THE referential cohesion it is a textual cohesion mechanism that collaborates with textuality through the use of cohesive elements. It connects the different parts of a text be it words, sentences and periods.
It is a cohesive resource that occurs when a term or expression that has already been mentioned in the text is used by another term that replaces it.
What was mentioned above is called the textual referent, while the term that refers to it is called the cofferent.
Its function is extremely important for textual coherence as it allows the reader to identify the terms referred to in the text.
Example: Sara left home this morning. Is it over there she went to work at the store and later went to dance class.
According to the example, the term "she" takes up the subject "Sara", thus avoiding unnecessary repetition.
Classification
Referential cohesion can occur in different ways and the most used mechanisms are: anaphora, cataphora, ellipse and reiteration.
anaphora
The anaphora takes up the referent through a cohesive element that can be: articles, adverbs, pronouns and numerals. In this case, the textual referent has already been mentioned earlier in the text.
"One thing I'm sure of: this narrative will touch on something delicate: the creation of a whole person who's probably as alive as I am. take care her because my power is just to show-there for you The recognize in the street, walking lightly because of the thin flowing thin."
(star hour by Clarice Lispector)
The highlighted terms take up the referent that was mentioned earlier in the text: "whole person".
cataphore
Cataphor, unlike anaphora, anticipates the referent, that is, the textual referent appears after the cohesive element. It is usually employed through demonstrative and indefinite pronouns.
"There is three things that cannot be hidden for long: the sun, the moon and the truth". (Buddha)
In the example above, the cofferent precedes the referent by means of the expression "three things".
Ellipse
The ellipse is the omission of one or more terms from the sentence, however, which are easily identifiable by the reader. It is widely used to avoid unnecessary repetition.
"I sing because the moment exists
and my life is complete.
I'm not happy nor am I sad:
I'm a poet."(Excerpt from the poem Reason by Cecília Meireles)
In the example above we have the omission of the pronoun “I” in the third line of the poem: (I) I am neither happy nor sad.
Reiteration
The reiteration corresponds to the repetition of referential elements in the text. It can occur through repetition of the same lexical item, by synonymous terms or even by generic names (thing, people, business, etc.)
“Each one he is responsible for everyone. Each one is solely responsible. Each one he is solely responsible for everyone.” (Antoine de Saint-Exupéry)
Template Exercises
1. (Enem-2009)
Paris, son of the King of Troy, kidnapped Helen, the wife of a Greek king. This provoked a bloody ten-year conflict between the 13th and 12th centuries BC It was the first clash between the West and the East. But the Greeks managed to deceive the Trojans. An immense wooden horse was left at the door of its fortified walls. The Trojans, happy with the gift, took him inside. At night, the Greek soldiers, who were hiding on the horse, came out and opened the doors of the fortress for the invasion. Hence the expression "Greek's gift".
In "put it", the pronominal form "no" refers to:
a) the term "Greek king".
b) the antecedent "Greeks".
c) the distant antecedent of "shock".
d) the expression "fortified walls".
e) the terms "gift" and "wooden horse".
Alternative e) to the terms "gift" and "wooden horse".
2. (Enem-2014)
There's something special about putting your face in the window in a newspaper chronicle ‒ I hadn't done that in years, while hiding in poetry and fiction. Chronicle is also sometimes intentionally made to provoke. Besides, on some days even the most educated writer isn't doing much. There are those who show their face by writing to complain: too modern, too old-fashioned.
Some talk about the subject, and it's nice to share ideas. There are texts that seem to go unnoticed, others yield a lot of messages: “You wrote exactly what I feel", "This is exactly what I say to my patients", "This is what I say to my parents", "I commented with my girlfriend". The stimuli are valuable for those who used to walk a bit like this in those times: it's like putting me on their laps - I also need them. In fact, I have never been so held in the lap by readers as in the newspaper window. So it's been great, this serious game, with some texts that were going to end up in this book, others scattered around. Because I'm serious about being serious… even when it feels like I'm joking: that's one of the wonders of writing. As I wrote many years ago and it remains my truth: words are my most secret way of keeping quiet.
LUFT, L. thinking is transgressing. Rio de Janeiro: Record, 2004.
The texts make constant use of resources that allow the articulation between their parts. As for the construction of the fragment, the element
a) “in that” introduces the fragment “putting your face in the window in a newspaper chronicle”.
b) “this way” is a paraphrase of “it's like being held in your lap”.
c) “it” refers to “hidden in poetry and fiction”.
d) “some” anticipates the information “That's what I say to my parents”.
e) “this” retrieves the previous information “newspaper window”.
Alternative a) “this” introduces the fragment “putting your face in the window in a newspaper chronicle”.
3. (Enem-2016)
“She is very diva!”, the girl shouted to her friends, with a camera in her hand. It was the fifth edition of Campus Party, the internet fair that takes place annually in São Paulo, last Tuesday, 7. The diva in question was tecnobrega singer Gaby Amarantos, the “Beyoncé do Pará”. Amiable, Gaby smiled and patiently posed for every click. Shortly after, the rapper Emicida, a speaker alongside the woman from Pará and also the rapper MV Bill, would live the same grouping together. If scenes like this nowadays are part of the daily life of Gaby and Emicida, they both guarantee that this is due to dimension that their careers took through the internet — success on the net was precisely the subject of lecture. Both came from the periphery and are marked by the availability of free or very low prices of their records, a phenomenon that expanded the audience beyond the suburbs of Pará and São Paulo. The duo has even performed together at Beco 203, a venue located in Baixo Augusta, in São Paulo, attended by an upper-middle class audience.
Available at: www.cartacapital.com.br. Accessed on: Feb 28 2012 (adapted).
The ideas presented in the text are structured around elements that promote the chain of ideas and the progression of the topic addressed. In this regard, it is identified in the text in question that
a) the expression “little after” in “Little after, the rapper Emicida” indicates the permanence of the state of affairs in the world.
b) the word “also”, in “and also rapper MV Bill”, cohesively takes up the expression “the rapper Emicida”.
c) the connective “if”, in “If scenes like this”, guides the reader to conclusions contrary to a previously presented idea.
d) the indefinite pronoun “this”, in “this is due”, marks a reference to ideas in the text.
e) the expressions “the tecnobrega singer Gaby Amarantos, the 'Beyoncé do Pará'”, “both” and “the duo” form a cohesive chain as they return to the same personalities.
Alternative d) the indefinite pronoun “this”, in “this is due”, marks a reference to ideas in the text.
Don't stop there. There are more texts very useful for you:
- Textual Cohesion
- Sequential Cohesion
- Cohesion and Coherence
- Textual Coherence
- Writing connectors: list and types
- 12 connectives to complete your essay (with examples)
