An Algorithmic Approach to Analyzing Rhetorical Structures

Andrew Potter


Abstract
Although diagrams are fundamental to Rhetorical Structure Theory, their interpretation has received little in-depth exploration. This paper presents an algorithmic approach to accessing the meaning of these diagrams. Three algorithms are presented. The first of these, called reenactment, recreates the abstract process whereby structures are created, following the dynamic of coherence development, starting from simple relational propositions, and combing these to form complex expressions which are in turn integrated to define the comprehensive discourse organization. The second algorithm, called composition, implements Marcu’s strong nuclearity assumption. It uses a simple inference mechanism to demonstrate the reducibility of complex structures to simple relational propositions. The third algorithm, called compress, picks up where Marcu’s assumption leaves off, providing a generalized fully scalable procedure for progressive reduction of relational propositions to their simplest accessible forms. These inferred reductions may then be recycled to produce RST diagrams of abridged texts. The algorithms described here are useful in positioning computational descriptions of rhetorical structures as discursive processes, allowing researchers to go beyond static diagrams and look into their formative and interpretative significance.
Anthology ID:
2024.codi-1.1
Volume:
Proceedings of the 5th Workshop on Computational Approaches to Discourse (CODI 2024)
Month:
March
Year:
2024
Address:
St. Julians, Malta
Editors:
Michael Strube, Chloe Braud, Christian Hardmeier, Junyi Jessy Li, Sharid Loaiciga, Amir Zeldes, Chuyuan Li
Venues:
CODI | WS
SIG:
Publisher:
Association for Computational Linguistics
Note:
Pages:
1–11
Language:
URL:
https://aclanthology.org/2024.codi-1.1
DOI:
Bibkey:
Cite (ACL):
Andrew Potter. 2024. An Algorithmic Approach to Analyzing Rhetorical Structures. In Proceedings of the 5th Workshop on Computational Approaches to Discourse (CODI 2024), pages 1–11, St. Julians, Malta. Association for Computational Linguistics.
Cite (Informal):
An Algorithmic Approach to Analyzing Rhetorical Structures (Potter, CODI-WS 2024)
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https://aclanthology.org/2024.codi-1.1.pdf
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