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Volume 30, Issue 1
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Abstract

Abstract

This paper examines the linguistic realization of continuative discourse relations in British English written discourse comparing narrative and argumentative dyadically edited texts. The data comprise 18 co-edited texts and metadata documenting the editing process (keystroke logs and transcripts of the dyads negotiating discursive well-formedness). The focus of analysis lies on the linguistic realization of coordinating and , which keep the discourse on the same level, and on the linguistic realization of subordinating and , which introduce a deeper level in the discourse hierarchy. Special attention is paid to contexts in which the discourse relations are encoded in intra-clausal coherence strands, and to contexts in which they are additionally signalled in the peripheries. The quantitative analysis of the signalling of continuative discourse relations shows genre-specific preferences for the signalling of and in the argumentative data, and , and in the narrative data. Both the products of the edited data, the co-edited texts, and the metadata show that the linguistic realization and interpretation of continuative discourse relations are – to varying degrees – subject to recontextualization. We suggest that this variation provides evidence for (1) discourse relations as constitutive parts of discourse grammar, and (2) genre as a blueprint which constrains their linguistic realization.

© 2022 John Benjamins
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2023-01-30
2025-01-17

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The linguistic realization of continuative discourse relations in English discourse
Functions of Language 30, 16 (2023); https://doi.org/10.1075/fol.22010.fet
/content/journals/10.1075/fol.22010.fet
/content/journals/10.1075/fol.22010.fet
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  • Article Type: Research Article
Keyword(s): co-edited data; continuative discourse relation; discourse coherence; discourse genre; keystroke logs

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