Discourse cohesion
Lecturer: Trần Hương Quỳnh
Group 3:
Đỗ Phương Hạnh
Phạm Thị Phương Thúy
Class K57C
outline
I. Definition
II. Types of cohesion
1. Reference
[Link]
[Link]
[Link]
5. Lexical cohesion
I. What is cohesion?
Cohesion is the grammatical
and lexical relationship within a
text or sentence. Cohesion can
be defined as the links that hold
a text together and give it
meaning
II. Types of cohesion
Reference
Personal
reference
Anaphoric cataphoric comparative
Demonstrative
Anaphoric reference
–refers back to somebody or something
that has already been mentioned
*ex:
1. My sister is 17 years old, she is a student.
2. Look at the sun ,it’s going down quickly.
Cataphoric reference
– refers to something in the coming text;
requires reader to ‘look forward’ in the
text.
*ex:
1. Here he comes, our teacher... he is Tom.
[Link]’s going down quickly, the sun
3 sub-types of referential cohesion
Personal reference.
Ex: Mike visited London, she realized that
this was a beautiful city.
Demonstrative reference.
Ex: my son failed in the exam .This made
him feel bored.
Comparative reference.
Ex: This hat is too small. I need a bigger one.
Substitution
Substitution refers to the replacement of one
item by another.
Words like one, do, so are common pro-forms.
- Nominal substitution : one ,ones ,same
A: "Which ice-cream would you like?“
B: "I would like the pink one"
-Verbal substitution: do
A: You think Joan already knows?
B:I think everybody does.
- Clausal substitution :so ,not
A: ‘Are you buying the green jumper?’
B: ‘I don’t think so’
Ellipsis
It happens when, after a more specific
mention, words are omitted when the phrase
needs to be repeated.
Ex : (A) Where are you going?
(B) To town.
Nominal ellipsis
My kids play an awful lot of sport.
Both()are incredibly energetic.
Verbal ellipsis
A: Has she been working ?
B: Yes , she has()
Clausal ellipsis
John can play something, but I don’t know
what John can play
John can play something, but I don’t know
what()
Conjunction
Conjunction refers to the logical-semantic
relations between elements in discourse.
Conjunction is usually realized by
conjunctives or connectives. Examples
include then, however, in fact, and
consequently.
Additive: and, and also, nor, or else
Adversative: yet, though, only, but,
however, on the other hand
Causal: because, so, then, therefore,
consequently
Temporal: first, then, next, after that,
finally
Lexical cohesion
- Occurs when two words in a text are
semantically related in some way – in other
words, they are related in terms of their
meaning.
- Two major kinds of lexical cohesion :
reiteration & collocation
1. Reiteration
(a) Repetition
(b) Synonym
(c) Super-ordinate
(d) General word
2. Collocation
1. Reiteration
Is a form of lexical cohesion which involves
repetition, synonym or near synonym,
super- ordinate and general word
Example:
There’s a boy climbing that tree.
[Link] boy’s going to fall if he does not take
care.
(repeated: boy)
2. The lad ‘s going to fall if he does not take
care
(form of synonym: lad)
3. The child’s going to fall if he does not take
care.
(Super ordinate: child )
4. The idiot’s going to fall if he does not take
care.
(general word: idiot )
2. Collocation
is concerned with how words go together.
A lexical collocation is a type of
construction where a verb, noun, adjective
or adverb forms a predictable connection
with another word, as in:
*Adverb + Adjective: completely satisfied
*Adjective + Noun: beautiful day
*Verb + Noun: commit suicide