Discourse Factors: Cohesion and Coherence in Informal Texts

In VCE English Language, cohesion and coherence are the two pillars that allow a text to function as a unified whole. While formal texts rely on rigid structures and explicit signposting, informal texts achieve these qualities through shared knowledge, spontaneity, and rapport-building linguistic choices.

1. Defining the Concepts

Before analysing informal texts, it is vital to distinguish between these two related terms:

• Cohesion: The internal “glue” of a text. It refers to the linguistic devices and grammatical links that connect one part of a text to another (e.g., pronouns, conjunctions, lexical repetition).
• Coherence: The “sense” of a text. It refers to the semantic connections that make a text understandable. A coherent text has a logical development and is supported by the context and the audience’s background knowledge.

KEY TAKEAWAY: Cohesion is about the linguistic links on the page/in the speech; coherence is about the overall meaning and how well the audience understands the message.

2. Cohesive Factors in Informal Texts

In informal contexts, cohesion is often more flexible and relies heavily on the relationship between participants.

Lexical Cohesion

Informal texts use specific lexical choices to create ties between ideas:
* Synonymy and Antonymy: Using words with similar or opposite meanings to maintain a topic without sounding repetitive (e.g., “That’s sick,” “Yeah, it’s wicked”).
* Hyponymy and Hypernymy: Using specific and general categories (e.g., “I need some fruit [hypernym], can you grab an apple [hyponym]?”).
* Collocation: Words that naturally habituate together. In informal speech, these are often idioms or fixed phrases (e.g., “fair dinkum,” “at the end of the day”).
* Slang and Colloquialisms: These function as cohesive ties by establishing a consistent informal register and reinforcing in-group solidarity.

Referencing

Referencing avoids repetition by using pronouns or demonstratives to point to something else in the text or context.
* Anaphoric Reference: Referring back to an entity already mentioned (e.g., “I saw Dave, he looked tired”).
* Cataphoric Reference: Referring forward to an entity mentioned later (e.g., “This is the problem: we are late”).
* Deictic Reference (Deixis): Pointing to the immediate situational context. Informal texts rely heavily on deixis because participants often share the same physical or temporal space (e.g., “Put that over there”).

Ellipsis and Substitution

• Ellipsis: The omission of words that are understood from context. This is a hallmark of informal speech and “chat-style” writing (e.g., “[Are you] Coming tonight?”). It creates cohesion by forcing the listener to fill in the gaps based on previous turns.
• Substitution: Replacing a word or phrase with a filler word like “one,” “do,” or “so” (e.g., “I need a pen.” “Here is one”).

Information Flow

While formal texts use complex structures like clefting or passive voice, informal texts manage information flow through:
* Front-focus: Moving important information to the start for emphasis (e.g., “That movie, I hated it”).
* End-focus: Placing the new or most important information at the end of the sentence to create a natural climax or focus.

EXAM TIP: When identifying ellipsis in an informal transcript, always explain why it is used. Usually, it’s to increase efficiency and reflect the spontaneous nature of the interaction where the participants share immediate context.

3. Coherence Factors in Informal Texts

Coherence in informal texts is less about “perfect” structure and more about the participants’ ability to follow the logic of the exchange.

Inference

Inference is the process of deducing intended meaning that is not explicitly stated. Because informal language often occurs between people with a close social distance, they rely on shared knowledge and cultural assumptions.
* Example: “The usual?” “Yeah, thanks.”
* Coherence: Both participants know “the usual” refers to a specific coffee order or meeting spot.

Logical Ordering

Informal texts often have a non-linear structure. Topics may shift back and forth (topic management) or be interrupted by digressions. However, they remain coherent because:
* They follow a conversational logic.
* Participants use minimal responses (e.g., “mm,” “yeah”) to signal they are following the logic.

Formatting (Written Informal Texts)

In digital communication (SMS, Social Media), coherence is aided by:
* Emojis and Emoticons: Providing emotional context that clarifies the intent of a message (e.g., a sarcastic comment followed by a 😉).
* Punctuation: Using repeated marks (!!!) or lack of capitalisation to convey tone and pace.
* Graphemes: Using “hahaha” or “lol” to signal a humorous frame.

Consistency

While informal texts allow for more variation, they still require a degree of consistency in register and tense to remain coherent. A sudden shift to highly formal legal jargon in a casual text message would break the coherence of the interaction.

COMMON MISTAKE: Students often think “informal” means “incoherent.” This is incorrect. A text can be highly informal, messy, and full of non-fluency features, but still be perfectly coherent to the people involved in the conversation.

4. The Interaction Between Cohesion and Coherence

In an exam or SAC, you must be able to explain how cohesive devices contribute to the overall coherence of the text.

1. Cohesion Supports Coherence: By using anaphoric references (cohesion), a speaker ensures the listener knows exactly who is being discussed, which makes the story easy to follow (coherence).
2. Context Bridges the Gap: In informal texts, if cohesive ties are missing (e.g., heavy use of ellipsis), the situational context and inference provide the coherence needed for the interaction to succeed.

Summary Table: Discourse Factors

VCAA FOCUS: VCAA often asks how informal texts maintain coherence despite a lack of formal signposting. Your answer should focus on inference, shared knowledge, and contextual cues (like prosody in speech or emojis in writing).