A brief interpretation of cohesive devices from the aspects of lexicon and grammar 英语专业毕业论文

A brief interpretation of cohesive devices from the aspects of lexicon and grammar1 IntroductionCohesion is the local coherence relations between adjacent sentences in discourse. It is a necessary (though not a sufficient) condition for the creation of a text. It plays a vital role in discourse analysis, translation, writing, conversation and so on. The publication of Cohesion in English authored by Halliday&Hasan (1976) marks the setting up of the theory of cohesion. According to them, whether a series of sentences can make up a text or not lies in the cohesion and coherence among sentences. They think that the coherence of a text shows in two aspects: first, a text is coherent in situation, which shows in register consistency. Second, a text is coherent in itself, which means it must be cohesive. From this we can safely draw the conclusion that cohesion is indispensable in any coherent text, that is to say, “cohesion is a necessary (though not a sufficient) condition for the creation of a text.”(Halliday&Hasan, 1976, 298-299) Discourse cohesiveness can be realized by employing various cohesive devices. This paper aims at concluding ways of realizing cohesion from two aspectslexicon and grammar and giving an example to show the function of cohesion in English discourse, so that English learners can get some inspiration from this paper on how to understand English discourse comprehensively and correctly.2 The realization of cohesion2.1 From the perspective of lexicon2.1.1 A brief introduction of lexical cohesionHalliday points out in his book Cohesion in English that lexical cohesion is using lexical repetition, synonymy, hyponymy and other sense relations to connect sentences of English discourse together. Lexical cohesion is a way to realize coherence by choosing words, namely it mainly deals with the sense relations among words in English discourse. If used appropriately, it will be of great help in the achieving of the coherence of English discourse.Huang Guowen represents in his book The Theory and Practice of Discourse Analysis (2001, 116) that lexical cohesion refers to the realization of semantic coherence through the repetition of words, synonymy, antonymy, and the relation among words of whole and part.Hu Zhuanglin defines lexical cohesion in his book Cohesion and Coherence of Discourse as the sense relations of a part of words in discourse, such as lexical repetition, substitution or the usage of both means.As for this paper, lexical cohesion will be interpreted from five aspects: lexical repetition, synonymy, antonymy, hyponymy and lexical collocation.2.1.2 Lexically cohesive devices and their respective functions2.1.2.1 Lexical repetitionLexical repetition refers to the reappearance of words with the same meaning and form in discourse. This means can be applied to the organization of discourse to achieve semantic coherence and the cohesion of context. For example:(1) How many loved your moments of glad grace,And loved your beauty with love false or true,But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you,And loved the sorrows of your changing face; (William Bulter Yeats, When You Are Old)This poem frankly expresses the poets pure love for his lover, Maud Gonne. The repetition of the word “loved” in the above four lines makes the discourse natural, and it strongly shows the poets affection for his lover, making a deep impression on readers.2.1.2.2 SynonymySynonymy is the using of words with the same or approximate meaning in discourse. Synonymy can be used to organize paragraph, generate discourse and make the paragraph more expressive. For example:(2) Behold her, single in the field,Yon solitary Highland lass!Reaping and singing by herself,Stop here or gently pass!Alone she cuts and binds the grain,And sings a melancholy strain; (William Wordsworth, The Solitary Reaper)In order to emphasize the loneliness of the reaper, the poet chooses three words “single, alone, solitary” and one expression “by herself” in the six lines of the poem, showing that the reaper is lonely and her life is tough. 