Pronominalization and discourse coherence,discourse structure and pronoun interpretation

Two self-paced reading-time experiments are reported that examine the time course of pronoun interpretation processes based on local discourse structure and on world knowledge. The characterization of local discourse structure is based on recent work on centering, which provides a specific formulation of how the ways in which sentences make reference to common entities determines the coherence of discourse segments and how discourse structure influences interpretation of ambiguous pronouns. The results of the first experiment show that readers generate a default interpretation of a pronoun based on features of local discourse structure, and that that default interpretation is later confirmed or overridden by knowledge-based processes. The results of the second experiment show that local discourse structure continues to influence pronoun interpretation even when the semantic information that ultimately compels interpretation occurs before the pronoun. These results support the view that processes acting on local discourse structure play a powerful role in guiding language comprehension.     

Immortality and religious discourse

The future of humanity on this planet is not assured: we have reached a critical juncture in our history. Persistence in classical modes of thinking and acting will lead to growing problems and mounting crises; a new way of thinking is needed, joined with a new ethics and a new ethos. This presupposes a fundamental change in the way we perceive ourselves and our environment—a shift in the dominant consciousness of our time. The evolution of a “planetary consciousness” has become an objective precondition of approaching the future with confidence as well as responsibility. The Club of Budapest has been founded to promote this evolution through the insight and creativity of the artists, writers, spiritual leaders and young people who are its members and affiliates.     

Constructing and deconstructing psychotherapeutic discourse

This paper reviews recent work on the social construction of the self in counselling and psychotherapy, and argues that we need to attend to the ways in which the therapeutic self is fashioned (a) in relation to the ‘psy-complex' as the network of theories and practices concerned with psychological governance and self-reflection in modern Western culture and (b) in the context of ‘therapeutic domains' outside the clinic and academe, domains of discursive regulation and self-expression which then bear upon the activities of professional and lay counsellors. Therapeutic domains contain repertoires, templates and complexes within which counsellors and clients fabricate varieties of truth and story a core of experience into being. I then turn to describe and assess some of the various ways in which this kind of critical reflection on therapeutic discourse and counselling practice now already underpins the work of social constructionist ‘narrative' therapists. Some attention is given to the different pragmatic and deconstructionist approaches which make the discursive constitution of the problem into the problem, either by dissolving or by externalizing the account the client presents. Here I argue that the activities of social constructionist counsellors can be viewed as forms of deconstruction-in-process (a deconstruction of the discursive frames which have been constructed by the client), but that they should not be viewed as stepping outside the discursive conditions of possibility which ground their work. the psy-complex and therapeutic domains still function as relatively enduring structures which limit the degree to which we may construct and deconstruct psychotherapeutic discourse.     

Jewish discourse and the Shtetl

The Shtetl, the small town of Eastern Europe, especially in Poland and Russia, where Jews were the majority in the population and set the tone of life, has not received proper historiographical treatment. The major problem is that the shtetl has been idealized, much like in the play Fiddler on the Roof, to represent people's nostalgia, not reality. Shtetl society was also taken by Zionists and others as representative of an objectionable Jewish role model, the contrary of what Zionist sought to achieve. It is commonly thought that by the time of the Shoah, when the Nazis indeed destroyed it, the shtetl was already moribund. In fact, through the early twentieth century, shtetl population remained steady; in some cases it even grew. This survey of existing literature, whose quantity is less than what might be expected, is a prelude to a comprehensive study on shtetl society, in particular during the twentieth century, which this author is now concluding. This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Modal fictionalism and possible-worlds discourse

The Brock-Rosen problem has been one of the most thoroughly discussed objections to the modal fictionalism bruited in Gideon Rosen’s ‘Modal Fictionalism’. But there is a more fundamental problem with modal fictionalism, at least as it is normally explained: the position does not resolve the tension that motivated it. I argue that if we pay attention to a neglected aspect of modal fictionalism, we will see how to resolve this tension—and we will also find a persuasive reply to the Brock-Rosen objection. Finally, I discuss an alternative reading of Rosen, and argue that this position is also able to fend off the Brock-Rosen objection.     

