Aspect-Switching and Subordination: the Role of It-Clefts in Discourse

this paper, we explore a proposal, first put forward by Prince [1978], to the effect that it-clefts serve an apparently subordinating function in discourse. In addition to the cause-and-effect subordination noted by Prince, our own data reveals that clefts are also involved in temporal subordination, where the clefted material appears dissociated from the main time line. Using Scha and Polanyi's [1988] notation, we can draw a local discourse structure that illustrates the general subordination relation involved. However, this does not constitute an explanation of why subordination is effected by/t-cleft

Towards a Pattern Language Approach to Document Description

Pattern libraries, originating in architecture, are a common way to share design solutions in interaction design and software engineering. Our aim in this paper is to consider patterns as a way of describing commonly-occurring document design solutions to particular problems, from two points of view. First, we are interested in their use as exemplars for designers to follow, and second, we suggest them as a means of understanding linguistic and graphical data for their organization into corpora that will facilitate descriptive work. We discuss the use of patterns across a range of disciplines before suggesting the need to place patterns in the context of genres, with each potentially belonging to a “home genre” in which it originates and to which it makes an implicit intertextual reference intended to produce a particular reader response in the form of a reading strategy or interpretative stance. We consider some conceptual and technical issues involved in the descriptive study of patterns in naturally-occurring documents, including the challenges involved in building a document corpus

A brief introduction to GeM annotation schema for complex document layout

In this paper we sketch the design, motivation and use of the GeM annotation scheme: an XML-based annotation framework for preparing corpora involving documents with complex layout of text, graphics, diagrams, layout and other navigational elements.We set out the basic organizational layers, contrast the technical approach with some other schemes for complex markup in the XML tradition, and indicate some of the applications we are pursuing.

An Eye Movement Analysis of Webpage Usability.

An experiment is reported that investigated the application of eye movement analysis in the evaluation of webpage usability. Participants completed two tasks on each of four website homepages. Eye movements and performance data (Response Scores and Task Completion Times) were recorded. Analyses of performance data provided reliable evidence for a variety of Page and Task effects, including a Page by Task interaction. Four eye movement measures (Average Fixation Duration, Number of Fixations, Spatial Density of Fixations, and Total Fixation Duration) were also analysed statistically, and were found to be sensitive to similar patterns of difference between Pages and Tasks that were evident in the performance data, including the Page by Task interaction. However, this interaction failed to emerge as a significant effect (although the main effects of Page and Task did). We discuss possible reasons for the nonsignificance of the interaction, and propose that for eye movement analysis to be maximally useful in interface-evaluation studies, the method needs to be refined to accommodate the temporal and dynamic aspects of interface use, such as the stage of task processing that is being engaged in

Language-Specific Mappings from Semantics to Syntax

Wc present a study of the mappings from semantic content to syntactic expression with the aim of isolating the precise locus and role of pragmatic information in the generation process. lom a corpus of English, French, and Portuguese instructions for constuner prodnets, wc demonstrate the range of expressions of two semantic relations, GEN- EIATION and ENABLEMENT (Goldman, 1970) in each language, and show how the available choices arc constrained syntactically, semantically, and pragmatically. The study reveals how multilin- gual NLG can bc informed by language- specific principles for syntactic choice