A Tentative Analysis Of Discourse Coherence And Iconicity

Discourse coherence is an important aspect of discourse analysis. The debating focus lies in the relationship between coherence and cohesion. Early discourse researchers view cohesion as the necessary device. In 1976, Cohesion in English co-written by Halliday and Hasan symbolizes the foundation of cohesion theory. They point out clearly in this book: without cohesion, the establishment of coherence will not be achieved and cohesion is the basis of coherence. Their view cannot explain the existence of coherence in many language phenomena. With the further research on discourse analysis, it is admitted that cohesive devices cannot guarantee coherence in some cases, and coherence can be achieved without special devices. On the whole, research on discourse coherence has made great progress. Cohesion is neither a necessary nor a sufficient condition for the realization of coherence. Other scholars try to explore coherence from other perspectives. For example, Reinhart (1980) and Ehrlich (1990) divide coherence into explicit coherence and implicit coherence. However, there are still more questions than answers, which restrict further research in this area. There are many language or non-language skills and techniques employed to achieve them. And iconicity is also one way to realize them.The theory of iconicity is put forward in contrast to that of arbitrariness and has been developing gradually. In fact, the debate on arbitrariness and iconicity of language dates back to ancient Greek. Ferdinand de Saussure, the founder of modern linguistics, puts forward the arbitrariness principle of language signs, insisting that language signs are arbitrary and looking on this principle as the most important and the first principle controlling the whole language system (Saussure, 1916). Later, many linguists began to form new understandings of the relations between forms and meanings of linguistic signs. They think there exist certain similarities between language signs and their referents and languages are direct reflections of the outside world. Iconicity is an important topic in modern cognitive linguistics. Iconicity can combine the form and meaning of a discourse, which can enhance the directness and make discourse more coherent. Analysis of discourse coherence from the perspective of iconicity helps highlight form and content, and aids in the reinforcement of meaning effect.So, in this thesis, the author tries to study iconicity, discourse coherence and the relationship between the two. Exploring discourse coherence from the perspective of iconicity theory can help us better understand the essence of coherence.