On Discourse Coherence In The Light Of Ostensive-inferential Communication Model Of Relevance Theory

Discourse analysis has a long history which can be traced back to 1950s. Discourse coherence has long been a focus of attention in the field of discourse analysis, since it has relations with every aspect about how and why a passage can be considered as a discourse. Previous studies, both semantic and pragmatic, have contributed greatly to our understanding of this issue. However, they all suffer from their weaknesses; the common problem with previous studies is that they have not paid enough attention to the cognitive feature of coherence constructing. Discourse coherence is not just a feature of discourse but achieved by participants in their process of communication. This thesis attempts to explore the process of constructing discourse coherence from a pragmatic and cognitive perspective.Theoretical foundation of this thesis comes from Relevance Theory, a cognitive pragmatics proposed by Sperber and Wilson (1986/1995). According to Relevance Theory, human communication is a certain kind of cognition, which is relevance-oriented. Unsatisfied with the two existing communication models, the code model and inference model, Sperber and Wilson formulate a new one, termed as Ostensive-Inferential Communication Model, which is used as the basic theoretical framework for the present research. This thesis explores how communicator and addressee make contribution to discourse coherence by their mutual efforts in the process of discourse formation and discourse comprehension through ostension and inference respectively and finally some implications for reading teaching will be given.