Lecture 3 discourse analysis

7/29/2019 Lecture 3 discourse analysis

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The Relationship between Coherence & Cohesion

Types of Coherence

Types of Cohesion

Dr. Hameed Al-ZubeiryDiscourse Analysis

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The Relationship between

Coherence & Cohesion

Widdowson (1978) makes a distinction between cohesion andcoherence. According to him,

- Cohesion refers to how sentences and parts of sentences are

combined by using overt lexico-grammatical signals to ensure

that there is propositional development in the discourse.

- Coherence has to do with the relationship between

illocutionary acts (the intended meaning of the utterance by the speaker)

and their function.


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Halliday and Hasan (1976):

-Cohesion refers to the linguistic devices by which the speaker

can signal the experiential (ideational) and interpersonal

coherence of the text, and is thus a textual phenomenon.

- Coherence is in the mind of the writer and reader: it is a

mental phenomenon and cannot be identified or quantified in

the same way as cohesion.



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John (1986) distinguishes between two types of Coherence:

-Text-based coherence and reader-based coherence.

-Text-based coherence is seen as an internal feature of text:

how sentences are linked (cohesion) or how propositions in the

text are related to each other (sticking to the points).

Text-based coherence has to meet the following conditions:

1. Unity of ideas (each idea is related to the main idea).

2. Organization of points (logical sequence of points).

3. Link and reference (cohesion).

Types of Coherence



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Reader based coherence does not reflect the internal

structure of the text but it is related to the meaningful aspect of

writer-reader interaction via the text.



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My father once bought a Lincoln. He did it by saving every

penny he could. That car would be worth a fortune today.

However, he sold it to help pay for my college education.

Sometimes, I thinkId rather have the Lincoln;

My father bought a Lincoln. The car driven by the police was

red. Red doesnt suit her. She wrote three letters. However, a

letter isnt as fast as an e-mail message and, you know, my

mailing box is full of spam.

Read the following and discuss them

in terms of cohesion and coherence:



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Many Linguists like Widdowson, Brown, Yule and Cook hold

the view that coherence can be achieved even in the absence

of cohesion, as is the case in the following example:

Speaker A: Thats the telephone.Speaker B: Im in the bath.

Speaker A: O.K. (Widdowson 1978:29)

Can coherence be achieved in

the absence of Cohesion ?

Widdowson suggests that we are able to recognize this text as

coherent by creating a context and then identifying the functions

that each utterance fulfils within that context. Most native speakers

would create a domestic situational context in which the following

functions are assigned to each utterance:


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Utterance FunctionA: Thats the telephone. Request

B: Im in the bath. Excuse

A: Ok. Acceptance of excuse

Thus in creating a meaningful context and identifying the

functions of each utterance, coherence is established.


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Types of Cohesion

Halliday and Hassan (1976) categorized cohesion into two

cohesive devices: Lexical cohesion and Grammatical cohesion

1. Lexical cohesion: They are divided into reiteration and

collocation

a. Reiteration: the occurrence of the lexical item for a second time

in a text.

i. Repetition of the same word.

- There was a horrible explosion in Boston last month. The explosion

claimed the life of many people.


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ii. The use of synonymy or near-synonymy.

-The man reached the top of the mountain. The peak was covered

with snow.

iii. Superordinator .

- I bought a new Mercedes. The car cost a lot of money.

iv. General word.

- Mosquitoesand flies are hated by all people. These creatures are

harmful.


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b. Collocation: words that tend to occur together in a text.

-At night, people usually sleep. But, during the daythey stay awake.

- In the morning, Huda went to the library, There she read a book and a

journal.

2. Grammatical cohesion: They are divided into reference,

substitution, ellipses and conjunction

a. Reference:

i. anaphoric & cataphoric

Anaphoric reference is a backward pointing in a text.

- Maher is married. He has got two kids. (personal pronoun)

- I visitedAden. There I met my old friend, Adnan.) (adverb of place)


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cataphoric reference is a foreward pointing in a text.

-The story goes like this.Ali attacked the thief but the thief stabbed him .

I dont believe it. Nawals jewels have been stolen.

ii. Demonstrative reference

- The demonstrative pronouns (this, that, these, those)

I dont like tigers. These are wild animals.

- The Definite article (the)

Saeed bought a new car. The car attracts everyone.- The adverbs (here, there, now, then)

Asma visited Jeddah last month. She met her fatherthere.


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iii. Comparative reference

- The boy had a car accident yesterday. He broke his leg. The other

problem is that he got a fracture in his arm. Such problems mean that

he would stay in hospital for several weeks. A differentproblem is that

he damaged his car. Something else happened to him. He broke the

lenses of his pair of glasses.

-A: Would you like this seat.

B: No thanks, Id preferthe otherone.


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b. Substitution: refers to the process of replacing one element by another

in the text. (one, ones, so, not, the same, do)

i. Nominal

-My car is very old. I should buy a new one.

-The man bought a raincoat. His wife bought the same.

ii. Verbal

- A: Did you visit the zoo in Al-Baha? B: Yes, I did.

- A: Do women like gossiping? B: Yes, they doiii. Clausal

- A: Has the dean finished the meeting. B: Yes, I think so.

- A: All the students got few marks in the test. B: I hope not.

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c. Ellipsis: refers to the process of replacing one element by nothing in the text.

i. Nominal

ii. Verbal- A: Will you go to the shop and buy

some biscuit?

B: Hameed will ..

iii. Clausal

-- A:The market is full of varieties

of oranges.

B: Lets buy some ..

-- A: Were you reading Syntax

yesterday?

B: Yes,I was ..

-- A: I bought two pens.

B: Could you lend me one ..

A: Yes, of course.

- A: Why are many students absent

today?

B: I dont know why ..

-- A: Will you help me make tea?

B: Of course ..

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e. Conjunction: deals with the logical and semantic relation in the text.

(then, but, similarly, as a result, next, in addition, however, therefore)

i. Additive: indicates additional information in the text.

-The child broke a glass. He also damaged a plate.

-Hana studied hard last month. Similarly, Sarah spent her time reading in the

library.

ii. Adversative: shows a contrast between two portions of the text.

- I went for a walk with my friend Belal yesterday. When it began raining I took

, Belal preferred to walk in the rain.Howevera taxi home.

, she didnt pass.YetArwa worked very hard for the exam.-

Di A l i


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iii. Causal: shows cause and effectrelation in the text.

, they wereAs a resultTwo students were fighting in the class yesterday.-

dismissed from the college.

, Classes wereBecause of thisLast week it rained heavily in Baljurashi.-

suspended.

iii. Temporal: shows a sequential time link or chronological order in the

text.

, put it onThenfill a kettle with some water.firstIn order to make a cup of tea,-

, add some sugar, tea and milk.After thatfire till it boils.

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Lecture 3 discourse analysis