Textual cohesion in “Sempre é uma companhia”, by Manuel da Fonseca

Abstract

This paper puts forward a proposal that relates the study of grammar and the interpretation of literary texts, which can be implemented in secondary schools. The object of study is the short story “Sempre é uma companhia” by Manuel da Fonseca, and the grammatical contents at issue are the cohesion processes, in particular anaphor, and some of its underlying linguistic mechanisms.

Firstly, after briefly reflecting on how these grammatical elements are addressed in the guiding documents published by the Ministry of Education, anaphora and article determiners are characterised from a linguistic point of view. Secondly, we analyse the story's initial situation and the inciting incident, relating their interpretation to anaphoric chains and the linguistic mechanisms used to introduce and resume discursive referents.