Discourse Analysis

A discourse is behavioral unit. It is a set of utterances which constitute a recognizable speech

event e.g. a conversation, a joke, a sermon, an interview etc. In its historical and etymological
perspective the term is used in different perspectives e.g.
Verbal communication.
All this fine talk.
Direct / indirect speech.
To chat.
In order to narrow down the range of possible meanings, the modern linguists have given
different views or definitions.
Example:
Discourse is written as well as spoken: every utterance assuming a speaker and a hearer
as discourse.
(Benvenisle, 1971: 208-9)

An individualizable group of statements and sometimes as a regulated practice that

counts for a number of statements.
(Foucault, 1972: 80)

The specification with the term is that discourse must be used with its social purpose
this is the main specification of discourse.
The brief difference between discourse and text, I think, will facilitate to better
understand the term Discourse.

What is discourse analysis?

SUMMARY

Discourse can be defined in two ways:

1. A structural definition of discourse defines it as a unit of language above the level of the sentence.
This approach looks for constituents which have particular relationships with each other and that can occur in a
restricted number of arrangements. The problem with this approach is that the units in which people speak do
not look like sentences and are often not grammatically correct.
2. A functional approach to discourse claims that language has multiple functions. The task of discourse
analysis using this approach is to analyse the functions of language, the way that language is used (meaning
as use), what we do with language when we use it. In other words discourse analysis views discourse as a social
phenomenon rather than a purely linguistic one.

Discourse analysis influences and is influenced by a number of other disciplines (slide 11). It is
highly practical and is used in all areas of communication (especially institutional areas such as medicine, law
and education) and with all forms of talk speech and written texts, everyday language, specialised language,
formal and informal language. Discourse analysis also examines how language is used to sustain social
institutions and manipulate opinion; how it is used in the expression of ideology and the exercise of power.
Discourse analysis can also be used to develop awareness of linguistic features in the interpretation of literary
texts.

Discourse refers to both written texts and oral texts. It is important to identify whether a text
is written or oral. There are also some texts which have both written and oral characteristics at the same time.
Internet chat for example is essentially a written form of speech. On the other hand a university lecture may be a
spoken form of writing. So it is important to analyse the spoken and written characteristics of discourse (we will
do this in later lessons).

There are a number of approaches to discourse analysis, some of which we will be looking at
this semester: speech act theory, interactional sociolinguistics, ethnography, pragmatics and conversation
analysis are the most important ones.

To sum up, examines spoken communication (talk/speech/spoken texts/spoken messages) between speaker(s)
and listener(s) and written communication (texts/messages) between reader(s) and writer(s). It stresses the need
to see language as a dynamic, social interactive phenomenon. Meaning is conveyed not by single sentences but
by more complex exchanges, in which the participants beliefs and expectations, the knowledge they share
about each other and about the world, and the situation in which they interact, play a crucial part.

Difference between Discourse and Text

Discourse Analysis focuses on the structure of naturally spoken language as found in

conversation interviews, commentaries and speeches.

Text analysis focuses on the structure of written language, as found in such text as essays,
notices, road signs and chapters.
(Crystal. 1987)
 Some scholars talk about spoken or written discourse other about spoken or written
text
(Crystal. 1987)

It means discourse and text can be used almost synonymously. But a distinction is always
there and that in discourse has some social purpose while text fulfills the function of
communication of some meaning only. As suggested by Michel Stubbs (1983) who treats text
and discourse as more or less synonymous.

Hawthorn (1992) says text may be non-interactive where as a discourse is interactive.

Means to say text is non-interactive thats it only fulfils the function of conveying some
meaning. But discourse is always involved in two ways responses in some formal or informal
conversation and dialogues etc.
Hawthorn (1992) further says discourse is a linguistic communication seen as a
transaction between speaker and hearer. While text is also a linguistics communication (either
spoken or written) seen simply as a message coded in its auditory or visual medium

To conclude we can say discourse and text have something in common as both use the
medium of language whether in sign language. Both have some meaning that they try to convey.
But text has a limited scope as compare with discourse. In other words we can say
discourse is somewhat broad category in the system of language. And text deals with the written
from of language. Discourse has different form as Discourse of Advertising, Discourse of
Racism, Discourse of Medical etc. But text has no such forms. Discourse can be found with in
text. And not vice versa. Text has its maximum interpretation in its ownself but discourse has a
lot of things above the language level.

