Rhetorical Relations

Abstract

This chapter gives an introduction to the subject area of rhetorical relations by reconsidering the fundamental question of how many and which rhetorical relations exist and by what kinds of criteria they are defined. It then presents a case study on the distinction between subordinating and coordinating rhetorical relations, discusses the linguistic motivation for this, and attempts a novel definition of the notion of discourse‐structural subordination.

Interpreting the at-Issue Status of Non-Restrictive Relative Clauses in a Foreign Language: A Case of Serbian Efl Students

“…Building on prior work, the present paper sought to enrich our understanding of the possible ways in which content expressed by English NRRCs is interpreted as at-issue by Serbian EFL students. The conducted experiment was based on the prediction that final CRCs should express more at-issue behavior than final ARCs (Jasinskaja 2016) and it involved placing sentence-final CRCs/ARCs against main clauses as potential targets for direct rejections. This kind of design was guided by the assumption that only at-issue content can be targeted by direct rejections.…”

“…The observation that final NRRCs can acquire at-issue status can be accounted for within a discourse-based approach proposed by Jasinskaja (2016), who relies on the main principles of discourse structure in defining at-issueness as a discourse-based notion. She starts with the assumption that discourse has an organization beyond the level of a sentence and discourse units play certain semantically and pragmatically important roles relative to other units.…”

“…She starts with the assumption that discourse has an organization beyond the level of a sentence and discourse units play certain semantically and pragmatically important roles relative to other units. Discourse units are connected via discourse relations (for an overview of discourse relations see Asher & Lascarides 2003;Halliday & Hasan 1976;Jasinskaja & Karagjosova 2016;Kehler 2002;Mann & Thompson 1988;Zeevat 2011). Two main types of discourse relations are: coordinating relations (such as Narration and Contrast) and subordinating relations (such as Explanation and Elaboration).…”

“…Syrett & Koev (2015) provide empirical evidence for this observation. The results of their experiment can be interpreted within a discourse-based approach proposed by Jasinskaja (2016). Relying on the theories of processing hierarchical discourse units, she defines at-issueness as a dynamic notion and suggests that discourse relations influence the interpretation of the at-issue status of NRRCs.…”

“…On the other hand, not-at-issue content is in a way backgrounded with respect to the central message of the utterance. The notion of at-issueness has generated a lot of interest in recent literature (see, among others, AnderBois, Brasoveanu & Henderson 2010;Jasinskaja 2016;Koev 2013;Murray 2014;Potts 2005;Simons, Tonhauser, Beaver & Roberts 2010;Syrett & Koev 2015).…”