This thesis is a descriptive study of four contrastive discourse connectives in Turkish. The main aim of this study is to analyze the connectives with respect to their meaning and predicate-argument structure and lay out the similarities and differences among contrastive discourse connectives with the help of quantitative analysis. Although the study is limited with contrastive connectives, it will have implications on how to resolve discourse structure in general and illustrate how lexico-syntactic elements contribute to discourse semantics.

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This doctoral thesis is devoted to linguistic analysis of discourse relations as one of the aspects of discourse coherence. Discourse relations are semantic relations holding between propositions in a discourse (discourse arguments). The aim of the thesis is a complex description of discourse relations in Czech and its application in an annotation scheme in the Prague Dependency Treebank. The thesis is divided into three parts: The first one is focused on the theoretical description of discourse relations and on analysis of adequacy of various methodological concepts in corpus processing. The second part describes in detail the proposed scheme for the annotation of discourse relations and the process of the corpus build- up including the evaluation of consistency of the annotated data. Finally, in the last part of the thesis, we address some problematic issues arisen with the employment the proposed scheme and look for their possible solutions.

O presente trabalho apresenta e desenvolve conceitos oriundos da Linguística Cognitiva para investigar os aspectos cognitivos da codificação das relações causais introduzidas por conectores oracionais da língua alemã: da, denn e weil. Para tanto, este trabalho apropriou-se do aparato teórico e metodológico desenvolvido por Pander Maat & Degand (2001) e que concebe a causalidade não como uma relação única, mas como uma categoria gradual que engloba diferentes níveis de conexão. Diante disso, desenvolveram-se duas atividades elementares ao longo do trabalho. Em primeiro lugar, o levantamento bibliográfico da teoria em torno de diferentes abordagens à temática da causalidade que serviram de base para a discussão entretida nos dois capítulos iniciais. Em segundo lugar, a análise empírica de ocorrências de cada um dos conectores a partir dos métodos desenvolvidos por Pander Maat & Degand (2001), a fim de replicar seu estudo e investigar de que maneira o gradiente de relações causais pode contribuir para o estudo da causalidade na língua alemã. Ao contrapor as abordagens desenvolvidas nas tradições formalista e funcionalista de análise linguística, o presente trabalho procurou argumentar que a investigação adequada dos fenômenos relacionados à causalidade seja desenvolvidas no escopo da Linguística Cognitiva e, no caso específico desta pesquisa, no aparato teórico da Gramática Cognitiva, de Langacker (1987, 1991, 2008), já que se trata de pesquisa envolvendo aspectos da codificação gramatical da causalidade. Numa segunda etapa da discussão teórica, estabeleceram-se as bases para a pesquisa da causalidade no escopo da Gramática Cognitiva. Argumentou-se que, para o estudo bem-sucedido da causalidade, são necessários três componentes básicos: uma base conceitual sobre a qual se definem os parâmetros essenciais da experiência causal, um sujeito de consciência, ou seja, um conceituador capaz de estabelecer relações de causa a partir da base, e um conjunto de operações de perspectivação conceitual (construal operations) que determinam as formas de acesso à base conceitual. A interação entre esses três componentes determinam as diferentes categorias relacionais que compõem o gradiente causal. São elas: relação causal involuntária, relação causal voluntária, relação epistêmica causal, relação epistêmica não causal, relação de motivação entre atos de fala e relação de paráfrase entre atos de fala. A realização da parte prática do trabalho desenvolveu-se a partir da aplicação do teste de paráfrases proposto pelos autores do estudo original. As paráfrases foram adaptadas para servirem à língua alemã e suas particularidades. Do teste de paráfrase resultou que os conectores da e weil concorrem no âmbito das relações causais voluntárias. As relações epistêmicas causais são codificadas por todos os três conectores e seus usos se diferenciam a partir de diferentes organizações da estrutura informacional e do gerenciamento comunicativo. As relações epistêmicas não causais são introduzidas por da e denn, enquanto somente denn introduz relações de motivação entre atos de fala. As relações das extremidades do gradiente (causais involuntárias e paráfrase entre atos de fala) não são codificadas por meio dos conectores analisados / This master thesis introduces and develops concepts from Cognitive Linguistics to investigate the cognitive aspects of the encoding of causal relations introduced by the following sentence connectors in German: da, denn and weil. Therefore, this work took the theoretical and methodological apparatus developed by Pander Maat & Degand (2001), which conceive causality not as one single relation, but as a gradual category that encompasses dierent levels of connection. Thus, two basic research activities were established. Firstly, the literature survey of the theory around dierent