Textual Coherence and Cohesion in Fitness Communication
Fitness Communication
ED Fitness features texts that are well-constructed from a communication point of view. The referential function of language, expressive communication channel, and appellate selection are conditioned by the communicative situation. The communicative code dictates the use of Castilian verbal code, excluding non-verbal codes. The idiomatic range is cultured language, with a formal or colloquial register. The speech range includes narration, description, and genre exposure, related to how the discourse is presented. The choice of a specific genre is also up to the issuer.
Textual Coherence
Textual coherence is a fundamental property inherent in any text, making it perceived as a communication unit and not as a disjointed succession of statements.
Global Consistency
A text must have a core of information, a known case that remains constant. This is often referred to as the topic, summarizing the meaning of what is said. The topic includes both what is in the text and the author’s intention and attitude towards the facts.
Linear Coherence
If the text is large, the theme appears articulated in different sequences of meaning. These sequences maintain unity through thematic progression. The thematic concept relates to the thematic unit and content structure. Each statement implies and repeats previous information, adding new information. Breakdowns can occur due to information overload or inadequate presentation.
Local Coherence
Linguistic elements establish relations of meaning and must be coherent to be understood. Local coherence is lost when logical implication is violated, an assumption is contradicted, or it contradicts our knowledge of the world.
Cohesion
Cohesion is the syntactic manifestation of coherence.
Recurrence
Linguistic repetition of an element throughout the speech.
- Lexical Recurrence: Repetition of a particular word in different statements.
- Semantic Recurrence: Appearance of terms related by meaning. This can be:
- Synonymy: Both terms have the same meaning.
- Antonymy: Relationship between words with opposite meanings.
- Hyperonymy: One word’s meaning includes another (hyponymy).
- Semantic Field and Lexical Family: Words belonging to the same semantic field.
- Syntactic Recurrence: Repetition of the same syntactic construction in different parts of the text.
- Phonic Recurrence: Repetition of phonemes in different parts of the text.
Replacement
Another resource that provides textual cohesion is the use of proforms: words with occasional meaning that replace other terms.
- Pronouns: Substitute nouns or segments of a sentence.
- Pro-adverbs: Adverbs.
- Lexical Proforms: Occasional words with very broad meaning used as wildcards.
Ellipsis
Omits any element of the sentence that has previously appeared.
Sentence Constituent Order
Altering the normal order of subject-predicate-complement contributes to cohesion.
Discourse Markers
Establish relations of ideas between statements, considering the context and communicative situation.
- Pragmatic Function Markers: Communication elements involved in the text. These refer to the recipient (vocative and appeals) and the channel (phatic elements), along with the issuer’s attitude (sentence comments) and emotions (interjections).
- Textual Function Markers: Linguistic elements establishing formal connections and meaning between different sentences. Coordinating and subordinating links connect syntagmas and sentences within a statement.
Functions of Language
- Representative Function: Conveys information about events or objects (expository, scientific, and technical texts).
- Expressive Function: Focuses on the issuer, externalizing their emotions and state of mind (literary texts, argumentative, and colloquial speech).
- Appellate Function: Focuses on the receiver, directing the speaker to elicit a response (propaganda text).
- Phatic Function: Focuses on the communication channel itself.