DISCOURSE AND TEXTSA number of authors have been concerned to provide a more formal account of how speakers of English come to identify a text as forming a text (for example, Halliday&Hassan, 1976). They are concerned with what binds a text together and force co-interpretation, i.e. what makes them to be interpreted in the same way by readers (hearers in the case of spoken texts). the primary determinant of whether a set of sentences do or do not constitute a text depends on cohesive relationships within and between the sentences, which create texture.

COHESIONCohesion refers to facts inside the language and it is achieved through the formal links that give a sense of unity beyond the sentence. You cannot take it for granted that a text is a text unless it has formal links.Cohesive links within a text are set up where INTERPRETATION of some element in the discourse is dependent on that of another. The one PRESUPPOSES the other in the sense that it cannot be effectively decoded except by recourse to it. (Halliday and Hassan, in Brown and Yule, 1983:191).

EXAMPLE

Wash and core six cooking apples. Put them into a fireproof dish.(Source: Brown and Yule, 1983:191)

1. VERB FORMThe form of the verb in one sentence can limit the choice of the verb in the next. In the following example, the verbs are all in the past tense. The first tense conditions all the others:E.g. Lord Melbourne did not like birdsong and could not distinguish a woodlark from a nightingale. He preferred the singing of blackbirds anyway.(Warner, Queen Victorias Sketchbook, 1979:77)

2. CONJUNCTIONS AND ADVERBIALSConjunctions and adverbials draw attention to the type of relationship between the sentences/clauses. These can be of several types:a. additive:and, or, furthermore, similarly, in additionb. adversative: but, however, on the other hand, neverthelessc. causal:so, consequently, for this reason, it follows from thisd. temporal:then, after that, an hour later, finally, at last

3. PARALLELISMParallelism suggests a connection, simply because the form of one sentence repeats the form of another. It is often used in speeches, prayers, poetry and advertisements because the rhythmical repetition of the same structure renders an emotional touch and may also function as an aide-memoire. The following examples are taken from Cook, 1989:

PARALLELISMEXAMPLE 1Teach us, Good Lord, to give and not to count the cost, to fight and not to heed the wounds, to toil and not to seek for rest, to labour and to ask for no reward, save that of knowing that we do Thy will (St. Richards Prayer)In the example above, as you can notice, the parallelism consists of repeated grammatical structure: to X and not to Y the/for Z

PARALLELISMEXAMPLE 2Le Generale de Gaulle est mort. La France est veuve. (A televised address to the French people by President Pompidou)Here, the grammatical pattern is definite article+proper noun+copula+complement Notice also the contrasted masculine and feminine genders reinforcing the metaphor of deceased husband and bereaved wife.

SEMANTIC PARALLELISMA:The Good Lord, in his wisdom has taken her away from us.B: You mean the old girls snuffed it.Notice that the use of the colloquial expression to parallel the formal one creates a humorous effect.

4. REFERRING EXPRESSIONS(CO-REFERENCE)Co-referential forms are forms which, instead of being interpreted semantically in their own right, make reference to something else for their interpretation. These forms direct the reader/hearer to look elsewhere for their interpretation.

TYPES OF REFERRING EXPRESSIONS1. Where their interpretation lies outside the text, in the context of the situation, the relationship is said to be an exophoric relationship which plays no part in textual cohesion. 2. Where their interpretation lies within the text, they are called endophoric and do form cohesive ties within the text. Endophoric relations are of two kinds: those which look back in the text for their interpretation, called anaphoric relations, and those which look forward in the text for their interpretation, which are called cataphoric relations.

Co-referential chains1. RepetitionTimotei is both mild to your hair and to your scalp - so mild you can wash your hair as often as you like. Timotei cleans your hair gently, leaving it soft and shiny, with a fresh smell of summer meadows.This Schedule and Policy shall be read together as one contract and any word or expression to which a specific meaning has been attached in any part of the said Schedule or Policy shall bear such specific meaning wherever the word or expression may appear.The pineapple...the luscious fruit...our meal...the tropical luxury. (ELEGANT REPETITION)

Co-referential chains 2. Lexical chainsLexical chains, or chains of reference, are connected words running through discourse. They need not necessarily consist of words which mean the same, however. They may be created by words which associate with each other. For example:animal - horse - wildliferock star - world tour - millionaire - yacht

5. SUBSTITUTION AND ELLIPSISDo you like mangoes?Yes I do.

What are you doing?Eating a mango.

TASKIn the following examples identify types of referring expressionsThere was a pineapple on the table. So I ate it.Where shall we put it?Put it on the mantelpiece Nobody seemed to know where they came from, but there they were in the Forest: Kanga and Baby Roo (A.A. Milne: Winnie-the-Pooh, Chapter 7).

TASKIdentify cohesive devices in the following textAvailable in the United Kingdom. A BMW for the animal kingdom.In childrens fiction, it was Doctor Doolittle who talked to animal. Today, thanks to doctors at the Bavarian Institute of Zoology it is the engineers at the BMW. At frequencies over 20,000 Hz, sound becomes inaudible to most humans. A hedgehog, on the other hand, can detect frequencies up to 45,000Hz. For this reason BMW has developed the concept of WAIL (Wildlife Acoustic Information Link). This operates on the same ultrasonic echo-sounding principle as BMWs Park Distance Control System. Sonic waves are emitted from the front bumper producing a warning call which alerts stray animals to the approaching car. This encourages them to jump in the nearest hedgerow. Available from April 1 on selected models, we believe it will be resounding success with all road users. Both the four and two legged varieties.[BMW logo] The Ultimate Driving Machine(The Guardian, 1 April 1977)