Discourse analysis
 Discourse analysis is an attempt to discover linguistic regularities in discourse using
grammatical, phonological and semantic criteria e.g. cohesion, anaphora, inter sentence
connectivity etc. It is an effort to interpreter what the writer or speaker intended to convey with
in a sensitive social context.
Example:
Father: Is that your coat on the floor again?
Son: yes (goes on reading)
Here in the above example Discourse Analysis says that the answer of the son is not clear
one. It shows the exploitation of ambiguity about fathers command to pick up his coat. Rather
the son deals his fathers command as a simple content question which can be answered in
yes /no.
Discourse Analysis is a process in which the reader and listeners mind is working up on
the linguistic features of the utterance to grasp the intended meaning of the writer or speaker.
Even if the utterances or sentences are ungrammatical the Discourse Analysis makes us
grasp the intended meaning.

Example:
My natal was in a small town, very close to Riyadh capital of Saudi Arabia. The distance
between my town and Riadh 7 miles exactly. The name of this Almasani that means in English
factories. It takes its name from the people carrer. In childhood I remember the people live. It
was very simple most the people was farmer.

The above paragraph is full of grammatical mistakes since by Discourse Analysis of this
text we can grasp mostly what are the informations the writer wants to communicate.
Discourse concerns with communication so Discourse Analysis gives us the interpretation
of the communicated commodity.
 Devices for Discourse Analysis
We use different tools for Discourse Analysis. Some of them are as under:

(i)Cohesion
Cohesion refers to the ties and connections which exist within texts that link different parts of
sentences or larger unit of discourse.

Cohesive Devices

(a)Anaphoric Relation

Interpretation of text from some previously expressed idea entity.

Example:
He did that there.
Every word has some anaphoric reference with which interpretation could not be made.

(b) Cataphoric Relation

It means referring forward. It refers the identity what is being expressed and what is to be
expressed.
Example:
Here is the 9, O Clock news.
By using these relation and links we can better interpret and analyzed
discourse.

(2)Coherence
 The language users try to come to an interpretation in the scenario of knowledge of the
world they posses. Coherence is not something which exists in the language but something
which exists in people. By using coherence the reader arums semantic unity the paragraph.
Example:
Her: Thats the telephone
Him: I am in the both.
Her: Ok.
We can interpret the above dialogue with the help of conventional action and by our
background knowledge that someone in the bathroom can not attend the telephone.

(3) Parallelism
Parallelism means side by side. In some piece of literature some comparisons or
contrasts go side be side with each other. They also help to interpreter the whole text.
Example:
In Jane Austens Pride and Prejudice, good marriages and bad marriages are
compared and contrasted on parallel levels.

(4) Speech Events

Speech events are mainly concerned what people say in different environment e.g.
Debate, interview, discussions, quiz etc are different Speech Events. Speakers may have
different speech roles as friend, strangers, young or old of equal or unequal status
This background knowledge about the personality and environment give a better
comprehension for better interpretation of discourse.

(5) Background Knowledge

Background knowledge can be very much helpful in interpreting any text.
Schema and script are two terms that comprise the background knowledge. Schema and script
tells us what is actually the real situation and what are the actions.
Schema is conventional knowledge which exists in memory.

Script is essentially a dynamic schema in which conventional action takes place.

The schema of a supermarket holds the knowledge food displayed on shelves, checkout
counters etc.
While in script such actions are involved as going to movies, eating in a restaurant etc.

Example:
Trying not to be out of the office Suzy went into the nearest place, sat down and
ordered a sandwich.

Here in the above example the background knowledge of the situation and the action can
be traced out through the schema and script as:

Schema tells us:

Suzy may be an office girl
The nearest place is some restaurant.

Script tells us:

About the action she performed as:
Firstly, she unlocked the door.
Secondly, she walked to the nearest restaurant.
Thirdly, she opened the door of the restaurant. etc.

Here schema and script tells us what is actually the real situation and what are the actions.

