Halliday, M.A.K. & Hasan, Ruqaiya (1976) Cohesion in English. Hong Kong: Longman.

The word TEXT is used in linguistics to refer to any passage, spoken or written, of whatever length, that does form a unified whole. -01

A text is best regarded as a SEMANTIC unit: a unit not of form but of meaning. Thus it is related to a clause or sentence not by size but by REALIZATION, the coding of one symbolic system in another. A text does not consist of sentences; it is REALIZED BY, or enhanced in, sentences. -02

A text has texture, and this is what distinguishes it from something that is not a text. It derives this texture from the fact that it functions as a unity with respect to its environment. – 02

The concept of cohesion is semantic one; it refers to relations of meaning that exist within the text, and that define it as a text. – 04

Cohesion occurs when the interpretation of some element in the discourse is dependent on that of another. The one presupposes the other, in the sense that it cannot be effectively decoded except by recourse to it. – 04

The Deictic is the element in the nominal group that relates to the HERE AND NOW, linking the thing referred to its verbal and situational context. – 159

5.6       Causal

CAUSAL relation is expressed by:

so, thus, hence, therefore, consequently, accordingly, as a result (of that), in consequence (of that), because of that

Causal Relations: Result, Reason, Purpose

Internal Cohesion:

thus, hence, therefore, arising out of this, following from this, it follows that, from this it appears that, we may conclude that: all these imply some kind of reasoning or argument from a promise.

CONDITIONAL TYPE:

Causal: ‘a, therefore b’

Conditional: ‘possibly a; if so, then b’

Summary of CLAUSAL type:

Clausal Relation: General	external & internal
Simple	so, thus, hence, therefore
Emphatic	consequently, accordingly, because of this
Clausal Relations, specific
Reason	(Ex) for this reason, on account of this
	(In) it follows (from this), on the basis
Result	(Ex) as a result (of this), in consequence (of this)
	(in) arising out of this
Purpose	(ex.) for this purpose, with this in mind/view, with this intention
	(in) to this end
Reversed Clausal Relations	General
Simple	For, because
Conditional relations	External & Internal
Simple	Then
Emphatics	In that case, that being the case, in such an event, under those circumstances
Generalized	Under the circumstances
Reversed Polarity	Otherwise, Under the circumstances

5.7 Temporal relations

Simple Temporal Relations (external)
Sequential	(and) then, next, afterwards, after that, subsequently
Simultaneous	(just) then, at the same time, simultaneously
Preceding	Earlier, before then/that, previously
Complex Temporal Relations (External)
Immediate	At once, thereupon, on which, just before
Interrupted	Soon, presently, later, after a time; some time earlier, formerly
Repetitive	Next time, on another occasion; this time, on this occasion; the last time, on a previous occasion
Specific	Next day, five minutes later, five minutes earlier
Durative	Meanwhile, all this time
Terminal	By this time; up till that time, until then
Punctiliar	Next moment, at this point/moment; the previous moment
Conclusive Relations (External)
Simple	Finally, at last, in the end, eventually
Sequential and Conclusive Relations (external): Correlative forms
Sequential	First… then, first …. next, first … second..
Conclusive	At first… finally, at first … in the end
Temporal Relations (Internal)
Sequential	Then, next, secondly…
Conclusive	Finally, as a final point, in conclusion
Temporal Relations (Internal) Correlative forms
Sequential	First… next, first… then, first… secondly…; in the first place…; to begin with…
Conclude	…finally; … to conclude with
‘Here and Now’ relations (internal)
Past	Up to now, up to this point, hitherto, hencefore,
Present	At this point, here
Future	From now on, henceforward
Summary Relations (internal)
Culminative	To sum up, in short, briefly
Resumptive	To resume, to get back to the point, anyway

5.8 Other Conjunctive items (Continuatives)

5.8.1 Now

5.8.2 Of course

5.8.3 Well

5.8.4 Anyway

5.8.5 Surely

5.8.6 After all

5.9 The cohesive function of intonation

Cohesive elements relate the sentence to something that has gone before it; they are normally anaphoric – there is no new content to them – 271

THE FALLING TONE, Tone 1, if it is used in the context of a cohesive element, has the sense of ‘and here’s something more’ – 272

Lexical Cohesion

6.1 The class of ‘General Nouns’

Lexical cohesion – the cohesive effect achieved by the selection of vocabulary. – 275

One lexical item refers back to another, to which it is related by having a common referent. We shall refer to this general phenomena as REITERATION. – 278

6.2 Types of Reiteration

6.3 Lexical Relations as Cohesive Patterns

6.4 Collocation

Collocation: Cohesion that is achieved through the associations of lexical items that regularly co-occur. – 284

6.5 The general concept of lexical cohesion

The Meaning of Cohesion

7.1 Text

A text is best thought of not as grammatical unit, but rather as a unit of a different kind: a semiotic unit. The unity that it has is a unity of meaning in context, a texture that expresses the fact that it relates as a whole to the environment in which it is placed. – 293