approaches to the issue of causality that formed the basis for the discussion entertained in the first and second chapter. Secondly, the empirical analysis of occurrences of each of the connectors employed the methods developed by Pander Maat & Degand (2001) in order to replicate their study and thus to investigate how the gradient of causal relations might contribute to the study of causality in the German language. By opposing the approaches developed in the formalist and functionalist traditions of linguistic analysis, this study sought to argue that the proper investigation of phenomena related to causality are developed in the scope of Cognitive Linguistics and, in the specific case of this research, the theoretical apparatus of Cognitive Grammar, by Langacker (1987, 1991, 2008), since it comes to research involving aspects of grammatical encoding of causality. On a second phase, the theoretical discussion set up the foundation for the research of causality in the scope of Cognitive Grammar. It was argued that three basic components are needed to the successful study of causality: a conceptual base on which the essential parameters of the causal experience are defined, a subject of consciousness, i.e., a conceptualizer capable of establishing causal relations, and set of construal operations which determine the forms of access to the conceptual base. The interaction between these three components determines the dierent relational categories that comprise the causal gradient. They are: nonvolitional causality, volitional causality, epistemic causal relations, noncausal epistemic relations, relations between speech acts I (motivation) and relations between speech acts II (paraphrase). The empirical research was developed by means of a paraphrase test, which was proposed by the authors of the original study. Paraphrases were adapted to serve the German language and its peculiarities. The paraphrase test shown that the connectors da and weil compete under the voluntary causal relationships. Causal epistemic relations are encoded by all three connectors and their uses dier due to several possible organizations in the information structure and the communicative management strategies they mobilize in their usage events. The noncausal epistemic relations are only introduced by the denn. Moreover, denn also introduces relations between speech acts (motivation). The relations of the both ends of the gradient (nonvolitional causality and paraphrase of speech acts) are not encoded by means of the connectors analyzed

[pt] Esta pesquisa se propõe a analisar o conhecimento e emprego dos elementos conectores conjuntivos como, embora, mas e porque, por indivíduos surdos, considerando a LIBRAS - Língua Brasileira de Sinais - como a primeira língua destes, numa abordagem de ensino-aprendizagem do português como segunda língua. A partir das contribuições do Funcionalismo e da Semântica argumentativa, parte-se da aplicação de testes em informantes surdos que, adolescentes, adultos, alunos/as de uma escola da rede particular de ensino do Rio de Janeiro, matriculados da 5ª a 8ª séries do ensino fundamental e que, nesta pesquisa, demonstram seu desempenho no emprego destes elementos conectores na modalidade escrita do português. Através dos resultados dos testes, verificou-se que a competência dos surdos no emprego dos elementos conectores conjuntivos está relacionada com fatores lingüísticos, tais como questões lexicais, sintáticas e semântico-textuais; e com fatores extralingüísticos, como nível de escolaridade, grau de surdez, faixa etária, grau de proficiência em LABRAS e em português e em tipo de teste aplicado. Constatou-se que os informantes que têm conhecimento da LIBRAS apresentam melhor desempenho em português. Destaca-se, por fim, a importância de reflexões em torno dessa temática para as linhas de pesquisa que discutem questões ligadas ao processo ensino-aprendizagem do português como segunda língua para surdos, bem como para a implementação de ações em torno das mudanças das metodologias vigentes no Brasil. / [en] This research aims at analyzing the knowledge and use of the conjunctive connectors as, although, but and because by deaf people, considering LIBRAS - Brazilian sign language - as their first language, in a Portuguese as a second language (L2) teaching-learning approach . Based on the functionalism model and on the argumentative semantics, it starts testing adolescent and adult deaf informants, students of some private schools in Rio de Janeiro, from the the 5th to the 8th grade, who demonstrate their performance in the usage of these connectors in the written form of the Portuguese language. Through the tests results we could verify that their competence in the use of conjunctive connectors elements relates to linguistic facts, such as lexical, syntactic and textual-semantic issues, and to extralinguistic facts, such as school level, deafness level, age, proficiency level at LIBRAS and Portuguese language, and also to the kind of test applied. It has been noticed that the informants who know LIBRAS have a better performance in Portuguese. Eventually, it is highlighted the importance of reflections on this theme to researches on the Portuguese teaching-learning process as a second language for the deaf, as well as to the implementation of actions concerning changes in the current Brazilian methodologies.

