categories of cohesion 1 category example reference pronominalthe woman lost track of her little boy...

Categories of Cohesion 1

Category Example Reference

Pronominal The woman lost track of her little boy at the mall. She became very worried.

Demonstrative That was the worst exam I had all term.

Comparative It's the same band we heard last week. Substitution My computer is too slow. I need to get a faster one

1Carroll, David W. 1999. Psychology of Language, third edition. Pacific Grove: Brooks/Cole Publishing Company, p. 158.

Categories of Cohesion 2 Category Example Ellipsis I wish I had more talent. My sister has a lot more than I do. Conjunction Melissa flunked out of school, so she is

looking for a job. Lexical

Reiteration I saw a boy win the spelling bee. The boy was delighted afterward.

Synonymy I saw a boy win the spelling bee. The lad was delighted afterward.

Hyponymy I saw a boy win the spelling bee. The child was delighted afterward


Cohesion through Pronominalization

I went to the supermarket and bought a bottle of milk.

I took the bottle of milk home and put the bottle of

milk in the refrigerator. Later, when I wanted a drink, I

took the bottle of milk out and poured myself a glass of

milk. The milk was sour, so I took the bottle of milk

back to the supermarket to exchange the spoiled

bottle of milk for a good bottle of milk.

3

Anaphor and Antecedent

The rat climbed up the wall to escape through

a hole in the window. I sprayed it with the

shower hose and it fell into the tub with me.

4

Use of Cohesive Devices

I went to the supermarket and bought a bottle of

milk. I took it home and put it in the refrigerator.

Later, when I wanted a drink, I took the bottle

out and poured myself a glass of milk. The milk

was sour, so I took lousy product back to the

supermarket to exchange it for a good one.

5

Given / New Strategy of Sentence Integration

"In an explicit extension of Grices' (1975) maxim of

relation, Clark and Haviland (1977) suggest that

readers expect authors to use given information [cues]

to refer to [or to signal or highlight] information the

readers already know or can identify and to use new

information [cues] to refer to concepts with which they

[the readers] are not already familiar." (160 c)


Three-Stage Process of Sentence Comprehension

Using the Given/New Strategy

1. Identify NEW and OLD/GIVEN information in current sentence

2. Find antecedent in memory for GIVEN

3. Attach NEW information to that spot in memory


Strategies for Establishing Coherence

1. Direct matching (repeat) We got some beer out of the trunk. The beer was warm.

2. Bridging (inference) Last Christmas John went to a lot of parties.This Christmas he got very drunk again.

3. Reinstating old information

4. Identifying new topics of discourse

8Carroll, David W. 1999. Psychology of Language, third edition. Pacific Grove: Brooks/Cole Publishing Company, pp. 161-163.

Late Closure(Frank and Ernest)

9

Ashcraft, Mark H. 1994. Human Memory and Cognition, second edition. New York: Harper Collins College Publishers, p. 432.

Memory for Discourse

1. Surface representations (forms)

2. Propositional representations

3. Situational models

Carroll, David W. 1999. Psychology of Language, third edition. Pacific Grove: Brooks/Cole Publishing Company, pp. 166-172. 10

Discourse Structure & Storage

• Information stored in propositions Propositions are explicit information Propositions also include inferences

•Studies show that higher level propositions remembered better

Carroll, David W. 1999. Psychology of Language, third edition. Pacific Grove: Brooks/Cole Publishing Company, pp. 167-170. 11

Conditions for AutomaticDrawing of Inferences

1. "The inference must be necessary to make a text locally coherent."

2. "The information on which the inference is based must be easily activated (either from explicit statements in the text or from general knowledge)."


Untitled Story With hocked gems financing him, our hero bravely defied all scornful laughter that tried to present his scheme. "Your eyes deceive," he had said, "an egg not a table correctly typifies this unexplored planet." Now three sturdy sisters sought proof, forging along sometimes through calm vastness, yet more often over turbulent peaks and valleys. Days became weeks as many doubters spread fearful rumors about the edge. At last from nowhere welcome winged creatures appeared signifying momentous success. (Dolling & Lachman, 1971, p. 217)


Genres Spoken Writtenlecture newspaper articlesermon opinion article comedy monologue presidential inauguration speechnarrative stories psych journal article (or thesis): abstract

introduction method

results discussion detective stories narrative stories


Educational Implications of Insights on Discourse Comprehension

Actively Processing Discourse

Connecting Propositions in Discourse

Identifying the Main Points

Building Global Structures

Tailoring Comprehension Activities to Tests


categories of cohesion 1 category example reference pronominalthe woman lost track of her little boy...

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