A Linguistic Approach to Some Parameters of Layout: A Study of Enumerations

This paper reports on a multi-faceted study of enumerations involving linguists, psycholinguists and computer scientists. Our first point is that layout must be seen as a combination of lexicosyntactic and visual features, which we call "formatting", rather than restricted to visual features. The article lays down the theoretical bases for a model of text architecture making explicit the relations between discursive and visual formulations.corpus-based study of enumerations, which considers standard and non-standard forms, enables us to put the architecture model to the test. We identify major markers (typographical, layout, lexico-syntactic markers), and arrive at fine-grained characterization and a classification of enumerations. As regards text organization, we show that in order to arrive at a complete and precise representation, we need to articulate and integrate the two models used: the architecture model and RST. In this paper, we present a linguistic approach to some parameters of layout. We will however refer to "formatting", rather than layout, as the relations between syntactic, typographic and layout features are central to our outlook (see section 1). The term "formatting" 1 denotes all these features. Our motivation is twofold. First, we consider formatting devices to have a specific semantics: it can be shown that different formatting choices represent different text structures, associated with different textual meanings; moreover, formatting differences have an impact on comprehension and recall (see last section). Our first motivation is to determine the best text formatting according to specific needs. Secondly, it has been shown in previous work (Pascual 1996) that text formatting