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安徽大学大学英语教学部
Cohesion,CoherenceandCommunication
安徽大学大学英语教学部
胡学文
Acknowledgement
ForthethreeyearsofmyfurtherstudyinTheSchoolofForeignStudies,IwouldliketoexpressmyappreciativethankstoProfessorHuaQuanqun,ProfessorHongZengliu,ProfessorZhouFangzhu,ProfessorZhangZuwu,ProfessorLiYongfang,ProfessorHambeckandmanyothersfortheirunfailingencouragementanddelicateinstructions.Inparticular,IamindebtedtoProfessorZhuYuewhosecriticalunderstandingandwiseguidanceinthispaperhasbeeninvaluableandmuchappreciated.Finally,Iwouldliketoacknowledgethatthispaperwouldnothavebeenpossiblewithoutthehelpofmydirectorsandmanyofmycolleagues.
Contents
1.Introduction………………………………………………….1
1.1Discourse1
1.2Cohesionandcoherence2
1.3Communication5
2.Cohesion………………………………………………………6
2.1Reference8
2.2Substitution9
2.3Ellipsis11
2.4Conjunction12
2.5Lexicalcohesion15
2.6Sub-conclusion17
3.Coherence……………………………….…………………..18
3.1Context18
3.2Thematicorganizationandknown-newinformation23
3.3Speechacts27
3.4ConversationalimplicatureandCooperativePrinciples32
3.5Sub-Conclusion36
4.Communication…………………….……………………...37
4.1Sentence,propositionandillocutionaryact37
4.2Cohesionandpropositionaldevelopment40
4.3Coherenceandillocutionarydevelopment43
5.SummaryandConclusion…………………………….….46
Reference49
Abstract
Thispaperfocusesontherelationshipbetweencohesion,coherenceandcommunication.Cohesionisasemanticcategory.Itreferstotheexplicitrelationshipbetweenlinguisticitemswhichisrealizedbycohesivedevicesorcohesiveties.Coherenceisapragmaticcategory.Itreferstotheimplicitrelationshipbetweenlinguisticelementswhichisrealizedbypragmaticconnections,suchascontext,conversationalimplicature,illocutionaryforce.Communicationinvolvestheinterpretationofboththesurfaceorsententialmeaningandtheimplicatureandintentionofadiscourse.Intheverbalcommunication,cohesionhelpsthecommunicatorsfollowthepropositionaldevelopmentwithinadiscourse,whilecoherencehelpsthemtracetheillocutionarydevelopmentinacommunicationunit.Bothcohesionandcoherencearenecessaryfortheproductionandtheinterpretationofacommunicationdiscourse.Whenevercommunicatorsfailtoidentifycohesioninadiscourse,theyreturntocoherence.Acommunicationdiscoursemustbecoherent,butnotnecessarilycohesive.
KeyWords:
cohesion,coherence,communication,propositionaldevelopment,illocutionarydevelopment
内容提要
衔接和连贯是交际篇章的必要条件。
衔接属于语义范畴,指篇章组成成分之间的显性的连接。
这种显性连接是由衔接手段或称衔接节实现的。
连贯属于语用范畴,指的是篇章成分之间的隐性连接。
这种连接是由一些语用关系来实现的,如语境、会话含义、言外之意等。
交际既涉及到字面的、表面的意义的理解,又涉及到深层的含义和意图的理解。
在语言交际中,衔接可以帮助交际者按照命题的推进来组织话语和理解话语,而连贯则可以帮助交际者理清篇章中意图推进的脉络。
衔接和连贯对于话语或篇章的产生和理解都是相当重要的。
一段篇章可以不必是衔接的,但必须是连贯的。
关键词:
衔接、连贯、交际、命题推进、意图推进
1.Introduction
1.1Discourse
Inthediscussionofdiscourse,therehavealwaysbeenargumentsandconfusionaboutwhatmakesstringsofwordsorstringsofsentencesadiscourse.Inotherwords,whatisitthatmakesapassagewrittenorasetofutterancesspokenaunifiedwholeinsteadofjustacollectionofunrelatedsentences?
Arethereanycertainfeaturesthatarecharacteristicofdiscourse?
Inordertoanswerthesequestions,aprobeneedstobemadetolookintotheinnermechanismsthatgovernthemakingofadiscourse.
Normallinguisticbehaviordoesnotconsistintheproductionofseparatesentencesbutintheuseofsentencesforthecreationofdiscourse.Adiscoursemaybespokenorwritten,proseorverse,dialogueormonologue.Itisaunitoflanguageinuse.Itismisleadingtoenvisageadiscoursetobeakindofsuper-sentence,agrammaticalunitthatislargerthanasentencebutisrelatedtoasentenceinmuchthesamewaythatasentenceisrelatedtoaclause,aclausetoagroupandsoon.Adiscourseisdifferentfromasentencenotinsizebutinkind.
AtextisbestregardedasaSEMANTICunit:
aunitnotofformbutofmeaning.ThusitisrelatedtoaclauseorsentencenotbysizebutbyREALIZATION,thecodingofonesymbolicsysteminanother.AtextdoesnotCONSISTOFsentences;itisREALIZEDBY,orencodedin,sentences…weshallnotexpecttofindthesamekindofSTRUCTURALintegrationamongthepartsofatextaswefindamongthepartsofasentenceorclause.Theunityofatextisaunityofadifferentkind.
