Discourse Information Structure : a cognitive approach to language based on dynamic network representation

Date

2015

Author

Öter, Fırat

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The historical course of linguistics studies with an emphasis on meaning points out the requirement of a representational framework that is capable of forming a structure building bridge between the linguistic (i.e. symbolic) and cognitive (i.e. conceptual) levels. The present thesis aims to lay down some conditions for a comprehensive semantic theory, which is capable of representing all relevant levels of cognitive information involved in semantic processing. This attempt will give rise to a new, suggestive definition of linguistic meaning (semantic structure), as the totality of cognitive information that interrelates the surface linguistic level to relevant cognitive levels during language comprehension and production. Then, a preliminary framework, called Cognitive Information Structure (CIS) is sketched, which provides a representational ground which makes use of dynamically evolving networks. The fundamental properties of CIS are explained and possible theoretical justifications of the framework are discussed. Finally, a representational application of CIS on discourse-syntax level, called the Discourse-Syntactic Structure (DSS) is sketched to represent structural properties of language at the level of discourse. Further elaborations and analyses are left for future research, due to practical difficulties.

Subject Keywords

Cognition., Linguistics., Semantics., Discourse analysis.

URI

http://etd.lib.metu.edu.tr/upload/12619229/index.pdf
https://hdl.handle.net/11511/24848

Collections

Graduate School of Informatics, Thesis