Coherence and Cohesion in English Discourse

participants in spoken academic discourse, taking as its example the discourse 
marker 
I mean
and its possible pragmatic functions in enhancing the smooth 
flow 
of spoken interaction and establishing and maintaining discourse coherence. The 
study proves that, similarly to other discourse markers, the marker 
I mean
can be 
important for the meaning mediated by speech and for an interpretation coherent 
with the current speaker’s communicative intentions, although it contributes 
little if anything to the propositional content of the utterances into which it is 
inserted.
Literary discourse, which is at the core of the next chapter, is explored from 
the perspective of pragmatics. It considers the relevance of cooperativeness 
and politeness in the analysis of coherence in literary narratives. Based on the 
analysis of aspects and subtypes of coherence in novels and short stories, the 
study approaches coherence as an important feature of (literary) narrative. While 
taking into account specific characteristics of 
genre and register the analysis 
shows that formal characteristics of text do not guarantee its stable meaning.
Crucial aspects of meaning interpretation are discussed in the following 
chapter on newspaper discourse, which examines a range of features of coherence 
and cohesion in newspaper articles dealing with crime reports. The study 
demonstrates that coherence is not a property of text itself but is rather derived 
from discourse by the readers based on their previous experience of particular 
discourse types and discourse strategies and also the readers’ background, views, 
attitudes, etc. Cohesion is established mainly by lexical cohesive devices, among 
which the most prominent are nouns, adjectives and verbs the choice of which is 
largely determined by the intended/implied readership of a particular paper.
In the chapter on political discourse, coherence is approached as a multifaceted 
phenomenon comprising conceptual connectedness, evaluative and dialogical 
consistency, and textual relatedness. 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 analysis shows the primacy of interpersonal meanings which 
provide a frame of reference for the perception of ideational coherence and the 
establishment of cohesive relations.

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5
The analysis of cohesion and coherence presented in this volume is based 
on the understanding that discourse interpretation is dependent on socio-
cultural, pragmatic and situational factors and that the interpretation of meaning 
is negotiated interactively and permanently by discourse participants and thus 
is always conditional and indeterminate. By its in-depth analysis of different 
aspects of cohesion and coherence in a variety of genres of both spoken and 
written discourse, this monograph offers new insights into the role of cohesion 
and coherence in discourse production and interpretation and suggests new 
directions for further research.