Signaling coherence relations by means of discourse markers makes identification of the relations easier? An investigation of the recognition of the relations by discourse addressees

This paper aims to investigate if the lack of discourse markers to signal coherence relations makes the identification of the relations in undergraduate lectures more difficult or even impossible. The research was performed by presenting ten excerpts of undergraduate lectures for professors. Initially, the excerpts were presented to the informants without the connectors that combine the investigated text spans. Further, the excerpts were presented with the connectors. It was found that, in most instances, the identification of the relations by responders was possible even without the connector, supporting RST's assumption that coherence relations may be held and interpreted even without connectives. Although the informants were able to identify the relations correctly, they considered that signaling the relations by means of connectors facilitates identification.