Scribd
Upload
2 views

Cohesion vs Coherence

Cohesion and coherence are essential concepts in evaluating the quality of spoken and written language, with cohesion focusing on the grammatical and lexical connections between text elements, while coherence pertains to the logical and meaningful connections of ideas. Halliday and Hasan's work on cohesion laid the foundation for understanding how texts achieve unity, while Beaugrande and Dressler emphasized the importance of logical flow and context for coherence. These concepts are crucial in various fields, including translation, communication, AI text generation, and education.

Uploaded by

тетяна ковальчук
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
2 views

Cohesion vs Coherence

Cohesion and coherence are essential concepts in evaluating the quality of spoken and written language, with cohesion focusing on the grammatical and lexical connections between text elements, while coherence pertains to the logical and meaningful connections of ideas. Halliday and Hasan's work on cohesion laid the foundation for understanding how texts achieve unity, while Beaugrande and Dressler emphasized the importance of logical flow and context for coherence. These concepts are crucial in various fields, including translation, communication, AI text generation, and education.

Uploaded by

тетяна ковальчук
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 9

Cohesion

vs
Coherence
Introduction – Why Talk About Cohesion and
Coherence?
In both spoken and written language, it’s not just what Cohesion refers to how the surface elements of a text
we say that matters, but how we structure our ideas. are connected through grammar and vocabulary.
Two key concepts that help us evaluate the quality of
Coherence refers to how ideas are logically and
any text are cohesion and coherence. At first glance,
meaningfully connected. These concepts are discussed
they may seem similar, but they function quite
in detail by scholars like Halliday & Hasan, Beaugrande
differently.
& Dressler, and O. Selivanova.
What Is Cohesion?
Cohesion is about the visible links that Reference
hold a text together.
(e.g., he, she, this, those)
Halliday and Hasan describe it as the set of
linguistic tools that connect sentences and parts
of a sentence. They identify five major types of
cohesive devices:

Substitution Ellipsis
(e.g., do so, the same) (omission of elements that are understood from
context)

Conjunction Lexical cohesion


(e.g., and, however, therefore) (e.g., repetition, synonyms, related vocabulary)
These devices create textual unity — they act like
glue between sentences and ideas.
What Is Coherence?
While cohesion is visible on the surface, coherence General world knowledge
is deeper — it’s about meaning.
According to Beaugrande and Dressler, coherence depends on
how ideas are connected logically and understood by the reader.
It involves:

Logical flow of ideas Clear context and purpose


A coherent text makes sense as a whole — even if it doesn’t use
many cohesive devices. On the other hand, a text can be
cohesive but still confusing or meaningless if it lacks coherence.
How Are Cohesion and
Coherence Related?

Cohesion helps the text Coherence helps the text


function on a make sense on a
grammatical and lexical conceptual level.
level.
O. Selivanova emphasizes that coherence also relies on pragmatic
and cognitive factors — like the speaker’s intent, the listener’s
background knowledge, and the communicative situation. So, a
text can have strong cohesion but still fail to communicate if its
ideas aren’t clearly connected.
Halliday and Hasan’s Contribution
1 Cohesion in English (1976)
Halliday and Hasan’s book laid the foundation for modern cohesion theory.

2 Concept of Texture
They introduced the concept of texture — the quality that makes a text
feel unified.

3 Functional Approach
Their work is based on the functional approach to language, which sees
language as a tool for communication, not just structure.

4 Grammatical and Lexical Unity


Thanks to their model, we now understand how texts achieve
grammatical and lexical unity — across sentences and entire
paragraphs.
Why Does This Matter?
In translation
preserving cohesion and coherence ensures that meaning
and logic carry over across languages.

Communication

AI text generation

Education
These concepts also matter in fields like communication, AI
text generation, and education — basically, anywhere
where clarity and meaning are important.
Reference Literature
1. Halliday, M.A.K. & Hasan, R. (1976). Cohesion in English. London: Longman.
2. Beaugrande, R. de & Dressler, W. (1981). Introduction to Text Linguistics. London: Longman.
3. Selivanova, O.O. (2006). Modern Linguistics: Directions and Problems. Poltava: Dovkillia-K.
4. Selivanova, O.O. (2010). Linguistic Encyclopedia. Poltava: Dovkillia-K.
5. Hasan, R. (1984). Coherence and Cohesive Harmony. In Flood, J. (Ed.), Understanding Reading Comprehension.
Thank for attention!

You might also like