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Conversation Analysis Essay

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LANGUAGE IN INDIA
Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow
Volume 12 : 5 May 2012
ISSN 1930-2940
Managing Editor: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D. Editors: B. Mallikarjun, Ph.D. Sam Mohanlal, Ph.D. B. A. Sharada, Ph.D. A. R. Fatihi, Ph.D. Lakhan Gusain, Ph.D. Jennifer Marie Bayer, Ph.D. S. M. Ravichandran, Ph.D. G. Baskaran, Ph.D. L. Ramamoorthy, Ph.D. Assistant Managing Editor: Swarna Thirumalai, M.A.

Coherence and the Role of Cohesion in Coherent Texts
Ambreen Shahriar Habibullah Pathan ==========================================================

Abstract This paper discusses that a meaningful English text is always coherent. Also, the role of cohesion in a coherent English text is discussed in the light of literature. In order to …show more content…

He, thus, discusses that person, spatial, temporal, discourse and social deixis describe the context of a text. Davies (2005) also mentions the role of context and subtext (reading between the lines) as important to the coherence of any text. McCarthy (1991:168) describes schema as ‘the role of background knowledge’ in understanding the text. According to him, schemata involve two kinds of knowledge; the knowledge of the world (content schemata) and the knowledge of the different forms of the text (formal schemata). Some scholars including Halliday and Hassan (1976) include exophoric reference in the cohesive device of reference; I have also discussed it there. 3. COHESION Halliday and Hassan (1976) were the first significant writers on the subject (cohesion). They drew the attention towards the importance of cohesion which, for them, refers to ‘the range of possibilities that exist from linking something with what has gone before’. Halliday and Hassan continue that one of the items in the cohesive pair cannot be completely and effectively understood without consulting the other and both of these form important part of the text. Most other writers on the subject then explained the term following Halliday and Hassan. Zamel (1983) finds the role of the cohesive devices to be crucial as they can turn separate expression into a unified whole by developing relationships between those separate expression. Cook (1989) defines

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