COHESION AND COHERENCE

There are two types of connections that tie discourse together:

1. Endophoric connections (which have their manifestation in the discourse
itself) ⇒cohesion
2. Exophoric connections (which can be made based on
information/knowledge outside the discourse) ⇒coherence

A. COHESION
Cohesion is the resources within language that provide continuity in a text, over
and above that is provided by clause structure and clause complexes. Halliday and
Hasan (1976) in Coulthard (1974) claims that cohesion is formed by the formal ties,
which bind one sentence to another.
Two types of cohesion:
a. Grammatical cohesion
b. Lexical cohesion

a. Grammatical Cohesion
There are four headings of grammatical cohesion based on Halliday and Hasan
(1976). They are reference, substitution, ellipsis, and conjunction.

1. Reference
Reference is one kind of cohesive ties in texture. Reference refers to how the
speaker or writer introduces participants and then keeps track of them once they
are in the text (Eggins, 1994:95). Its elements establish semantic relationship
between them, in which one of the elements provides the other with the meaning.
According to Halliday and Hasan (1976) there are two basic types of reference.
a. Exophora (situational)

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 b. Endophora (textual): anaphora (to preceding text) and Cataphora (to
following text)
There are several lingusitic items which can create reference cohesion. Halliday
and Hasan (1976: 37-39) devide reference cohesion into personal reference;
demonstrative reference and definite article; and comparative reference.

a.) Personal Reference

Personal reference is reference by means of function in the speech situation
through the category of person. Nunan (1993: 23) states that personal reference
items are expressed through pronouns and determiners. They serve to identify
individuals and objects that are named at some other point in the text. It relates to
Halliday and Hasan (1976: 48) that the third person is only herently cohesive, in that
a third person form typically refers anaphorically to a preceding item in the text.
First and second person forms do not normally refer to the text at all; their referents
are defined by the speech roles of speaker and hearer.
The category of personal reference includes: 1) personal pronouns, e.g I, me,
you, him, she, he, her, we, us, they, them, it; 2) possessive determiners, e.g my,
yours, their, its, our, his, her; 3) possessive pronouns, e.g. mine, yours, hers, theirs,
ours.
The following is one example of personal reference
 Mr. John is an English teacher. All of his students like him very much.
The word his and him in the second sentence refer to Mr. John. The word his is a
personal reference which refers to the third person singular. The certain person that
is Mr. John is followed by its pronoun, so that it is called as anaphoric reference that
is the implicit encoding device follows its reference.

b.) Demonstrative Reference

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 Demonstrative reference is reference by means of location, on scale of
proximity. It is essentially a form of verbal pointing. The speaker identifies the
referent by locating it on a scale of proximity. The categories of demonstrative
reference include three classes namely: nominative demonstrative (this, that, these,
those), circumstantial demonstrative (here, there, now, then) and definite article
(the).
These demonstratives occur extensively with anaphoric function in all varieties
of English. The demonstratives have some relevance to cohesion, in that they
partially determine the use of these items in endophoric (textual) reference.
 My family got frightened when we saw an accident in our trip. That was the
most terrifying accident I’ve ever seen.
 My parents were having lunch, my brothers and I walked around to see some
lions and elephants. Those are my brothers’ favorites animals.
 I spent my holiday in my uncle’s house in Bali. I do like staying there.
The word that in the first example is demonstrative reference which demonstrates
the first sentence. Then, the word those in the second example (2) refers to some
lions and elephans. Finally, the word there in the thurd example refers to my uncle’s
house in Bali. These can also be called as anaphoric references. It is because they
presuppose some items in the previous sentences.
The demonstrative reference is also called locational reference (Eggins, 1994:
98). It does not involve the identification of a participant in a text (a person or thing),
but the identification of a location in time or space. Locational referents to nearby
time or space (e.g. here, now, these days, at the moment, above, below) are
frequently retrieved exophorically, while locational items refering to distant time or
space (e.g. there, then) are often endophorically retrieved.

c. Comparative Reference

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 Comparative reference is indirect reference by means of identity or similiarity.
With comparative reference, the identity of the presumed item is retrieved not
because it has already been mentioned (or will be mentioned) in the text, but
because an item with which it is being compared has been mentioned (Eggins, 1994:
98). The system is as follows (Halliday, 1976:76):
 The most tragic accident that I have ever seen was the accident happened
last year.
The phrase the most tragic accident in the sentence above is comparative
reference (in superlative degree). Any comparison includes as least two things that
are being compared and any comparative attached to one entity or concept thus
implies the existence of the other entity or concept. Thompson (1996: 151) explains
that comparison happens not only in the text but also out of context (situational). It
is called exophoric reference. Nevertheles, references which have contribution to
the integration of the texts considered cohesive.

