Coherence and Cohesion in English Discourse

Interpersonal coherence
Since this study argues that interpersonal meanings provide a frame of 
reference for the perception of ideational coherence and cohesive relations, the 
analysis begins with a discussion of interpersonal coherence and related persuasion 
strategies. In agreement with the model for the analysis of discourse coherence 
discussed above, in political discourse interpersonal coherence is related primarily 
to the construal of identities, the establishment of relationships between political 
actors and the expression of emotions, opinion and judgement. 
When opening a speech the orator strives immediately to establish contact 
with the audience by addressing them directly, by asserting his/her personal 
involvement or by pointing to background knowledge and experience he/she 
shares with the listeners. The salutation part of speeches uses various persuasion 
strategies to build a coherent opening of the rhetoric.
1. Direct appeal and claiming common ground
The strategy of direct appeal aims at opening the channel of communication 
and aligning the speaker with the 
audience. The forms of address make the first 
contact with the audience and set the formality level for the whole interaction; 
they depend on the occasion and are typically conventional. Thus in the highly 
formal and ceremonial address (1) delivered by the Director-General of UNESCO 
Federico Mayor at the 
Third International Symposium of World Heritage Cities 
in
 
Bergen (Norway) the use of titles and honorifics is intended to give deference 
to the institutional representatives, while defining the relationship of the orator 
with the 
audience as that of an institutional leader with officials of partner 
organizations by claiming a common commitment to an institutional ideology 
supporting UNESCO’s 
World Heritage Convention. 
(1)
Mr Chairman,
Mr Minister of the Environment,
Mr President of the Organization of World Heritage Cities,
Distinguished Mayors of World Heritage Cities,
Friends,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Two years ago I had the pleasure of being present in Fez at the official 
launching of the Organization of World Heritage Cities (OWHC). I am 
delighted to be with you again today in another beautiful city, whose 
living past is preserved in the site of Bryggen, protected under UNESCO’s 
World Heritage Convention.
(Mayor, Address of the Director-General of UNESCO, 1995)

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The speaker assumes the institutional identity and institutional voice 
granted to the leader of an intergovernmental organization, i.e. he speaks for 
the organization rather than for himself (cf. van de Mieroop 2007). This 
institutional voice construes an important aspect of the interpersonal coherence 
of the discourse. Later in the speech it is expressed among other means through 
the ambiguous inclusive first-person pronoun 
we
, which may be interpreted as 
referring to the collective identity of the organization Mayor represents, as in 
We 
are therefore planning to develop it as a new six-year programme – one in which, 
I hope, all your cities will eventually participate
, or to indeterminate groups 
including the audience, as in 
At the same time, they [historic cities] signal across 
all frontiers that we are united by what distinguishes us; that – in the words of 
Rabindranath Tagore – “individuality is precious because only through it can we 
realize the universal”.
This pragmatic strategy of over-inclusion, i.e. reference to 
indeterminate groups including the audience, allows the orator to assume wider 
agreement with the ideology proposed (Bull and Fetzer 2006: 15), which can 
then set the viewpoint for a coherent evaluation of social actors, actions and 
events throughout the speech. The use of the marked form 
friends
and of the 
expressive vocabulary items 
pleasure
, 
delighted
and 
beautiful
shows personal 
involvement and strong positive evaluation, thus qualifying the participants’ 
relationship as that of in-group members. This contributes to the build-up of 
evaluative coherence associated with the categorization of participants and the 
expression of subjectivity and emotions. The existential coherence of the speaker 
and the continuity of his commitment to the issue at hand is stressed by the 
temporal indicators 
two years ago 
and 
again
today
and asserted by reference to 
a set of related events of the 
Organization of World Heritage Cities
in Bergen 
and Fez which presupposes shared background knowledge and experience on the