语篇连贯性的认知基础

Cognitive Foundations of Textual Coherence

以前有关语篇连贯性的研究多集中于语言形式或语义关系的衔接性(cohesion)上,基于信息结构的语篇连贯性的认知分析并未得到应有的注意,同时以往的很多研究只局限于语篇本身的分析,没有提供判断语篇连贯性的独立参照。迄今为止,尚无研究对语篇的信息结构与语言表述对象的源客观实体的信息结构进行对比分析,这种状况在一定程度上影响了对语篇连贯性的深入探索。本研究采用看图作文的方法,通过比较语篇的信息结构和语篇表述对象的信息结构,详细分析认知行为在这二者之间的作用。通过对描述同一画面的30篇语篇的信息结构与画面信息结构的对比分析,研究者认为语篇的连贯性有其认知内涵,语篇连贯性的实质在于语篇中的信息结构对共享认知模式的依附性(adhesion)上。

Previous studies on textual coherence have been mainly focused on cohesion or cohesive ties interweaved in formal and semantic networks. Scanty attention has been paid to the underlying cognitive workings for textual coherence in terms of information structures. In order to explore the cognitive foundations underlying textual coherence, the present study presents a contrastive analysis of this relationship between 30 linguistic texts and their real world reference, within the current theoretical frameworks of textual information structure. Based on a detailed comparison analysis of information structures between 30 Chinese compositions and the original organization of their real world source, this paper tries to surface the implied cognitive basis for textual coherence. The subjects in this study were 40 Chinese college students. They were required to describe in detail a picture which was new to them in their native language. 30 texts among the 40 written compositions were chosen as coherent essays by 2 linguists for the present study. The picture and the 30 texts were parsed into comparable information units according to the currently acknowledged information structure theories in textual analysis, especially the poetic parsing method in textual information analysis advocated by Chafe and Gee. Through contrastive analyses in terms of information combinations and organizations between the picture and its 30 linguistic texts and among the texts themselves, the paper points out that textual coherence is not determined solely by cohesive ties or cohesion, it is also determined by adhesion, i.e. whether or not the text adheres to the commonly shared cognitive patterns underlying the acceptability of information organizations of linguistic texts. At the macro-structure level of textual information structure, the study shows that the coherence of a text derives from the realization of a certain cognitive mode out of a repertoire of possible shared cognitive patterns in text production. At the micro-structure level, the paper describes the specific cognitive workings for the textuality of a piece of writing. The paper also points out that some so-called cohesive ties may not really function as they are believed, and that some repetitions in the data of this research may not play the role of cohesion. The paper concludes that textual coherence has its cognitive foundations. Whether or not the underlying cognition produces a coherent text may not be determined by cohesion. The coherence of a text is mainly determined by its adhesion to normally shared cognitive patterns which underlie the acceptability of the text. By emphasizing adhesion instead of cohesion, this paper has some pedagogical implications for writing in instructional settings. Language teachers should not only teach the students the linguistic devices which are useful for textual coherence, but also inform them of the normal cognitive patterns or established thinking modes in textual constructions.