Local coherence constraints

Definition

Local coherence constraints are rules or principles that govern how individual sentences in a discourse relate to one another to create a meaningful and understandable context. These constraints ensure that the connections between sentences maintain consistency, relevance, and clarity, allowing readers or listeners to follow the narrative or argument without confusion.

5 Must Know Facts For Your Next Test

1. Local coherence constraints help manage how information is introduced and connected within a discourse, facilitating the reader's ability to make inferences.
2. These constraints play a critical role in determining the appropriateness of subsequent sentences based on previous context, which affects understanding.
3. In narrative texts, local coherence is essential for maintaining character consistency and plot development throughout the story.
4. Local coherence constraints can be influenced by factors such as temporal order, causal relationships, and thematic continuity within the text.
5. Understanding local coherence constraints allows for better comprehension strategies when reading complex texts, as they guide the reader's expectations.

Review Questions

• How do local coherence constraints enhance the understanding of a narrative or argument in a discourse?
  • Local coherence constraints enhance understanding by ensuring that sentences are logically connected and relevant to one another. They guide the reader's expectations and help them track characters, events, and ideas throughout the narrative. By maintaining consistency and clarity, these constraints allow readers to make inferences and grasp the overarching message or theme without getting lost in unrelated details.
• Discuss the role of discourse markers in relation to local coherence constraints and how they contribute to clarity in communication.
  • Discourse markers serve as signals that indicate relationships between sentences or parts of discourse, directly supporting local coherence constraints. By explicitly highlighting connections such as cause and effect or contrast, discourse markers help organize information and clarify relationships. This enables readers or listeners to navigate through complex information more easily, enhancing overall comprehension.
• Evaluate how local coherence constraints interact with anaphora in constructing meaningful discourse and the implications this has for effective communication.
  • Local coherence constraints interact with anaphora by relying on previous references to maintain clarity and prevent ambiguity in discourse. When anaphoric expressions are used appropriately, they contribute to local coherence by reinforcing relationships among ideas while reducing redundancy. Effective communication hinges on these interactions; if anaphora fails to adhere to local coherence constraints, it can lead to confusion and misinterpretation, thus emphasizing the importance of clear referencing in language.

Related terms

Coherence:

The quality of being logical, consistent, and forming a unified whole in discourse, allowing for an easy understanding of the relationships between ideas.

Discourse markers:

Words or phrases that help organize discourse by indicating relationships between segments of text or speech, contributing to coherence and clarity.

Anaphora:

The use of pronouns or other linguistic expressions to refer back to previously mentioned entities in a discourse, aiding in maintaining coherence.