Discourse analysis session 5_6_09_11_2021 Cohesion.pdf

Department of English Language and Literature
Major: English Language and Literature
Discourse Analysis
Sessions 5, & 6
(Students’ presentations + recap session)
Dr. Badriya Al Mamari
Academic year 2021/2022

Concepts in co-text: Cohension and coherence
Cohension and coherence are terms used in discourse
analysis and text linguistics to describe the properties of
written texts.
Cohesion is the link to hold sentences, ideas and details fit
together clearly and smoothly. It is an action forming a united
whole.
Coherence is the quality of being logical and consistent (unity)

Importance of coherence and cohesion
a) in order to help readers to interpret ideas in the way the
writer want them to understand.
b) to achieve a consistent relationship among text.
c)cohesive devices link your sentences and paragraphs
together smoothly so that there are no abrupt jumps or breaks
between ideas.

Types of Cohesion
1.Grammatical cohesion: 2.Lexical cohesion

1.1. Reference

2.1.Repetition

1.2.Substitution

2.2.Superordinates

1.3.Ellipsis

2.3.General words

1.Reference
Reference is the specific nature of the information that is signaled for
retrieval.
Reference is used to describe the different ways in which entities-
things, people, events- are referred to within texts.
• There are range of linguistic features, which enables speakers and
writers to make such references, (for example pronouns), may refer to
entities already mentioned or about to be mentioned.
• There are certain terms in any language which cannot be
interpreted semantically in their own right, rather, they make
reference to something else within the text for their interpretation.

Reference can be sub-categorized in the following:

1.Exophoric Reference
Grammatical term used to describe a linguistic feature in a text,
which refers to something outside of that text.
words such as: there, that, or here, when these are not further
explained in the text.
Example1: “The book is over there”
Example 2: He’s late again. Can you believe it.

➢ As readers outside of this environment, we are unfamiliar
with who the , there, and he is that is being referred to,
but, most likely, the people involved are aware of them.
 When the meaning is not explicit from the text itself, but is
obvious to those in a particular situation. This is called
exophoric reference.
 More examples:
Tom said that he would be here by 10.
I couldn’t believe it. The house had been destroyed!

2.Endophoric Reference
 Grammatical term used to describe forms of reference made within any given text
to other elements within the text.
 Example1: ‘She gave the books to John. He left the room.
He is an example of endophoric reference, referring to John.
Example 2: Wash and peel the six potatoes. Put them into the plate.
them referred back to potatoes.
➢ Reference signals to the reader what kind of information is to be retrieved. Them,
therefore, signals to the reader that he or she needs to look back in the text to find
its meaning.

Endophoric relations are categorized either as:
(i) Anaphoric (Reference back)
(ii) Cataphoric (Reference forward)

a.Anaphoric Reference
Grammatical term used to describe a linguistic feature, which refers
to a previously mentioned element in any given text.
Example1:
“The water system is failing because of old pipes and shortage of
qualified technicians to repair them. These are the reasons why change
is necessary”.
These has an anaphoric function, referring back to the reasons given in
the preceding part of the text.

b.Cataphoric Reference
 Grammatical term used to describe a linguistic feature, which refers forward to
another element in any given text.
Example1:
‘Here are two examples of fossil fuels: Coal and wood’.
The word here has a cataphoric function.
Example2:
Child: Why does that one go?
Father: that what?
Child: that one
Father: that one what?
Child: that parrot, that you kept in in the cage.

Example: We went to Salalah for a holiday. The people we
stayed with had four children.The eldest boy was about nine.
 The first the is cataphoric since there is no lexical relation
between people and anything in the preceding sentence.
 The second the is both cataphoric and anaphoric
 Anaphoric: boy is related to children
 Cataphoric: eldest defines boy

Other Types Of Reference
3.Personal Reference (Person )
4. Demonstrative Reference ( Proximity)
5. Comparative Reference (General/ Particular Comparison)

3.Personal Reference
❖ a reference by means of person, includes;
Personal pronouns (e.g. I, he, she)
Possesive pronouns (e.g. mine, hers, his)
Possesive determiners (e.g. my, your, her)
Example1: English is considered as an international language. It is
spoken by almost more than 300 million people all over the
world.
Example2:They told me you had gone by her car

4.Demonstrative Reference
❖ essentially a form of verbal pointing
❖ the speaker identifies the referent by locating it on a scale of
proximity.
Example:
 this, these and here imply proximity to the speaker;
 that, those and there imply distance from the speaker.

