1 author: Mira Ariel Tel Aviv University 59

What’s good for the discourse is good for the grammar (and vice versa)

The point of section 1 is that grammatical and discoursal constraints are not always separately satisfied. ‘But’, as a sentential connective, I argue below, exhibits discoursal behavior, and discourse ellipsis exhibits grammatical behavior (additional examples can be found in Ariel, forthcoming, especially in 3.2.1). The idea is that grammar may cross the sentence boundary, and discoursal rela- tions may be relevant within the sentence.
Antithesis relations present some text portion (the antithesis) as incom- patible with another text portion (the thesis). Although most discourse coherence relations are inferred, antithesis relations tend to be overtly marked, often with a ‘but’ conjunction (Mann and Thompson, 1988). In addition to the incom- patibility between the two propositions, the speaker also indicates that she endorses just one of them, the thesis, which is the one following ‘but’. Let’s start with a sentential example:
Ariel: Discourse, grammar, discourse 7

1. 
   LYNNE: it d- it sounds easy,
   

.. but it’s really hard to do (SBC: 033).²
This example fits the bill perfectly. It sounds easy (the antithesis) and it’s really hard to do (the thesis) are clearly incompatible with each other. In addition, Lynne only endorses the thesis in the second conjunct (that’s her main point). Sentential antithesis relations seem quite straightforward, then. Now, when we examine discoursal buts the interpretative procedure seems much more complicated. Nevertheless, as we shall see, the same antithesis relations that obtain between two conjuncts of one and the same sentence (as in 1) apply to two independent discourse portions. In fact, extra-sentential complications plague sentential but cases too.
First, consider (2), where the antithesis has to be reconstructed from two separate turns of Miles, as well as from Harold’s turn (all are marked bold):

2. 
   MILES₁: I mean that looks kinda like a Black person. HAROLD₁: With red eyes,