(6). Conversational Interaction

 Conversation is an activity where for the most part two or more people take turn at
speativn: in these tusns at speaking one has to pick up the completion point to take his turn to
speak. This is conversational interaction.
During the discourse we not only taking part in conversation but we are also analyzing. The
discourse simultaneously. So in the conversation turn taking helps us to successfully complete
the discourse.

(7) The co-operation principle

Grice (1975) set Four Maxims which say that in conversational exchanges the
participants are in fact co-operating with each other.

What?

Implicature is defined as "the implied meaning generated intentionally by the speaker [1] These meanings are
often made covertly, hidden using politeness strategies (See Example Research: Politeness Theory).

Example:
John: Do you want to come to the pub?
Fred: I'm washing my hair.

In this example, it seems as though Fred isn't actually answering the question. He certainly doesn't actually say
whether or not he will go to the pub with John. The implicature of his response, though, is that he isn't coming.
He has conveyed a meaning, intentionally, without explicitly stating it.

The Co-operative Principle is the collective name for Paul Grice's four conversational maxims which enable
effective and cooperative conversation. Paul Grice (who you can find out more about here: Who does
Pragmatics?) came up with these not as a set of prescriptive rules that people should follow in conversation, but
as a means of describing and analysing the way people convey meanings in real life interactions:

Much pragmatic research goes into instances when theses maxims are broken which can be done in one of two
ways:
Flouting - overtly (obviously) breaking a maxim.
Violating - covertly (secretly) breaking a maxim.
Both of these are done to achieve something in the course of the conversation.

Presupposition
a presupposition (or ps) is an implicit assumption about the world or background belief relating to an utterance
whose truth is taken for granted in discourse. Examples of presuppositions include:
Jane no longer writes fiction.
 o Presupposition: Jane once wrote fiction.

Have you stopped eating meat?

o Presupposition: you had once eaten meat.

Have you talked to Hans?

o Presupposition: Hans exists.

A presupposition must be mutually known or assumed by the speaker and addressee for the utterance to be
considered appropriate in context. It will generally remain a necessary assumption whether the utterance is
placed in the form of an assertion, denial, or question, and can be associated with a specific lexical item or
grammatical feature (presupposition trigger) in the utterance.
Crucially, negation of an expression does not change its presuppositions: I want to do it again and I don't want
to do it again both presuppose that the subject has done it already one or more times; My wife is pregnant and
My wife is not pregnant both presuppose that the subject has a wife. In this respect, presupposition is
distinguished from entailment and implicature. For example, The president was assassinated entails that The
president is dead, but if the expression is negated, the entailment is not necessarily true.

Implicature
The term Implicature accounts for what a speaker can imply, suggest or mean, as distinct from what the speaker literally
says. (Grice,1975) Implicature is one of the ways that one proposition can be conveyed by a speaker uttering or under
appropriate.

Types of implicature

The cooperative principle

Make your conversational contribution such as is required, at the stage at which it occurs, by the accepted purpose or
direction of the talk exchange in which you are engaged (Yule, 1966)

In other words, the listener presumes that the speaker is being cooperative and is speaking truthfully, informatively,
relevantly, exactly, and appropriately.

The maxims of Quantitya.

Make your contribution as informative as is required (for the current purposes of the exchange). Giving only the necessary amount of
information - not too much or too little.

Do not make your contribution one that is true.

Example:
A: are you at the office: yes, I am. You will see me at room 12 of Halley building.

The maxims of Qualitya

Only speaking the truth - not knowingly giving false information.

Do not say what you believe to be false.

Do not say that for which you lack evidence.

Example:
A: Do you think that smoking is good for health?
B: No, I think its not good for our health.

The maxim of Relationa

Being relevant to the current topic of conversation.
Example:
A: why do you learn English?B; Yes, I learn it because of my hobby.
The maxims of mannera
1. Avoid obscurity of expression.
2. Avoid ambiguity
3. be brief
4. Be orderly
example:
A: what do you think about Ha Long Bay?B: I like Ha Long Bay, it has a lot ofbeautiful caves.

