Cohesion

Karin Wenz, Assistant Professor of English, University of Kassel

Textual linearity is more than mere sequence. It depends on devices which provide cohesion, such as deixis, anaphora or reader instructions of the type "see above". These cohesive devices construct larger syntactic entities which are hierarchically structured and in sum lead to macrotextual structures like paragraphs, sections, and chapters. These structures can be compared to landmarks which provide the reader with information concerning his or her whereabouts. The text described in topological terms, consists of units and connections between them. Furthermore typographical convention will help the reader to predict which object will follow next: a new section, paragraph, or a new sentence. Connection by reader instructions undermine partly the congruence and linearity of discourse.

see also narrative time