1. Linguistic Competences
Discourse
Mónica Torres C.
Languages School
Universidad Nacional de
Chimborazo
monicatorrescajas@yahoo.com
Riobamba – Ecuador

2. Overview
By the end of this session participants will
be able to:
 Identify what is discourse and what it is
not.
 Recognize the main part of a discourse.
 Produce a coherent and cohesive oral
or written discourse.

3. Discourse is the way that language -written or
spoken – is used for communicative
effect in a real-world situation
Product text
Discourse

4. Text A:
For the perfect cup, use one tea bag per person and
add freshly drawn boiling water. Leave standing for
three to five minutes before stirring gently. It can be
served with or without milk and sugar.
1. The university has got a park.
2. It has got a modern tram system.
3. He has got a swimming pool.
4. I have got tickets for the theater.
5. Rio has got beautiful beaches.
Text B:

5. Self-contained
Hang together
Make sense
Purpose
Are recognis
able text types
Appropriate to
their contexts of
use
What makes a text?

6. TEXT FUNCTIONS
INTERACTIONAL

7. TEXT FUNCTIONS
TRANSACTIONAL

8. COHESION AND COHERENCE
COHESION
Interpretation takes place from Test to Reader
Bottom up ----- text interpretations bu means of its
constituents.
COHERENCE
Interpretation takes place from Reader to Text
Top down --- knowledge of context of situation
to achieve meaning

9. COHESION
GRAMMATICAL
LEXICAL

10. Grammatical Cohesion
Reference
Ellipsis
Conjuncts
Tense
GrammaticalTies

11. Reference Classification
Anaphoric back
Cataphoric forward
Exophoric outside
Pronouns Articles

12. Conjuncts (Linking Devices)
Additive
And
Such as, also, like, too, as well, similarly, for
example, what’s more, as, in addition,
likewise, moreover, in fact.
Adversative
But
But , however, alternatively, except for, on the
other hand, though
Causal
So
So, therefore, this is a way, in order to, as a
result
Temporal
then
Next, in the meantime, finally, ever, then

13. LEXICAL
COHESION
Repetition
Synonyms
/
Antonyms
Hyponyms
Lexical
Sets
Lexical Cohesion

14. Examples

15. What makes a text make sense?
Coherence
The Austrian composer Mozart was a
musical genius. He has got a swimming
pool. It actually tingles on your skin to tell
you it's working. Water would then come
out of fountains such as the one shown
here. And that is why dogs still chase
rabbits.

16. Coherence
 Logical relationship
 It is organized in sequences.
 The sequences have a precise logical and
chronological order
 The meaning of each sequence is linked to
the other parts

17. COHERENCE
Give a written or spoken text
Unity Purposeand
A text makes sense through the
organisation of its content.

18. Text organization
Topic (theme) Comment (rheme)
Given information New information
The most famous pyramids are in Giza, near Cairo.

19. Discourse – Spoken Texts
Features
spontaneity
interactivity
interpersonality
coherence

20. What is the Coherence in Writing?
A Macroestructure -
Pattern
Conectivity -
relations between
Propositions.
Connectivity -
surface text by
using cohesive
devices .
Appropiate
metadiscourse
features
FEATURES