❖ Like personals, the demonstratives regularly refer exophorically
to something within the context of situaiton.
Examples: 1.How do you like a cruise in that yacht?
2.Pick these up!

5.Comparative Reference
❖ contributes to textual cohesion by setting up a relation of
contrast.
❖ expressed by such adjactives as same, identical, equal, adjectives
in a comparative degree such as bigger,faster and adverbs such
as identically, likewise, so, such etc.
Examples: 1.She has a similarly furnished room to mine.
2.The little dog barked as noisily as the big one.
3.They asked me three equally difficult questions.

1.2.Substitution :
◼ Replacement of one item by another.
A relation in the wording rather than in the meaning.
It is somewhat different from reference in that another word
takes the place of the thing that is being discussed.
Types of Substitution:
1.Nominal
2.Verbal
3.Clausal

1.Nominal Substitution
Afor noun head : one/ ones
Bfor nominal complement : the same
Cfor attribute : so
❖ Examples:
1.Let's go and see the bears. The polar ones are over on that rock.
2.Winter is often so damp. The same is true for the summer.
3. A:John seems to be intelligent. B:Is he really so?

2.Verbal Substitution
A  for verb : do, be , have
B  for process : do the same /likewise
C  for proposition : do so, be so
Examples:
1.I finally planted a rose. I have wanted to do (so) for a long
time.
2.After I stopped writing for some time, the words did not come
to the same as they used to do.
3..Has he moved his car from the entrance? Yes, he has done so.

3.Clausal Substitution
A for positive : so
B for negative : not
In clausal substitution the entire clause is presupposed, and the
contrasting element is outside the clause.
Examples:
1.A:If you've seen them so often, you get to know them very well.
B:I believe so.
2.A: Everyone thinks he’s guilty. If so, no doubt he’ll go to prison.
3.We should recognise him when we see him. B: Yes, but supposing
not; what do we do?

3.Ellipsis
Deletion of words, expressions or phrases, which are readily implied
by the context and simply ‘substituted by zero’.
Types of Ellipsis:
1.Nominal
2.Verbal
3.Clausal

1.Nominal Ellipsis :
Examples of : Ellipsis within the nominal group.
1.A:Here are thirteen cards. Take any. Now give me any three.
2.Some say one thing, others say another.
3.A:Which hat will you wear ? B:This is the best.
4.A:Have another chocolate. B: No thanks; that was my third.
5.A:Smith was the first person to leave. I was the second.

2.Verbal Ellipsis
Examples of :Ellipsis within the verbal group.
1. A:Have you been swimming? B:Yes, I have.
2.A:What have you been doing? B:Swimming.
3.A:Is he complaining? B:He may be; I don’t care.
4.A:I haven’t finished it yet. B:I hope you’re going to have by
tomorrow.
5.A:Some were laughing and others cyring. were you laughing?
B:No I wasn’t.
7. A:John came, did not he? B:No, but he will.

3.Clausal Ellipsis
Ellipsis in which an entire clause is deleted from a sentence.
Examples :
1.A:Smith was going to take part but somebody telephoned and
asked to see him urgently so he had to leave. B: Who ?
2. A:I kept quiet because Mary gets embarrassed if anyone
mentions about John’s name. I don’t know why.
3.A:Who could have broken those windows? I can’t think who.

Discourse analysis session 5_6_09_11_2021 Cohesion.pdf

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Discourse analysis session 5_6_09_11_2021 Cohesion.pdf