Textual Coherence and Cohesion in Linguistic Analysis
Textual Coherence and Cohesion
Introduction
A text, in linguistic analysis, is a unit comprising interconnected statements with a communicative purpose within a specific context (time, space, and intangible circumstances). Two key properties, textual coherence and textual cohesion, determine whether a sequence of statements qualifies as a text.
Deixis and Communicative Intent
Linguistic features within a text often refer to elements of communication, such as the sender’s intent, receiver, and context. Deixis, for example, can point to participants (sender, receiver) and context (time, space) using:
- Personal pronouns, possessives, and verbal morphemes.
- Demonstrative adverbs.
- Adverbs, noun phrases, and tense/aspect morphemes marking time.
Texts also convey communicative intent (e.g., inform, persuade, express). To achieve this, senders employ various strategies:
- Objective information: Impersonal constructions, passive voice, reflexive verbs.
- Sender involvement: Use of first-person pronouns (sender) or second-person pronouns (receiver).
The sender’s attitude (modalization) is revealed through verbal mode, modal verbs, adverbs, evaluative adjectives, and expressions. Direct or indirect quotations also indicate intentionality.
Textual Coherence
Textual coherence enables receivers to understand a text as a meaningful unit. It involves the organization of information content, characterized by:
- Theme-based organization: Information unfolds progressively around a central theme, allowing for a summarizing title.
- Contextual information: Necessary background information is provided.
- Logical order and progression: New information builds upon previous information.
- Information types: Given information (known to both sender and receiver) and new information. The theme being developed is the comment.
- Thematic progression: Can be linear (each statement’s theme becomes the subject of the next) or constant (the same theme is repeated).
Textual Cohesion
Textual cohesion manifests in the grammatical and semantic relationships between sentences. It employs the following procedures:
Mechanisms of Recurrence:
- Repetition of words from the same semantic field.
- Use of words from the same lexical family.
- Consistent use of register.
- Similar syntactic structures.
- Use of antonyms.
Mechanisms of Substitution:
- Synonyms.
- Pronouns referring to antecedents (anaphora).
- Ellipsis (omitting understood elements).
- Adverbs referring to previous content.
Textual Markers and Connectors:
- Conjunctions, conjunctive adverbs, adverbial phrases, and sentence-initial prepositional phrases that aid text interpretation (often separated by commas).
- Types of connectors:
- Informative: Indicate content organization (opening, continuity, closing).
- Distance: Anyway, in any case…
- Digression: Indeed, by the way…
- Reformulation: That is, in other words…
- Modality markers: I think, it’s obvious, frankly…
- Argumentative markers: In essence, in fact…
- Logical connectors: Additive, consecutive, oppositional, temporal.
- Conversation markers: Uh, well, listen…
- Juxtaposition: When connectors are absent, punctuation marks can function as connectors for expressive purposes.
Types of Text
Narrative Text
A narrator, from a specific perspective, recounts the story of characters and events within a spatio-temporal setting. Content is organized chronologically, but narrative structures can vary. Characteristic language features include action verbs and temporal connectors.
Descriptive Text
Aims to depict an object, person (etopeya, prosopography, portrait), environment, or abstract reality. Organization is spatial. Descriptions can be technical or literary, depending on the communicative intent and author’s attitude. Verbs indicating states of being, place adverbs, and connectors are common. Adjectives and nouns are abundant.
The Essay: A Historical Overview
Origins and Development
The essay, a didactic prose subgenre, gained prominence in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in Spanish culture. Its origins can be traced back to writers like Gallows and Jovellanos, followed by Romantic writers like Larra and the Krausists.
The Generation of ’98
The Generation of ’98 embraced the essay to express their concerns about Spain and human existence. Unamuno’s essays, notably Around Purity, advocated for Europeanization. Life of Don Quixote and Sancho contrasted Spanish spirituality with European rationalism. The Agony of Christianity and The Tragic Sense of Life explored the conflict between faith and reason. Other notable essayists of this generation included Azorín and Maeztu.
The Noucentisme Movement
Noucentists writers also favored the essay, offering a more critical perspective on Spain and advocating for Europeanization. Key figures included Gregorio Marañón (The Count-Duke of Olivares), Manuel Azaña (The Invention of Don Quixote and Other Essays), Eugenio d’Ors (Three Hours in the Prado Museum), and José Ortega y Gasset, whose essays ranged from socio-political commentary (The Invertebrate Spain, The Revolt of the Masses) to humanistic reflections on art (The Dehumanization of Art).
Post-Civil War and Beyond
The essay flourished in exile, with contributions from Claudio Sánchez Albornoz (Spain in its History) and Américo Castro (The Historical Reality of Spain), whose work sparked debate about Jewish influence in Spanish life and literature. During the dictatorship, the essay found limited space in journals and notebooks like Triumph. Pedro Laín Entralgo (Spain as a Problem), Agustín García Calvo, and José Luis López Aranguren (Morals and Society) were among the prominent essayists. Julián Marías (Meditations on Spanish Society) and Julio Caro Baroja (The Witches and Their World) also produced significant essay collections.
Contemporary Trends
With the arrival of democracy, the political essay gained prominence in newspapers, with contributions from Enrique Tierno Galván, Gregorio Peces Barba, and Manuel Fraga. The current trend favors longer, book-length essays. Recent successes include Ethics for Amador by Fernando Savater, The Seeds of Violence by Luis Rojas Marcos, American Planet by Vicente Verdú, The Melancholy Loop: Basque Nationalism Stories by Jon Juaristi, and Ethics for Castaways by José Antonio Marina.