Contrast and Concession in French and English

Salkie, Raphael; Oates, Sarah Louise

doi:10.1075/lic.2.1.04sal

Article published In: Information Structure in Parallel Texts
Edited by Hilde Hasselgård, Stig Johansson and Cathrine Fabricius-Hansen
[Languages in Contrast 2:1] 1999
► pp. 27–56

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Contrast and Concession in French and English

Raphael Salkie | University of Brighton

Sarah Louise Oates | University of Brighton

Published online: 6 September 2000

https://doi.org/10.1075/lic.2.1.04sal

The discourse markers but and although are similar but not identical in meaning. We investigate the relationship between them using data from the INTERSECT translation corpus. A collection of cases are examined where although corresponds to French mais. In order to explain the correspondences we draw on Rhetorical Structure Theory (RST). By organising RST relations in a hierarchy, and adding a new relation to the inventory of RST relations, we can give a systematic explanation of the relationship between contrast and concession.

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