Implicit Coherence In Stream Of Consciousness In Virginia Woolf's Works: From The Perspective Of Schema Theory

'Coherence' is not only an important concept in linguistics but also an important part of discourse study.It is much more concerned with connectivity,acceptability,and unity of discourse.Its process involves both linguistic and non-linguistic factors.It can be divided into explicit coherence and implicit coherence.Explicit coherence is supported by cohesive devices.The presentation of implicit coherence is based on the doubts cast on the Halliday's Cohesive Theory.As opposed to explicit coherence,it is put forward and referred to unified semantic relations supported by non-linguistic factors.Implicit coherence is covert,exophoric and cognitive.This paper attempts to deal with discourse coherence from the perspective of schema theory.It first reviews current research trends of coherence and introduces the perspective of schema theory.A fundamental tenet of schema theory assumes that a written text does not carry meaning by itself.Rather,a text only provides directions for receivers as to how they should retrieve or construct meaning from their own previously acquired knowledge. According to schema theory,coherence is a concept related to cognition of discourse receivers(readers),rather than a concept connected with discourse producers(writers). The achievement of discourse coherence,to a large extent,depends on whether receivers can activate the relevant schema or not by making inference.The text comprehension is also concerned with the integration of new information from the text and old information from the reader's mind,and the reader has to adopt the methods of inference to achieve the implicit coherence.In this paper,the inference process is largely based on the interactive comprehension model and formal and content schema of Woolf's works and the inference methods include schema activation,causal relation and the prediction function of the schema.By analyzing Virginia Woolf's three stream of consciousness novels,Mrs.Dalloway, To the Lighthouse and The Mark on the Wall,this study focuses on the implicit coherence of Virginia Woolf's literary techniques she adopts in her stream of consciousness novels, especially on those which show her originality,uniqueness and ingenuity from the perspective of schema theory.The writing techniques of these novels that the thesis analyzes are interior monologue,free association,time montage,multiple viewpoints and symbolism from the perspective of schema theory and get the conclusion that implicit coherence exists within each technique.Then the author will try to unravel the implicit coherence in Woolf's works as a whole by explaining the coherence based on focal objects, human bodies or words and phrases and the coherence based on the structure,and get the conclusion that implicit coherence exists in the novel as a whole by integrating different inter-related threads and from the perspective of structure,the novel has its own inner connection between different parts.So,generally speaking,the author gets a bird's-eye view of the implicit coherence within each techniques and worm's-eye view of implicit coherence exists in the novel as a whole to analyze the implicit coherence in Virginia Woolf's works.In conclusion,the present study shows that cognitive schema approach is effective in interpreting implicit coherence.By making use of cognitive schema theory to analyze the implicit coherence in Woolf's works,the author not only expands the practical application of cognitive schema theory and offers some insights into the nature of coherence but also provides a new perspective for solving the thorny problem of coherence of stream of consciousness novel.Therefore,the present study is a useful complement to and development of the previous achievements.Coherence analysis is an open field for research but the present study is just a preliminary step in the inquiry of implicit coherence of stream of consciousness novel from a cognitive schema perspective.Though it is of theoretical and practical significance,the study still remains to be extended and specified. The application of the findings of the study is a much wider domain for further research.