sammenhængen

Sammenhængen is a Danish noun in the definite form that means coherence, connection, or context. It describes how elements within a text, discourse, argument, or situation fit together to form a unified whole. In Danish usage, sammenhængen is used in both everyday language and academic writing to refer to the overarching unity of something and the relevance of its parts.

In linguistics and rhetoric, sammenhængen is closely related to the concept of coherence, which refers to the logical flow and meaningful connections across sentences and paragraphs. While cohesion concerns sentence-level devices such as conjunctions, pronouns, and transitional phrases, sammenhængen emphasizes the reader’s perception of a unified message and the sufficiency of transitions, implications, and inferences to support it.

In education and assessment, sammenhængen of a text is often evaluated by how well topics are developed, whether terms are used consistently, and whether conclusions follow from the presented material. In discussions about social, organizational, or policy contexts, sammenhængen describes how different components contribute to a larger system or objective, such as a project’s aims, processes, and outcomes.

In practical Danish speech, phrases like “i sammenhæng med” (in connection with) and “samme sammenhæng” (the same context) illustrate its use. The term thus covers both textual unity and broader contextual relations, reflecting how elements relate to one another within a broader frame.

See also: coherence; context; cohesion (linguistics).