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Coherence and Cohesion

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63 views

Coherence and Cohesion

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Mark A-Jhay Tomes
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When it comes to planned, non-spontaneous texts including written


discourse and speeches, the manner in which the text is put together can
be explained by elements of coherence and cohesion. While spontaneous
discourse will also display coherence and cohesion, it is emphasized in
planned texts because there is a greater deal of thought and intention
behind the use of cohesive ties and devices of coherence.

They can however often be difficult concepts to grasp. For starters, it is


essential to understand the difference between the two terms.
Coherence is defined as the quality
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of being
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logical,
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consistent
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and able
to be understood. Imagine coherence as a building (It’s an analogy, go
with it).

Cohesion on the other hand refers to the act of forming a whole unit. It is
effectively a subset of coherence. Picture cohesion as the bricks and
cement which make up the building.

Bricks and cement can be put together to create any form of structure.
However, it is only when they are laid together properly that they form a
building. Similarly, a text will be cohesive if cohesive ties are used
however it will only be coherent if the cohesive ties are used appropriately
to create meaning.

You can have cohesion without coherence but you cannot have coherence
without cohesion. The picture does not make sense unless the correct
pieces are placed in the correct order, even if certain pieces may be the
same size and shape.

“I bought some hummus to eat with celery. Green vegetables can boost
your metabolism. The Australian Greens is a political party. I couldn’t
decide what to wear to the new year’s party.”

In the example above, there are lexical links from one sentence to the
next; cohesive ties are used to join the sentences. There is evidence of
lexical repetition, ‘green’ ‘party’ and collocations, ‘new years’. 

However, this string of sentences do not make any sense; there is no


binding semantic link. This is an example of cohesion without coherence.
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Cohesive devices effectively help the discourse flow. They include


collocations, lexical repetition, linking adverbials, substitution, ellipsis,
conjunctions, synonymy/antonymy, hypernyms/hyponyms and
referencing (anaphoric, cataphoric, deictic). These devices create physical
links between the words in a discourse.

Coherence which we previously defined as understanding can be


achieved through devices such as cohesive ties, formatting techniques,
inference, logical ordering of information, semantic patterning and
consistency.

These all enhance the ability of a text to be successfully interpreted and


understood. Recipes, terms and condition documents, informative
brochures all make use of formatting in the form of headings, bolding,
underlines etc. to emphasis certain aspects of the text and draw audience
attention to the most important elements.

The focus of coherence factors is determined by the social purpose of the


text. Is the text made to entertain? Inform? Persuade? Celebrate? If so,
why? What is the overarching intention of the text? Answering such
questions can help explain the purpose of coherence factors and cohesive
devices within a discourse.

This is effectively what you are aiming to do in your analytical


commentaries and short answer questions in the exam. Identify the social
purposes of the text and use themClasses
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to explain the role
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of coherence
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and
cohesion within the discourse.

The other major factor of consideration is the intended audience of the


text. Is the text aimed at teenagers? the Australian public? Or specifically
to “bogan” Australians? The language choices and ideas implied in the
text will reflect the intended audience. If a text is aimed at Victorian’s it
may include lexemes such as “Mornington Peninsula” or “Shepparton”
which Victorian’s can infer as locations within Victoria, however these
terms would need to be further explained to those who reside outside this
state. Lexical choices which require outside inference would be included if
it can be reasonably interpreted that the intended audience would be
aware of their meaning. Finding examples of inference in texts can be
useful in identifying the social purpose of the text.

The main thing to be mindful of is that finding cohesive devices and


evidence of coherence in texts alone is not enough. You will gain your
marks in your exam for linking these fragments of evidence to the wider
social purposes of the text.

Download a copy of
'Coherence and
Cohesion?' guide for
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May 4, 2021 February 4, 2015 May 1, 2018

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