Cohesion in English

1

Cohesion

in

English

The various kinds of cohesion had been out lined by MAK Halliday in his writings on stylistics

and the concept was developed by Ruqayia Hasan in her University of Edinburgh doctoral thesis.

Cohesive

relations

are

relations

between

two

or

more

elements

in

a

text

that

are

independent of the structure: for example between a personal pronoun and an antecedent proper

name, such as John ….he. A semantic relation of this kind may be set up either within a sentence

with the consequence that when it crosses a sentence boundary it has the effect of making the two

sentences cohere with one another.

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.

Text

Text

in linguistics refers to

any passage spoken

written 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 single cry for help or all day discussion on a committee. A text is a

unit of language in use. A grammatical unit that is larger than a sentence. A text is not something

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 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 consist of sentence but it is realized by sentence or encoded in sentences.

There are certain objective factors involved that constitute a text.

Constituents of Text

1.

Texture

:

2.

Ties

:

3.

Cohesion

1. Texture

:

Texture is that feature of text which made it a unified whole.

According

to

‘The

Concise

Oxford

Dictionary

of

Linguistics

by

P.H.

Mathews’

cohesion

and

coherence

are

sources

which

create

texture.

Crys

tal

adds

‘informativeness’

to

cohesion

and

coherence.

Example:

Wash and core six cooking apples. Put them into a fireproof dish.

Here

them

reference

back

to

six

cooking

apples

to

create

cohesion

between

the

two

sentences. Here we make a presupposition about the relationship between them and six cooking

apples

but

it

is

not

enough

only

to

make

a

presupposition

rather

that

presupposition

must

be

satisfied to create texture as shown in the example . These two items are co referential and this

coreferentiality creates texture.

Here are five cohesive devices to create texture:

(i)

Reference

(ii)

Substitution

(iii)

Ellipses

(iv)

Conjunction

(v)

Lexical Cohesion

2. Ties

2

The term refers to a single instance of cohesion.

Example:

Wash and core six cooking apples. Put them into a fireproof dish.

Them and six cooking apples show reference as tie.

If we take the Example:

Wash and core six cooking apples. Put the apples into a fireproof dish.

Here are two ties

(i)

Reference

(ii)

Repetition

Cohesive analysis of text is made in terms of tie for a systematic account of its patterns which are

a source for

texture. Onward we will use the term ‘cohesive tie’ in place of ‘tie’.

Here are five different kinds of cohesive ties that are also called cohesive devices:

(i)

Reference

(ii)

Substitution

(iii)

Ellipses

(iv)

Conjunction

(v)

Lexical cohesion

MAKH and RH have based their model of cohesion on these cohesive ties. A detailed review is

given here in the proceeding discussion.

3. Cohesion

‘The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Lin

guisti

cs by P.H. Mathews (1997)’

defines cohesion

in term of syntactic unit (sentence).

‘ A Dictionary Of Linguistics And Phonetics by

David Crystal (1997)

’

defines cohesion 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 relation of meaning that:

exists with in text

gives the text texture

defines the text as text

This

relation

of meaning between the elements

gives

the reader presupposition.

This is another

way

of

approaching

the

notion

of

cohesion

that

presupposing

and

the

presupposed

give

us

a

presupposition at semantic level as a relation of meaning: The one element presupposes the other

i.e. the one element cannot be decoded without the presupposed.

Example:

Time flies

You can’t; they fly too quickly.

You can’t

(Ellipses)

They

(Reference)

Fly

(Lexical Cohesion)

Types OF Cohesion

Language is multiple coding system comprising three levels of coding:

?

Meaning

The semantic system

?

Wording

The lexicogrammatical system

The phonological and orthographical system

(grammar an vocabulary)

?

Sounding/writing

3

Cohesive

relation

fit

into

the

overall

pattern

of

language.

Cohesion

is

expressed

partly

through

vocabulary and partly through grammar.

:

1. Grammatical Cohesion

(i) Reference

(ii) Substitution

(iii) Ellipses

2. Lexical Cohesion

The 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 is grammatical but with the lexical component so we

cannot clearly distinguish between the two types.

Cohesion and the Linguistics Structure

Texture and Structure

Structure is one mean of expressing texture. Text consists of one sentence are fairly rare

but they can be single sentences as well for Example

No smoking

Wonder never cease

But

most

of

the

text

extends

beyond

the

confines

of

single

sentences

so

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 forming relation.

They are semantic relations and the text is a semantic unit.

Cohesion With in the Text

Since

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

semantic

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 Linguistics System

Halliday (1985) has described three major functional semantic components:

(i)

The Ideational

(ii)

The Interpersonal

(iii)

The Textual

Table: the place of cohesion in the description of English functional components of semantic

system

Ideational

Experiential

By Rank:

Clause:

Transitivity

Verbal Group:

Tense

Nominal Group:

Epithesis

Adverbial Group:

circmstance

Logical

All Ranks:

Practice and

hypotactic

relations

(condition,

addition,

report)

Interpersonal

By Ranks

Clause:

Mood, modality

Verbal Group:

person

Nominal Group:

attitude

Adverbial

Group:

comment

Textual

Structural

By Rank

Cross- Rank

Clause:

Information

theme

Unit:

Information

Verbal Group:

distribution,

voice

Information

focus

Nominal Group:

deixis

Adverbial Group:

conjunction

4

Non-structural

Cohesion

Reference

Substitution

Ellipses

Conjunction

Lexical cohesion

Conclusion

Cohesion is a part of text forming component in the linguistics system. It links together the

elements

that

are

structurally

unrelated

through

the

dependence

of

one

on

the

other

for

its

interpretation. Without cohesion the semantic system cannot be effectively activated at all.

Cohesive Devices

(i)

(ii)

(iii)

(iv)

(v)

Reference

Substitution

Ellipses

Conjunction

Lexical cohesion

1. Reference

There are certain items in any language which cannot be interpreted semantically in their

own right rather they make reference to something else within the text for their interpretation.

Here is an

example

of reference

Doctor Foster went to Gloucester in a shower of rain

He stepped in puddle right up to his middle

And never went there again

Here in the above

example

He

refers back to

Doctor Foster

There

refers back to

Gloucester

He

and

there

show

that

information

about

them

is

retrieved

elsewhere

within

the

text.

It

characterizes a particular type of cohesion which is called reference. The relationship of reference

5

is on semantic level. The reference items must not match the grammatical item it refers to. What

must match or the semantic properties of reference item in relation to the items it refers to.

Reference can be sub-categorize as follow

Reference

Exophora

Endophora

Anaphora

Cataphora

Exophora

It indicates situational references. Anaphora signals that reference must be made to the context of

situation. It is outside the text so it is called anaphoric reference.

Example;

Fo

r he’s a jolly good fellow and so say all of us.

Here text is not indicating who he is?

He

can

be

recognized

by

the

situation

in

which

expression

is

used.

They

are

not

source

of

cohesion because there presupposition cannot be resolved within the text rather the presupposition

is found outside the text.

Endophora

It is a general name for reference within the text. This reference can be of two types.

(i)

Anaphora:

Reference back

(ii)

Cataphora:

Reference forward

Example

:

Child: Why does that one come out?

Parent: That what

Child: That one.

Parent: That one what?

Child: That lever there that you push to let the water out.

That one

that lever

(cataphoric reference)

That lever

that one

(anaphoric reference)

Types of reference

There are three types of reference

(i)

Personal Reference

(ii)

Demonstrative Reference

(iii)

Comparative Reference

It 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 cohesive analysis of these

cohesive devices.

Nominal Group