COHESION AND COHERENCE IN DISCOURSE GRAMMAR

Discourse grammar is a branch of linguistics that studies how grammatical structures function in extended stretches of language such as conversations, narratives, and academic texts. Unlike traditional sentence-level grammar, discourse grammar emphasizes cohesion, coherence, and the pragmatic use of grammar in communication. This paper examines how grammatical choices contribute to cohesion, the creation of meaning, and the interpretation of discourse. Through a review of theoretical frameworks and examples, the study highlights the importance of cohesive devices such as reference, ellipsis, substitution, conjunction, and lexical ties. It also addresses coherence as a higher-level concept, showing how discourse grammar links grammatical forms with context and meaning. The paper concludes that cohesion and coherence are central to understanding how language users construct meaningful and connected communication in both spoken and written forms.