Coherence in Spoken and Written Discourse: How to Create It and How to Describe It: Selected Papers from the International Workshop on Coherence, Augsburg, 24-27 April 1997

315 Pages·1999·33.63 MB·English

by  Wolfram Bublitz (ed.)

COHERENCE IN SPOKEN
AND WRITTEN DISCOURSE
Pragmatics & Beyond
New Series
Editor:
Andreas H. Jucker
(Justus Liebig University, Gessen)
Associate Editors:
Jacob L. Mey
(Odense University)
Herman Parret
(Belgian National Science Foundation, Universities of Louvain and Antwerp)
Jef Verschueren
(Belgian National Science Foundation, University of Antwerp)
Editorial Address:
Justus Liebig University Giessen, English Department
Otto-Behaghel-Strasse 10, D-35394 Giessen, Germany
e-mail: [email protected]
Editorial Board:
Shoshana Blum-Kulka {Hebrew University of Jerusalem)
Chris Butler (University College of Ripon and York)
Jean Caron {Université de Poitiers); Robyn Carston (University College London)
Bruce Fraser (Boston University); John Heritage (University of California at Los Angeles)
David Holdcroft {University of Leeds); Sachiko Ide {Japan Women's University)
Catherine Kerbrat-Orecchioni (University of Lyon 2)
Claudia de Lemos (University of Campinas, Brasil); Marina Sbisà {University of Trieste)
Emanuel Schegloff (University of California at Los Angeles)
Paul O. Takahara (Kobe City University of Foreign Studies)
Sandra Thompson (University of California at Santa Barbara)
Teun A. Van Dijk (University of Amsterdam); Richard Watts (University of Bern)
63
Wolfram Bublitz, Uta Lenk and Eija Ventola (eds)
Coherence in Spoken and Written Discourse.
How to create it and how to describe it
COHERENCE IN
SPOKEN AND
WRITTEN DISCOURSE
HOW TO CREATE IT AND
HOW TO DESCRIBE IT
SELECTED PAPERS FROM THE
INTERNATIONAL WORKSHOP ON COHERENCE,
AUGSBURG, 24-27 APRIL 1997
WOLFRAM BUBLITZ
Universität Augsburg
UTA LENK
Universität Augsburg
EIJA VENTOLA
Martin-Luther Universität
JOHN BENJAMINS PUBLISHING COMPANY
AMSTERDAM/PHILADELPHIA
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of
American National Standard for Information Sciences — Permanence of
Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1984.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
International Workshop on Coherence (1997 : Augsburg, Germany) Coherence in spoken
and written discourse : how to create it and how to describe it : selected papers from the
International Workshop on Coherence, Augsburg, 24-27 April 1997 / edited by Wolfram
Bublitz, Uta Lenk, Eija Ventola.
p. cm. -- (Pragmatics & beyond, ISSN 0922-842X ; new ser. 63)
Includes bibliographical references and indexes.
1. Cohesion (Linguistics) Congresses. 2. Discourse analysis Congresses. I. Bublitz,
Wolfram. IL Lenk, Uta. III. Ventola, Eija. IV. Title. V. Series.
P302.2.I58 1999
401'.41--dc21 99-28183
ISBN 90 272 5077 4 (Eur.) / 1 55619 941 4 (US) (alk. paper) CIP
© 1999 - John Benjamins B.V.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, by print, photoprint, microfilm, or any
other means, without written permission from the publisher.
John Benjamins Publishing Co. • P.O.Box 75577 • 1070 AN Amsterdam • The Netherlands
John Benjamins North America • P.O.Box 27519 • Philadelphia PA 19118-0519 • USA
In memoriam
Maria Elisabeth Conte
(1935-1997).

Table of Contents
Acknowledgements ix
About the authors xi
Introduction: Views of Coherence 1
Wolfram Bublitz
Part I: How to (Re-)Create Coherence: Means of Coherence
Coherent Voicing: On Prosody in Conversational Reported Speech 11
Elizabeth Couper-Kuhlen
It Takes Two to Cohere: The Collaborative Dimension 35
of Topical Coherence in Conversation
Ronald Geluykens
Learning to Cohere: Causal Links in Native vs. 55
Non-Native Argumentative Writing
Gunter Lorenz
Coherence through Understanding through Discourse Patterns: 77
Focus on News Reports
Jan-Ola Östman
Semiotic Spanning at Conferences: Cohesion and Coherence 101
in and across Conference Papers and their Discussions
Eija Ventola
Coherent Keying in Conversational Humour: 125
Contextualising Joint Fictionalisation
Helga Kotthoff
Viii
Part II: How to Negotiate Coherence: Degrees of Coherence
Disturbed Coherence: 'Fill me in' 153
Wolfram Bublitz and Uta Lenk
Coherence and Misunderstanding in Everyday Conversations 175
Carla Bazzanella and Rossana Damiano
The Effect of Context in the Definition and Negotiation of Coherence 189
Anna Ciliberti
Coherence in Summary: The Contexts of Appropriate Discourse 205
Barbara Seidlhofer and Henry Widdowson
Coherence in Hypertext 221
Gerd Fritz
Part III: How to Describe Coherence: Views of Coherence
Communicative Intentions and Coherence Relations 235
Ted Sanders and Wilbert Spooren
If Coherence Is Achieved, Then Where Doth Meaning Lie? 251
Willis J. Edmondson
A Bibliography of Coherence and Cohesion 267
Uta Lenk, Sarah Gietl and Wolfram Bublitz
Index 297
Acknowledgements
A volume such as this stands or falls by the papers it presents. We would
therefore like to thank the authors of the articles here collected, not only for the
hard work they put in for the completion of this volume, but also for their lively
and interesting contributions to the discussions during the workshop. We also
wish to thank those colleagues who participated in the workshop but whose
papers for various reasons do not appear in this reader: Andrea Gerbig, Gisela
Redeker, Sorin Stati, Edda Weigand, and the late Maria-Elisabeth Conte
(University of Pavia), whose premature death a few months after our workshop
prevented her from writing up her contribution on Semantic integration devices
in texts, which had received much acclaim and positive comments at
presentation.
Our special thanks go to Carla Bazzanella, who was involved in developing the
first plan for this workshop, and to Gudrun Nelle, Sarah Gietl and Nils Engel,
the always reliable and eager groundcrew who were the efficient organizers
behind the scenes. Without them, the workshop would not have materialized.
In editing this reader we have received valuable help from Carol LeRoux, who
checked the non-native speakers' English, Gudrun Nelle, a reliable proof-reader,
Sarah Gietl, our desk-top publisher-in-chief, and, in the final stages, Thomas
Henrichs, our computer wizard.
Last, but not least, we want to thank the Gesellschaft der Freunde der
Universität Augsburg and the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft for their
financial support which made the workshop possible, a gathering which was
experienced by all who came as most delightful and interesting.