Bibliography: pages 66-73. / Based on the educational theorists Gardner (1977(a)), Ehindero (1980), Mawasha ( 197 6-1984) and Ogunniyi ( 1985) and extending earlier findings by McNaught (1980) in Zimbabwe, my investigation sought to answer the following questions: 1. How do the item facilities of a group of African (Swazi) college science students, on two parallel tests of logical connectives, based on Gardner's work, each consisting of the same 34 logical connectives, but different in presentation format compare? 2. Are there significant correlations between the item facilities obtained by the Swazi first year science students on the tests of logical connectives and their scores obtained in Matriculation English and Biology and college English communication and General science? 3. Is there evidence of learning of logical connectives without direct instructional intervention over a period of six months when exposed to English first language speaking lecturers? 4. In what ways are the works of Gardner and McNaught expanded, confirmed, or enriched by further investigation in a totally different culture? Diagnostic and pre-test - post-test methods were used to gather data on the comprehension of the 34 logical connectives, and on academic achievement scores, of 65 Swazi teachers-in-training in KaNgwane, a subtropical, rural-agricultural region in Southern Africa. The data were collected by means of modified Gap Filling and Sentence Completion items, derived from Gardner's pioneering work, by adapting and refining certain items to be more relevant and meaningful in the local South African context. The data was processed by means of comparing Gardner's form N pupils' item facilities with the Swazi students' item facilities on each logical connective. The differences were analysed by means of Chi square tests, Spearman's Test, McNemars' Test and a correlation matrix. The chief findings -were that Swazi students' item facilities compared favourably with those obtained by Gardner's form N pupils on the 34 logical connectives· overall. The Swazi students found 7 easier than the Australian pupils, 16 equally as difficult and 15 more difficult than the Australian pupils, but this was dependent on the format. The thesis concludes by making recommendations to teachers, textbook writers, publishers and educational authorities on issues in science education with regard to English second language, particularly in terms of teacher training.

京都大学 / 0048 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(人間・環境学) / 甲第22900号 / 人博第969号 / 新制||人||229(附属図書館) / 2020||人博||969(吉田南総合図書館) / 京都大学大学院人間・環境学研究科共生人間学専攻 / (主査)教授 谷口 一美, 教授 藤田 耕司, 准教授 守田 貴弘, 教授 山梨 正明 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Human and Environmental Studies / Kyoto University / DFAM

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by Chung Sin Ling Jenny. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1994. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 173-190). / Abstract --- p.i / Acknowledgements --- p.ii / Contents --- p.iii / List of Tables --- p.ix / List of Figures --- p.x / Chapter Chapter1 --- Introduction / Chapter 1.1 --- Background to the Study --- p.1 / Chapter - --- Related reading research / Chapter - --- Signals and coherence / Chapter - --- Signal types studied in different conditions / Chapter - --- Contradictory findings of signal studies / Chapter - --- Reading comprehension perspectives adopted in this study / Chapter 1.2 --- The Problem --- p.7 / Chapter 1.3 --- Purpose of the Study --- p.8 / Chapter 1.4 --- Significance of the Study --- p.9 / Chapter Chapter2 --- Literature Review / Chapter 2.1 --- Introduction --- p.11 / Chapter 2.2 --- Analysis and Discussion of Theories and Models of Reading Comprehension --- p.11 / Chapter 2.2.1 --- Comparison of van Dijk and Kintsch's Discourse Processing Models and Other Models --- p.11 / Chapter 2.2.2 --- Van Dijk and Kintsch's Textbase (Microstructure and Macrostructure) Processing --- p.14 / Chapter 2.2.3 --- The Comprehension Process - from an Information Processing Perspective --- p.20 / Chapter 2.2.3.1 --- Introduction --- p.20 / Chapter 2.2.3.2 --- The Process of Information Processing in van Dijk and Kintsch's Discourse Processing Model --- p.21 / Chapter 2.2.5.3 --- Act theories (An information Processing approach from Cognitive Psychology) --- p.24 / Chapter 2.3 --- Relevance of Theories and Models of Discourse Processing to the Present Study --- p.25 / Chapter 2.3.1 --- "The Relationship Between the Notions of Activation, Strength and Goals During Information Processing" --- p.25 / Chapter 2.3.2 --- Automatic Processing and Control Processing and Readers of Different Abilities --- p.28 / Chapter 2.3.3 --- "Meaning, Functions and Types of Strategies" --- p.30 / Chapter 2.3.3.1 --- Nature of Strategies --- p.30 / Chapter 2.3.3.2 --- Types of Strategies --- p.31 / Chapter 2.3.4 --- Mental Representation and Reading Comprehension --- p.38 / Chapter 2.3.4.1 --- The Function of Mental Representation --- p.38 / Chapter 2.3.4.2 --- Levels of Meaning Representation --- p.40 / Chapter 2.3.5 --- Schema Theory and Reading Comprehension --- p.55 / Chapter 2.3.6 --- Inferencing and Reading Comprehension --- p.61 / Chapter 2.4. --- "The Relationship between Signals, Cohesion, Coherence and Reading Comprehension" --- p.52 / Chapter 2.4.1 --- "The Meaning , Types and Functions of Signals" --- p.53 / Chapter - --- An overview of the important notions of signals / Chapter - --- Other related notions of signals identified in this study / Chapter 2.4.2. --- "The Interplay of Signals, Cohesion and Coherence" --- p.64 / Chapter 2.4.3 --- Interplay between Signals and Comprehension Process --- p.70 / Chapter 2.4.4 --- Signal Studies --- p.74 / Chapter 2.4.4.1 --- Single signal studies --- p.74 / Chapter - --- Conjunctions / Chapter - --- Lexical and Semantic Cues / Chapter - --- "Headings, Previews & Titles" / Chapter 2.4.4.2 --- Multiple Signal Studies --- p.77 / Chapter 2.5 --- Brief Summary of Literature Review --- p.79 / Chapter Chapter3 --- Research Design / Chapter 3.1 --- Hypotheses and variables --- p.83 / Chapter 3.2 --- Sampling --- p.85 / Chapter 3.3 --- Subjects --- p.85 / Chapter 3.4 --- Materials --- p.86 / Chapter 3.4.1 --- Source and Text Content --- p.86 / Chapter 3.4.2 --- Simplifying Authentic Text --- p.87 / Chapter 3.4.3 --- Topic and Difficulty of the Passage --- p.89 / Chapter 3.5 --- Design of the Test --- p.89 / Chapter 3.6 --- Validity --- p.92 / Chapter 3.6.1 --- Construct Validity --- p.92 / Chapter 3.6.2 --- Construct Validity --- p.94 / Chapter 3.6.3 --- Criterion Validity --- p.95 / Chapter 3.7 --- Measuring Reading Comprehension --- p.98 / Chapter 3.8 --- Preliminary Study and Pilot Studies --- p.101 / Chapter 3.8.1 --- Preliminary Study --- p.101 / Chapter 3.8.2 --- Pilot Study1 --- p.105 / Chapter 3.8.3 --- Pilot Study2 --- p.107 / Chapter 3.9 --- Testing Procedure --- p.108 / Chapter 3.10 --- Scoring --- p.109 / Chapter 3.11 --- Research Design --- p.110 / Chapter 3.11.1 --- Statistical Design / Chapter 3.12 --- Limitations --- p.112 / Chapter Chapter4 --- Results and Discussion / Chapter 4.1 --- Statistical Analysis of Tests Scores --- p.113 / Chapter 4.1.1 --- Reliability and Discrimination Index --- p.135 / Chapter - --- The Pilot Studies --- p.113 / Chapter - --- The Main Study --- p.114 / Chapter 4.1.2. --- "The Interaction between ""Versions"" and ""Groups"" Of the Entire Sample" --- p.115 / Chapter 4.1.3 --- The Insignificant Difference of Signalled Versions and the Non-Signalled Version on the Reading Comprehens ion Scores of the High Group and the Medium Group --- p.116 / Chapter 4.1.4 --- The Significant Difference of Signalled Versions and the Non-Signalled Version on the Reading Comprehension Scores of the Low Group --- p.116 / Chapter 4.1.5 --- "The Means and Standard Deviations of the Low Ability Groupin Total Reading Comprehension Scores, Macrostructure Scores and Microstructure Scores of the 4 Versions in the Main Study" --- p.118 / Chapter 4.1.6 --- Results of the Means and Standard Deviations of the Three Kinds of Reading Comprehension Scores on the Entire Sample --- p.122 / Chapter 4.1.7 --- The relationship between Versions and Groups (Ability Group) --- p.122 / Chapter 4.2 --- Discussion --- p.128 / Chapter 4.2.1 --- Summary of Research Findings --- p.128 / Chapter 4.2.2 --- The Relationship between Text Relations and Logical Connectives --- p.131 / Chapter 4.2.3 --- Coherence Established through Logical Connectives --- p.142 / Chapter 4.3 --- The Roles of Paragraphs in Language Processing --- p.148 / Chapter 4.4 --- Comparison of the Effects of Different Types of Signals on Reading Comprehension --- p.152 / Chapter 4.5 --- Discussion on the Ability Difference in Making Use of Signals --- p.155 / Chapter 4.6 --- Summarization of Text Processing With or Without Making Use of Signals --- p.168 / Chapter Chapter5 --- Conclusions --- p.170 / BIBLIOGRAPHY --- p.173 / "Appendix A (Examination Syllabus of Reading Comprehension Section C, Hong Kong A-Level Examination,1985)" / Appendix B (Skills invovled in Understanding Written Materials in Paper II of Hong Kong Certificate Education1989) / "Appendix C (Passages for the Reading Comprehension Post-Test: Versions 1, 2, 3,4)" / Appendix D (Question Papers for the Reading Comprehension Post-Test) / Appendix E (Pre-test Passages and Question Papers) / Appendix F(Discrimination Index of the 25 Test Questions in Pilot Study 2 Selected for the Main Study) / Appendix G (Discrimination Index of the 25 Test Questions in the Main Study) / "Appendix H (Results of T-Test on the difference among the 4versions of the Total Scores, Macrostructure Scores and the Mocrostructure Scores of the High Ability Group in the Main Study)" / "Appendix I (Results of T-Test on the difference among the 4versions of the Total Scores, Macrostructure Scores and the Microstructure Scores of the Medium Ability Group in the Main Study)"

