Disourse and Pragmatics

LIN 207
Coherence & cohesion
Week 2 of 14

Lets analyse this text

Taken from How to fly a kite, Catch a fish, Grow a flower and cited in Bloor and Bloor,
The functional Analysis of English, (1995).

o What does language mean in this text?

o Language has a meaning functions or a
metafunction
o Metafunction - A function that realizes other

Metafunction of language (Halliday,

1974)

1. Ideational metafunction = language is used

to organize, understand and express our
perceptions of the world and our awareness of
the world.
1. Experiential
convey human
experience
(content or ideas)

2. Logical - relationship
between ideas and
content
of reason between the
two main ideas

Metafunction of language (Halliday,

1976)
2. Interpersonal metafunction
= language allows us

o Reveals
authors
attitude and
opinion with
use of
modality.
o advising
parents /
target
audience

urgent

to participate in communicative acts with other people. (to

take on roles, to express and understand feelings, attitudes
and judgments

A suggestion / reader may or may not

reject this

Metafunction of language (Halliday,

1976)
Textual metafunction = the aspect of language that allows what
is said or written to be related to the rest of what is said or
written.
Language has a function of organizing itself ways in which texts
hang together as texts.
o This function
is realized
through the
Word order of
the sentences.
o Message is
sequenced
and text is
very coherent
and cohesive.

o When a text hang together it has textuality.

o So what is a text?

What is a text?
o A text is any passage( of language) ,
spoken or written , of whatever length that
forms a unified whole (Halliday and
Hassan, 1976)
o What provides the unity is texture a text
(as opposed to a non text) has texture

What is Texture?
A: What time is it, love?
B: Julie left her car at the
station today.

o What scenarios can you

think of to link these two
utterances?

o Language is essentially tied to linear sequences

whereby one part of a text (sentence or turn at talk)
must follow another part of the text (the next
sentence or turn at talk).
o Each part of the text creates the context within which
the next bit of the next text is interpreted.
o We construct relationships between what is said/
written NOW and what was said/written a moment
ago.
o TEXTURE IS SEQUENTIAL IMPLICATIVENESS
o Therefore if texts are to make sense to readers the
links between the parts have to be easily
recoverable.

Text or non- text?

Im from England
Ive been here 20 years now.
I really like it here.

Im from England
Cabbages are green.
Is there a doctor in the house?

Text or non- text?

o Not a meaningful whole.

o Only commonality
between the sentences
is grammatical
parallelism.
o ( A subject, a present
continuous perfect
aspect verbal group,
either a direct object or
an expression of
location, followed by a
prepositional phrase
expressing duration.

o Each sentence is
grammatically
incorrect.
o This is a non-text.
Because for a text to be
a text, it has to be
grammatically
coherent.

o Both texts has no communicative

function and are therefore no texts.
o Missing: contextual or situational
coherence.

COHERENCE
2 types of coherence
A text has situation coherence when we can think
of one situation in which all the clauses of the text
could occur, i.e. when we can specify a field, a
mode, and tenor for the entire collection of clause.
A text has generic coherence when we can
recognize the text as an example of a particular
genre, i.e. when can identify a schematic structure,
with each part of the text expressing one element in
the unfolding, staged organization of the language
event.

TEXT OR NON TEXT

o What is lacking in this text?

o Situational coherence all of the instances
mentioned in the text are unlikely to occur together.
o Coherence of field- from mice, to Paris, to a race and
to chocolate crackles.
o Coherence of mode: Both written language and
spoken. (Spoken parts do not cohere with the written
parts)
o Coherence of tenor: The speaker or the writers role
in the text is not clear.

TEXT OR NON TEXT

A non text but seems like a text too. Why?

Orientation: a narrative is
about to be told.
Setting: the time and
place.
Complication: events
leading up to a climax
Climax: a pivotal moment
Resolution: how things get
resolved
Evaluation: judgments
and commentary on the
story
Coda: wrapping things up
and pointing out a moral

TEXT OR NON TEXT

o Text has generic coherence but lacks situational

coherence.
o Is not one story but a number of them. (its not one
context upon which the story is built upon
o Some cohesiveness between conjunctions; (that, so)
o Participants keep change.

Cohesion
o Coherence refers to a paragraphs external
contextual properties.
o Cohesion refers to the a paragraphs internal
properties.
o Lack of contextual coherence is reflected in and
is a reflection of , its accompanying lack of
internal organization, i.e. its lack of cohesion.
o IMPLICATIVE SEQUENTIALNESS: The key idea
in cohesion is that there is a semantic tie
between an item at one point in a text and an
item at another point.

Cohesion

Text is numbered but is to be read as one piece

o This is a non text.

o Kinds of activities
change from sentence
to sentence
o White mice (1) to
weather (2) races
starting (3) dont know
what 4 is about (5)
cookery

o Participants
o Tiptoe is introduced but
never referred to again.
o (2) Paris
o (3) Race is new and
presented as though we
knew which one but no
prior mention has been
made
o (4) What is it and so?

Cohesion

o Does have some aspects of

texture
o Lexical links between words in
different sentences
o Cheese is repeated in
sentence 1 and 2.
o Cheese is a type of dairy
product mentioned in 3.
o Dairy product link with milk
o Milk with calcium
o Calcium with vitamin
deficiency

o Participants keep changing

o Generic coherence is
lacking
o Each sentence seem to be
drawn from a different
genre.

Cohesion

o
o
o
o
o

It has limited internal cohesion.

It (2) refers to the book
He (3) refers to Michael.
She (4) refers to Jane
Together (5) refers to Michael
and Jane.
o This text has referential
cohesion.
o It is a recount. Each sentence
reports what occurs next.

o But it does not have

lexical cohesiveness.
o 1. book, glove
compartment, take, give
o Smell, terrible
o Coughed, said
o Asked, pretty
o cook

o Without lexical cohesiveness it is difficult to construct a context

with which a text is concerned.

Cohesion

This ilooks like a rcount

Telling of personal experience
Schematic structure orientation (1)
Sequence of events (2 -7)
paragraphs have consistency in lexical items (Paris, sightseeing,
Lourve, weather terms, referntial cohesion ( I and we )

Cohesion

o The logical relationship (conjunctions) between

sentences are used incorrectly.
o Therefore there is a problem with its
conjunctive cohesion.

o Instead of a relation of cause/

consequence we are confronted
with a concessive relationship
(however(
o Instead of a relationship of
contrast between what we had
hoped to do and what we
actually do, we actually get a
relationship of addition created
(and)
o Meanwhile expresses temporal
simultaneity, yet there is no
other action for this one to be
simultaneous with; prior to that
is totally confusing.
o Instead of the conclusion be
presented because of the prior
events, the writer uses in
addition which is not logical,

Cohesion

o Has a recount structure

o Shows Consistency of participants - referential
cohesion .
o Shows Consistency of lexical choice.
o Has conjunctive cohesion.
o No use is made of devices for avoiding
retrievable and redundant information.

Cohesion

o Reference ties make the Mark

of (1) retrievable as the
identity of the he used later.
Lisa is retrievable for she
o Lexical ties link the processes
of offering chocolates taking
chocolates .eating
chocolates.
o Conjunctive cohesion the
logical relations we expect in
a recount are also observed,
with the clauses linked both
causally (so) and temporally
(then).
o Substitution and ellipsis create
ties another must be related
to one of the chocolates.