Cohesion

Last updated: Dec. 19, 2025
  • Chaining is crucial to cohesion.
  • Narratives should be in chronological order.
  • Same tense should be used.
  • Nom is a common cohesive devise. It is used to refer to subjects and objects within sentences, and can also refer to previous events. Nom seems quite common following a Noun phrases.
    • aleg agabi yoguwo nom ogotolob (adds glue to the indirect obj)
    • aleg wowg nom ege yam (adds glue to indirect obj)
    • nom nala (refers back to previous event)
  • Nom also embeds.
  • Repetition or partial repetition of sentences builds cohesion.
  • Restatement with negation builds cohesion.
  • Alternation can be used for cohesion.
  • Participants tracking.

Meaning based translation textbook

The following are identified as cohesive devices:

  • Using words within the same semantic domain
  • Chaining
  • Substitution with synonyms and antonyms
  • Use (or lack of use) of pronouns
  • Summary statements
  • Conjunctions (words like sogutugub, ogotolob)
  • Same tense, mood and chronological order