cohesive devices from lexicon and grammar.docx

cohesive devices from lexicon and grammar.docx

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cohesivedevicesfromlexiconandgrammar

Abriefinterpretationofcohesivedevicesfromtheaspectsoflexiconandgrammar

1Introduction

Cohesionisthelocalcoherencerelationsbetweenadjacentsentencesindiscourse.Itisanecessary（thoughnotasufficient）conditionforthecreationofatext.Itplaysavitalroleindiscourseanalysis,translation,writing,conversationandsoon.ThepublicationofCohesioninEnglishauthoredbyHalliday&Hasan（1976）marksthesettingupofthetheoryofcohesion.Accordingtothem,whetheraseriesofsentencescanmakeupatextornotliesinthecohesionandcoherenceamongsentences.Theythinkthatthecoherenceofatextshowsintwoaspects:

first,atextiscoherentinsituation,whichshowsinregisterconsistency.Second,atextiscoherentinitself,whichmeansitmustbecohesive.Fromthiswecansafelydrawtheconclusionthatcohesionisindispensableinanycoherenttext,thatistosay,“cohesionisanecessary（thoughnotasufficient）conditionforthecreationofatext.”（Halliday&Hasan,1976,298-299）Discoursecohesivenesscanberealizedbyemployingvariouscohesivedevices.Thispaperaimsatconcludingwaysofrealizingcohesionfromtwoaspects—lexiconandgrammarandgivinganexampletoshowthefunctionofcohesioninEnglishdiscourse,sothatEnglishlearnerscangetsomeinspirationfromthispaperonhowtounderstandEnglishdiscoursecomprehensivelyandcorrectly.

2Therealizationofcohesion

2.1Fromtheperspectiveoflexicon

2.1.1Abriefintroductionoflexicalcohesion

HallidaypointsoutinhisbookCohesioninEnglishthatlexicalcohesionisusinglexicalrepetition,synonymy,hyponymyandothersenserelationstoconnectsentencesofEnglishdiscoursetogether.Lexicalcohesionisawaytorealizecoherencebychoosingwords,namelyitmainlydealswiththesenserelationsamongwordsinEnglishdiscourse.Ifusedappropriately,itwillbeofgreathelpintheachievingofthecoherenceofEnglishdiscourse.

HuangGuowenrepresentsinhisbookTheTheoryandPracticeofDiscourseAnalysis（2001,116）thatlexicalcohesionreferstotherealizationofsemanticcoherencethroughtherepetitionofwords,synonymy,antonymy,andtherelationamongwordsofwholeandpart.

HuZhuanglindefineslexicalcohesioninhisbookCohesionandCoherenceofDiscourseasthesenserelationsofapartofwordsindiscourse,suchaslexicalrepetition,substitutionortheusageofbothmeans.

Asforthispaper,lexicalcohesionwillbeinterpretedfromfiveaspects:

lexicalrepetition,synonymy,antonymy,hyponymyandlexicalcollocation.

2.1.2Lexicallycohesivedevicesandtheirrespectivefunctions

2.1.2.1Lexicalrepetition

Lexicalrepetitionreferstothereappearanceofwordswiththesamemeaningandformindiscourse.Thismeanscanbeappliedtotheorganizationofdiscoursetoachievesemanticcoherenceandthecohesionofcontext.Forexample:

（1）Howmanylovedyourmomentsofgladgrace,

Andlovedyourbeautywithlovefalseortrue,

Butonemanlovedthepilgrimsoulinyou,

Andlovedthesorrowsofyourchangingface;

（WilliamBulterYeats,WhenYouAreOld）

Thispoemfranklyexpressesthepoet’spureloveforhislover,MaudGonne.Therepetitionoftheword“loved”intheabovefourlinesmakesthediscoursenatural,anditstronglyshowsthepoet’saffectionforhislover,makingadeepimpressiononreaders.

2.1.2.2Synonymy

Synonymyistheusingofwordswiththesameorapproximatemeaningindiscourse.Synonymycanbeusedtoorganizeparagraph,generatediscourseandmaketheparagraphmoreexpressive.Forexample:

（2）Beholdher,singleinthefield,

YonsolitaryHighlandlass!

Reapingandsingingbyherself,

Stophereorgentlypass!

Aloneshecutsandbindsthegrain,

Andsingsamelancholystrain;

（WilliamWordsworth,TheSolitaryReaper）

Inordertoemphasizethelonelinessofthereaper,thepoetchoosesthreewords“single,alone,solitary”andoneexpression“byherself”inthesixlinesofthepoem,showingthatthereaperislonelyandherlifeistough.

2.1.2.3Antonymy

Antonymycanbedefinedasthecontrastofwordsindiscourse,whichisthetwooppositeaspectsofonething.Thefundamentalusageofantonymyinasentenceordiscourseistomakecontrastbetweentwodifferentcomponentsandtodescribesomethingoracertainphenomenonfromtwodifferentaspects,sothatthecohesionofsentencesordiscoursecanberealizedaswellasenhancingtheexpressivenessoflanguageandmakingavividimpressiononreaders.Forexample:

（3）Weobservetodaynotavictoryofparty,butacelebrationoffreedom---symbolizinganend,aswellasbeginning---signifyingrenewal,aswellaschange.

