COHESION IN ENGLISH

Chapter 8
 Language and context

Functionalism: interaction between

language & context

1. Language as knowledge
2. Language as behaviour
 Language as social semiotics

Key parameters:
function & context

FUNCTION CONTEXT

Ideational Field

Inter-personal Tenor

Textual Mode
 TEXT

A text is any passage, spoken or written,

that forms a unified whole and functions as
such in context.

Discourse competence:
– language + context
 TEXTURE
TEXT:
– It’s practically impossible to restrain children when
they get to grips with technology. This is why the
computer equipment used in schools has to be
designed and built to a standard above and
beyond the normal call of duty. A standard that’s
set by Research Machines.

NO-TEXT:
– This is why the computer equipment used in
schools has to be designed and built to a standard
above and beyond the normal call of duty. It’s
practically impossible to restrain children when
they get to grips with technology. A standard that’s
set by Research Machines.
 PARAMETERS OF
TEXTUALITY
Contextual parameters:
– Intentionality
– Acceptability
– Informativity
– Situationality: field, tenor, mode
– Intertextuality

Textual parameters:
– Coherence & cohesion

(De Beaugrande & Dressler 1981)

 Coherence & cohesion
Two sides of the same coin:

– Coherence is the semantic function that makes

a text meaningful, that provides a text with
texture.

– Cohesion is the list of linguistic resources

available in a particular language to provide a
text with coherence. These resources are the
‘cohesive devices’.
COHESION IN ENGLISH
 COHESION IN ENGLISH

1. Reference
2. Substitution & ellipsis
3. Conjunction
4. Lexical cohesion

(Halliday & Hasan 1976)

 REFERENCE

Relationship of semantic identity.

Anaphoric: Look at the moon! It’s there!

Cataphoric: You will see this on your

screen: MS-DOS Version 6.00.
 TYPES OF REFERENCE

Personal reference:
– speech roles & other roles

Demonstrative reference:
– location on a scale of proximity

Comparative reference:
– Indirect reference by means of identity or similarity
 PERSONAL REFERENCE

Personal pronouns (including possessives):

– 1st & 2nd person: situation reference
– 3rd person: text & situation reference

– We asked Ruby to describe for us what life was like in

the African Rift Valley some 1500 generations ago.
She replied that she had lived with a small group of
about ten people: she indicated the number by
holding up both hands with the fingers spread.
 DEMONSTRATIVE
REFERENCE
Neutral: article ‘the’
– She found herself in a long, low hall which was lit
up by a row of lamps hanging from the roof. There
were doors all round the hall, but they were all
locked.

Selective: near – far

– Participants: this/that/these/those
Be careful of wasps, bees and hornets. These are
dangerous pests.
– Circumstance: here/there/now/then
In my young days we took these things more seriously.
We had different ideas then.
COMPARATIVE REFERENCE

GENERAL (deictic)
– Identity: same/equal/identical/identically
– Similarity: such/similar/so/similarly/likewise
– Difference: other/different/else/differently/ otherwise
E.g. I have accepted too many invitations already. Other invitations will
have to be declined. 

PARTICULAR (non-deictic)
– Numerative: more/fewer/less/further, etc.
– Epithet: comparative adjectives & adverbs
Beecher Stowe gives a moving account of the horrors of slavery.
Clemens’ treatment of the issue in the classic novel Huckleberry Finn is
lighter and more subtle.
SUBSTITUTION

&

ELLIPSIS
SUBSTITUTION & ELLIPSIS

Nominal substitution:
– One, ones, same

Verbal substitution:
– Do, does, did, done

Clausal substitution:
– so, not
Nominal substitution & ellipsis
Substitution:
– ‘Would you like some sandwiches?’
– ‘Please pass the ones with cucumber in.’
– ‘I’ll have chicken and rice.’
– ‘I’ll have the same.’

Ellipsis:
– There’s no water left. Fetch some Ø.

Is anyone here a linguistics major? 

– Answer with Ellipsis: I am. [Ø: a linguistics major] 
– Answer with Substitution: I am one.
Verbal substitution and ellipsis
Substitution:
a. …the words did not come the same as they used to do.
b. ‘I don’t know the meaning of half those long words, and,
what’s more, I don’t believe you do either!’

Ellipsis:
– ‘You know, I can’t keep up with you, Caroline. Last I
heard you were in hot pursuit of a man.’ Caroline
frowned. ‘Who says I’m not Ø now?’
 Clausal substitution and ellipsis

Clausal substitution:
- ‘I do mean something else.’
- ‘I thought so.’
- ‘And I would like to take advantage of Lady Bracknell’s
temporary absence […]’
- ‘I would certainly advise you to do so.’

Clausal ellipsis:
– ‘I’m sure we’ll find your mother,’ said the man with the
searchlight, ‘but God only knows where Ø.’
CONJUNCTION
 CONJUNCTION
1. Additive: and, in addition, besides, furthermore, etc.

2. Adversative: yet, though, but, however,

nevertheless, in fact, actually, etc.

3. Causal: so, then, hence, therefore, consequently,

for, because, etc.

4. Temporal: then, next, after that, previously, at once,

soon, meanwhile, etc.

