Priests’ Sermon: A Cohesion Analysis
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.54536/jnll.v4i1.7593Keywords:
Cohesion Analysis, Philippines, Priest Sermon, QualitativeAbstract
The sermon is an important form of religious discourse that plays a significant role in shaping believers’ faith, morality, and unity. This study aims to examine cohesion in the sermons of Filipino priests using a qualitative approach, specifically discourse analysis based on the theory of Halliday and Hasan. The analysis revealed the widespread use of cohesive devices such as reference, conjunction, ellipsis, substitution, reiteration, and collocation, which serve as the foundation for semantic connectedness and coherence of the message. Reference emerged as the most frequently used strategy, contributing to a clear and continuous flow of ideas, while conjunction and reiteration play a crucial role in reinforcing the logical and rhetorical relations of statements. The study shows that the effective use of cohesive devices positively influences the audience’s understanding and engagement. Therefore, a deeper and broader examination of cohesion in various forms of religious discourse in the Philippines is recommended, as well as the integration of the identified linguistic strategies into the training of seminarians and communication instructors.
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