Generalized implicature
Definition:- is a conversational implicature that is inferable without reference to a special context.( no special knowledge
is required to figure out the additional meaning)=> It means that a generalized conversational implicature is one which
does not depend on particular features of the context, but is instead typically associated with the proposition expressed.
10. Generalized implicature Example 1:A: Did you send a message to Tu and Thu?B: I sent a message to Tu. Example
2:The leader asked a staff:- How do you feel about Nam these days?- He usually goes out late at night with someonewho
has a husband.- Thats so bad ... Do you know who that womanis?- Yes. She is his wife.

conversational implicatures
conventional implicatures
John is stupid
Implicatures and indirectness. Both kinds of implicatures are of great interest for discourse analysis. When there is a
mismatch between the expressed meaning and the implied meaning we deal with indirectness. Indirectness is a universal
phenomenon: it occurs in all natural languages.

Felicity conditions
These are conditions necessary to the success of a speech act. They take their name from a Latin root
- felix or happy. They are conditions needed for success or achievement of a performative. Only certain
people are qualified to declare war, baptize people or sentence convicted felons. In some cases, the speaker must
be sincere (as in apologizing or vowing) and external circumstances must be suitable.
Sentences can go wrong in a number of ways: words might be mispronounced (for example, we might say "No bout
adout it" instead of "No doubt about it"), or we might make an irregular verb regular even though we don't normally do
so (for example, we might say "he swimmed" instead of "he swam.") Speech acts can go wrong, too, by being
situationally inappropriate.
Suppose that two people in a bar who have had too much to drink decide to get married and go up to the bartender
and ask him to marry them. Suppose that the bartender used to be a court clerk and remembered exactly what must
be said and done to marry people. Suppose, finally, that they go through the whole ceremony in front of witnesses,
and that the bartender concluded by saying, I hereby pronounce you husband and wife. Saving this, in this context,
would not effect a marrying of these two people, and not necessarily because they are drunk or they are in a bar, but
simply because the bartender doesn't have the official social and legal status required to marry people. The marriage
pronouncement is, therefore, situationally inappropriate, and we say in such cases that the speech act in question is
infelicitous - has gone awry.
Another situation:
Suppose You see a man snatch a ladys bag and run. You chase the man and when you catch him you hold his
hands behind his back and say, You are under arrest.
Would the man consider himself under arrest? Why?
Or, you are standing by the entrance to Ameenee Building, waiting for a friend. Someone comes and parks a
huge truck in front of the building, blocking the entrance completely. The driver gets out and walks away. When
the security guard comes out you are the only one standing near the truck. The Guard says to you, Please move
the truck.
Obviously there are conditions for speech act to be effective.
Only certain people (often in certain circumstances) under particular conditions can say something and expect it
to have an effect. These conditions that need to be met in order for a speech act to be effective are known as
felicity conditions .e.g. felicity conditions for an order are:
1. The speaker believes the action should be done.
2. The hearer has the ability to do the action
3. The hearer has the obligation to do the action
4. The speaker has the right to tell the receiver to do the action
Loosely speaking, felicity conditions can be divided into 3 types:
1. Preparatory conditions,
2. Conditions for execution
3. Sincerity conditions.
Preparatory conditions
Preparatory conditions include factors such as the status or authority of the speaker to perform the speech act,
the situation of other parties. The situation of the utterance is important.
e.g. qualified referees) cannot do so.
Conditions for execution
Conditions for execution are often exaggerated. Ritual or ceremonial actions accompanying certain speech act
are so ingrained in our minds that we sometimes believe the act is invalidated, if the action is lacking but there
are few real examples of this. Take refereeing of association football. When a referee cautions a player, he (or
she) should take the player's name, number and note the team for which he plays. The referee may also display a
yellow card, but this is not necessary to the giving of the caution:
The mandatory use of the cards is merely a simple aid for better communication.
Sincerity Conditions
Simple speaking these show that the speaker actually intends what s/he says. Like in the case for apologizing or
promising, it is often impossible for others to determine whether or not sincerity conditions are fulfilled.
However there are some speech acts (e.g. finalizing a contract/deal) where this sincerity is determined by the
presence of witnesses; so that one (or more) of the parties cannot later claim that they didnt really mean it.
 Preparatory conditions
requires that the speech act is embedded in a context that is conventionally recognized, thus, just by uttering
a promise, the event will not happen by itself.
Preparatory conditions include the status or authority of the speaker to perform the speech act, the situation of
other parties and so on.
So, in order to confirm a candidate, the speaker must be a bishop; but a mere priest can baptize people, while
various ministers of religion and registrars may solemnize marriages (in England). In the case of marrying, there
are other conditions - that neither of the couple is already married, that they make their own speech acts, and so
on. We sometimes speculate about the status of people (otherwise free to marry) who act out a wedding scene in
a play or film - are they somehow, really, married? In Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare has no worries, because
the words of the ceremony are not spoken on stage, and, anyway, Juliet's part is played by a boy. (Though this
may make the wedding scene seem blasphemous to some in the audience.)
In the UK only the monarch can dissolve parliament. A qualified referee can caution a player, if he or she is
officiating in a match. The referee's assistant (who, in the higher leagues, is also a qualified referee) cannot do
this.

