5.2. Cohesion
Cohesion is another property of discourse and it mostly concerns the use of grammatical and lexical forms to indicate semantic relations across sentences. Some of the linguistic devices which enhance textual cohesion are referring expressions, such as pronouns (LEXICON 3.7) (PRAGMATIC 4.2) which refer to previously introduced elements. Such strategies make possible for the addressee to keep track of discourse referents. An example of this pronominal function is displayed below, where the pronouns ix3a and ix3b both refer to previously mentioned subjects, gianni and maria respectively.
giannia mariab past school together growa+b now ix3a stop work already contrary ix3b continue university
‘Gianni and Maria went to school together and grew up together. Now he is already working after quitting school, while she is continuing her studies at the university.’
In the example above, the second utterance is clearly linked to the previous one and the pronominal expressions co-refer with the two antecedents.
As will be discussed in the following sections, several strategies can be used in LIS for referring back to already mentioned elements: manual strategies, non-manuals strategies, and the signing space.
