The negotiation of discourse relations in context: Co-constructing degrees of overtness

This paper examines the linguistic realization of discourse relations in the discourse genre of commentary. Based on a “bare” source text from which all extraclausal constituents had been removed, the linguistic realization of discourse relations is compared across three dyadically co-constructed experimental texts. The methodological framework integrates Segmented Discourse Representation Theory with functional grammar and psycholinguistic models of discourse processing, and describes discourse relations (DRs) that tend to be indexed implicitly only, that is, via intraclausal cues, and others that tend to be indexed with a mix of intra- and extraclausal cues. Continuation and Result; Continuation and Elaboration; and Elaboration, Explanation, and Background show some overlap in their definitions, and that is why their realizations may remain vague unless they are supplemented with extraclausal cues. Salience can account for the overspecifications observed, while underspecifications may be accounted for in terms of cognitive economy.