CohesioninEnglish.docx

1、CohesioninEnglishCohesionin EnglishThe various kinds of cohesi on had bee n out lined by MAK Halliday in his writ in gs on stylistics and the con cept was developed by Ruqayia Hasa n in her Uni versity of Edin burgh doctoral thesis.Cohesive relations are relations between two or more elements in a t

2、ext that are in depe ndent of the structure: for example betwee n a pers onal pronoun and an an tecede nt proper n ame, such as Joh n .he. A sema ntic relati on of this kind may be set up either with in a sentence with the con seque nee that whe n it crosses a sentence boun dary it has the effect of

3、 making the two senten ces cohere with one ano ther.The major function of cohesion is text formation. As defined: text is a unified whole of linguistic items, this unity of text as a semantic whole is source for the concept of cohesion.So first we will explore the concept of text.TextText in linguis

4、tics refers to any passage spokenwritten of whatever length that forms a unified whole. A reader can easily identify whether the passage he is reading is a text or otherwise a collection of unrelated sentences.A text may be: spoken, written, prose, verse, dialogue, monologue, single proverb, a singl

5、e cry for help or all day discussion on a committee. A text is a unit of Ian guage in use. A grammatical unit that is larger tha n a senten ce. A text is not someth ing that is like a sentence only bigger or larger. It is misleading. Rather text can be best defined as a semantic unit; a unit not of

6、form but of meaning. If it is semantic unit, we will not expect to find it in structure of a sentence as a grammatical unit as phrase, clause etc.So text is not con sist of sentence but it is realized by sentence or en coded in senten ces. There are certa in objective factors invo Ived that con stit

7、ute a text.Constituents of Text1.Texture:2.Ties:3.Cohesion1.Texture:Texture is that feature of text which made it a unified whole.According to TheConcise Oxford Dictionary of Linguistics by P.H. Mathews cohesion and cohere nee are sources which create texture. Crystal adds in formative nessto cohesi

8、 on and cohere nee.Example:Wash and core six cooking apples. Put them into a fireproof dish.Here them referenee back to six cooking apples to create cohesion between the two senten ces. Here we make a presuppositi on about the relati on ship between them and six cooking apples but it is not eno ugh

9、only to make a presuppositi on rather that presuppositi on must be satisfied to create texture as shown in the example . These two items are co referential and this corefere ntiality creates texture.Here are five cohesive devices to create texture:(i)Refere nee(ii)Substitutio n(iii)Ellipses(iv)Conj

10、un ctio n(v)Lexical Cohesi on2.TiesThe term refers to a si ngle in sta nee of cohesi on.Example:Wash and core six cooking apples. Put them into a fireproof dish.Them and six cooking apples show referenee as tie.If we take the Example:Wash and core six cooking apples. Put the apples into a fireproof

11、dish.Here are two ties(i)Refere nee(ii)Repetiti onCohesive an alysis of text is made in terms of tie for a systematic acco unt of its patter ns which are a source fortexture. On ward we will use the term cohesive tie in place of tieHere are five differe nt kinds of cohesive ties that are also called

12、 cohesive devices:(i)Refere nee(ii)Substitutio n(iii)Ellipses(iv)Conj un etio n(v)Lexical cohesi onMAKH and RH have based their model of cohesi on on these cohesive ties. A detailed review is give n here in the proceed ing discussi on.3.Cohesion The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Liguistics by P.H. Ma

13、thews (1997) defines cohesionin term of syn tactic unit (se nten ce). A Dictio nary Of Lin guistics And Phon etics byDavid Crystal (1997) defi nes cohesi on in terms of a grammatical unit (words)MAKh and RH (1976) argued that the concept of cohesion is semantic one. For them it refers to relatio n o

14、f meaning that:exists with in textgives the text texturedefi nes the text as textThis relatio n of meaning betwee n the eleme nts gives the reader presuppositi on. This is ano ther way of approaching the notion of cohesion that presupposing and the presupposedgive us a presuppositi on at sema ntic l

15、evel as a relati on of meaning: The one eleme nt presupposes the other i.e. the one eleme nt cannot be decoded without the presupposed.Example:Time fliesYou can t; they fly too quickly.You can t (Ellipses)They (Refere nee)Fly (Lexical Cohesi on)Types OF CohesionLan guage is multiple codi ng system c

