Surely you've heard of the textual coherence, that indispensable element for the construction of meanings in a text. What you may not yet know is that when it comes to coherence, different types can be listed, all with the same purpose: to make a text intelligible, organized and non-contradictory.
For the end of a text to be considered coherent, its textual segments need to be logically linked together, like little pieces of a complicated puzzle. Each part contributes to the final result, which can be satisfactory or disastrous, especially if the pieces are in inappropriate places. These pieces, when the subject is textual coherence, are the ideas and arguments, which must be harmoniously organized so that the meanings of the text are apprehended in a satisfactory manner.
Get to know the different ones now types of textual coherence, essential for the overall coherence of a text:
♣ Syntactic coherence: it concerns the adequacy between the elements that make up the sentence, such as the order in which they are arranged, lexical selection,
cohesion and rules of agreement and rulership. Its main function is to eliminate ambiguous structures, as well as the inadequate use of connectives, indispensable elements for textual cohesion.♣ Semantic coherence:is established between the meanings of the text elements. When the sentences in sequence appear meaningless, we say that they are contradictory ideas.
♣ Thematic coherence: With the exception of explanatory insertions, such as quotes and paraphrases, all statements in a text must be coherent and relevant to the theme. In order to achieve thematic coherence, sentences that contribute nothing to the logical sequence of arguments should be avoided.
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♣ Pragmatic consistency:it happens when the conditions of the context are favorable to the speech acts of the interlocutors. For example, when we ask a question to an interlocutor, pragmatic coherence requires that he elaborate an answer, then proceeding with speech acts and communication. If these conditions are ignored, the result is pragmatic inconsistency.
♣ Stylistic coherence:Stylistic coherence requires that, throughout a text, a single type of language is maintained. If formal language is contemplated, it must be preserved until the end of the composition, the same goes for colloquial language. Stylistic inconsistency does not affect the understanding of a text, however, the ideal is to maintain a single language pattern, especially one that is appropriate to the linguistic situation.
♣ Generic consistency:Generic coherence is the proper choice of textual genre according to the advertised content. The break with this pattern is only admitted in texts that adopt the literary language, in which it is common to find a certain genus presenting characteristics of other genres, a phenomenon we call linguistic hybridism.
The six types of textual coherence presented here contribute to the construction of acceptable statements, whether from a semantic, syntactic, stylistic, thematic, generic or pragmatic point of view. Coherence is an indispensable factor in acts of communication, in which there is a joint effort between sender and receiver so that there is, in fact, understanding. This commitment can be identified in the text through the types of coherence presented above.
By Luana Castro
Graduated in Letters
Would you like to reference this text in a school or academic work? Look:
PEREZ, Luana Castro Alves. "Types of textual coherence"; Brazil School. Available in: https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/redacao/tipos-coerencia-textual.htm. Accessed on June 27, 2021.