In Other Words

Mona Baker
Chapter 6:
Textual equivalence: Cohesion

Prepared by: Younes Samid

Textual Equivalence
What is cohesion?
 Cohesion is the network of lexical, grammatical and other relations
which provide links between various parts of a text. These
relations or ties organize and, to some extent, create a text.
(Baker 2011)

 It is a surface relation;
relation it connects together the actual words and
expressions that we can see or hear.
(Baker 2011)
Cohesive devices (Halliday & Hassan’s Model 1976)
 1. Reference
 2. Substitution
 3. Ellipsis
 4. Conjunction
 5. Lexical cohesion
1. Reference
• The term reference is traditionally used in semantics for the relationship which
holds between a word and what it points to in the real world.

Example:

Horse
‫ككرُسي‬
 reference is limited here to the relationship of identity which holds between two linguistics
expression.
i.e. :
“Trump has Shut down the Federal government. He declared his decision in a press conference.”

 The pronoun “he” points to Trump within the textual words itself.
Common reference items
 Personal;
 Personal pronouns (he, she, it, they)
 Possessive determiner (his, her, its)
 Possessive pronouns (his, hers, its)
*i.e.:
« َ‫صنبعرُ لنكحعكنم نرُببنك نفإننننك نبأ نععكيننننا‬
‫ « نواَ ع‬:‫قوله تعالى‬

John suffers from alzhiemer. He always forgets his stuff wherever he goes.
 ‫;‪Demonstrative‬‬
‫‪‬‬ ‫‪The, this, and those‬‬
‫‪*i.e:‬‬
‫‪ The congress refused to fund the wall. This led trump to shut down the government.‬‬

‫‪ ‬قوله تعالى‪ »:‬نقاللوا نيا نوريلنننا نمرن نبنعنثننا دمرن نمررنقددننا ۜ هنهنذاَ نما نونعند الرررحمنملن نو ن‬
‫صندنق‬
‫ارللمررنسللونن «‬
Types of reference
 1. Textual referecnce … which allows the reader or hearer to trace participants, entities,
events and so on in a text (endophoric)
i.e:
1. John suffers from alzhiemer. He always forgets his stuff wherever he goes.

2. The congress refused to fund the wall. This led trump to shut down the government.

Anaphoric (backward reference) vs Cataphoric (forward reference)

‫ فأوجس في نفسه خيفة موسى‬:‫ قوله تعاَلى‬:‫مثاَل‬

Forms of reference (cont.)
 2. Situational referecnce (context of situation): the relationship of
reference may be established situationally.
situationally (exophoric)

 a. First and second-person pronouns (I, you, we) writer / reader

Example: Everybody likes the books I write, espciall you. That’s why you keep on reading

 b. third-person pronouns ( he, she, it) immediate physical/mental context

Example: Has he announced the exams Schedule yet?

« َ‫ « قاَل بل فعله كبيرُهم هذا‬:‫قوله تعاَلى‬

Forms of reference (cont.)
 3. Co-referecnce (real-world reference): co-reference ‘is not strictly a linguistic feature at
all but a matter of real-world knowledge.
i.e:
 1. Donie Dumb Dumb Putin’s PeePee Pal Melania’s Mistake

‫أبو منشار السيد منشار العظيم‬ ‫الدب الداشر‬2. 

Co-referencial items are:

1. the respected Mr. Donald Trump

‫سمو معاليه المير ابن سلمان‬ 2.

Patterns of reference
 Patterns of reference can vary considerably both within and across languages.

 Within the same language, text-type seems to be an important factor in determining the choice of
pattern.

 The distribution of reference varies from one txt-type to another:

For instance it is avoided in ads.

To wrap up!
Thank you