2.1.2.3 Antonymy Antonymy can be defined as the contrast of words in discourse, which is the two opposite aspects of one thing. The fundamental usage of antonymy in a sentence or discourse is to make contrast between two different components and to describe something or a certain phenomenon from two different aspects, so that the cohesion of sentences or discourse can be realized as well as enhancing the expressiveness of language and making a vivid impression on readers. For example:(3) We observe today not a victory of party, but a celebration of freedom-symbolizing an end, as well as beginning-signifying renewal, as well as change. (John F. Kennedy, Inaugural Address)The above sentence is abstracted from the speech of John F. Kennedy, the 35th president of America, on January 20, 1961 to call for unification and peace. In 1961, America was troubled with serious economic crisis. What made matter worse was that America got involved in the Cold War against the Soviet Union. In this speech Kennedy expressed his expectation that Americans should get together to end the past divided scene and create a new peaceful international situation. The contrast between “end” and “beginning” not only means the end of the presidency of the last president and the beginning of a new one, but also hints his expectation.2.1.2.4 HyponymyLexical cohesiveness can also be realized by hyponymy, namely the meaning of a component is included in the meaning of another component, in other words “A is a kind of B”. There are two types of hyponymy. First, superordinate occurs before hyponyms, in this way the hyponyms can further explain the superordinate. It is a cohesive device to make meaning clearer. For example:(4) Think about the last time you felt a negative emotion-like stress, anger, or frustration. (Jennifer Givler, Clear Your Mental Space)In the above sentence, “stress”, “anger”, and “frustration” are the hyponyms of the superordinate words “negative emotion”. These words explain what kind of emotion is negative emotion and makes the sentence clear in meaning and cohesive internally. Second, superordinate appears after hyponyms. On this occasion, the superordinate plays the cohesive role of classifying or generalizing the hyponyms. For example:(5) “The one you keep in the hotel. Jaguar, aint it?”“In what conceivable way does our car concern you?” (Arthur Hailey, Blackmail) Generally speaking, most of us have no idea about what “Jaguar” is, but “car” helps to make a further explanation to “Jaguar” by classifying it into vehicle. Therefore, hyponymy is a significant means of lexicon cohesion.2.1.2.5 Lexical collocationLexical collocation refers to a series of relevant words co-occur frequently in discourse. Lexical collocation serves as guidance for the generation and explanation of linguistic information. It helps to make anticipation and prediction about the semantic evolution of discourse. For example:(6) A widow bird sate mourning for her loveUpon a wintry bough;The frozen wind crept on above,The freezing stream below. (Percy Bysshe Shelley, A widow bird sate mourning for her love)The key word of this poem is the word “widow”. The poet focuses on the key word and uses the words “ widow, mourning, wintry, frozen, freezing” in the above four lines, describing vividly a deserted and cold scene and a kind of pathetic mood and making readers feel sympathetic to the bird. 2.2 From the perspective of grammar Halliday divides cohesion within a text or discourse into five kinds (Cohesion in English, 1976): reference, substitution, ellipsis, conjunction and lexical cohesion. The first four kinds of cohesive devices can be classified into grammatical cohesion. And these grammatically cohesive devices and their respective functions will be explained one by one in the following sections.2.2.1 ReferenceBy reference, an addresser refers back or forward with the same or different expression to someone or something that can be a word, a sentence or whatever has been mentioned somewhere else in discourse. Knowing something about reference, we can correctly grasp the sense relation between one component and the other within a text. For example:(7) Youth is not a time of life; it is a state of mind; it is not a matter of rosy cheeks, red lips and supple knees; it is a matter of the will, a quality of imagination; a vigor of emotions; it is the freshness of the deep springs of life. (Samuel Ullman, Youth)In the above discourse, “it” is used to refer back to “youth”. Because of “youth” we know what “it” represents and it saves the authors effort from repeating “youth” over and over again because of “it”, making the above discourse coherent and fluent.2.2.2 Substitution Substitution refers to the usage of substitute terms to replace an above-mentioned component. The using of substitution can make the text an organic integrity. Not only can it avoid repeating the same part but also make the discourse concise in a certain context. For example:(8) Sometimes I have thought it would be an excellent rule to live each day as if we should die tomorrow. Such an attitude would emphasize sharply the values of time. (Helen Adams Keller, Three days to see)In this example “to live each day as if we should die tomorrow” is substituted by “such an attitude”, which helps to avoid repetition. It is obvious from this example that substitution is an economical grammatically cohesive device.2.2.3 Conjunction Conjunction is the logical connection