FSP and cohesion: Cohesive relations within an FSP analysis of a theological text

Vol.2,No.1(2009)

Abstract
The Firbasian theory of functional sentence perspective (FSP) has been an integral part of the research into information processing. Analysing clauses (horizontal axis) and texts (vertical axis) from the point of view of distribution of the degrees of communicative dynamism, and studying the dynamic processes in functional macrofi elds, FSP logically deals with cohesion of discourse. The paper will discuss the cohesive means functioning in the text in the light of FSP, namely in terms of co-referential strings and dynamic semantic tracks. It will also look at the phenomenon referred to as semantic (notional) homogeneity. The paper analyses and interprets cohesive relations found within one New Testament theological text of epistolary character, employing FSP methods of analysis.

Keywords:
cohesion; FSP; Firbas; macrofield; structural analysis; homogeneity
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