Coherence (linguistics)

Coherence is achieved through syntactic features such as the use of deictic, anaphoric and cataphoric elements or a logical tense structure, and semantic features such as presuppositions and implications connected to general world knowledge.

Robert De Beaugrande and Wolfgang U. Dressler define coherence as a "continuity of senses" and "the mutual access and relevance within a configuration of concepts and relations".

But within this textual world the arguments also have to be connected logically so that the reader/hearer can produce coherence.

"Continuity of senses" implies a link between cohesion and the theory of Schemata initially proposed by F. C. Bartlett in 1932[2][3] which creates further implications for the notion of a "text".

On the contrary, coherence is relevant because of its dependence upon each individual's content and formal schemata.