2. Substitution
A substitution is the replacement of a word (group) or sentences segment by a
“dummy” word. The reader can fill in the correct element based on the preceding
sentences (Rankema, 1993: 37). Substitution is replacement of language element
into others in a bigger composition in order to get clearer difference, or to explain
some certain language elements. It is an item or items replaced by another item or
items. There is a distinction between substitution and reference in which subtitution
is a realization in the wording rather than in the meaning. Substitution is a relation
between linguistic items such as words and phrases in the level of lexicogrammar
(Halliday and Hassan, 1976: 89). It resembles reference in being potentially
anaphoric and constituate a link between parts of a text. They also explain that since
substitution is a grammatical relation, a relation in the wording rather than in the
meaning, the different types of substitution are defined grammatically rather than

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semantically. There are three types of substitution: nominal, verbal and clausal
substitution.
The followings are the examples of each:
 There are some new tourism resorts in Indonesia. These ones’ve become the
most attracting places to visit.
From the sentence above, we can see that the word ones is substitution of new
tourism resorts. This substitution is considered as nominal substitution.
 John : Bill says you went to Bali last week.
Brown : So did you!
The clause did is substitution because the complete sentence actually you went to
Bali. The word did is presupposed by certain verb went. It belongs to verbal
substitution.
 Smith : Are father and mother going to have vacation to East Java?
Brown : I think so.
In the sentence above, the word so presupposes the whole clause Father and
mother are going to have vacation to East Java. The word so above belongs to clause
substitution.

3. Ellipsis
Ellipsis is the omission of a word or part of a sentence. It occurs when some
essential structural elements are omitted from a sentence or clause and can only be
recovered by refering to an element in the preceding text (Nunan, 1993: 25).
Accoding to Halliday and Hasan (1976: 144) ellipses occur when something that is
structurally necessary is left unsaid, there is a sense of incompleteness associated
with it. The information is understood, but not stated. Like substitution, ellipsis is a
relation within the text and in the great majority of instances the pressuposed item
is present in the preceding text.

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 Ellipsis is also normally anaphoric relation in the level of words and structures.
The difference between substitution and ellipsis is that in the former a substitution
counter occurs in the slot and the pressuposed item is replaced, whereas in ellipsis
the slot is empty. It is often called as substitution by zero. Like the substitution,
there are also three kinds of ellipsis: nominal, verbal and clausal ellipsis.

a. Nominal ellipsis
Nominal ellipsis means the omission of a noun Head, for example:
 My father likes to go to a crowded tourism place, but I like a peaceful.
In the second sentence, the word tourism place is not mentioned after the word a
peaceful. However, any competent English speaker can easily retrieve the meaning
of a peaceful as a peaceful tourism place. Then, the adjective a peaceful functions as
Head.

b. Verbal ellipsis
Verbal ellipsis involves the omission of the verb Head while the auxiliary
element remains explicit. For example:
 John : Have you been to Bali?
Brown : Yes, I have
The complete response must be Yes, I have been to Bali. In the dialogue, the speaker
does not use long response. It is clearly understood that the speaker does not want
to confuse to his/ her interlocutor.

c. Clausal ellipsis
Clausal ellipsis represents the omission of a part or whole clause. For example:
 John : Who will go shopping today?
Brown : Mom

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In that example, the whole clause is omitted. The complete response should be
Mom will go shopping today. In the spoken language the speaker does not need to
use the complete clause when answering questions introduced by a question word.

4. Conjunction
One explanation to the concept of conjunction comes from Baker (1992). He
asserts that conjunction is a relationship which indicates how the subsequent
sentence or clause should be linked to the preceding or the following sentence or
clause by using cohesive ties which relate a sentence, a clause or a paragraph to
each other.
Conjunction signals the way the writer wants the reader to relate what is about
to be said to what has been said before. Conjunction expresses one of a small
number of general relations. The main relations (Baker, 1992: 191) are:
1.) Additive (and, or, also, in addition, furthermore, besides, similiarly, likewise,
by contrast, for instance)
2.) Adversative (but, yet, however, instead, on the other hand, nevertheless, at
any rate, as a matter of fact)
3.) Causal (so, cosequently, for, because, under the circumstances, for this
reason)
4.) Temporal (then, next, finally, after that, on another occasion, in conclusion,
an hour later, at last)
5.) Continuative (now, of course, well, anyway, surely, after all)

The following are the examples of each type of conjunction:

 My family likes to spend holliday by visiting some places and they also like to
go fishing in the sea.

