Mastering Textual Properties: Cohesion, Coherence, and Adaptation

Mastering Textual Properties for Effective Communication

Communicative Adaptation: Linguistic Diversity and Registers

Communicative adaptation requires the knowledge and mastery of linguistic diversity. Language is neither uniform nor homogeneous. Speakers and writers must choose the appropriate dialect form and register for their context.

Criteria for Text Suitability

To check whether a text is suitable, the following criteria must be met:

• Achieves its intended goal.
• Appropriate personal treatment (tone).
• Level of formality maintained consistently throughout the text.
• Maintenance of the required degree of specificity.

Consistency (Coherence): Processing and Structuring Information

Coherence is the domain of information processing. It dictates what information must be communicated and how it will be presented. Key aspects of coherence include:

1. Quantity of Information

The text must communicate what is most important, ensuring all necessary information is present without excess or defect.

2. Quality of Information

Information must be accurate, and ideas must be clear and complete. Avoid underdeveloped or overloaded words if possible. There must be a balance between different formulation types.

3. Structure of Information

Information structure involves two main components:

• Macrostructure: The semantic content of the information, logically organized.
• Superstructure: The formal representation of the information within the text (e.g., narrative, argumentative structure).

Theme and Rheme

The Theme is the information in a text that the reader already knows (given information). The Rheme is the new information presented to the reader. Maintaining a balance between them is crucial for flow.

Paragraph Structure

The paragraph serves as a meaningful and visual unit. It should develop a unique idea and is graphically marked on the page.

Cohesion: Grammatical Links and Text Joints

Cohesion refers to the grammatical joints that link the units of a text. Discourse units are not isolated but are connected by various grammatical means.

Forms of Cohesion

Cohesion is achieved through several mechanisms:

• Anaphora: The repetition or reference to an element mentioned previously in successive sentences.

Ways to avoid unnecessary repetition (anaphora resolution) include:

• Substitution of synonyms.
• Pronominalization (lexical, grammatical, or pro-adverbial pronouns).
• Ellipsis (omission of previously mentioned elements).
• Use of determiners (articles, possessives, demonstratives).

• Deixis: Relating the speech to the context using indexicals (pronouns and adverbs) that indicate the actual referents of the discourse (e.g., time, place, person).
• Connection: Using connectors (conjunctions, adverbs, phrases) to link sentences and establish relationships (e.g., coordinating conjunctions, grammatical links).
• Intonation: A crucial cohesive and expressive mechanism in oral language. The tone group is the basic unit, formed by breaks and variations in pitch. The repetition and contrast of melodic curves also create a strong cohesive effect.
• Punctuation: Punctuation signs serve as the written equivalent of intonation, though the two systems have similarities and differences.
• Temporal Relations: Verbs throughout the text must maintain a logical and close correlation. The appropriate use of tense and verbal mode is determined by many factors.
• Grammatical and Semantic Relationships: Ensuring agreement (number and gender) and maintaining semantic fields or lexical chains between words.
• Paralinguistic Mechanisms: Nonverbal elements that function as liaison between sentences, such as the pace and speed accompanying oral discourse.