An Analysis Of Discourse Coherence: Cognitive Reference Point Principle

The research materials of this thesis are thirty English linguistic journals. This thesisanalyzes achievement of discourse coherence on a theoretical basis of cognitive referencepoint principle. The research aims at establishing a unified cognitive analyzing mode ofdiscourse coherence, validating and amplifying the explanatory power of cognitive referencepoint principles on discourse coherence. Based on research materials’ stylistic features, theanalytical framework of researches are divided into two major parts: microscopic structureanalyses and macroscopic structure analyses of discourse coherence. Then the two partsfurther are divided into four analyzing dimensions: lexical, sentence, discourse constructionand discourse context according to an ascending sequence.The research results show that accomplishment of mental coherence is the foundation ofthe achievement of discourse coherence. And the accomplishment of mental coherencedepends on the operation of the readers’ cognitive mechanisms. The coincidence betweeninformation that conveyed by discourse and readers’ inner cognitive worlds is accomplishedthrough the operation of cognitive mechanisms. Then discourse coherence can be achieved.Speaking from another perspective, discourse coherence is a kind of interaction betweenauthors and readers. Cognitive reference point principle is a reflection of cognitivemechanisms. It demonstrates the invisible cognitive activities as fully as possible. The essenceof cognitive reference point principle is the mental path, which determines the flexibility andeffectiveness of this theory. In this thesis, cognitive reference point model can be applied tothe analyses of microscopic units---lexical and sentence level and it is also capable of theanalyses of the macroscopic units---discourse construction and contextual elements. Mentalpath makes a unified cognitive analysis mode of discourse coherence possible with languageform, semantic meaning, and contextual elements in one analyzing system. And this unifiedcognitive analysis mode of discourse coherence can not only explain the surfacecharacteristics of discourse coherence from a syntactical perspective, but also it can explainthe cognitive mechanisms and the dynamic formation process of discourse coherence from thecognitive perspective.