The interpretation of English noun phrases with particular regard to generic reference
Within a relevance-theoretic inferential framework, the present corpus-based study offers an explanatory account of how English noun phrases are interpreted in discourse with particular regard to generic reference. Relevance pragmatics pays special attention to the process of discovering the proposition expressed by an utterance as a direct speech act and therefore it provides us with tools to explain how the interpretation of noun phrases contributes to the recovery of the proposition, especially how inference is being carried out. Two sets of features developed in this thesis capture the mechanism of interpreting NPs in general and generic reference in particular. One set applies to nominal expressions which belong to a discoursal network, specifying their relations and thereby enabling us to establish the network. When the NP in question is an introductory expression, another set of features, which has therefore become more important, is used to indicate the clues used in establishing a mental representation of its interpretation. With the help of these two feature-based systems, cognitively significant clues to the interpretation of an NP and its discoursal relations can be caught, including those for
Ni, Yibin
Linguistics
The interpretation of English noun phrases with particular regard to generic reference. Within a relevance-theoretic inferential framework, the present corpus-based study offers an explanatory account of how English noun phrases are interpreted in discourse with particular regard to generic reference. Relevance pragmatics pays special attention to the process of discovering the proposition expressed by an utterance as a direct speech act and therefore it provides us with tools to explain how the interpretation of noun phrases contributes to the recovery of the proposition, especially how inference is being carried out. Two sets of features developed in this thesis capture the mechanism of interpreting NPs in general and generic reference in particular. One set applies to nominal expressions which belong to a discoursal network, specifying their relations and thereby enabling us to establish the network. When the NP in question is an introductory expression, another set of features, which has therefore become more important, is used to indicate the clues used in establishing a mental representation of its interpretation. With the help of these two feature-based systems, cognitively significant clues to the interpretation of an NP and its discoursal relations can be caught, including those for
interpretation english noun_phrase particular regard generic reference within relevance_theoretic inferential framework present corpus_based study offer explanatory account english noun_phrase interpret discourse particular regard generic reference relevance pragmatic pay special_attention process discover proposition express utterance direct speech_act therefore_provide tool explain interpretation noun_phrase contribute recovery proposition especially inference carry_out two_set feature develop capture mechanism interpret nps general generic reference particular set apply nominal expression belong discoursal network specify relation thereby enable establish network question introductory expression another set feature therefore become_important used indicate clue use establish mental_representation interpretation help feature based_system cognitively significant clue interpretation discoursal relation catch include