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Chapter 9. Processing implicit and explicit causality in Spanish

  • Laura Nadal and Inés Recio Fernández
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Empirical Studies of the Construction of Discourse
This chapter is in the book Empirical Studies of the Construction of Discourse

Abstract

As a basic discourse relation, causality can be made explicit by means of an argumentative connective, but it can also be implicitly expressed. In the latter case, experimental evidence shows that causality is highly predictable in discourse and can be easily inferred. Therefore, the question arises as to the actual contribution of causal connectives to utterance processing. We addressed this issue in an eye tracking reading experiment, and compared how the presence or absence of the Spanish causal connective por tanto affects processing in its role as procedural guide. The results suggest that making the connective explicit in a consecutive relation already inferable from the meaning of the lexical expressions in the utterances slows down processing. In this sense, the nature of connectives as procedural guides (Relevance Theory, see Blakemore 1987) might be nuanced, since the extent to which a connective determines processing varies depending on the type of discourse relation at issue.

Abstract

As a basic discourse relation, causality can be made explicit by means of an argumentative connective, but it can also be implicitly expressed. In the latter case, experimental evidence shows that causality is highly predictable in discourse and can be easily inferred. Therefore, the question arises as to the actual contribution of causal connectives to utterance processing. We addressed this issue in an eye tracking reading experiment, and compared how the presence or absence of the Spanish causal connective por tanto affects processing in its role as procedural guide. The results suggest that making the connective explicit in a consecutive relation already inferable from the meaning of the lexical expressions in the utterances slows down processing. In this sense, the nature of connectives as procedural guides (Relevance Theory, see Blakemore 1987) might be nuanced, since the extent to which a connective determines processing varies depending on the type of discourse relation at issue.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Introduction 1
  4. Part I. Corpus-based studies
  5. Chapter 1. Challenges in the contrastive study of discourse markers 17
  6. Chapter 2. Local vs. global scope of discourse markers 43
  7. Chapter 3. Prosodic versatility, hierarchical rank and pragmatic function in conversational markers 61
  8. Chapter 4. A preliminary typology of interactional figures based on a tool for visualizing conversational structure 93
  9. Chapter 5. Causal relations between discourse and grammar 131
  10. Chapter 6. A corpus-based comparative study of concessive connectives in English, German and Spanish 151
  11. Part II. Experiment-based studies
  12. Chapter 7. Processing patterns of focusing in Spanish 195
  13. Chapter 8. Expectation changes over time 229
  14. Chapter 9. Processing implicit and explicit causality in Spanish 253
  15. Part III. Combined approaches
  16. Chapter 10. Subjectivity and Causality in discourse and cognition 273
  17. Chapter 11. Subjectivity of English connectives 299
  18. Index 319
https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.305.09nad

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Introduction 1
  4. Part I. Corpus-based studies
  5. Chapter 1. Challenges in the contrastive study of discourse markers 17
  6. Chapter 2. Local vs. global scope of discourse markers 43
  7. Chapter 3. Prosodic versatility, hierarchical rank and pragmatic function in conversational markers 61
  8. Chapter 4. A preliminary typology of interactional figures based on a tool for visualizing conversational structure 93
  9. Chapter 5. Causal relations between discourse and grammar 131
  10. Chapter 6. A corpus-based comparative study of concessive connectives in English, German and Spanish 151
  11. Part II. Experiment-based studies
  12. Chapter 7. Processing patterns of focusing in Spanish 195
  13. Chapter 8. Expectation changes over time 229
  14. Chapter 9. Processing implicit and explicit causality in Spanish 253
  15. Part III. Combined approaches
  16. Chapter 10. Subjectivity and Causality in discourse and cognition 273
  17. Chapter 11. Subjectivity of English connectives 299
  18. Index 319
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