Analysis of sociointerpersonal communication patterns among discourse participants is essential to understand the manifestation of and the interpersonalcommunication features realized in online social interaction. The linguistic politeness theory provides an effective framework for such an analysis of sociointerpersonal communication features employed by online language users tomaintain and enh...

This paper discusses the mainstream discourse of chemistry and suggests a complementary discourse. On a disciplinary level, the discourse of chemistry is based on objectivism, rationalism, and molecular reductionism. On a societal level, the discourse is based on modernism. The aims of chemical research and education are often unclear, which nowadays often leads to an emphasis on the needs from...

An unprecedented combination of simulative and metaphor-based reasoning about beliefs is achieved in an AI system, ATT-Meta. Much mundane discourse about beliefs uses conceptual metaphors (e.g., MIND AS CONTAINER) productively, and ATT-Meta's metaphor-based reasoning accordingly leads to crucial discourse comprehension decisions. ATT-Meta's non-metaphorical mode of belief reasoning includes sim...

This article examines the communication of text-based synchronous online discussion (chat) participants during the process of information sharing. It addresses the communicational constraints imposed by the computer-mediated communication (CMC) channel on participants’ expression of interpersonal and affective stances, analyzes the mechanisms participants employed to overcome these constraints,...

New methods from meta-programming in logic makes it possible automatically to extract grammar rules and other formal descriptions from a given text which characterize its inherent context and discourse. As context and discourse often vary within a text it is also suggested that different grammars be applied to different portions of the text and similarly for other relevant, formal descriptions.

Conventional approaches to literature reviews tend to perform a meta-analysis of previous literature, based on a modernist, normal science paradigm. These reviews typically seek a ‘mythical centre’ based on synthesis and consensus. This is not always appropriate for research areas that have been characterised by heterogeneous and inconsistent studies. In this paper, we examine the discourse ass...

The passage from linear text to hypertext poses the challenge of expressing discourse coherence in non-linear text, where linguistic discourse markers no longer work. While hypertext introduces new possibilities for discourse organisation, it also requires the use of new devices which can support the expression of coherence by exploiting the technical characteristics and expressive richness of ...

We report a study of a class of 28 sixth graders engaged in an extended computer-supported argumentive discourse activity. Participants collaborated with a same-side peer in arguing against successive pairs of peers on the opposing side of an issue. Meta-level awareness was facilitated by conducting the dialogs via instant messaging software, which made available a transcript of the dialog that...