Abstract

This paper presents a formal account of how to determine the discourse relations between sentences in a text, and the relations between the events they describe. The distinct natural interpretations of texts with similar syntax are explained in terms of defeasible rules. These characterise the effects of causal knowledge and knowledge of language use on interpretation. Patterns of defeasible entailment that are supported by the logic in which the theory is expressed are shown to underly temporal interpretation. 1 The Problem of Temporal Relations An essential part of text interpretation involves calculating the relations between the events described. But sentential syntax and compositional semantics alone don't provide the basis for doing this. The sentences in (1) and (2) have the same syntax, and so using compositional semantics one would predict that the events stand in similar temporal relations. (1) Max stood up. John greeted him. (2) Max fell. John pushed him. But in (1...

Citations