The situation of the utterance is important. If the US President jokingly declares war on another country in a
private conversation, then the USA is not really at war. This, in fact, happened (on 11 August 1984),
when Ronald Reagan made some remarks off-air, as he thought, but which have been recorded for posterity:
My fellow Americans, I'm pleased to tell you today that I've signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever.
We begin bombing in five minutes".

Conditions for execution

requires that involved parties all intend the result, e.g. a promise changes state of speaker from
obligation to non-obligation.

Conditions for execution can assume an exaggerated importance. We are so used to a ritual or ceremonial action
accompanying the speech act that we believe the act is invalidated, if the action is lacking - but there are few
real examples of this.

In knighting their subjects, English monarchs traditionally touch the recipient of the honour on both shoulders
with the flat side of a sword blade. But this, too, is not necessary to the performance of the speech act.
A story is told in Oxford of a young man, taking his final exams, who demanded a pint of beer from the
invigilators. He pointed out that he was wearing his sword, as required by the mediaeval statute that made
provision for the drink. The invigilator (exam supervisor), believing the young man's version of events, brought
the beer, but checked the statutes. Later the young man received a fine - he had not, as the statute also required,
been wearing his spurs. The story may well be an urban myth (the writer heard it several times from different
sources), but illustrates neatly a condition of execution.

Sincerity conditions
--requires that the speaker is sincere in uttering the declaration, e.g. a promise is only effective when the speaker
really intends to carry it out.

At a simple level these show that the speaker must really intend what he or she says. In the case of apologizing
or promising, it may be impossible for others to know how sincere the speaker is. Moreover sincerity, as a
genuine intention (now) is no assurance that the apologetic attitude will last, or that the promise will be kept.
There are some speech acts - such as plighting one's troth or taking an oath - where this sincerity is determined
by the presence of witnesses. The one making the promise will not be able later to argue that he or she didn't
really mean it.
A more complex example comes in the classroom where the teacher asks a question, but the pupil supposes that
the teacher knows the answer and is, therefore, not sincere in asking it. In this case Can you, please, tell me
X? may be more acceptable to the child than What is X?
We can also use our understanding of sincerity conditions humorously, where we ask others, or promise
ourselves, to do things which we think the others know to be impossible: Please can you make it sunny
tomorrow?
Speech Acts
Just as people can perform physical acts, such as hitting a baseball, they can also perform mental acts, such as
imagining hitting a baseball. People can also perform another kind of act simply by using language. These are called
speech acts.

We use language to do an extraordinary wide range of activities. We use it to convey information, request information,
give orders, make requests, make threats, give warnings, make bets, give advice, etc, as the following sentences
suggest:
1. John Jones has five dollars.
2. Who ate my soup?
3. Shut up.
There can be little doubt that our ability to do things with language - to perform speech acts - that makes language
useful to us. In fact, with language, we can do things that otherwise would be impossible. Consider (4) a request for a
hearer to scratch the speaker's back. If we did not have language, how would this request be made? How would the
hearer know that the speaker means scratch and not rub? How would the hearer know that this action was a request
and not an order?

