Why ‘because’? The management of given/new information as a constraint on the selection of causal alternatives

Abstract

Speakers may choosefrom nearly one hundred possible explicit causal links to encode a causal relation between two propositions. Given these numerous alternatives, why does a language user choose one link over another? This communicative Variation of causal links and possible Information management constraints on that Variation were investigated in a cross-genre study. Occurrences of the causal alternatives 'because' and 'because of were gatheredfrom threegenres: mysteryfiction, biography andlearned/scientific writing. These data were analyzed for evidence of (wo constraints: the management oftopical Information and the management of given/new Information. Although other studies have found that topicality constrains the choice between 'because 1 and 'so', the management of topical Information was found not to be an active constraint for 'because' and 'because of. The analysis revealed, rat her, t ha i the usage of these causal alternatives is constrained by given/new Information management. The findings suggest that Information management is a complex process governed by hierarchically arranged constraints, under the prime directive of effective communication.

Coding Episode Boundaries with Marked Structures: A Cross-Linguistic Study

“…Under this view, when a hearer encounters a marked structure, processing would automatically slow down, thereby providing a natural place for redirection. The studies mentioned above, and others like them, therefore suggest that one important discourse function for the use of marked structures might be found in what Abraham (1991) calls "discourse management", whereby the speaker provides overt coding to signal shifts in discourse flow and direction. A similar view is expressed by Givon (1990), who suggests that marked structures should tend to require more processing resources than their unmarked counterparts.…”