ENGLISH LINGUISTICS II: Cohesion – Grammatical and Lexical

A set of vocabulary-style flashcards covering key concepts and devices of grammatical and lexical cohesion, coherence, and related terminology from the notes.

Cohesion

the  mutual  connectedness  of  words/phrases/clauses  within  a   sequence,  which  is  realized  by  grammatical  dependencies.

The grammatical and lexical connections within a text that signal semantic unity and hold the text together.

Coherence

the  mutual  accessibility  and  relevance  of  concepts  and  the   relations  among  them  in  the  textual  world.  

Semantic continuity created by the reader’s interpretation and world knowledge; depends on context.

Grammatical cohesion

Cohesion realized through grammatical units or structures, including reference, substitution, ellipsis, parallelism, conjunction, and tense/aspect.

A  REFERENCE  

B  SUBSTITUTION  

C  ELLIPSIS  

D  PARALLELISM  

E  CONJUNCTION  

F  TENSE/ASPECT

texture

the connectedness of a text. It involves cohesion (links within the text) and coherence (links made by the reader/listener using outside knowledge).

Pro-forms (reference) : definition +types

Short words that stand in for other lexical items and semantically refer to them;

1) EXOPHORIC:  pro-­‐form  refers  outside  the  text  to  the  situation/context     (I  always  thought...)  

2) CATAPHORIC:  pro-­‐form  refers  ahead  to  a  later  item  in  the  text     (...  it  would  be...  an  epic  battle...)  

3) ANAPHORIC:  pro-­‐form  refers  back  to  an  earlier  item  in  the  text     (This  is  how...)

Semantic Types of Reference

1. CO-REFERENCE

2. CO-CLASSIFICATION

3. CO-EXTENSION

Co-reference(Semantic Types of Reference)

Items linked by a cohesive link to the same extra-linguistic referent (referential identity).

Henry  bought  himself  a  new  Jaguar.  He  practically  lives  in  the  car

Co-classification(Semantic Types of Reference)

Cohesion where A and B refer to members of the same identified class.

The  kids  were  playing  all  kinds  of  games  in  that  big  hall.  Some  were  into  cards,  there   were  plenty  of  chess  boards,  in  one  corner  scrabble  was  set  up.

Co-extension(Semantic Types of Reference)

Lexical items referring to related meanings within the same general field.

Congress  complained  about  the  president’s  plans  to  rebuild  White  House.

Structural Types of Reference

1) PERSONAL  REFERENCE:  personal  and  possessive  pronouns     (Harry  is  a  musician.  He  plays  the  oboe.  His  ...)  

2) DEMONSTRATIVE  REFERENCE:  definite  article,  demonstrative  pronouns     (This  is  how  it’s  going  to  end.)

3) COMPARATIVE  REFERENCE:  reference  items  express  comparison,  e.g.  same,   equal,  such,  similar,  other,  different,  comparative  forms     (...  something  a  little  more  spectacular  ...  Getting  hit  by  a  car/not  so   distinctive)

Substitution: definition+ 3 types

Using pro-forms (like one, do, so) to replace a word or expression with the same grammatical function. anaphoric reference back to the earlier item.

1) NOMINAL  SUBSTITUTION:  pro-­‐form  replaces  a  noun  phrase  element  (...  all   of  them  ...  dedication,  friendliness,  responsiveness)  

2) VERBAL  SUBSTITUTION:  ‘do’  replaces  complete  verb  phrase  (You  wouldn’t   drive  a  car  without  ABS.  You’d  be  crazy  if  you  did.)  

3) CLAUSAL  SUBSTITUTION:  adverbs  replace  whole  clauses  (Is  this  the  car  you   saw  parked  at  the  dealer  the  other  day?  Very  likely  so/Probably  not.)

Ellipsis

parts  of  a  sentence  are  left  out  because  they  can  be  recovered  from  the   context  (text  or  situation),  ellipses  shorten  sentences  and  make  texts  denser

1) NOMINAL:  core  parts  of  a  noun  phrase  are  left  out  (We’ll  park  my  car  and   take  yours.)  

2) VERBAL:  parts  of  a  verb  phrase  are  left  out  (I  have  always  supported  you.  Yes   you  have.)    

