Textual Cohesion: Reference Mechanisms and Connectors

There are two mechanisms of textual cohesion: reference mechanisms (which refer to elements of the text) and connectors (which express the semantic relationship between two or more elements).

Reference Mechanisms

Reference mechanisms are linguistic elements that refer to another element, avoiding repetition. There are two types of reference mechanisms: those outside the text (exophoric) and those within the text (endophoric).

Exophoric Reference (Deixis)

Deixis is the mechanism of referencing elements outside the text and the extralinguistic context, including deictic-personal space and time:

• Pronouns (I, me, you, he, she, it, etc.)
• Verbal morphemes (e.g., "I sing")
• Possessives
• Demonstrative adverbs of time (now, today, yesterday, later) or space (here, there, far)
• Social deixis
• Determination (the (known, concrete), a (unknown, undetermined))

Endophoric Reference

Endophoric reference is when an element of the text refers to another element within the text. This can be either anaphoric or cataphoric. If the reference has not yet appeared, it is called cataphora.

Syntactic Anaphora

• Third-person pronouns (he, she, it, they, him, her, them, which, who, that, etc.)

Semantic Anaphora

• Repetition
• Synonymic substitution (e.g., flower, rose)
• Hyponymy (e.g., flower, rose)
• Hyperonymy
• Pragmatic (e.g., Obama, President)
• Ellipsis

Connectors

Connectors establish relationships between different parts of a text. They can be classified as follows:

• Additive: and, also, besides, furthermore
• Disjunctive: or, either...or, neither...nor
• Conditional: if, unless, while
• Sequential: so, therefore, thus
• Contrast: but, however, on the contrary, in spite of, instead, even so
• Purpose: so that, in order to
• Causal: because, since
• Spatial: last, on, near, far, before, after

Sentence Modality

Sentences can be enunciative, interrogative, exclamatory, imperative, hesitant, or desiderative.

Modalization

Modalization is a feature that allows the text to identify the mechanisms used by the issuer that mark their presence in the speech or subjective target. A modalized text shows attitudes and opinions (personal nouns, verbs and adjectives of values, verbs of feelings, adverbs of manner, derivation, quantitative receptor calls, irony, rhetorical figures). A non-modalized text demonstrates objectivity (e.g., impersonal constructions, use of "one," passive voice).

Expository texts: introduction, topic development, and conclusion. They aim to explain or inform.

Argumentative texts: introduction, development (arguments and counterarguments), and conclusion. They aim to convince using subjective adjectives and adverbs.

Narrative texts: They present a sequence of events with a beginning, middle (knot), and end (outcome), often using past tense and direct or indirect discourse.

Descriptive texts: They provide details about a subject, place, or thing.