Coherence In Discourse: A Speech Act Model

Coherence is a key concept of discourse analysis and a research subject ofgeneral interest as well. So far, there has been no systematic and generally acceptedcriterion by which discoursal coherence is explained due to the complexity of theconcept itself. Many linguists and scholars have made some inquiries and criticisms ofthe validity of the view that cohesion is a basic or a necessary condition for coherencein discourse since Halliday & Hasan put forward their theories on discourse cohesionin the 70s and 80s of the 20th century. Some of them hold that the cohesion is not thenecessary condition, nor is it a sufficient condition of discoursal coherence.Coherence in discourse does not rely on the formal signals or markers on the surfacestructure of discourse, rather, it is an assumption of the receiver. In other words, it isthe hearer (or reader) who presumes that a discourse is coherent. Some scholarsregard cohesion as a propositional development of discourse whereas coherence as anillocutionary development of discourse. And others argue that coherence does not liein the external text, but lies in the process of a mental interaction between thelanguage producer and the receiver. This means that coherence is a psychologicallyinteractive or negotiating process of the interlocutors. However, the present studypoints out that these different views on coherence in discourse are rational, but, tosome extent, they focus on one aspect of discoursal coherence. In fact, coherence is amulti-level notion. It is realized not only at the semantic level, that is, it is establishedthrough cohesive devices and propositional development, but also at the pragmaticlevel, which is often achieved through the illocutions or implicatures of discourse inlinguistic communication on certain occasions, and at the level of interlocutors'interaction at which coherence is considered as a process of mental interactionbetween the producer and the receiver. This study defines the notion of coherence asexplicit, implicit and interactive meaning relations realized through language users'utterances which perform certain speech acts in discourse. Therefore, coherence atthese three levels can be studied and analyzed within the framework of speech acts. Inorder to achieve a full understanding and offer a comprehensive interpretation ofdiscoursal coherence, the thesis is intended to formulate a speech act model ofdiscoursal coherence, which enables us to discuss and account for coherence withinthe framework of speech acts. In Chapter One the thesis presents the current different views on discoursalcoherence at issue, the objectives of the present study and its methodology. And inChapter Two, the part of literature review, it first makes an overview of speech acttheory proposed by J.L. Austin and its revision and development made by J.R. Searle.It includes: (1) the tenet of speech act theory, which assumes that words or sentencesare used to do thing rather than say thing; and a speech act as a whole can bedecomposed into three sub-cats, say, locutionary, illocutionary and perlocutionary; (2)the fundamental notions of speech act theory such as felicity conditions, intentionality,and indirect speech acts; (3) the application of speech act theory in discourse analysis.Then, it elaborates on some essential concepts and definitions of discourse analysis,namely, definitions of discourse, functions of discourse, properties of discourse, andtheir roles in linguistic communication. Finally, it introduces and discusses thedifferent theories or views on coherence in discourse concerning the notions and theproperties of coherence. Through an overview and elaboration on speech act theory as well as those viewsabout discoursal coherence, the thesis, in Chapter Three, proposes a speech act modelof coherence in discourse. This model in general treats a discourse as an integratedspeech act, and then presents, in brief, its features, mechanisms and cognitiverelations of coherence respectively at the levels of locutions, illocutions andperlocutions and the entailment...