Discourse Analysis: Cohesion, Coherence, and Conversation
Discourse Analysis
The word discourse is usually defined as language beyond the sentence, and the analysis of discourse is typically concerned with the study of language in text and conversation.
Interpreting Discourse
When we concentrate on the description of a particular language, we are normally concerned with the accurate representation of the forms and structures of that language. However, when we look at language in use, we are necessarily dealing with what is called cohesion.
Cohesion
Texts must have a certain structure that depends on factors quite different from those required in the structure of a single sentence. Some of those factors are described in terms of cohesion, or the ties and connections that exist within texts.
My father once bought a Lincoln convertible. He did it by saving every penny he could. That car would be worth a fortune nowadays. However, he sold it to help pay for my college education. Sometimes I think I’d rather have the convertible.
There are connections present here in the use of words to maintain reference to the same people and things throughout: father – he – he – he; my – my – I; a Lincoln convertible – that car – the convertible
Coherence
The key to the concept of coherence (everything fitting together well) is not something that exists in words or structures, but something that exists in people. It is people who make sense of what they read and hear.
Conversation Analysis
In simple terms, English conversation can be described as an activity in which, for the most part, two or more people take turns at speaking. Typically, only one person speaks at a time, and there tends to be an avoidance of silence between speaking turns. (This is not true in all situations or societies.) If more than one participant tries to talk at the same time, one of them usually stops.
For the most part, participants wait until one speaker indicates that he or she has finished, usually by signaling a completion point. Speakers can mark their turns as complete in a number of ways: by asking a question, for example, or by pausing at the end of a completed syntactic structure like a phrase or sentence.
Some of the most interesting research in this area has revealed different expectations of conversational style and different strategies of participation in conversation. Some of these strategies seem to be the source of what is sometimes described by participants as rudeness (if one speaker cuts in on another speaker) or shyness (if one speaker keeps waiting for an opportunity to take a turn and none seems to occur). The participants characterized as rude or shy in this way may simply be adhering to slightly different conventions of turn-taking.
The Co-operative Principle
The co-operative principle is stated in the following way: Make your conversational contribution such as is required, at the stage at which it occurs, by the accepted purpose or direction of the talk exchange in which you are engaged. Supporting this principle are four maxims, often called the Gricean maxims.
- The quantity maxim: Make your contribution as informative as is required, but not more, or less, than is required.
- The quality maxim: Do not say that which you believe to be false or for which you lack adequate evidence.
- The relation maxim: Be relevant.
- The manner maxim: Be clear, brief, and orderly.
We use certain types of expressions, called hedges, to show that we are concerned about following the maxims while being co-operative participants in conversation. Hedges can be defined as words or phrases used to indicate that we’re not really sure that what we’re saying is sufficiently correct or complete. As far as I know…, Now, correct me if I’m wrong, but…, I’m not absolutely sure, but…
Implicature
An implicature (an additional conveyed meaning)
Example:
Carol: Are you coming to the party tonight?
Anne: I’ve got an exam tomorrow.
Schema and Script
A schema is a general term for a conventional knowledge structure that exists in memory. We were using our conventional knowledge of what a school classroom is like, or a classroom schema, as we tried to make sense of the previous example. We have many schemas (or schemata) that are used in the interpretation of what we experience and what we hear or read about. If you hear someone describe what happened during a visit to a supermarket, you don’t have to be told what is normally found in a supermarket.
Similar in many ways to a schema is a script. A script is essentially a dynamic schema. That is, instead of the set of typical fixed features in a schema, a script has a series of conventional actions that take place.
Review Questions
1. What is the basic difference between cohesion and coherence?
Cohesion is a feature of a text, specifically the ties and connections that exist within a text. Coherence is a feature of a person’s interpretation of a text in which things fit together well.
2. How do speakers mark completion points at the end of a turn?
Speakers can mark completion points by asking a question or by pausing at the end of a completed syntactic structure such as a phrase or sentence.
3. What are the names of the Gricean maxims?
Quantity, quality, relation, and manner.
4. What are hedges in discourse?
Hedges are words or phrases used to indicate that we’re not really sure that what we’re saying is sufficiently correct or complete.
5. Which maxim does this speaker seem to be particularly careful about?
I may be mistaken, but I thought I saw a wedding ring on his finger.
Quality, because the speaker indicates that he or she may be mistaken.
6. In the study of discourse understanding, what are scripts?
Scripts are like dynamic schemas (or knowledge structures) in which a series of conventional actions takes place.