The primary goal of coherence theory is to provide an explanation for the coherence properties of discourse: what properties distinguish a discourse from a mere collection of utterances, and what drives comprehenders to draw inferences in service of establishing coherence. However, the importance of coherence theory goes well beyond that; it also plays a crucial role in theories of a variety of discourse-dependent linguistic phenomena. This article surveys some ways in which coherence theory has been leveraged in this way, appealing to both Relational analyses and Question-Under-Discussion models. Theories of coherence establishment should therefore have a place in the linguist's toolbox as a source of explanation in linguistic theory.

中文翻译：

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作为语言理论解释来源的连贯性建立

连贯理论的主要目标是为话语的连贯特性提供一种解释：什么特性将话语与单纯的话语集合区分开来，以及是什么驱使理解者为建立连贯性而进行推论。然而，相干理论的重要性远不止于此。它还在各种依赖于话语的语言现象的理论中发挥着至关重要的作用。本文调查了以这种方式利用连贯理论的一些方法，同时吸引了关系分析和讨论中的问题模型。因此，连贯建立理论应该在语言学家的工具箱中占有一席之地，作为语言理论的解释来源。