CATAPHORIC DEVICES IN SPOKEN DISCOURSE

We propose that speakers mark key words with cataphoric devices. Catap horic devices are counterparts to anaphoric devices: Just as anaphoric devices enable backward reference, cataphoric devices enable forward reference. And just as anaphoric devices mark concepts that have been mentioned before, cataphoric devices mark concepts that are likely to be mentioned again. We investigated two cataphoric devices: spoken str ess and the indefinite this. Our experiments demonstrated three ways t hat concepts marked by cataphoric devices gain a privileged status in listeners' mental representations: Cataphoric devices enhance the acti vation of the concepts that they mark; cataphoric devices suppress the activation of previously mentioned concepts; and cataphoric devices p rotect the concepts that they mark from being suppressed by subsequent ly mentioned concepts. (C) 1995 Academic Press, Inc.