POLITENESS
WHAT IS POLITENESS?
In a common sense, being polite is showing good manners and consideration for other people. e.g. Open the
door for a lady, give your seat to an elderly person in public transport.In Linguistic, politeness is the way people
choose to speak and how the hearers react to their speech.
Brown and Levinson (1978) have concluded that, in order to enter into social relationships, all people must
acknowledge the face of other people. As a technical term, face means the public self-image of a person. It
refers to that emotional and social sense of self that everyone has and expects everyone else to recognize.
Politeness is best expressed as the practical application of good manners or etiquette. It is a culturally defined
phenomenon, and therefore what is considered polite in one culture can sometimes be quite rude or simply
strange in another cultural context. It is a strategy employed by a speaker to achieve a variety of goals e.g.To
promote and maintain harmonious relations. Example of politeness:
1. A student to teacher Excuse me Mr. Buckingham, but can I Friend totalk to you for a minute?
2. Hey Bucky, got a minute?Friend.
FACE WANTS -People generally behave as if their expectations concerning their public self-image, or their
face wants, will be respected.
Face Threatening Act: If a speaker says something that represents a threat to another individuals expectations
regarding self-image, it is described as a face threatening act.
Face Saving Act: The speaker can say something to lessen the possible threat. This is called a face saving act.
The FSA which most common, uses a Negative Politeness . It typically uses a modal verb
1. Im sorry to bother you, but can I ask you could you lend me a pen?
2. I know youre busy, but might I ask you a pen or something? If you happen to have an extra pen for
me?
KINDS OF FACE SAVING ACT :
One influential model of politeness is based on the notion of face (Brown and Levinson 1987) Face refers to a
speakers sense of linguistic and social identity. There are two kinds of face
Negative face is your desire to be unimpeded in your actions. the need to be independent to have a freedom of
action and not to be imposed by others. Example: Your friend asks for a ride to the airport Negative face needs:
You think this is not favorable; I dont feel like driving this guy to the airport. I have other stuff that I could be
doing, like sleeping, or saving the gasoline in my car. He can find his own ride (Goffman: 1967).
Positive face is your desire for identification with the community. the need to be accepted, even liked by others,
to be treated as a member of the group and to know that his or her wants are shared by others. Example: Your
friend asks for a ride to the airport. Positive face needs: You think, I better take him because I want him to like
me, and I want the reputation of being a reliable person (Goffman: 1967). In conclusion, we can say that
negative face is the need to be independent and positive face is the need to be connected.
Politeness strategies for avoiding FTA:

A. ON RECORD SUPERSTRATEGY
1) Bald-on record
2) Positive Politeness
3) Negative Politeness
B. OFF RECORD SUPERSTRATEGY

1) Bald-on record: it is directly address the other person to express your needs using imperative forms is
known as bald on record e.g.: I want some beer. (Bald on record: direct)
2) Positive politeness: A face saving act concerned with the persons positive face will tend to show solidarity,
emphasize that both speakers want the same thing and have a common goal. e.g.: hey buddy, is it OK for me to
have a beer? (Positive politeness: somewhat direct)
3) Negative politeness: A face saving act oriented to a persons negative face tends to show deference,
emphasizes the importance of the others time or concerns and may include an apology for the imposition e.g.: I
hope its not too forward, but would it be possible for me to have a beer? (Negative politeness: somewhat
indirect)
B. Off record: statements not directly addressed to another person, e.g.: Its so hot. It makes you really thirsty.
(Off record: indirect)
Politeness in the view of other people: Robin lakoff (1973) has summarized politeness in three maxims:
Dont impose;
Give option;
Make your receiver feel good.
Cohesion and coherence
Cohesion and coherence are terms used in discourse analysis to clarify the reliability of written
discourses .Relationship between cohesion and coherence Cohesion and coherence are related notions,
but they are clearly distinct. There are two types of views concerning their relationship. A) Cohesion is
neither necessary nor sufficient to account for coherence.
Cohesion can be thought of as all the grammatical and lexical links that link one part of a discourse to
another. This includes use of synonyms, lexical sets, pronouns, verb tenses, time references, grammatical
reference, etc. For example, 'it', 'neither' and 'this' all refer to an idea previously mentioned. 'First of all',
'then' and 'after that' help to sequence a discourse. 'However', 'in addition' and 'for instance' link ideas
and arguments in a discourse.
Coherence can be thought of as how meanings and sequences of ideas relate to each other. Typical
examples would be general> particular; statement> example; problem> solution; question> answer;
claim> counter-claim. Coherent discourses make sense to the listener/ reader. Coherence in linguistics is
what makes a discourse semantically meaningful.
What does cohesion mean? You might think of cohesion as a means of establishing connections within
a discourse at all sorts of different levels, e.g., section, paragraphs, sentences and even phrases.
How is cohesion different from coherence?
It is difficult to separate the two. However, think of coherence as the discourse making sense as a whole
at an ideas level, and cohesion as rather more mechanical links at a language level. You can imagine that
it is possible for a piece of writing to contain plenty of cohesion yet little coherence. Cohesion is the
glue that holds a piece of writing together. In other words, if a paper is cohesive, it sticks together from
sentence to sentence and from paragraph to paragraph. Cohesive devices certainly include transitional
words and phrases, such as therefore, furthermore, or for instance, that clarify for listeners/readers the
relationships among ideas in a piece of writing. However, transitions aren't enough to make writing
cohesive. Repetition of key words and use of reference words are also needed for cohesion.
 6. Coherence when sentences, ideas, and details fit together clearly, listeners/readers can follow along
easily, and the writing is coherent. The ideas tie together smoothly and clearly. To establish the links that
readers need, you can use the methods listed here. Repetition of a Key Term or Phrase. This helps to
focus your ideas and to keep your listener/ reader on track. Example: The problem with contemporary
art is that it is not easily understood by most people. Contemporary art is deliberately abstract, and that
means it leaves the viewer wondering what she is looking at.

