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    Rhetorical Structure Theory

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    Mariam m
    Rhetorical structure theory (RST) is a theory of text organization that analyzes the relationships between parts of a text. It defines a hierarchical structure and describes how different text spans are related through functional terms. Common relation types include elaboration, contrast, and explanation between a nucleus and satellites. RST also identifies presentational relations like motivation, background, evidence, and enablement that aim to increase the reader's desire, ability, or belief. The theory provides a systematic way to annotate a text by examining relationships between units and spans.

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    Rhetorical Structure Theory

    Uploaded by

    Mariam m
    54 views4 pages
    Rhetorical structure theory (RST) is a theory of text organization that analyzes the relationships between parts of a text. It defines a hierarchical structure and describes how different text spans are related through functional terms. Common relation types include elaboration, contrast, and explanation between a nucleus and satellites. RST also identifies presentational relations like motivation, background, evidence, and enablement that aim to increase the reader's desire, ability, or belief. The theory provides a systematic way to annotate a text by examining relationships between units and spans.

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    Rhetorical structure theory (RST) is a theory of text organization that analyzes the relationships between parts of a text. It defines a hierarchical structure and describes how different text spans are related through functional terms. Common relation types include elaboration, contrast, and explanation between a nucleus and satellites. RST also identifies presentational relations like motivation, background, evidence, and enablement that aim to increase the reader's desire, ability, or belief. The theory provides a systematic way to annotate a text by examining relationships between units and spans.

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    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
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    54 views4 pages

    Rhetorical Structure Theory

    Uploaded by

    Mariam m
    Rhetorical structure theory (RST) is a theory of text organization that analyzes the relationships between parts of a text. It defines a hierarchical structure and describes how different text spans are related through functional terms. Common relation types include elaboration, contrast, and explanation between a nucleus and satellites. RST also identifies presentational relations like motivation, background, evidence, and enablement that aim to increase the reader's desire, ability, or belief. The theory provides a systematic way to annotate a text by examining relationships between units and spans.

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    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
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    of 4

    Rhetorical structure theory

    Definitions of RST:

    • Rhetorical structure theory (RST) can be defined as a theory of


    text organization that has led to areas of application of discourse
    analysis and text generation.
    • It is a linguistic theory of how to text ''hangs together''.
    • It is a linguistically useful method for describing natural texts,
    characterizing their structure primarily in terms of relations that
    hold between parts of the text.

    Why RST?

    • It defines hierarchic structure in text .


    • It describes the relation between text parts and functional terms,
    identifying both the transition point of a relation and the extent of
    the items related .
    • It provides comprehensive analyses rather than selective
    commentary .
    • It is insensitive to text size, and has been applied to a wide variety
    of sizes of text.

    Relations

    • Most of the relations have two parts:

    a nucleus and a set of one or more satellites.

    • Some spans are more central to the text's purpose (nuclei),


    whereas others are secondary (satellites).
    • The nucleus is necessary but any satellites are optional .
    • Spans are joined into discourse relations .
    • Spans that are in a discourse relations may enter into new
    relations.

    1
    Relation types

    Subject matter relations those whose intended effect is that the hearer
    recognizes the relation in question. They relate the content of the text
    spans.

    1. Elaboration

    (Set-member, class/instance/whole-part…)

    N: basic information

    S: additional information

    John likes Coffee. He drinks it every day.

    2. Contrast

    Multinuclear

    S: one alternate

    Other Span: the other alternate.

    John likes coffee .Mary hates it.

    3. Explanation

    John went to the coffee shop. He was sleepy.

    Presentational Relations

    • Motivations (increases desire)


    • Background (increases ability)
    • Evidence (increases belief(
    • Enablement (increases ability)
    • Concession (increases positive regard)

    2
    Motivations

    Motivation relates any utterance which expresses the speaker's desire


    that the hearer performs some action (the nucleus) with material which
    will justify the requested action (the satellites (

    1. Come to the party for the new president.


    2. There will be lots of good food .

    A motivation relation exists between 1 and 2.

    Evidence

    Constraints on the Nucleus

    • The reader may not believe N to a degree satisfactory to the


    writer.

    Constraints on the satellite

    • The reader believes S or will find it credible .

    Constraints on the combination of N+S

    • The reader's comprehending S increases their belief of N

    Effect (the intention of the writer)

    • The reader's belief of N is increased

    How to do a RST analysis

    RST provides a systematic way for an analyst to annotate a text .

    1. Divide the text into units .

    Unit size may vary, depending on the goals of the analysis .

    Typically, units are clauses (but not complement clauses)

    2. Examine each unit, and its neighbours .Is there a clear relation
    holding between them?
    3. If yes, then mark that relation (e.g. Condition)

    3
    4. If not, the unit might be at the boundary of a higher-level relation.
    Look at relations holding between larger units (spans) .
    5. Continue unit all the units and the text are accounted for.
    6. Remember, marking a relation involves satisfying all 4 fields
    (especially the effect). The effect is the plausible intention that the
    text creator had.

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