation,
University of Antwerp)
Herman Parret
(Belgian National Science Foundation,
Universities of Louvain and Antwerp)
Jef Verschueren
(Belgian National Science Foundation,
University of Antwerp)
Editorial Address:
Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures
University of Antwerp (UIA)
Universiteitsplein I
B-2610 Wilrijk
Belgium
Editorial Board:
Norbert Dittmar (Free University of Berlin)
David Holdcroft (University of Leeds)
Jacob Mey (Odense University)
Jerrold M. Sadock (University of Chicago)
Emanuel A. Schegloff (University of California at Los Angeles)
Daniel Vanderveken (University of Quebec at Trois-Rivières)
Teun A. van Dijk (University of Amsterdam)
V:2
Roger van de Velde
Prolegomena to Inferential Discourse Processing
PROLEGOMENA TO INFERENTIAL
DISCOURSE PROCESSING
Roger G. van de Velde
University of Antwerp (UIA)
JOHN BENJAMINS PUBLISHING COMPANY
AMSTERDAM/PHILADELPHIA
1984
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Velde, Roger G. van de.
Prolegomena to inferential discourse processing.
(Pragmatics & beyond, ISSN 0166-6258; V:2)
Bibliography: p. 91
1. Discourse analysis ~ Data processing. I. Title. II. Series.
P302.V45 1984 401'.41 84-24476
ISBN 0-915027-40-2 (U.S.)
ISBN 90-272-2535-4 (European)
© Copyright 1984 - John Benjamins B.V.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, by print, photoprint, microfilm, or
any other means, without written permission from the publisher.
To Sigrun
TABLE OF CONTENTS
0. INTRODUCTION 1
1. ON SYNTACTIC PROCESSING 5
1.1. Introduction 5
1.2. Cohesion as syntactic organization 6
1.3. Cohesion as a conspicuous companion 9
1.4. On the limited role of cohesion 10
1.5. Coherence as semantic organization 12
1.6. Coherence as a dominating companion 15
1.7. Cohesion as a deficient companion 18
1.8. Cohesion as a misleading companion 20
1.9. On inferential discourse processing and rational
argumentation 22
1.10. Summary 25
2. ON SEMANTIC PROCESSING 27
2.1. Introduction 27
2.2. On ILRRR information 28
2.3. On ILRRR inferences repairing defective cohesion 29
2.4. On ILRRR inferences impeding cohesion 31
2.5. On the indispensable role of ILRRR inferences 33
2.6. On initial KUIP conditions 36
2.7. On semantic-logical inferences 38
2.8. On the rational underpinning of discourse processing 39
2.9. On the indispensability of coherence 42
2.10. Summary 45
3. ON ACTION PROCESSING 47
3.1. Introduction 47
3.2. On action and communication 48
3.3. On cotextual information about actions 49
viii INFERENTIAL DISCOURSE PROCESSING
3.4. On contextual information about actions 51
3.4.1. On pragmatic contexts 51
3.4.2. On action contexts 52
3.4.3. On social contexts 55
3.4.4. On the context integrativity condition 56
3.5. On the hypothetical reconstruction of action co(n)texts 56
3.6. On multileveled action processing 60
3.6.1. On supplying co(n)textual information 61
3.6.2. On multilayered inferential processes 62
3.6.3. On the higher-level coherence construction 62
3.7. Summary 64
4. ON DISORDERED PROCESSING 65
4.1. Introduction 65
4.2. On disordered syntactic processing 66
4.2.1. On ordering syntactic constituents 66
4.2.2. On ordering separate syntactic elements 67
4.3. On disordered semantic processing 68
4.3.1. On schizophrenic language 68
4.3.2. On ILRRR information in schizophrenia 70
4.4. On disordered action processing 72
4.4.1. On processing discourse-internal actions 72
4.4.2. On processing discourse-external actions 75
4.4.3. On rehabilitating disordered action processing 76
4.5. Summary 78
5. CONCLUSION 79
REFERENCES 91
0. INTRODUCTION
Interpretation is impossible without inference-making processes and
without the construction of coherence. This basic idea provides the unifying
principles that bind together all the topics of discourse interpretation to be
covered by the present book. It will lead us to focus on four highly important
kinds of inference involved in the construction of coherence. All of them
are very close(ly tied) to human natural language: (a) syntactic inferences,
(b) inferences which have recourse to the language user's internal lexicon
(abbreviated ILRRR inferences), (c) semantic-logical inferences, and (d)
action-oriented inferences.