A presente tese de doutorado tem por objetivo (i) Descrever o significado das conjunções causais da língua alemã por meio dos recursos fornecidos pelo Modelo da Dinâmica de Forças no contexto da Gramática Cognitiva; e (ii) explicar a multiplicidade de conjunções causais na língua alema a partir de diferentes arranjos de perspectiva conceitual evocados pelas diferentes conjunções que atendem diferentes necessidades comunicativas dos participantes de uma interação linguística. Para tanto, desenvolve um modelo de análise elaborado a partir dos conceitos teóricos da Gramática Cognitiva (Langacker 1987, 1991, 2008) e do Modelo da Dinâmica de Forças (Talmy 1988) para as conjunções causais da língua alemã contemporânea (da, denn e weil ). A Gramática Cognitiva e a Dinâmica de Forças são abordagens da Linguística Cognitiva para a gramática e compartilham a concepção de que a experiência humana com a realidade fornece o substrato conceitual que molda o significado linguístico. Elas também compartilham a noção de que as interações mediadas por força representam um ponto-chave conceitual para a descrição do significado de classes gramaticais variadas como, por exemplo, verbos modais e causativos, preposições, advérbios e conjunções. A pesquisa aqui apresentada faz um levantamento dos recursos teóricos empregados pela Gramática Cognitiva e elabora a partir de ocorrências extraídas de textos jornalísticos uma descrição do significado das conjunções causais da, denn e weil em que a Dinâmica de Forças figura como base conceitual a partir da qual as chamadas operações de perspectivação conceitual (construal operations) estruturam os conteúdos relevantes para a diferenciação de cada uma das conjunções. Essa diferenciação, segundo sugere este trabalho, está relacionada ao fato de que cada uma das conjunções reside essencialmente no fato de que cada uma acessa a base conceitual (dinâmica de forças) a partir perspectivas diferentes, adequadas a situações comunicativas diversas e visa estabelecer entre falante e ouvinte uma melhor troca de informações acerca daquilo que compartilhando em sua interação linguística. / The present doctoral dissertation aims (i) a description of the meaning of the German causal conjunctions in terms of force-dynamic patterns and construal operations; as well as (ii) an explanation for the multiplicity of causal conjunctions based on the notion that construal can impose different conceptual strutuctures to the same conceptual basis, resultuing in different perspectives over causality, perfiled by the conjunctions of a language. In order to fulfill this purpose, I develop an analisys model based on the theoretical concepts of Cognitive Grammar (Langacker 1987, 1991, 2008) and the Force Dynamics Model (Talmy 1988) for the causal conjunctions of the contemporary German language (da, denn and weil). Cognitive Grammar and Force Dynamics are approaches based on the Cognitive Linguistics framework to grammar and share the view that the human experience of reality provides the conceptual substrate that shapes linguistic meaning. They also share the notion that the conception that force-mediated interactions represent a reference point for describing the meaning of several grammatical classes, such as modal and causative verbs, prepositions, adverbs, and conjunctions. This research uses the theoretical resources used by Cognitive Grammar in order to elaborate a description of the meaning of the causal conjunctions da, denn and weil. It is argued that the conceptual basis of these conjunctions consists of a force-dynamic pattern accessed by the so-called construal operations. The construal operations structure the content of the conceptual basis in different ways. It is argued in the the present research that different conceptual structures imposed by construal can be related to the multiplicity of causal conjunctions in contemporary German. Thus, da, denn and weil serve to the conceptualization of diverse communicative situations in which the speaker attempts to convey specific causal information to the listener about the objective scene they are conceptualizing in the linguistic interaction.