Cohesion in Kiswahili plays

The study examines cohesion in Kiswahili plays; it undertakes a stylistic comparison of selected plays in terms of distance, types and frequency of reference cohesive markers. Five plays were selected for analysis. These are Morarti by Mbogo (1993), Ushuhuda wa Mifupa by Ngozi (1990), Hawala ya Fedha by Lihamba (1980), Mashetanii by Hussein (1971) and pambo by Muhando ( 1982) . Seven pages were excerpted from each play. The principles suggested by Halliday and Hasan (1976) were followed in the analysis. Sentences were numbered and examined for all instances of anaphoric and cataphoric relationships that were expressed by means of reference cohesion. The following were taken into account in each text: (i) items which function cohesively (ii) the type of cohesion involved and (iii) the distance of the cohesive item from the presupposed element. The results show that there are similarities and differences among the extracts which are the result of the rhetorical form of a particular extract. Many reference cohesive items were marked in narration. Description takes up second place. The texts which take the form of interlocution have few reference cohesive items. Moreover, the study observes that reference cohesive items in this genre consist mainly of pronominals.