（JohnF.Kennedy,InauguralAddress）

TheabovesentenceisabstractedfromthespeechofJohnF.Kennedy,the35thpresidentofAmerica,onJanuary20,1961tocallforunificationandpeace.In1961,Americawastroubledwithseriouseconomiccrisis.WhatmadematterworsewasthatAmericagotinvolvedintheColdWaragainsttheSovietUnion.InthisspeechKennedyexpressedhisexpectationthatAmericansshouldgettogethertoendthepastdividedsceneandcreateanewpeacefulinternationalsituation.Thecontrastbetween“end”and“beginning”notonlymeanstheendofthepresidencyofthelastpresidentandthebeginningofanewone,butalsohintshisexpectation.

2.1.2.4Hyponymy

Lexicalcohesivenesscanalsoberealizedbyhyponymy,namelythemeaningofacomponentisincludedinthemeaningofanothercomponent,inotherwords“AisakindofB”.Therearetwotypesofhyponymy.First,superordinateoccursbeforehyponyms,inthiswaythehyponymscanfurtherexplainthesuperordinate.Itisacohesivedevicetomakemeaningclearer.Forexample:

（4）Thinkaboutthelasttimeyoufeltanegativeemotion---likestress,anger,orfrustration.

（JenniferGivler,ClearYourMentalSpace）

Intheabovesentence,“stress”,“anger”,and“frustration”arethehyponymsofthesuperordinatewords“negativeemotion”.Thesewordsexplainwhatkindofemotionisnegativeemotionandmakesthesentenceclearinmeaningandcohesiveinternally.

Second,superordinateappearsafterhyponyms.Onthisoccasion,thesuperordinateplaysthecohesiveroleofclassifyingorgeneralizingthehyponyms.Forexample:

（5）“Theoneyoukeepinthehotel.Jaguar,ain’tit?

”

“Inwhatconceivablewaydoesourcarconcernyou?

”

（ArthurHailey,Blackmail）

Generallyspeaking,mostofushavenoideaaboutwhat“Jaguar”is,but“car”helpstomakeafurtherexplanationto“Jaguar”byclassifyingitintovehicle.Therefore,hyponymyisasignificantmeansoflexiconcohesion.

2.1.2.5Lexicalcollocation

Lexicalcollocationreferstoaseriesofrelevantwordsco-occurfrequentlyindiscourse.Lexicalcollocationservesasguidanceforthegenerationandexplanationoflinguisticinformation.Ithelpstomakeanticipationandpredictionaboutthesemanticevolutionofdiscourse.Forexample:

（6）Awidowbirdsatemourningforherlove

Uponawintrybough;

Thefrozenwindcreptonabove,

Thefreezingstreambelow.

（PercyByssheShelley,Awidowbirdsatemourningforherlove）

Thekeywordofthispoemistheword“widow”.Thepoetfocusesonthekeywordandusesthewords“widow,mourning,wintry,frozen,freezing”intheabovefourlines,describingvividlyadesertedandcoldsceneandakindofpatheticmoodandmakingreadersfeelsympathetictothebird.

2.2Fromtheperspectiveofgrammar

Hallidaydividescohesionwithinatextordiscourseintofivekinds（CohesioninEnglish,1976）:

reference,substitution,ellipsis,conjunctionandlexicalcohesion.Thefirstfourkindsofcohesivedevicescanbeclassifiedintogrammaticalcohesion.Andthesegrammaticallycohesivedevicesandtheirrespectivefunctionswillbeexplainedonebyoneinthefollowingsections.

2.2.1Reference

Byreference,anaddresserrefersbackorforwardwiththesameordifferentexpressiontosomeoneorsomethingthatcanbeaword,asentenceorwhateverhasbeenmentionedsomewhereelseindiscourse.Knowingsomethingaboutreference,wecancorrectlygraspthesenserelationbetweenonecomponentandtheotherwithinatext.Forexample:

（7）Youthisnotatimeoflife;itisastateofmind;itisnotamatterofrosycheeks,redlipsandsuppleknees;itisamatterofthewill,aqualityofimagination;avigorofemotions;itisthefreshnessofthedeepspringsoflife.

（Samuel Ullman,Youth）

Intheabovediscourse,“it”isusedtoreferbackto“youth”.Becauseof“youth”weknowwhat“it”representsanditsavestheauthor’seffortfromrepeating“youth”overandoveragainbecauseof“it”,makingtheabovediscoursecoherentandfluent.

2.2.2Substitution

Substitutionreferstotheusageofsubstitutetermstoreplaceanabove-mentionedcomponent.Theusingofsubstitutioncanmakethetextanorganicintegrity.Notonlycanitavoidrepeatingthesamepartbutalsomakethediscourseconciseinacertaincontext.Forexample:

（8）SometimesIhavethoughtitwouldbeanexcellentruletoliveeachdayasifweshoulddietomorrow.Suchanattitudewouldemphasizesharplythevaluesoftime.

（HelenAdamsKeller,Threedaystosee）

Inthisexample“toliveeachdayasifweshoulddietomorrow”issubstitutedby“suchanattitude”,whichhelpstoavoidrepetition.Itisobviousfromthisexamplethatsubstitutionisaneconomicalgrammaticallycohesivedevice.

2.2.3Conjunction

Conjunctionisthelogicalconnectionamongsentences.Inordertomakeitconvenienttostudyaboutconjunction,Halliday&Hasandivideitintofourtypes:

additive,adversative,causal,andtemporal.

2.2.3.1Additive

Additiveisleavingsomeextensivespaceafterwritingasentencesoth