Coherence and Cohesion in English Discourse

Figure 1: Murder of Ryan Hawkins (Sun) 
 Figure 2: Murder of Rhys Biggs 
(Guardian)

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Figure 3: Murder of Rhys Biggs (Sun)

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Figure 4: Murder of Millie Hall (Daily Telegraph)

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Political discourse

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CHAPTER SIX
Coherence and persuasion in political speeches: 
Ideological coherence in coherent discourse
Olga Dontcheva-Navratilova
Abstract
This chapter explores coherence in political discourse. It approaches coherence as a 
multifaceted phenomenon comprising conceptual connectedness, evaluative and dialogical 
consistency, and textual relatedness and suggests a model for the analysis of discourse 
coherence. While applying this model to the analysis of political speeches, the study 
focuses on discourse strategies and linguistic devices which contribute to the persuasive 
force of political rhetoric by creating a coherent discourse representing the speaker as 
a reliable and credible political actor. The findings of the investigation demonstrate the 
primacy of interpersonal meanings in the perception of coherence in political discourse. 
The author argues that the interpersonal dimension of meaning in political speeches 
provides a frame of reference for the perception of ideational coherence, which is based 
on discourse topic organization, continuity of referents and temporal anchoring of the 
discourse in the moment of speaking, and for the interpretation of cohesive signals. The 
choice of strategies for the construal of coherence is regarded as closely interwoven with 
persuasion strategies which orators use to achieve their communicative intentions.