The aim of this monograph is to give impetus to research into one of the central questions in discourse studies: what makes a sequence of sentences or utterances a discourse? The theoretical framework for describing the possibilities of discourse continuation is delineated by two principles: the discursive and the dialogic principle. The ‘chord’ of discourse is unfolded in a tripartite ‘wire’: Conjunction, Adjunction and Interjunction, each containing three aspects, leading to a Connectivity Model. This new three-by-three taxonomy of discourse relations incorporates findings from several theories and approaches that have evolved over the last three decades, including Systemic Functional Linguistics and Rhetorical Structure Theory. In comparing this model to other models, this book presents a state-of-the-art of discourse relation analysis combined with detailed accounts of many examples. This monograph furthermore proposes a new way of presenting discourse structures—in ‘connectivity graphs’—followed by eleven commandments for the segmentation and labeling of discourse, and three procedures for disambiguation if more labels are applicable. This study can provide a base for corpus linguistic analysis on discourse structures, computational approaches to discourse generation and cognitive experimental research of discourse competence.

The aim of this monograph is to give impetus to research into one of the central questions in discourse studies: what makes a sequence of sentences or utterances a discourse? The theoretical framework for describing the possibilities of discourse continuation is delineated by two principles: the discursive and the dialogic principle. The chord of discourse is unfolded in a tripartite wire: Conjunction, Adjunction and Interjunction, each containing three aspects, leading to a Connectivity Model. This new three-by-three taxonomy of discourse relations incorporates findings from several theories and approaches that have evolved over the last three decades, including Systemic Functional Linguistics and Rhetorical Structure Theory. In comparing this model to other models, this book presents a state-of-the-art of discourse relation analysis combined with detailed accounts of many examples. This monograph furthermore proposes a new way of presenting discourse structures in connectivity graphs followed by eleven commandments for the segmentation and labeling of discourse, and three procedures for disambiguation if more labels are applicable. This study can provide a base for corpus linguistic analysis on discourse structures, computational approaches to discourse generation and cognitive experimental research of discourse competence."

Texture - the quality that makes a text 'hang together' as a text - is a key focus of investigation in discourse analysis. This volume provides a systematic overview of recent research on textual resources that are used to construct texture, and on the ways in which these resources are deployed differently in different text types. Theme is the major resource that is explored in the first part of the book. The opening papers set out the current understanding of Theme and explore aspects of the concept which remain controversial in the field. This is followed by an examination of thematic choices in a range of text types. Issues raised include the different kinds of meanings appearing in Theme which are particularly significant for each genre, the ways in which these relate to the broader socio-cultural context, and the ways in which thematic choices interact with other kinds of texturing. In the second part of the collection, the scope widens to include an examination of other resources, particularly the contribution to texture made by patterns of interpersonal choices, in Theme and more broadly across texts as a whole. The volume closes with an overview and illustration of a methodological approach by which our understanding of texturing can be further extended.

The Qur'an is read by millions of Muslims on a daily basis, yet there is no book available to the reader, Arab or non-Arab, which provides a linguistic and rhetorical insight into Qur'anic discourse. This book explains Qur'an translational problems and provides a thorough account of the unique syntactic, semantic, phonetic, prosodic, pragmatic, and rhetorical features of the Qur'an.

Introduction to Discourse Studies follows on Jan Renkema s successful "Discourse Studies: An Introductory Textbook" (1993), published in four languages. This new book deals with even more key concepts in discourse studies and approaches major issues in this field from the Anglo-American and European as well as the Australian traditions. It provides a scientific toolkit for future courses on discourse studies and serves as a stepping stone to the independent study of professional literature.Introduction to Discourse Studies is the result of more than twenty-five years of experience gained in doing research and teaching students, professionals and academics at various universities. The book is organized in fifteen comprehensive chapters, each subdivided in modular sections that can be studied separately. It includes 400 references, from the most-cited contemporary publications to influential classic works; 500 index entries covering frequently used concepts in the field; more than 100 thought-provoking questions, all elaborately answered, which are ideal for teacher-supported self-education; nearly 100 assignments that provide ample material for teachers to focus on specific topics of their own preference in their lectures.Jan Renkema is a member of the Department of Communication and Information Sciences at Tilburg University, The Netherlands. He is also editor of "Discourse, of Course" (2009) and author of "The Texture of Discourse" (2009). In 2009, a Chinese edition of "Introduction to Discourse Studies" was published by Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press.

Over the past four decades, discourse coherence has been studied from linguistic, psycholinguistic, computational, and applied perspectives. This volume identifies current issues and under-researched topics in the pragmatics of discourse coherence. Nine studies from various disciplines address the realization and signalling of coherence relations in various genres and languages, their acquisition and use by first- and second-language learners and university students, the relationship between coherence relations and genre-specific discourse structure, and extensions of the coherence paradigm to multimodal discourse and visual art. This collection will be of interest to researchers from linguistics, applied linguistics, psychology, communication, and multimodal semiotics.

In this original study, Vernon Robbins expounds and develops his system of socio-rhetorical criticism, bringing together social-scientific and literary-critical approaches to explore early Christianity.