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The word 'and' and 'also' in the sentence above are conjunctions which connect the
first and the second clause. Those words signal the presentation of additional
information. These conjunctions are additive.
 It was raining very hard yesterday. However, my classmates went to the
exhibition.
 I am afraid I’ll be home late tonight. Nevertheless, I won’t have to go in until
late tomorrow.
The relationships signalled by 'however' and 'nevertheless' are adversative because
the information in the second sentence of each text moderates or qualifies the
information in the first.
 Chinese tea is becoming increasingly popular in restaurants, and even in
coffee shops. This is because there is belief that tea has several health-giving
properties.
In this type of conjunction, the relationship is one of cause and consequence. Here,
the word because signals the causal and effect relation. The first sentence shows the
effect and the second is as the cause.
 I went over to my friend’s house and I said ‘We’ll go for a walk’. And we went
far away and I said ‘I don’t know our way home. And then we kept on
walking and we were very hungry. After that we saw a village and we went
to talk to them and we said ‘We’re hungry’. Then, they gave us some food
and we thanked them and we went walking off. And then we stopped and
sat down. And then we saw a giant and I sreamed ‘Cooee’. (source Butt et al.
1994: 94)
Temporal relationship exist when the events in a text are related in terms of the
timing of their occurrance. Here the temporal conjunction and then, then and after
that.

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  When my father said that we would end our vacation, I felt so sad, after all I
could understand that it was not good time to stay any longer in case of bad
weather.
There is continuation in the above sentence. It uses after all to signal the
continuative matter.

b. Lexical Cohesion
The types of cohesion we have discussed so far all involve grammatical
resource/ items (conjunction, reference items, substitutes items) and grammatical
structure. Cohesion also operates within the lexical zone of lexicogrammar by
choosing of lexical items. Lexical cohesive devices refer to the role played by the
selection of vocabulary in organizing relation within a text (Baker, 1992: 202). It does
not deal with grammatical and semantic connection but with the connection based
on the words used. Meanwhile, Nunan (1993: 28) says that lexical cohesion occurs
when two words in a text are semantically related in some way. They are related in
terms of their meaning. There are two kinds of lexical cohesion: reiteration and
collocation. In general, reiteration is devided into five types. They are repetition,
synonym, hyponym, metonym and antonym.
Repetition is a word or words which has been stated, and then it is repeated
again. We can tie sentences or paragraphs together by repeating certain key words
from one sentence to the next or one paragraph to the next. It is in the case of the
clearness of the main idea of the writing (Kilborn and Kriesi, 1995).
Synonym is the relationship between two words which have the same meaning.
Hyponym is defined as a sense relation between words (sometimes longer phrases)
such that the meaning of one word (or phrase) is included in the meaning of the
other (Hurford & Heasley, 1983). It is a semantic relation between specific and
general meaning, between general class and its sub-classes. The item referring to
the general class is called super-ordinate and those referring to its sub-classes are

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called hyponym. Antonym is an opposite in meaning while metonym is a term used
to describe a part-whole relationshiop between lexical items.
The second type of lexical cohesion, collocation, deals with the relationship
between words on the basis of the fact that these often occur in the same
surrounding (Rankema, 1993: 39-40).
The followings are examples of each type of lexical cohesion.
 A conference will be held on national environmental policy. At this
conference the issue of sanitation will play an important role.
In the sentences above the word conference occurs twice as the indication that they
are repeated.
 A conference will be held on national environmental policy. This
environmental symposium will be primarily a conference dealing with water.
In the first sentence, the word conference is repeated in the second sentence with
its synonym, symposium.
 My father went to a furniture exhibition last night. He wanted to buy an
antique table.
Furniture is the superordinate word for the word table as its subordinate.
(Hyponym)
 At its six-month checkup, the brakes have to be repaired. In general,
however, the car is in good condition.
Brake is as the part of car as the whole. (Metonym)
 The front rows are available for old men and women. Young boys and girls
are seated in the back rows.
From the example above, the word old is the opposite of young. (Antonym)

