Cohesion in Functional Discourse Grammar: Inquiries from additive negation in Spanish

Abstract

This paper investigates, within the Functional Discourse Grammar framework, the cohesive effects of the main exponents of additive negation in Spanish: ni and tampoco. Although such a model has not yet developed a theory of textual cohesion, it does contemplate certain parameters that limit and classify its different types. The application of these parameters (expression procedure, strategic nature, dimension, and scope) to the analysis of Spanish additive negation allows us to identify the similarities and differences between both units under consideration in terms of their cohesive potential. In particular, it is attested that ni; is a conjunction that prototypically carries out an internal cohesion corresponding to a paratactic combination, whereas tampoco is a grammatical particle that transmits a chaining cohesion that can be both internal and external (the latter in its double facet: contextual and conceptual).