Domain Structure, Rhetorical Structure, And Text Structure

It is generally agreed that text has structure (at least, coherent text does). Therefore, an understanding and appreciation of text structure must play some role in building computational systems that are capable of using text as people do. What is less clear is what are necessary and sufficient sources of structure for a text-using system, and further, what such a system needs to know about and do with these structures in the process of using text. By using text, I mean understanding it or producing it; speaking it, writing it, or thinking about it. In this paper, I present a case for the importance of domain structure in structuring text, and discuss the role of rhetorical structure and intentionality.