COHESION AND DISCOURSE

Lecture 12

COHESION

There are four ways by which cohesion is created in English: reference, ellipsis, conjunction, and lexical cohesion.

Cohesion is a process

REFERENCE

Reference first evolved as an ‘exophoric’ relation.

The first type of reference: personals Peter, Peter, pumpkin eater, Had a wife and couldn’t eat her. He put her in a pumpkin shell And there he kept her very well.

REFERENCE

The second type of reference: demonstratives

The third type of reference: comparative reference

ELLIPSIS AND SUBSTITUTION Ellipsis sets up a relationship in the wording

rather than directly in the meaning. Substitution shows where something has

been omitted and what its grammatical function would be.

There are three main contexts for ellipsis and substitution in English: clause, the verbal group, and the nominal group

CONJUNCTION

A range of possible meanings within the domains of elaboration, extension and enhancement is expressed by the choice of a conjunctive adjunct or of one of a small set of conjunctions in thematic position at the beginning of the clause.

LEXICAL COHESION

The choice of lexical items in creating cohesion

Repetition Synonym collocation

TEXTURE

Theme and focus Lexical cohesion and reference Ellipsis and substitution Conjunction Text structure

End of the lecture Thank you for your attention