A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE ...

DMs function in relation to aspects of language that can be defined only through
discourse per se (a linguistic unit larger than the sentence) and in relation to
communicative processes underlying (and realized through) situated language use.
Sometimes the unit being marked is a sentence; at other times, the unit is defined as
an action, an idea unit, or turn at talk (Schiffrin 2003:458)
In other words, when we undertake a conversation with someone, there is a multitude of
things we are trying to accomplish simultaneously. For example, we negotiate turns,
make points, concede points, acknowledge receipt of information, request receipt of
information, hedge, emphasize, signal speech acts, initiate repairs, as well as conveying
the basic message to be communicated, all in the attempt to establish discourse
coherence. In dialogic discourse, speaker and hearer jointly interact in the creation of
discourse coherence using many of the devices just mentioned. Discourse coherence is
thus achieved by the “joint efforts from interactants to integrate knowing, meaning,
saying and doing” (Schiffrin 1987:29). In monologic discourse, she explains, the speaker
is primarily burdened with the task of creating coherence, i.e. opening a story, making
points and proposals, and making sure those proposals are understood in culturally
appropriate ways. Schiffrin proposes that discourse coherence may be understood as an
interdependency between differing levels or planes of discourse, planes which represent
our cognitive, social, expressive, and textual knowledge (Schiffrin 2003:458). These
discourse planes are given in (4).
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