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CHAPTER TWO LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Clause Relation

2.1.1 The Definition of Clause Relation

The term“clause relation”is named in virtue of traditional grammar,and it iscommonly used in the linguistic field.The earliest notion of clause relation is derivedfrom the definition of the concessive relation put forward by Quirk(1954).Theconcessive relation“may be said to exist between two parts of an utterance whenone part is surprising in view of the other”(Quirk,1954,p.6).

Based on the definition of Concessive Relation,Winter(1977,p.5)proposes thenotion of Clause Relation,“A clause relation is the cognitive process whereby weinterpret the meaning of a sentence or group of sentences in the light of its adjoiningsentence or groups of sentences”.This definition is connected with semantic meaningbetween clauses and holds the text as a network of various relations.It should benoted that in Winter’s theory,there is no difference between clause and sentence,andit differs from functional grammar which will discuss later.

Hoey(1983)expands Winter’s theory of clause relation by excavating theunderlying implications in it and makes the definition of clause relation a clear-cutone.As he defines,“a clause relation is also the cognitive process whereby thechoices we make from grammar,lexis and intonation in the creation of a sentence orgroup of sentences are made in light of its adjoining sentence or group of sentences”(Hoey,1983,p.16).So in Hoey’s account,the clause relation reflects the cognitiveprocess of people’s wording and phrasing,which emphasizes the producer of thelanguage rather than listener or reader.It is clear that Hoey’s understanding of clauserelation is writer-oriented while Winter’s is reader-oriented.

2.2 Coherence

2.2.1 The Concept of Coherence

Coherence is defined as the way of influencing and connecting the componentsin a discourse.Van Dijk(1977,p.93)defines coherence as“a semantic property ofdiscourse,based on the interpretation of each individual sentence relative to theinterpretation of other sentences”.Witte and Faigley(1981)define coherence as thereader’s perception of meaning in a text by integrating internal cohesion mechanismsand contextual information.Johns(1986,p.247)claims that coherence in written textis“a complex concept,involving a multitude of text-based features and reader-basedfeatures”.Text-based features mean cohesion and unity.Reader-based features meanthat the reader interacts with the text depending on his/her prior knowledge.

Domestic scholar Huang(1988)refers coherence to the semantic connectionwithin a text which is in deeper level of a text and it is the invisible network of a text.Zhang and Liu(2003)consider the relationship between coherence and context ofsituation,meaning and form.The concept of coherence belongs to semantic domain,demonstrating the interplay between context of situation and the linguistic forms.Thecoherence of a discourse needs to meet the two following conditions simultaneously:the discourse is cohesive both internally and externally,linearly and hierarchically,which forms a meaning entity that is inseparable;these cohesive devices are related tocontext of situation,in which the discourse realizes its functions本论文由英语论文网提供整理，提供论文代写，英语论文代写，代写论文，代写英语论文，代写留学生论文，代写英文论文，留学生论文代写相关核心关键词搜索。