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Volume 24, Issue 1
  • ISSN 1018-2101
  • E-ISSN: 2406-4238
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Abstract

This paper argues for a pragmatically based reconsideration of cohesion-based approaches to information retrieval during comprehension, suggesting that a Relevance-based approach is preferable on both descriptive and explanatory grounds. It outlines a number of descriptive and explanatory problems dating back to Halliday and Hasan’s (1976, 1985; Hasan 1984) early view of cohesion, which seem to call for pragmatic solutions, and argues that and utterances raise serious questions as to the text-constitutive potential of cohesion. It goes on to discuss a number of cases that seem to pose problems for purely cohesion-based approaches but are straightforwardly explained by the Relevance-Theoretic account.

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2015-03-01
2025-02-16

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/content/journals/10.1075/prag.24.1.03kol
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  • Article Type: Research Article
Keyword(s): Cognitive environment; Cohesion; Conceptual ties; Inference; Information retrieval processes; Intertextuality; Pragmatics; Relevance Theory; Text

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