B. Coherence

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 Coherence means to hold together. It means that texts have the right order
with the clear process. In addition to unity, coherence plays an important role in
making a text read well. A coherent text consists of interrelated sentences which
move smoothly one for another.
A writer needs to inform well about his/her composition. He needs to give clear
information what the text is about. The readers need to know about the topic and
the content about the text produced by the writers. Coherence itself does not
guarantee that the text read well. The writer needs to organize them in a good way.
To organize any text to be coherent, the writers need to keep their readers well
informed about what they are and where they are going (Butt et al. 1995: 90). Based
on the Introduction to Functional Grammar, there are grammatical resources to
signpost the way through clauses, clause complexes and paragraph, from beginning
to the end of a text. According to Butt et al. (1995: 90), the first signpost must be at
the beginning of a text, paragraph or clause. It tells the readers what the writer has
in mind as a starting point. The writers use the first position in the clause to signal
their readers what the message is about.
Coherent texts make sense to the reader. In Text and Context: Explorations in
the Semantics and Pragmatics of Discourse, Teun A. van Dijk (p. 93) argues
convincingly that coherence is a semantic property of discourse formed through the
interpretation of each individual sentence relative to the interpretation of other
sentences, with "interpretation" implying interaction between the text and the
reader. Coherence (from Lat. “cohaerere” – to stick together) can be understood in a
wide sense and in a narrow sense. In a wide sense, coherence is the semantic
structure which helps to unite several sentences into a holistic text. In a narrow
sense, coherence is the connection brought about by reader’s/listener’s knowledge
that helps him/her to understand any given discourse (e.g. through the knowledge
of the context in which the discourse is unfolding). Coherence has to do with mental

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processes and cultural knowledge rather than any explicit discourse markers such as
deictic words or linking words (Bussmann, 1998).
Examples:
 Tom: May I have some more?
Helen: Yes, of course, any time you want more, just go ahead.
In this example, Tom does not mention what exactly he wants, but through the
context of the situation Helen knows that he is speaking about perogies (Tom has
just finished a plate of perogies). Thus, despite the fact that Tom is not mentioning
explicitly what he wants, his discourse is coherent as is Helen’s (who is not
mentioning perogies either).
 [A newspaper article headline and a lead to it] A NEW AMAZING RECORD
SET. Solomon University students have cooked the biggest perogi. A whole
weekend has been spent in hard work.
Similarly, in example 2, there are no textual indicators pointing at the relationships
between the sentences. However, it is still easy to understand the text based on the
semantics and logical order in which the sentences are organized. Therefore, this
text is coherent.

3. The Difference between Cohesion an Coherence

The important difference between coherence and cohesion is that coherence
relies on semantics of a given text as well as cultural knowledge and the overall
context in which discourse is unfolding. There is no explicit manifestation of textual
coherence in a text itself. Coherence is rather deduced from a text.
Cohesion, in turn, starts with concrete textual elements which are then built
upon to produce the effect of cohesion. Cohesion is often manifested through the
use of such “devices” as pronouns (e.g. I, he, she, it) and deictic words (e.g. here,
there, then).
Examples:

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  Cohesion and Coherence
"My favourite colour is blue. I like it because it is calming and it relaxes me. I often
go outside in the summer and lie on the grass and look into the clear sky when I am
stressed. For this reason, I'd have to say my favourite colour is blue."
This sentence is both coherent and cohesive.
 Cohesion with No Coherence
"My favourite colour is blue. Blue sports cars go very fast. Driving in this way is
dangerous and can cause many car crashes. I had a car accident once and broke my
leg. I was very sad because I had to miss a holiday in Europe because of the injury."
As you can see, there is plenty of cohesion here. The sentences connect clearly
together but if you read the paragraph, it really makes no sense - we start talking
about blue and we finish talking about a holiday in Europe. There is no coherence in
this sentence.
 Coherence with No Cohesion
"My favourite colour is blue. I'm calm and relaxed. In the summer I lie on the grass
and look up."
This is more difficult to understand but basically this lack of cohesion means a lack of
sufficient connectors to join the ideas together. If I try hard I can understand what
the person is saying: a short answer, an explanation, an example; however the
sentences don't fit together.

CONCLUSION

Cohesion and coherence are terms used in discourse analysis and text
linguistics to describe the properties of written texts.

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Cohesion is "the glue that sticks a sentence to another in a paragraph or a paragraph
to another in a text." A text can be cohesive through the use of the following
devices: reference, substitution, ellipsis, conjunction and lexical cohesion.
Coherence means that the text is easy to read and understand because the text
follows a certain kind of logical order and the organization of ideas is systematical
and logical.
Cohesion refers to connectivity in a text while coherence refers to how easy it is
to understand the writing.

REFERENCES

https://arifsuryo.wordpress.com
www.criticism.com

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www.quora.com
www.uwb.edu

CONTENT

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CONTENT .................................. i
COHESION AND COHERENCE .................................. 1
1. The Definition of Cohesion and Its Classification 1
2. The Definition of Coherence and Its Classification 11
3. The Difference Between Cohesion and Coherence 12
CONCLUSION .................................. 14
REFERENCE

DISCOURSE ANALYSIS
“COHESION AND COHERENCE”

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 Jihan Khairunisa
1613042019

ENGLISH STUDY PROGRAM

LANGUAGE AND ART DEPARTMENT
TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION FACULTY
LAMPUNG UNIVERSITY
2019

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