coherence (n.)

An application of the general use of this term in DISCOURSE analysis, referring to the main principle of organization postulated to account for the underlying FUNCTIONAL connectedness or identity of a piece of spoken or written LANGUAGE (TEXT, discourse). It involves the study of such factors as the language users’ knowledge of the world, the inferences they make, and the assumptions they hold, and in particular of the way in which coherent communication is mediated through the use of SPEECH ACTS. In this context, coherence is usually contrasted with COHESION, which refers to the SYNTACTIC or SEMANTIC CONNECTIVITY of linguistic FORMS at a SURFACE-STRUCTURE LEVEL of analysis.