(Halliday&Hasan,1976:
2)
Adiscoursehastexture,andthisiswhatdistinguishesitfromsomethingthatisnotadiscourse.Ifapassageofalanguagecontainingmorethanonesentenceisregardedasadiscourse,therewillbecertainlinguisticfeaturespresentinthatpassagewhichcanbeidentifiedascontributingtoitstotalunityandgivingittexture.Thetextureisprovidedbythecohesiverelationthatexistsbetweentwoormoreitemsinthediscourse.Suchrelationiscalled"tie"byHalliday&Hasan(1976:
3),andtheyhavediscussedthecohesivetiesinsomedetailandtheirdiscussionhasbecomeastandardreference.
1.2CohesionandCoherence
Manylinguistshavediscussedthequestionofcohesionandcoherence.Buttheiropinionsonthesetwonotionsdiffer.Some(suchasCrystal,1985)thinkthatcohesionrealizestherelationbetweenmeaninganditssuperformsandcoherencerealizestherelationbetweenmeaningandthecontext.Some(suchasBrown&Yule,1983)thinkthatwhenpeopleinterpretadiscoursetheydonotneedtextualmarkers(cohesiveties),andtheyassumethatthediscourseiscoherentandmaketheinterpretationunderthisassumption.Some(suchasWangZongyan,1992)thinkthatcohesionisthelexicalandgrammaticaldevicesinatextandcoherenceistheeffectrealizedbythesedevices.Stillsome(suchasWiddowson,1978)thinkthatcohesionistheexplicitrelationshipbetweenpropostionsofsentencesandcoherenceistherelationshipbetweenillocutionaryactsofutterances.InthispaperIrefertocohesionasanythingatthesemanticlevelthatmakespartsofcommunicativeelementsrelated,andrefertocoherenceasanythingatthepragmaticlevelthatmakespartsofcommunicativeelementsrelated.
Cohesionoccurswheretheinterpretationofsomeelementsinthediscourseisdependentonthatofanother.Theconceptofcohesionisasemanticone;itreferstotherelationsofmeaningthatexistwithinadiscourse.Theinterpretationofadiscoursedoesnotonlyrelyonthelexicogrammaticaldevices;onehastorefertothecohesiverelationsthatexistbetweentheelementsinadiscourse.Thatistosay,inadiscourse,someelementspresupposeandsomeotherelementsarepresupposed.Theinterpretationoftheelementthatpresupposescannotbereachedwithoutrecoursetothepresupposed.Takethefollowingdiscourseasanexample:
(1)Findaproperwordforthesentence.Putitintotheblank.
Itisclearthatitinthesecondsentencerefersbacktoaproperwordinthefirstsentence.Thiskindofrelationiscalledanaphoricanditisthisanaphoricfunctionofitthatgivescohesiontothetwosentences,sothatweinterpretthemasawhole;thetwosentencestogetherconstituteadiscourse.Whatismore,theinterpretationofitcannotbemadeifwedonotrelyontherelationthatexistsbetweenitandaproperwordinthetwosentences.ThereareseveralothercohesiverelationsthatmakeadiscourseintoawholewhichIwilldiscussinthesecondpartofthisarticle.
Certainlywerelyonthecohesivedevicesfortheinterpretationofthemeaningofalinguisticmessage,butitisamistaketothinkthatmeaningcanbeorisonlyachievedbysyntacticstructuresandlexicalitemsusedinalinguisticmessage.Sometimeswecanrecognizeadiscourseinformbutcannotclaimtohaveunderstood,simplybecauseweneedmoreinformation.Toshowthispoint,letuscheckthefollowingexchangetakenfromWiddowson(1978:
29).
(2)A:
That'sthetelephone.
B:
I'minthebath.
A:
O.K.
Howdowemakesenseofthis?
Wecannotfindanycohesivetiesinthisexchange.Butourmindtellsusthesefragmentsoflinguisticmessagesdoformaunifiedwholeinsteadofsomeunrelatedsounds.Thatistosay,wedorecognizethisasacoherentinstanceofdiscourse.Whatwedo,ofcourse,istoenvisageasituationinwhichtheutteringofthefirstsentenceisregardedasarequest.Thereasonwegiveitthevalueofarequestisthatwerecognizethewayinwhichitrelatestotheotherpartsoftheexchangehere.Forthesamereason,wetakeB'sremarkasareplytoA'srequestandashavingthecommunicativevalueofanexcusefornotcomplyingwithA'srequest,andwetakeA'ssecondremarkasanacceptanceofB'sexcuseandasanundertakingtodohimself(orherself)whathe(orshe)originallyaskedBtodo.Havingrecognizedtheserelations,wecan,therefore,supplythemissingpropositionallinksandproduceaversionwhichiscohesive:
(3)A:
That'sthetelephone.(Canyouanswerit,please?
)
B:
(No,Ican'tansweritbecause)I'minthebath.
A:
O.K.(I'llanswerit).
Theelementsinthebracketsarenotsuppliedbythetwospeakers(neitherAnorB)butareprovidedbythetwolisteners(bothBandA).
Inadiscourse,suchelementswhicharenotsupplieddirectlybutcanbecomplementedbythelistenerorthereaderconstitutethecoherentrelationshipwithinadiscourse.Adiscoursewithcoherentrelationsmayclaimtohavecoherenceinit.
1.3Communication
Asisdiscussedabove,theinterpretationofadiscoursecannotbeachievedwithouttakingthecohesiveorthecoherentdeviceswithinitintoconsideration.Theproperuseofthetwodevicesbythespeaker/writertoencodethemeaningandbythelistener/readertodecodeitthrowslightonthelinguisticcompetence