A set of related sentences, with a single sentence as the limiting case, is the embodiment or realization of a text. So the expression of the semiotic unity of the text lies in the cohesion among the sentences of which it is composed. – 293

7.1.1 Length of text

7.1.2 Definitiveness of the concept of text

it is reasonable for us to make use of such cohesion as a criterion for the recognition of the boundaries of a text. For most purposes, we can consider that a new text begins where a sentence shows no cohesion with those that have preceded. – 295

7.1.3 Tight and loose texture

7.1.4 Imaginary texture

7.2 The general meaning of cohesion

Cohesion is necessary though not a sufficient condition for the creation of text. What creates text is the TEXTUAL, or text-forming, component of the linguistic system, of which cohesion is one part. The textual component as a whole is the set of resources in a language whose semantic function is that of expressing relationship to the environment. -298-299

7.3 The meaning of different kinds of cohesion

Nature of cohesive relation	Types of cohesion
Relatedness of form	Substitution and ellipsis; lexical collocation
Relatedness of reference	Reference; lexical reiteration
Semantic connection	Conjunction

7.3.1 General principles behind the different types

there are two possible channels for the recovery of information: the situation, and the text. – 305

7.3.2 Reference

Reference is the element between an element of the text and something else by reference to which it is interpreted in the given instance. Reference is a potentially cohesive relation because the thing that serves as the source of the interpretation may itself be an element of text. – 308-309

Either the reference item is interpreted through being IDENTIFIED with the referent in question; or it is interpreted through being COMPARED WITH the referent – explicitly not identified with it, but brought into some form of comparison with it. – 309

we can summarize the meaning of reference by using the term CO-INTERPRETATION. There is a semantic link between a reference item and that which it presupposes; but this does not mean that the two necessarily have the same referent. It means that the interpretation of the reference item DEPENDS IN SOME WAY on that of the presupposed. Coreference is one particular form that co-interpretation may take - where the two items do, in fact, refer to the same thing. – 314

7.3.3 Substitution and ellipsis

Reference implies that there is identity of meaning between the presupposing item and that which it presupposes, while substitution implies non-identity of meaning. – 315

Ellipsis is characteristic particularly of response: responses to yes/no questions, with ellipsis of the proposition, and to WH-questions, with ellipsis of all elements but the one required. – 317

Lexical cohesion: reiteration and collocation

Lexical cohesion is ‘phonic’ cohesion that is established through the structure of the LEXIS, or vocabulary, and hence (like substitution) at the lexicogrammatical level. – 318

Lexical cohesion embraces two distinct though related aspects which we referred to as REITERATION and COLLOCATION.

1. Reiteration: This is a repetition of a lexical item, or the occurrence of a synonym of some kind, in the context of reference; that is, where the two occurrences have the same referent. Typically, therefore, a reiterated lexical item is accompanied by a reference item, usually the or a demonstrative. The complex consisting of the plus reiterated lexical item is therefore cohesive by reference. – 318-319

2. Collocation: As remarked above, the repetition of a lexical item is cohesive in its own right, whether or not there is identity of reference, or any referential relation at all between the two. – 319

7.3.5 Conjunction

[Conjunction] is based on the assumption that there are in the linguistic system forms of systematic relationships between sentences. – 320

7.3.6 Summary

Representation in Linguistic	Semantic	Lexicogrammatical (typically)
Type of Cohesive Relation
Conjunction	Additive, Adversative, Casual and Temporal relations; external and internal	Discourse Adjuncts: adverbial groups, prepositional groups
Reference	Identification: By speech role By proximity By specificity (only) Reference point	Personal Demonstratives Definite Article Comparatives
Lexical Cohesion	Collocation (Similarity of lexical environment) Reiteration (Identity of lexical reference)	Same or associated lexical item Same lexical item synonym; superordinate; general word
Substitution	Identity of potential reference (class meaning) in context of nonidentity of actual  (instantial) reference	Verbal, nominal substitute Verbal or nominal clausal ellipsis

7.4.1 Texture within the sentence

7.4.2 The texture of discourse

7.4.3 The role of linguistic analysis

The linguistic analysis of a text is not an interpretation of that text: it is an explanation. – 327

The role of linguistics is to say how and why the text means what it does to the reader or listener, and how and why he evaluates it in a certain way. – 328

The analysis of cohesion

8.1 General Principles

A tie is a complex notion, because it includes not only the cohesive elements but also that which is presupposed by it. A tie is best interpreted as a RELATION between these two elements. – 329

A tie is thus a relational concept. It is also DIRECTIONAL; the relation is an asymmetric one. It may go either way; the direction may be anaphoric with the presupposed element preceding, or catophoric, with the presupposed element following. - 329