In treating inferences and coherence, the boundaries of linguistics should
be widened in many respects. As a matter of fact, no realistic account of
discourse interpretation can be given when the cognitive and communicative
functioning of human natural language is disregarded. From this standpoint,
linguistics, if interested in the realistic interpretation of human natural lan
guage, should not only be concerned with grammar and its rules. Therefore,
we will defend the view that in discourse interpretation the use of grammar
rules should be integrated into more inclusive processing operations in which
inferences function as irreplaceable parts.
In the present work, we will not be preoccupied with low-level perceptual
strategies ranging from phonemic or graphemic decoding to morphosyntactic
parsing. Instead, we will concentrate on higher processing levels which, to
be sure, have much wider repercussions on discourse interpretation, viz.
syntactic processing, semantic processing, and action processing.
In the first chapter, we will devote our attention to the roles which
syntactic inferences fulfill in the interpretation of discourse phenomena. In
that respect, we will show that the recognition of the syntactic organization
of discourse ('cohesion') depends to a great extent on factors of a nonsyntactic
nature.
The second chapter pursues this line of argument in demonstrating that
ILRRR inferences and semantic-logical inferences necessarily cooperate
with syntactic inferences. In addition, it will be made clear in what ways
2 INFERENTIAL DISCOURSE PROCESSING
ILRRR inferences and semantic-logical inferences are responsible for con
structing the semantic organization of discourse ('coherence'). From our
views on the constructive cooperation between syntactic inferences, on the
one hand, and ILRRR inferences and semantic-logical inferences, on the
other hand we will arrive at innovative insights into the highly debated
relationships between discourse syntax and discourse semantics.
The third chapter continues along the lines of the cooperative functioning
of inferences. It will be shown that the inferences outlined in the previous
chapters need close cooperation with inferences made from discourse-inter
nal and discourse-external actions. Any empirical approach to discourse
interpretation should take into consideration that discourse functions in com
munication. Considering the fact that verbal, coverbal, and nonverbal actions
are constitutive parts of communication, it is essential to take the inferential
ingredients of communicative actions into account.
In the fourth chapter we will defend the view that a linguistic account
of discourse interpretation should not be confined to the linguist's idealized
'facts' of human natural language. Therefore, we will direct our attention
towards receptive language disabilities, cognitive impairments, and disor
dered action processing. Broadening the perspectives of our work to nonnor
mal language use will lead us to the conclusion that our hypothetical views
are in accordance with the empirical findings of neurolinguistics and
psychopathology. When we consider, in addition, that our hypotheses on
the roles of inference hold for normal language processing, too, as will be
shown in chapters one to three, then there are convincing grounds to evaluate
them as highly realistic.
Problems of interpretation are of major concern to diverse fields of
multidisciplinary research (cf. Hirsch 1976; Harari 1979; Parret and
Bouveresse 1981; Grimaud 1982; Schmidt 1983). Irrespective of the still
extending problem areas, we will start from the linguistic problems of
interpretation. That is to say, we take written and spoken documents of
human natural language as the main empirical basis for our investigative
efforts.
In such a linguistic approach to discourse interpretation, it is theoretically
and empirically well-founded to distinguish three types of interpretation: (a)
descriptive interpretation, (b) explanative interpretation, and (c) evaluative
interpretation (Petöfi 1981a, 1981b; van Dijk 1982).
In the present book we conceive of descriptive interpretation as an
account of the ways in which syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic characteris-