Parsing strategies and discourse context

Two experiments investigated syntactic processing during comprehension of sentences presented either in isolation or in a discourse context. Comprehension of a range of different types of surface structurally ambiguous sentences was studied. To explain the interpretations generally given to the sentences processed in isolation, two parsing principles were proposed: Kimball's (1973) Right Association and Verb Dominance. When the ambiguous sentences were read in context, the interpretations computed were still determined by these structurally based principles, even when this meant that the meanings were at variance with the prior context. These results indicate that surface structure parsing of sentences proceeds in the same way whether sentences are processed alone or in context.This research was supported by a grant from the Australian Research Grants Scheme. I thank Linda Cupples for her help in conducting the experiments and in analyzing the data. I am indebted to Marilyn Ford for her critical comments on an earlier, version of the article. Thanks are also due to Dianne Bradley, Ken Forster, and Roger Wales for their helpful comments on the topic.     

Berkeley's pantheistic discourse

International Journal for Philosophy of Religion -     

Propositional discourse logic

A novel normal form for propositional theories underlies the logic pdl, which captures some essential features of natural discourse, independent from any particular subject matter and related only to its referential structure. In particular, pdlallows to distinguish vicious circularity from the innocent one, and to reason in the presence of inconsistency using a minimal number of extraneous assumptions, beyond the classical ones. Several, formally equivalent decision problems are identified as potential applications: non-paradoxical character of discourses, admissibility of arguments in argumentation networks, propositional satisfiability, and the existence of kernels of directed graphs. Directed graphs provide the basis for the semantics of pdl and the paper concludes by an overview of relevant graph-theoretical results and their applications in diagnosing paradoxical character of natural discourses.     

Establishing and accessing referents in discourse

Memory & Cognition - Four experiments explored the processes by which people understand references. Subjects read naturalistic stories one sentence at a time, and their reading-comprehension...     

Pronoun resolution and discourse models.

Psychological investigations of pronoun resolution have implicitly assumed that the processes involved automatically provide a unique referent for every pronoun. We challenge this assumption and propose a new framework for studying pronoun resolution. Drawing on advances in discourse representation and global memory modeling, this framework suggests that automatic processes may not always identify a unique referent for a pronoun. In 9 experiments, we demonstrate that, unlike noun anaphors, pronouns sometimes do not produce relative facilitation of their referents in comparison with nonreferents. We argue that research on pronoun resolution must consider the discourse contexts in which pronouns are likely to occur.     

Studies in dialogue and discourse: II. Types of discourse initiated by and sustained through questioning

A sociolinguistic approach to the study of language is described. Three types of discourse are defined empirically, each of them initiated and sustained by questions. It is provosed that these types are linguistic expressions or “realizations” of authority relationships between speakers. In the first, Chaining, a conversation is extended through successive questions by the initial questioner; in the second, Arching, it is extended by the respondent's questions; in the third, Embedding, there are two responses to the question. The general hypothesis about the relationship of the linguistic structure of discourse to differentials between speakers in power and authority is examined through an analysis of natural conversations in first-grade classrooms. The findings provide consistent support for this hypothesis. When adults initiate a conversation with a question, they retain control over its course by successive questioning, i.e., by Chaining: when children ask an adult a question, the adult regains control by responding with a question, i.e., by Arching. Children question each other through a more balanced use of Chaining and Arching that might be thought of as either more egalitarian or more competitive.     

Coherency in children's discourse

We provide evidence that the capacity of young children to engage in social interaction exceeds that suggested by Piaget (1926). Rather than being collective monologues, the conversations between the subjects of this study (twin boys) were dialogues: the children attended to one another's utterances and provided relevant responses. This was observed for conversations which were referentially based as well as for sound play exchanges. This is not to say that the children experienced no difficulty in sustaining cooperative discourse. It could take a speaker several turns to secure the attention of the coconversationalist and establish a discourse topic.     

Accuracy in scientific discourse

Response to Rudmin, F. W. & Ahmadzadeh, V. (2001). Psychometric critique of acculturation psychology: The case of Iranian migrants in Norway.