5. Summary relations
– Culminative: finally, in conclusion, to sum up, etc.
– Resumptive: to resume, anyway, to come back to the
point, etc.
 Examples of conjunction

Today, only forty-four inhabitants remain [on

Pitcairn Island]. Conditions on the island have
deteriorated, and their only contact with the
outside world is via an antiquated radio link
with the British Consulate in New Zealand
and (weather permitting) two passing ships a
year. In other words, the Pitcairners are
desperately in need of aid.
LEXICAL COHESION
 LEXICAL COHESION
Reiteration
– Repetition of the same word - same referent
– Synonym (or near-synonym) - inclusive
– Superordinate - exclusive
– General noun
(stuff/person/people/thing/place) - unrelated
– Contrast (antonyms) - opposite

Collocations: bicycle (ride), pipe (smoke)

 Reiteration

A flower cannot produce seeds until it is

pollinated and its ovule fertilized.
Pollination is the transfer of pollen from the
male parts (stamens) to the female parts
(stigmas) of a flower. If pollen is carried to
the stigma of the same flower, it is called
self-pollination.
Synonyms (or near-synonyms)

‘The doctor told me I’d been working too

hard and I needed at least six weeks off
work to get my strength back.’ Amanda’s
employer, however, was less sympathetic.
‘My boss gave me an envelope and told
me it was redundancy money – two
weeks’ pay - £280. I was shocked.’
 Superordinates - Hyponyms
Brazil, with her two-crop economy, was even
more severely hit by the Depression than other
Latin American states and the country was on
the verge of complete collapse.

In 1295, Good King Vaclav II of Bohemia

founded the town of Pilsen. He was certainly an
affable old ruler and granted numerous
privileges to the town’s inhabitants. One of these
being the right to brew beer.
 General nouns
Poor old chap, he’s on his last pins, thought the boss.
And, feeling kindly, he winked at the old man and said
jokingly, ‘I tell you what. I’ve got some medicine here
that’ll do you good before you go out in the cold again.
It’s beautiful stuff. It wouldn’t hurt a child.’

The white prisoners had been jailed in Pretoria, the black

prisoners on Robben Island … I made an appointment to
see Colonel Aucamp, the head of security, to request
that David be allowed some sweets. ‘Ag, no, man!’ he
said. ‘These guys are prisoners, you know!’
 Antonyms
The composition of living organisms is very different
from their surroundings. Whereas the environment
consists of relatively simple substances such as
gases, water and minerals, living organisms are
made up of very complex molecules.

At least 125 people died of AIDS in Bulawayo

between April and June this year, according to City
Health authorities … Out of the 125, 71 were males
while 54 were females.
 TEXT ANALYSIS

REFERENCE RELATIONS
It was Friday morning. There were two horses out in the field. Susan ran up and

caught the nearest one. He seemed quite calm. However, as she turned to take him

back, the powerful creature suddenly reared and jumped forward. It was all over in

an instant. The animal was running wildly across the field and the girl was left sitting

in the mud. Most of the time I love horses, she thought, but sometimes I could just

kill one of them.

 TEXT ANALYSIS

SUBSTITUTON RELATIONS
It was Friday morning. There were two horses out in the field. Susan ran up and

caught the nearest one. He seemed quite calm. However, as she turned to take him

back, the powerful creature suddenly reared and jumped forward. It was all over in

an instant. The animal was running wildly across the field and the girl was left sitting

in the mud. Most of the time I love horses, she thought, but sometimes I could just

kill one of them.

 TEXT ANALYSIS

CONJUNCTIVE RELATIONS
It was Friday morning. There were two horses out in the field. Susan ran up and

caught the nearest one. He seemed quite calm. However, as she turned to take him

back, the powerful creature suddenly reared and jumped forward. It was all over in

an instant. The animal was running wildly across the field and the girl was left sitting

in the mud. Most of the time I love horses, she thought, but sometimes I could just

kill one of them.

 TEXT ANALYSIS
LEXICAL COHESION
It was Friday morning. There were two horses out in the field. Susan ran up and

caught the nearest one. He seemed quite calm. However, as she turned to take him

back, the powerful creature suddenly reared and jumped forward. It was all over in

an instant. The animal was running wildly across the field and the girl was left sitting

in the mud. Most of the time I love horses, she thought, but sometimes I could just

kill one of them.

Blue: superordinate: Susan – girl

Green: superordinate: horse – creature – animal
Yellow: synonyms – antonyms
Pink: reiteration & hyponym
Red: contrast; Grey: contrast
 TEXT ANALYSIS
It was Friday morning. There were two horses out in the field. Susan ran up and

caught the nearest one. He seemed quite calm. However, as she turned to take him

back, the powerful creature suddenly reared and jumped forward. It was all over in

an instant. The animal was running wildly across the field and the girl was left sitting

in the mud. Most of the time I love horses, she thought, but sometimes I could just

kill one of them.

Yellow: reference
Red: substitution
Blue: conjunction
Green: lexical cohesion
 TEXTURE

TEXTURE

It was Friday morning. There were two horses out in the field. Susan ran up and

caught the nearest one. He seemed quite calm. However, as she turned to take him

back, the powerful creature suddenly reared and jumped forward. It was all over in

an instant. The animal was running wildly across the field and the girl was left sitting

in the mud. Most of the time I love horses, she thought, but sometimes I could just

kill one of them.