16、ompris ing three levels of cod ing:Wording The lexicogrammatical system(grammar an vocabulary)Sounding/writing The phonological and orthographical systemCohesive relation fit into the overall pattern of language. Cohesion is expressedpartly through vocabulary and partly through grammar.1. Grammatica

17、l Cohesion(i)Reference(ii)Substitution(iii)Ellipses2.Lexical CohesionThe distinction between grammatical cohesion and Lexical cohesion is a matter of degree and MAHK RH suggested not to go in the depth of these overlapping areas and that conjunction is on the border line of the two types mainly it i

18、s grammatical but with the lexical component so we cannot clearly distinguish between the two types.Cohesion and the Linguistics StructureTexture and StructureStructure is one mean of expressing texture. Text consists of one sentence are fairly rare but they can be single sentences as well for Examp

19、leNo smokingWonder never ceaseBut most of the text extends beyond the confines of single sentencesso structure is important in a text as structural units such as phrase, clause and sentence which express the unity of text. But our use of term Cohesion refers especially to the non structural text for

20、ming relation. They are semantic relations and the text is a semantic unit.Cohesion With in the TextSince cohesive relation is not concerned with structure, they may be found just as well with in the sentence as between sentences cohesive relation are beyond the sentences boundaries. Cohesion is sem

21、antic relation between one element in the text and some other element that is crucial for its interpretation. This other element must also be found with in the text. Cohesion refers to the range of possibilities that exist for linking something with what has gone before.The Place of Cohesion in the

22、Linguistics SystemHalliday (1985) has described three major functional semantic components:(i)The Ideational(ii)The Interpersonal(iii)The TextualTable: the place of cohesion in the description of English functional components of semantic systemIdeationalInterpersonalTextualExperientialLogicalStructu

23、ralNon-structuralBy Rank:Clause:Tran sitivityVerbal Group: Ten seNomi nal Group: EpithesisAdverbial Group: circmsta neeAll Ranks:Practice and hypotactic relatio ns (con diti on, additi on, report)By RanksClause:Mood, modalityVerbal Group: pers onNominal Group: attitudeAdverbialGroup: comme ntBy Rank

24、Clause: themeVerbal Group: voiceNominal Group: deixisAdverbial Group: conjunctionCross-RankIn formatio n Unit:In formatio n distributio n, In formatio n focusCohesionReference Substitution Ellipses Conjunction Lexical cohesionConclusionCohesion is a part of text forming component in the linguistics

25、system. It links together the elements that are structurally unrelated through the dependenceof one on the other for its in terpretatio n. Without cohesi on the sema ntic system cannot be effectively activated at all.Refere nee Substituti on EllipsesConjun cti on Lexical cohesi onCohesive Devices(i)

26、(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)1.ReferenceThere are certain items in any Ianguage which cannot be interpreted semantically in their own right rather they make refere nee to somethi ng else within the text for their in terpretati on. Here is an example of referenceDoctor Foster went to Gloucester in a shower of rai

27、nHe stepped in puddle right up to his middleAnd n ever went there aga inHere in the aboveexampleHe refers back to Doctor FosterThere refers back to GloucesterHe and there show that information about them is retrieved elsewhere within the text. It characterizes a particular type of cohesi on which is

28、 called refere nee. The relati on ship of refere nee5 is on semantic level. The referenee items must not match the grammatical item it refers to. What must match or the semantic properties of referenee item in relation to the items it refers to.Refere nee can be sub-categorize as followRefere neeExo

29、phora En dophoraAn aphora CataphoraExophoraIt in dicates situati onal refere nces. An aphora sig nals that refere nee must be made to the con text of situati on .It is outside the text so it is called an aphoric refere nee.Example;For he s a jolly good fellow and so say all of us.Here text is not in

30、 dicat ing who he is?He can be recognized by the situation in which expression is used. They are not source of cohesi on because there presuppositi on cannot be resolved withi n the text rather the presuppositi on is found outside the text.EndophoraIt is a general name for referenee within the text.

31、 This referenee can be of two types.(i)An aphora: Refere nee back(ii)Cataphora: Refere nee forwardExample:Child: Why does that one come out?Parent: That whatChild: That o ne.Pare nt: That one what?Child: That lever there that you push to let the water out.That one that lever (cataphoric referenee)Th

32、at lever that one (an aphoric refere nee)Types of referenceThere are three types of refere nee(i)Personal Reference(ii)Demonstrative Reference(iii)Comparative ReferenceIt is better first explain the structure of nominal group then proceed towards three types of Reference. It is because we will analyze nominal group for