Lecture 5 Coherence Introduction Last lecture we learnt cohesion in discourse, as a means to make discourse logical and acceptable, it refers to the grammatical and lexical relationship between different elements of a discourse. While sometimes we find it still needs coherent in the meaning of discourse, by which we can understand discourse better in real communication .that is to say, it is necessary to introduce coherence in our study. So from this lecture, we will focus on coherence in discourse. What is coherence1) According to Richards Longman Dictionary of Applied Linguistics, coherence refers to the relationships which link the meaning of utterances in a discourse or of the sentence in a text.2) According to Guy Cooks Discourse and Literary, coherence as a result of the interaction of text and receiver, which, through it may be aided by cohesion, is distinct and independent from it.3) 胡壮麟: 连贯指交际行为之间的统一关系。4) 黄国文：连贯指的是语篇中语义的关联，连贯存在于语篇的底层，通过逻辑推理来达到语义连接，它是语篇的无形网络。Own idea: coherence is kind of relationship which can be used to link the meaning of utterance in the discourse or of sentence in the text. The discourse or text is coherent if the hearer can understand the meaning of the speaker, or the reader can have sympathetic response to the author. Types of coherence 1) According to N.E. Enkvist (1978, Cohesion and Semantics), there are three types of coherence in discourse.A) coherenceB) pseudo-coherenceC) non-coherence2) According to Huang Guowen, there are two types of coherence in discourse.A) overt coherenceB) covert coherenceOvert coherence is achieved by cohesion, which we have learned in the last lecture.E.g.: A: whose is this pen?B: Oh, its the one i lost.In the example, there is a lexical link between “this pen” and “the one”.However, covert coherence is achieved by different ways. We will discuss them in the next sector. Devices to realize coherenceAccording to Brown and Yules book Discourse Analysis, there are five devices1. Conversational implication First let us see the following the example:A: Can you answer the phone?B: I am in the bath.A: Okay!In this Conversation, we can not find any cohesive link, while by analyzing the conversation implication, we can understand his meaning From Bs answer; B is having a shower, so can not answer the phone. 2. Shared knowledge: the speakers are from the same speech community, having the same background knowledge. A: can you give me a lift home? B: sorry, I will visit my sister. Speakers A and B have the same or common knowledge, so speaker B can understand As meaning, i.e. A can not give him a lift. So we say this conversation have coherence. 3. InferenceInference refers to the process that we infer unknown information from the known information.4. Speech act theory In the general linguistics we have learnt Austins Speech Act; here we mainly focus on illocutionary act. In discourse, sometimes there is no performative verb, but the speaker could be seen to have performed some act. This will be well demonstrated by the following example: A: I am hungryB: l will do cooking for you.Speaker B can understand As Illocutionary meaning and take some action, from this point, this conversation is coherent.5. Schema 5.1 DefinitionAccording to Richards dictionary of linguistics1) Scheme, also called schema, macro-structure, discourse structure, is a collection of organized and interrelated representations of objects, events, and relationships. 2) In text linguistics and discourse analysis it refers to the underlying structure which accounts for the organization of a text of discourse. 5.2 Origin of schema theorySchema theory has its origins in the Gestalt psychology of the 1920s and 1930s. In the current sense, British psychologist Frederick Bartlett is most frequently thought to be the most important figure in the origin of the theory. He shared the existing Gestalt emphasis on a “top-down” approach to understanding, and belief that perception creates a whole from otherwise disparate parts. Form series of experiments, Bartlett proceeded to his Theory of Remembering in which he propounds the basic principle of schema theory applied to language structure activated from memory, capable of filling in details which are not explicitly stated.5.3 Schema theory and coherenceAccording to Brown and Yule, the knowledge we possess as users of a language concerning social interaction via language is just one part of our general socio-cultural knowledge. This general knowledge about the world underpins our interpretation o discourse. From the above knowledge we have known that the interpretation of discourse is based to a large extent on a simple principle of analogy with what we have experienced in the past. However, in order to achieve coherence, when understanding a discourse, only the possession of this knowledge and experience are not enough, how to activate them stored in the form of scheme is necessary. The relationship between scheme and coherence of