among sentences. In order to make it convenient to study about conjunction, Halliday&Hasan divide it into four types: additive, adversative, causal, and temporal.2.2.3.1 AdditiveAdditive is leaving some extensive space after writing a sentence so that some more information can be added to it. For example:(9) I have some very sad news for all of you, and, I think, sad news for all of our fellow citizens, and people who love peace all over the world; and that is that Martin Luther King was shot and was killed tonight in Memphis, Tennessee. (Robert F. Kennedy, Remarks on the assassination of Martin Luther King)As mentioned above, this speech was delivered by Robert F. Kennedy on the day when Martin Luther King was assassinated. Full of sadness, he felt it painful to announce the sorrowful news at one go. Therefore, he chose to utter the news little by little. And considering the feeling of his audience, he firstly told his audience that he had some bad news for them so that they could make enough psychological preparation and then used the word “and” to show he still had worse information to offer, naturally the following sentences become necessary and cohesive.2.2.3.2 AdversativeAdversative is the using of conjunctive words to connect a part which is opposite to the meaning anticipated, namely the meaning of the former sentence is totally different from that of the latter one. For example:(10) What we need in the United States is not division; what we need in the United States is not violence and lawlessness, but is love and wisdom, and compassion toward one another, and a feeling of justice toward those who still suffer within our country, whether they be white or whether they be black. (Robert F. Kennedy, Remarks on the assassination of Martin Luther King)The word “but” plays the role of adversative which connects two opposite parts together and shows the speakers emphasis on the latter part, attracting the audiences attention to the latter one. Thereby, it helps the speaker represent his idea clearly.2.2.3.3 CausalCausal can be defined as the usage of different ways to show the relation between cause and effect. Logically, cause goes before effect, but in reality, effect can also appear before cause. For example:(11) As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of Democracy. (Abraham Lincoln)(12) United, there is little we cannot do in a host of cooperative ventures. Divided, there is little we can do-for we dare not meet a powerful challenge at odds and split asunder. (John F. Kennedy, Inaugural Address)In (11) the cause goes before effect and in (12) the effect goes before cause. Even though (11) is focused on effect and (12) on cause, both methods help make the sentences cohesive semantically.2.2.3.4 TemporalA discourse is not the combination of irrelevant facts. A meaningful discourse is sure to correctly reflect the developmental process of an event. Naturally it will involve the order of development. For example:(13) Dolam was 18 when he entered the 1994 World Championships. He remembers being near to all the big stars and noticing they were staring at him. He won the 400 IM in world record time. He successfully defended hid world title four years later in Perth, Australia. (Jiang Zhida, Tom Dolam)The above paragraph is abstracted from an article which aims at introducing Tom Dolam who is the 400meter individual medley gold winner at Sydney Olympic Games in 1996. “The 1994 World Championships” and “four years later” not only show the promotion of Tom Dolams career but also help to make the paragraph cohesive internally.2.2.4 Ellipsis Ellipsis is leaving out some information which can be inferred in a certain context. It is an economical way of organizing a discourse and an ideal way of realizing cohesion at grammatical level. For example:(14) “I dont want to play a solo,” I said.“You have to (play a solo),” replied my father. (Wayne Kalyn, My Fathers Music) It saves the fathers effort by just giving an answer of three words, but readers can still get the point of the fathers answer because the answer is relevant to the question. Obviously, ellipsis can help save speakers effort as well as achieving cohesiveness.3 The functional analysis of cohesion in English discourse A perfect example of the usage of cohesion in English discourse is The Gettysburg Address. It is a famous speech delivered by Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of America, who led the American Civil War (1861-1864) fighting for the freedom of black slaves on November, 1863. The speech aims at calling on people to fight against slavery. In this speech, Lincoln uses many cohesive devices mentioned-above to make this speech brief, powerful and impressive. In the following sections, the functional analysis of cohesion in this speech will be illustrated in detail. 