3) CLAUSAL:  a  whole  clause  is  left  out  (What  are  you  going  to  have?  I  haven’t   decided  yet.)

Parallelism

sentences with similar grammatical or lexical structures create cohesion by showing a clear semantic connection.

You  can‘t  overnight  dedication.  Friendliness  can’t  be  crated  up  for  shipment.  You  can’t   move  responsiveness  with  a  fork  lift

Conjunction: definition + 3 types

Words that connect clauses or sentences and show the logical/semantic relationship between them. They do not replace or refer back but directly link ideas.

1) COORDINATORS:  conjunctions  coordinating  clauses  (cf.  subordinators),  e.g.   and,  but,  or  

2) ADVERBS:  express  broad  spectrum  of  meaning  and  are  syntactically  flexible,   e.g.  then,  however,  besides  

3) PREPOSITIONAL  PHRASES:  signal  semantic  relation  between  clauses,  e.g.  in   spite  of,  as  a  result

Tense/Aspect

:  belong  to  the  repertoire  of  cohesive  means  as  they  express   temporal  relations  across  sentence  boundaries  and  thus  help  to  build  formal  and   semantic  connectedness  

e.g. the simple past indicates completed actions, while the present perfect suggests ongoing relevance.

Lexical cohesion

Cohesion realized through link between the content words and their relations across segments, including repetition, synonymy, hyponymy, meronymy, paraphrase, and collocation.

A  REITERATION

>  repetition          

>  synonymy          

>  hypo-­‐/eronymy        

>  meronymy        

>  antonymy        

>  paraphrase  

B  COLLOCATION

>  lexical  fields          

>  lexical  se

Repetition (Lexical repetition)

the  simplest  way  to  built  cohesive  ties  lexically  is  to  repeat  a  word  or   expression  (‘recurrence’);  repetition  promotes  clarity  but  can  also  lead  to   redundancy  

e.g.  ‘Prime  Minister  Fukuda  —  Fukuda

SENSE  RELATIONS

semantic  relations  between   two  or  more  words,  e.g.  synonymy,  antonymy,   hyponymy,  meronymy

Synonymy

Two words with similar denotational meaning within the text.

e.g.   parting  shot/comeback/remark;  outgoing/   parting

Antonymy

Words with opposite meanings that provide contrast.

Hyponymy

Word relationship of super-/subordinated meanings

“animal” is a hypernym of “dog.” - hyponym

Meronymy

Part–whole semantic relationship (e.g., T-shirt/designs).

e.g.  pop  culture/T-­‐shirt,   designs

A meronym is a part of a whole

holonym is the whole that contains the parts

Paraphrase

Expressing the same meaning in a different form;

expansion : Expressing the same idea using different words while retaining original meaning; it's often used to clarify or simplify complex information.

...  I  always  thought  it  would  be  something  a  little  more  spectacular  -­‐  an  epic  battle  with  a   hunter  or  a  tiger.  Or  a  territory  war  with  another  family.  Or  a  forest  fire.

condensation: Expressing a shortened version of the original text, retaining key ideas and meaning.

The  floorboards  creaked,  the  plumbing  whined  and  throbbed,  doorhinges  squeaked  and   windows  rattled  in  their  frames.  The  noise  was  deafening.

Collocation

The regular co-occurrence of words or expressions that naturally go together and form meaning relations in a text.(e.g., make a decision).

Lexical Set: Words grouped by a shared theme or feature (e.g., red, blue, green = colors).same category (members of one group).

Lexical Field: Words linked by a shared subject or concept (e.g., doctor, nurse, hospital = medicine).Field = same topic/subject (different roles within one concept).

Lexical sets/fields

Lexical Set: Words grouped by a shared theme or feature (e.g., red, blue, green = colors).same category (members of one group).

Lexical Field: Words linked by a shared subject or concept (e.g., doctor, nurse, hospital = medicine).Field = same topic/subject (different roles within one concept).

Place relators

Spatial markers like this, that, here, there that orient the reader/listener.

Words or devices that give spatial orientation in a text, such as demonstratives (this, that) or demonstrative adverbs (here, there). They help create a sense of place in textual worlds.

Time relators

Tense and time words (e.g., yesterday, now, soon) that link events in time.