Contrast and propositional attitude: A relevance theoretic analysis of contrast connectives in Spanish and English

Olmos, Susana; Ahern, Aoife Kathleen

doi:10.1016/j.lingua.2008.08.001

Cited by 11 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 40 publications

(32 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

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“…The study concludes that the examination of tokens of language use (such as discourse markers) is not merely an optional activity in the process of linguistic theory making. Olmos and Ahern (2008) revise previous analyses of but and although formulated within a relevance theoretical framework and offer a new perspective on their functions based on cross-linguistic data. These connectives had been described in terms of effort-saving devices that lead the addressee to suspend or eliminate assumptions.…”

Section: Discourse Markersmentioning

confidence: 81%

“…This role is clearly shown in all of its occurrences, including the following: Concerning the third most frequent concessive discourse marker, wa, it is evident that it also plays the same role in reducing the processing effort for the speaker and maximizing the contextual effect for the listener needed to derive implicature, and thus, maximizes its optimal relevance. procedural expression since it guides the listener when searching for relevance in utterance interpretation by constraining the choice of contextual information and the cognitive effects that can be obtained (Olmos and Ahern, 2008).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

The Discoursal Arabic Coordinating Conjunction Wa (And)

Taha

Jarrah

Al-Jarrah

2014

IJL

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The aim of the present study was to determine the main discoursal functions of the most commonly used Arabic coordinating conjunction, Wa (the English equivalent of 'and'). In order to do this, the researchers selected ten Jordanian parliamentary speeches to be used as the data of the study. In contrast to what has been heavily stated by Arabic linguists, the study showed that the Wa can have many discoursal functions. Upon analyzing the findings of the study in light of advancements made in The Relevance Theory, this research has provided further empirical evidence on how relevance considerations shape collaborative language use.

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Section: Discourse Markersmentioning

confidence: 81%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Discoursal Arabic Coordinating Conjunction Wa (And)

Taha

Jarrah

Al-Jarrah

2014

IJL

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“…Still, for Olmos and Ahern (2009) the common denominator in the interpretation of both adversative and concessive clauses is the notion of 'contrast' or 'opposition'. Yet, the distinction that Olmos and Ahern attempt to draw between the two examples above is that what but introduces as an adversative connective marks a contrast with an assumption already accessible in the context, while the clause introduced by the concessive although leads to an expectation inferred to hold, which the main clause is contrasted with.…”

Section: Opposition In Concessionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Semantic and pragmatic aspects of lexicography

Patsala¹,

Πατσαλά²

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The purpose of the present thesis is a lexicographical account of Concessive Connectives, based on a combination of semantic, syntactic and pragmatic factors involved in their use, and consequently, in their interpretation. The scope of my analysis is restricted to Modern Greek concessive markers—analyzing extensively two of them: an ke (αν και) and ke na (και να). For the purposes of the present study, I have emphasised on connectives referred to in Grammars of the Modern Greek Language, delimiting at the same time the study to those concessive connectives that introduce subordinate clauses with an adverbial function in written discourse. Data for the present quantitative and qualitative study constitute approximately 300 bi-clausal concessive constructions in the Modern Greek language, drawn from written discourse from the Hellenic National Corpus (HNC)—a corpus of written Modern Greek texts compiled by the Institute for Language and Speech Processing. In the present thesis, I explore extensively the syntax and semantics of the above two concessive connectives in Modern Greek, namely of an ke (αν και) and ke na (και να), with respect also to their discourse function. However, I should clarify that pragmatic considerations are treated in this study neither as a starting point nor as an objective, but rather as integrated into a comprehensive linguistic treatment of a specific type of lexical units, namely connectives.Moreover, it is suggested that the tools used in my thesis may be applied to other apparently heterogeneous linguistic phenomena, since the framework applied allows generalisability. The framework I propose enables both lexicographers and dictionary users to view function words as active units in real discourse structures, rather than as mere lexical items of a static nature limited to a description of their role in potential utterances. At the same time, the aim of the present research is to produce some general statements based on observations about Modern Greek connectives and the structures they appear in, which can apply to the whole class of conjunctions, rather than merely to individual instances of the class of conjunctions. The current doctoral thesis aspires to have contributed to the field of linguistic and lexicographical knowledge in a number of ways. Firstly, it aims to add greatly to the examination and analysis of connectives as a language component in its own right. Secondly, it attempts to promote the methodology used in the field of lexicography towards meaning and/or function description through corpus investigation of language variation; and thirdly, it proposes a lexicographically plausible account of connectives that draws heavily on the theoretical model of Construction Grammar, where the author focuses on the rich linguistic insights offered by exploiting this approach for lexicographical purposes.

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Correction by adversative and additive markers

Jasinskaja

2012

Lingua

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Contrast and propositional attitude: A relevance theoretic analysis of contrast connectives in Spanish and English

Cited by 11 publications

References 40 publications

The Discoursal Arabic Coordinating Conjunction Wa (And)

The Discoursal Arabic Coordinating Conjunction Wa (And)

Semantic and pragmatic aspects of lexicography

Correction by adversative and additive markers

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