Discourse connection

1. A presentation by
Anass Bensabbouh

2. OUTLINE
I. Cohesion
II.Coherence
III.Rhetorical Structure Theory
IV.Connectivity Theory

3. Cohesion
 refers to the connections which have their manifestation in the
discourse itself. It is the grammatical and lexical ways in which the
elements of a text are linked together. Cohesion occurs when the
interpretation of one item in the text depends on the other.
An octopus is an air-filled curtain with seven heads and
three spike-filled fingers, which poke in frills and furls at
ribbon-strewed buttons.
 The octopus definition above is cohesive but NOT coherent.
Amy went to the party. She sat with Sara.

4. Types of cohesive ties
1) Substitution: Substitution occurs when an item is replaced by
another item in the text to avoid repetition.
There are three main types of substitution:
a) Nominal substitution
This car is old. I will buy a new one
b) Verbal substitution
A: Have you called the doctor?
B: I haven’t done yet, but I will do.
A: Well, I think you should do.
c) Clausal substitution
A: Do you think the teacher is going to be absent tomorrow?
B: No. I don’t think so.

5. 2) Ellipsis: Ellipsis is the process of omitting an unnecessary item, which
has been mentioned earlier in text, and replacing it with nothing
 Substitution by ZERO.
There are three main types of Ellipsis:
a) Nominal Ellipsis
My brothers like sports. In fact, both [0] love football.
b) Verbal Ellipsis
He participated in the debate, but you didn’t [0].
c) Clausal Ellipsis
A: Who is writing on the board?
B: Alice is [0].

6. 3) Reference: The situation in which one element cannot be
semantically interpreted unless it referred to another element in the
text.
Reference may either be exophoric or endophoric
a) Exophoric Reference: requires the reader to infer the interpreted
referent by looking beyond the text.
This is a great idea!
b) Endophoric Reference: The referent lies within the text itself.
There are two types of endophoric reference:
i. Anaphoric: refers back to something already mentioned.
Amy went to the party. She sat with Sara.
ii. Cataphoric: refers forward to something that will be mentioned.
As soon as he arrived, Mike visited his parents.

7. 4) Conjunction: the relationship which indicates how the subsequent
sentence or clause should be linked to the preceding or the following
one. Conjunctions structure the text in a certain logical order.
There are four types of conjunctions:
a) Additive: connect units that share semantic similarity.
and, likewise, furthermore, in addition, etc.
b) Temporal: express the time order of events.
finally, then, soon, at the same time, etc.
c) Causal: introduce results, reasons, or purposes.
so, thus, therefore, because, etc.
d) Adversative: express contrasting results or opinions.
but, however, in contrast, whereas, etc.

8. 5) Lexical cohesion: involves the choice of vocabulary. It is concerned
with the relationship that exists between lexical items in a text such
as words and phrases. It includes two types:
a) Reiteration: Two items that share the same referent and could either
be repeated or have similar meanings in a text. It includes 5 types:
i. Repetition: I met a man there. The man was very angry.
ii. Synonymy: I ate a tasty cake. It was really delicious.
iii. Hyponymy/hyperonymy: We were shopping for furniture. We saw
a lovely table.
iv. Meronymy: This apple comes from that tree.
v. Antonymy: Old music is completely different from new one.
b) Collocation: combination of vocabulary items that co-occur together.
Tom always eats fast food in the school bus.

9. Coherence
 Essentially coherence is concerned with the content of a text, the
meaning it is attempting to convey. When texts are not coherent, they
do not make sense or they make it difficult for the reader to follow and
understand.
 Interlocutors strategically use cohesive devices to make sure that
coherence can be established. As a result, coherence construction can
be considered a collaborative and interactive process between
addresser and addressee.
 Readers and writers collaborate in making a text coherent.
 coherence is variable and scalar, since its construction depends on the
personal experiences and world knowledge of individual recipients.

10.  Discourse relations play an essential role in making coherence. They
describe how two segments of discourse are logically and/or
structurally connected to one another.
The government has taken emergency measures. They will become
effective next year.
I will do some extra exercises this evening. I want to fully understand
this difficult lesson.
 These relations can be classified in different ways according to specific
characteristics which they share.
Elaboration
Purpose

11. Rhetorical Structure Theory
 Developed in the 1980s by William Mann and Sandra Thompson.
 Rhetorical Structure Theory is a theory of text organization which
provides a framework for an analysis of text. The theory is based on
the understanding that a text is not merely a string of clauses, but
consists instead of hierarchically organized groups of clauses that
stand in various relations to one another.
 RST analysis:
 Starts by dividing a text into minimal units (clauses)
 Labels the connection between these units by choosing a relation
name (over 20 relations).

12. Subject matter relations Presentational relations
Elaboration
Circumstance
Solutionhood
Volitional cause
Volitional result
Non-volitional cause
Non-volitional result
Purpose
Condition
Interpretation
Evaluation
Restatement
Summary
Sequence
Contrast
Motivation
Antithesis
Background
Enablement
Evidence
Justification
Concession

15. Connectivity Theory
 The theory was developed by Renkema (2009).
 It takes into account the limitations of RST, and works on both formal
linking devices and unexpressed discourse relations.
 Using RST as a point of departure, it proposes an alternative taxonomy
of connections that relies on two fundamental principles and three
levels of connections.
2 principles
3 levels of
connection
Discursive
Dialogic
Conjunction
Adjunction
interjunction

16.  The discursive principle: discourse is regarded as an expanded
macroproposition. This means that discourse is the result of
intraclausal connections used interclausally.
 The dialogic principle: The dialogic principle refers to the permanent
interaction between text producer and recipient. The addresser to
some extent anticipates the addressee’s expectations and reactions
and on this basis proceeds after the end of syntactic units. If such
implied reader responses are formulated as questions, the written text
appears as a dialogue

18.  Conjunction: the possible ways in which formal segments of discourse
are connected.
 location: the sequence of segments, including anaphoric and
cataphoric directions of referential pronouns.
 Ordination: the syntactic structuring such as subordination and
coordination
 Combination: A variety of cohesive devices.

19.  Adjunction: the type of connection between nominal concepts and
verbal events to form a proposition.
 Elaboration: information added to concepts.
Mary went to the market. It was a small market in the suburbs.
 Enhancement: information added to events.
Mary went to the market. It was a pleasant walk.
 Extension: information added to both concept and event.
Mary went to the market. Her husband took care of the children.

20.  Interjunction: the level on which the addresser contacts and interacts
with the addressee.
 Expressing: speaker expresses his/her thoughts.
They are almost asleep. Well, that is a sign of lack of interest.
 Processing: background information is provided to explain the
content of the first sentence.
They are almost asleep. It was such a hard day.
 Impressing: is a signal to the hearer.
They are almost asleep. Your speech was too long.