Coherence theory : an interdisciplinary study

Abstract

What writers of composition texts have written about coherence is not useful to teachers or students. The valuative nature of the language they use to describe coherence does not further instruction. They confuse three aspects of language use--correct grammar, correct usage, and cohesion--with coherence. Their failure to recognize the separateness of these three has resulted in them writing about coherence in a way that is uninstructive and confusing. Those relevant aspects of cohesion which textbooks discuss are reference, connection, and lexical cohesion. Reference is of two kinds, exophoric and endophoric. Exophoric reference points outside the text. Endophoric reference, which can be broken down into anaphoric and cataphoric reference, functions within a text. Connection is of four types: additive, adversative, causal, and temporal. It can point out internal or external relationships. Lexical cohesion depends on the lexicosemantic relationship between two words. The second chapter of Huckleberry Finn shows that standard English is not what gives a text coherence. Twain's use of dialect and non-standard English does not distract from the global structure of the episode. Just as standard English is not a clear requirement for coherence, cohesion is not a clear requirement for coherence. Cohesion does not deal with global restraints. Coherence does. Philosophy offers much to the discussion of coherence. Kant's Categories and logical form offer a base from which to discern form in discourse. The coherence theory of truth and the philosophy of language-in-use suggest that there are realities which can function as bases for determining the wholeness of a work. Gestalt psychology and cognitive psychology show that structure is important to perception. Cognitive structures function in the process of knowing. These structures are discernible and can be used as bases to identify textual coherence. Linguistics offers the global structures of text grammars as clues to the generation of coherent texts. Linguists working from the base of language-in-use philosophy have identified structures that make reference to context of situation to establish the boundaries of a text. Both linguistic endeavors offer grounds from which texts can be judged coherent.