Discourse Binding: Does it Begin with Nominal Ellipsis?

Abstract

"Sentences are normally not used in isolation. They are preceded and followed by other sentences, delivered either by the same speaker or writer, or by an interlocutor. Language users live by the principle that sentences in sequences belong together; that they are meaningfully connected. Language users weld sentences together into a coherent representation of discourse. Coherence is a cognitive state; it is not ‘in’ the language, although sentences may contain devices that help the perceiver in creating it. Sanders, Spooren and Noordman (1992) distinguish between relational coherence, denoting the semantic or logical relations between discourse segments, and referential coherence, having to do with repeated reference to the same entities or events. Relational coherence can be cued by connectives; anaphora is the primary device for referential coherence. Inferencing is a third major mechanism in creating coherence"