7. Synonyms Synonyms are words that have essentially the same meaning, and they provide some
variety in your word choices, helping the listener/ reader to stay focused on the idea being discussed.
Example: Myths narrate sacred histories and explain sacred origins. These traditional narratives are, in
short, a set of beliefs that are a very real force in the lives of the people who tell them.

8. Pronouns This, that, these, those, he, she, it, they, and we are useful pronouns for referring back to
something previously mentioned. Be sure, however, that what you are referring to is clear. Example:
When scientific experiments do not work out as expected, they are often considered failures until some
other scientist tries them again. Those that work out better the second time around are the ones that
promise the most rewards.

9. Transitional Words There are many words in English that cue our listeners/readers to relationships
between sentences, joining sentences together. Words such as however, therefore, in addition, also, but,
moreover, etc. Example: I like autumn, and yet autumn is a sad time of the year, too. The leaves turn
bright shades of red and the weather is mild, but I can't help thinking ahead to the winter and the ice
storms that will surely blow through here. In addition, that will be the season of chapped faces, too many
layers of clothes to put on, and days when I'll have to shovel heaps of snow from my car's windshield.

10. Sentence Patterns Sometimes, repeated or parallel sentence patterns can help the listener/reader
follow along and keep ideas tied together. Example: (from a speech by President John F. Kennedy)
And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you can do for your
country. http:// www.missouri.edu/~pattonmd/cohesion.html
http://leo.stcloudstate.edu/style/cohesion.html
11. "Cohesion is determined by lexically and grammatically overt intersentential relationships, whereas
coherence is based on semantic relationships." Connor
Reference Reference is used to describe the different ways in which entities- things, people,
eventsare referred to within texts Linguistic features e.g. pronouns are used to refer to the already
mentioned entities. Certain terms in any language cannot be interpreted semantically rather they make
reference to something else within the text for their interpretation.
10. Cont e.g. Saira went to the market in rain. She stepped in puddle and never went there again.
She and there show that the information about them is retrieved elsewhere within the text. This type of
cohesion is called reference. Types: - Personal ref; e.g. I, me, mine, mine, his, her, they, them, he, she,
you, we, us etc.
11. Cont Demonstrative ref; (This/these, that/those, here/there) It is a form of pointing the
referent on the basis of proximity (near, far) e.g. Leave that there and come here. I like these books but I
dont like those. Comparative ref; Here things compared show likeness or unlikeness. e.g. It is the
same pen I bought yesterday.
12. Cont It is different pen from the one I bought yesterday. (general) There are twice as many
books there as the last time. Take some more tea (particular
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A qualified referee can caution a player, if he or she is officiating in a match. The referee's
assistant (who, in the higher leagues, is also a qualified referee) cannot do this.