3.1 From the point of view of lexiconThe cohesion of the first paragraph of this speech is realized by lexical collocation “brought forth”, “new”, “conceived”, and “created” and hyponymy “liberty, equal”. Lincoln uses these two lexical devices to connect these semantic segments together, briefly pointing out that America is a totally new nation which believes in liberty and equality. From this we can see that slavery is illegal because it goes against the nations belief, thus Lincoln has a good reason to call on people to fight against slavery. “Liberty” and “equal” emphasize that only when the Black and the White are equal can Americans really enjoy liberty.Lexical repetition helps a great deal in the achievement of the cohesiveness among the four paragraphs of this speech. Lincoln repeats the word “dedicate/devotion”, “liberty/freedom” again and again to make the four paragraphs coherent naturally. Through the repetition of these words, Lincoln not only stresses the belief of Americans but also points out that Americans should make contributions to make this new continent a really liberal place so that the dead will not die in vain and can enjoy peace in their afterlife. Paragraph two itself is cohesive owing to the cohesive devices of lexical repetition as well as synonymy. Lincoln applies “fitting” and “proper” to point out that fighting against slavery is a righteous cause; it is the commitment of Americans. As for paragraph three, it is cohesive owing to the usage of synonymy “dedicate, consecrate” and antonymy “live and dead, add and detract” which makes the sentences of this paragraph connect tightly and concisely, moreover, it also follows the principle of speech of being brief and powerful.The cohesion of paragraph four lies in its usage of lexical repetition “dedicated, devotion, people”, synonymy “note and remember”, “the unfinished and remaining”, “work, task and cause” and antonymy “remember and forget”, “living and dead”, “we and they”. These means not only enhance the expressiveness of the speech but also help emphasize the theme that America is a new nation which takes people as the highest and Americans today should continue to fight for the freedom of everyone.3.2 From the point of view of grammarThe four paragraphs are grammatically cohesive largely because of the use of conjunction. The temporal conjunction “four score and seven years ago, now” makes paragraph one and two temporally coherent. The adversative conjunction “but” makes paragraph two, three and four tightly connected.Apart from using the grammatical cohesion of conjunction, Lincoln also uses the other three cohesive devices at grammatical level. The following is the discussion of these grammatically cohesive devices.3.2.1 ReferenceWhen Lincoln first refers to America, he describes it as “a new nation”. But in the following paragraphs, he uses “that nation”, so is the case with “the great civil war” and “that war”. It makes the paragraphs coherent and logically clear.3.2.2 SubstitutionLincoln uses “ so concerned and so dedicated” to substitute “conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all man are created equal”, in this way the speech becomes brief and concise, easier for the speaker to say and for the audience to catch the content of the speech.3.2.3 EllipsisAs we all know, brevity is the soul of language and the success of Lincolns The Gettysburg Address is largely due to its conciseness. Obviously, the grammatical cohesion of ellipsis makes a great contribution to that. Take the most famous sentence “the government of the people, by the people, for the people” as an example, Lincoln leaves out “the government” before “by the people”, “for the people”, thus the sentence becomes simpler. Besides it also makes the speech sound more powerful and tightly cohesive.4 ConclusionThis paper gives a brief interpretation of cohesive devices from two aspects-lexicon and grammar, their correspondent functions and analyzes how cohesion is realized in The Gettysburg Address from these two aspects and their effects, aiming at providing English learners with the necessary theory and examples to understand cohesion.According to Halliday, cohesion is a necessary condition for the creation of a text. It guides us to understand the content of English discourse like a compass. Nowadays with the promotion of globalization, the significance of learning English becomes more and more prominent. The important role of cohesion in a text or discourse determines that cohesion is critical in both written and spoken English. Therefore it is essential for English learners to get some knowledge about cohesive devices and their respective functions. Only in this way can we understand a text or discourse clearly and correctly, in turn make further progress in