Textual Properties: Modality, Coherence, and Cohesion

A complete set of vocabulary flashcards covering modality, linguistic functions, modalization techniques, coherence, text structures, thematic progression, and cohesive mechanisms.

Modus (Modalidad)

The attitude adopted by the speaker toward the uttered propositional content.

Dictum

The propositional content of an utterance itself.

Modalidad oracional

The examination of an utterance from the receiver's perspective or the way the sender conveys their subjective attitude toward the dictum.

Modalidad enunciativa

A sentence modality typical of expository sequences characterized by impersonalization and intended to convey information objectively.

Modalidad desiderativa

A sentence modality in which the speaker frames an utterance as something desirable.

Modalidad exclamativa

A sentence modality where an utterance appears emphasized as the speaker reveals emotions, personal opinions, or doubts.

Modalidad dubitativa (o de posibilidad/probabilidad)

A sentence modality through which the speaker presents utterances as doubtful, possible, or probable.

Modalidad exhortativa

A sentence modality that appeals to the recipient by suggesting or obligating an action to influence their opinion or behavior.

Modalidad interrogativa

A sentence modality that poses direct, indirect, or rhetorical questions to the addressee.

Función expresiva

A language function that displays the feelings and subjective attitude of the sender through evaluative lexis, personal deictics, and subjunctive mood.

Función poética

A language function where the message is encoded deviating from the communicative norm to produce an aesthetic effect using stylistic devices.

Función fática

A language function whose purpose is to establish, verify, or maintain communication through the physical channel.

Función metalingüística

A language function where utterances describe, clarify, or explain the linguistic code itself.

Función apelativa (o conativa)

A language function directed toward the recipient to ask questions, evoke emotions, induce reflection, or alter their conduct.

Función referencial (o representativa)

A language function focused on the referent or context with the objective of communicating objective information.

Léxico valorativo

Words whose intrinsic semantic meaning carries a subjective personal judgment or viewpoint of the speaker.

Deixis personal

Linguistic markers (pronouns, determiners, and verb inflections) identifying the communicative participants, including first-person singular, inclusive/generalizing plural, and second-person complicity.

Verbos modales

Verbs that transmit subjective valuation beyond verbal mood, classified into intellective/volitive, psychological, and influence verbs.

Perífrasis modales

Verbal periphrases that influence recipient behavior or project the speaker's stance regarding obligation, capacity, permission, or conjecture.

Recursos estilísticos (en la modalización)

Figures of speech (such as metaphors, comparisons, irony, and rhetorical questions) used to add subjectivity and engage the recipient.

Cambio de registro (en la modalización)

The strategic shift toward colloquial expressions or informal lexis to enhance expressiveness and establish closer rapport with the addressee.

Signos de puntuación (en la modalización)

Punctuation devices (such as quotation marks, italics, parentheses, and ellipses) utilized to signal irony, introduce subjective value judgments, or foster complicity.

Coherencia

An essential property of a text that confers unified meaning, enabling the recipient to grasp the central topic and main ideas through thematic progression.

Conocimientos enciclopédicos

The set of shared world knowledge acquired by interlocutors throughout life via academic learning or personal experiences such as reading, cinema, travel, or the internet.

Tesis

The most critical idea of an argumentative text that reflects the sender's overarching communicative purpose, viewpoint, or stance.

Estructura analizante o deductiva

A textual structure where the main thesis is stated at the beginning of the text.

Estructura sintetizante o deductiva (según el texto)

A textual structure where the main thesis appears at the very end of the text.

Estructura circular o de encuadre

A textual structure where the thesis is introduced at the beginning and reaffirmed at the conclusion of the text.

Tema o tópico

The known or shared information already familiar to the interlocutors in a communicative act.

Rema o foco

The new, previously unknown information introduced in an utterance that sustains the addressee's attention and interest.

Fórmula para sintetizar el contenido del texto

$$\text{TEMA} + \text{REMA} + \text{INTENCIÓN / FINALIDAD}$$

Cohesión

The set of linguistic relation mechanisms (semantic, morphological, and syntactic) that interconnect sentences and structure a text into an orderly whole.

Repetición o recurrencia léxica

The lexical recurrence of thematic or rematic key terms that identifies and traces the primary ideas of a text.

Familia léxica

A set of words that share the same lexical root and therefore share part of their core meaning.

Sinónimos y antónimos (como mecanismo de cohesión)

Lexical-semantic devices that establish equivalence or semantic opposition relative to the key words in a text.

Hiperónimo e hipónimo

Inclusion relations where a broad term (hypernym) encompasses the meaning of more specific, subordinate words (hyponyms).

Campo semántico

A grouping of words belonging to the same syntactic category that share a distinctive semantic component.

Campo asociativo

Words that do not necessarily share semantic components but are linked through cause-and-effect relationships or frequent co-occurrence in similar situational contexts.