Gabriella Jenei: Referential Cohesion in Academic Writing • A descriptive and exploratory theory- and corpus-based study of the text-organizing role of reference in written academic discourse
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7. STAGE 3: IMPROVING THE ANALYTICAL TOOL: NON-COHESIVE REFERENCE TAXONOMY FOR ACADEMIC WRITING
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7.3. A taxonomy of non-cohesive reference in academic writing
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(D) NON-REFERENTIAL:

(D) NON-REFERENTIAL:

Jegyzet elhelyezéséhez, kérjük, lépj be.!

Some items in our analysis are not cohesive simply because they are not referential either. Their presence is due to either grammatical constraints (for examples, see D3–5) or to the fact that they are part of a multi-word lexical item or an idiomatic expression (D1). Examples for the latter are: out of the blue, all over the place, etc.

Jegyzet elhelyezéséhez, kérjük, lépj be.!

Linking words (D2) frequently contain demonstratives or the definite article, and but they are not always referential (e.g., subordinator: that; complex subordinators: such that, supposing (that), in that, given (that), etc.). Special structures, such as comparatives with the definite article also belong here (e.g., The longer you keep this wine, the better it tastes.) Those conjunctions that contain a referring item were regarded cohesive if the answer for the question concerning its reference was found in the text:

Jegyzet elhelyezéséhez, kérjük, lépj be.!

s. 113 The alternate hypothesis is that performance on these tasks is influenced by experience in another language. In this case, performance on the two experimental tasks will separate the typical EO group from both the BI and LI groups. (In what case? If we consider the alternate hypothesis is true that performance ...) (RA5)

Jegyzet elhelyezéséhez, kérjük, lépj be.!

Endophorics (Hyland, 2000, 113) are also regarded referential here (e.g., this study, this paper, here, in this research), as they refer to textual features and not to abstract logical relationships. Endophorics are part of the “metatext” (Swales, 2004, 121; “textual metadiscourse” in Hyland, 2000, 116) which contains text segments that refer to the organization of the whole paper. When speaking about the metatext, the scope of its reference can be the whole paper, a chapter, a section, a paragraph, or a sentence in it.

Jegyzet elhelyezéséhez, kérjük, lépj be.!

The dummy it (D3) as subject, or object is non-referential, as it is semantically empty. In everyday language use it is frequently used in subject position when speaking about the weather, the time, or about distance (Biber et al., 1991, 125). In academic writing the dummy subject it is frequent in cleft sentences or as an anticipatory subject.

Jegyzet elhelyezéséhez, kérjük, lépj be.!

Extraposition or anticipatory it: the dummy it is frequently used to anticipate a finite or non-finite clause, for example:

Jegyzet elhelyezéséhez, kérjük, lépj be.!

  • in subject position: It was hard to believe [that he had become this savage with the bare knife.]
  • in object position: We leave it to the reader [to appreciate what this will mean in due course].

Jegyzet elhelyezéséhez, kérjük, lépj be.!

(Examples from Biber et al., 1991, 155.)

Jegyzet elhelyezéséhez, kérjük, lépj be.!

Clefting: it-clefts “are used to bring particular elements of the structure into focus” (Biber et al., 1991, 155), for example: It was a new stool that I was trying to get, but I bought an armchair.

Jegyzet elhelyezéséhez, kérjük, lépj be.!

Besides the dummy it, the existential there (D4) is also a frequent non-referential item. Biber et al. (1991, 154) use the term “anticipatory subject” for the “existential there in subject position”. They describe the function of this construction as one that can postpone the introduction of new information in order to “prepare the addressee” (ibid., 154) for it, without using a structure other than the normal subject-verb sequence.
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