Discourse analysis and Grammar

Principle of Cohesion the concept of cohesion in text is related to semantic ties or relations of meanings that exist within the text, and that define it as a text Without semantic ties, sentences or utterances would seem to lack any type of relationship to each other and might not be considered text.

Cohesion  Cohesion can be defined as the property that distinguishes a sequence of sentences that form a discourse from a random sequence of sentences. It is a series of lexical, grammatical and other relations which provide links between the various parts of a text. In studying cohesion we should make a distinction between “linguistic cohesion” and “pragmatic cohesion” or coherence.

Cohesion is concerned with the way in which the components of the SURFACE TEXT, i.e. the actual words we hear or see, are mutually connected within a sequence. The surface components depend upon each other according to grammatical forms and conventions, such that cohesion rests upon GRAMMATICAL DEPENDENCIES. ... Thus, cohesion is the grammatical relationship between parts of a sentence essential for its interpretation

1. Coherence and concerns the ways in which the components of the textual world, i.e. the configuration of concepts and relations which underlie the surface text are mutually accessible and relevant. ... It's the order of statements relates one another by sense. The quality of being meaningful and unified.

Seven criteria which have to be fulfilled to qualify either a written or a spoken text as a discourse • Cohesion - grammatical relationship between parts of a sentence essential for its interpretation; • Coherence - the order of statements relates one another by sense. • Intentionality - the message has to be conveyed deliberately and consciously; • Acceptability - indicates that the communicative product needs to be satisfactory in that the audience approves it; • Informativeness - some new information has to be included in the discourse; • Situationality - circumstances in which the remark is made are important; • Intertextuality - reference to the world outside the text or the interpreters' schemata;

Cohesive Devices in English: Reference, Substitution, Ellipsis, Conjunction Lexical cohesion

Reference We have to define reference as an act by which a speaker (or writer) uses language to enable a listener (or reader) to identify something.

Exophoric Reference References to the “shared world” outside a text are called exophoric references. Outward, or exophoric reference often directs us to the immediate context, as when someone says 'leave it on the table please' about a parcel you have for them. Sometimes, the referent is not in the immediate context but is assumed by the speaker/writer to be part of a shared world, either in terms of knowledge or experience. The same sort of exophoric reference is seen in phrases such as the Queen, the Pope, the army,

Examples are words such as there, that, or here, when these are not further elucidated in the text e.g. “The book is over there” “For she is a jolly good fellow and so say all of us”. Here text is not indicating who he is?

Endophoric references.  References to elements in the text are called endophoric references. Endophoric referencing can be divided into two areas: anaphoric, cataphoric, .

For example, in the sentence: When I met her, Mary looked ill.  Cataphoric (forward reference)refers to any reference that “points forward” to information that will be presented later in the text. For example, in the sentence: When I met her, Mary looked ill. Examples of cataphoric sentences are: My reasons are as follows: One, I don’t . . …. Here is the news. The Prime Minister . . ….

Anaphoric (backward reference)references refers to any reference that “points backwards” to previously mentioned information in text. Usually items such : as he/she or them ,it, this , can be decoded without major difficulty. Tom likes ice cream but Bill can’t eat it

2. Substitution and Ellipsis: nominal ( one & ones) A. substitution verbal ( do & so) Clausal ( so & not)

Nominal substitutes: In nominal substitution, the most typical substitution words are : one and ones ´and they substitute nouns. For example: This car is mine, but that one is yours. Let's go and see the bears. The polar ones are over on that rock.

 Verbal substitutes In verbal substitution, the most common substitute is the verb “do” which is sometimes used in conjunction with “so” as in “do so”. Did Mary take that letter? She might have done. • do/do not, auxiliaries She can drive the car, but I cannot. She wrote the homework , but I did not • the nominal group: some/any; one

 Clausal substitutes In clausal substitution, an entire clause is substituted by "So, not" If you’ve seen them so often, you get to know them very well. I believe so. Everyone thinks he’s guilty. If so, no doubt he’ll resign. We should recognise him when we see him. Yes, but supposing not: what do we do?

Stop

B. ellipsis nominal A. Ellipses verbal Clausal

Ellipsis Ellipsis (zero substitution) is the omission of elements normally required by the grammar which the speaker/writer assumes are obvious from the context and therefore need not be raised.

Do you want to hear another song? I know twelve more [songs] (b) Sue brought roses and Jackie [brought] lilies. (c) I ran 5 miles on the first day and 8 [miles] on the second

nominal ellipsis: one of the pre-modifiers of the Head is upgraded to Head. I accept the first argument, but reject the other two ___. [understood arguments] Those were your dreams. Kim’s ___ was a nightmare. [understood dream]

Verbal ellipsis: ("Are you laughing?" "Yes, I am") ("Are you eating dinner?" "No, washing up") Ex. A. Have you been swimming? B. yes, I have. A. what you have been doing? B. swimming.

Clausal ellipsis Yes/no answers, answer to wh- questions only with what the question interrogates about (Why are you going away?" "Because it's late"), only wh-element in questions ("Leave those alone" "Why?")

3. Discourse markers and conjunctions In linguistics, a discourse marker is a word or phrase that is relatively syntax-independent and does not change the meaning of the sentence, and has a somewhat empty meaning.[1] Examples of discourse markers include the particles "oh", "well", "now", "then", "you know", and "I mean", some of the words or phrases that were considered discourse markers were treated as "fillers" or "expletives": words or phrases that had no function at all

Discourse markers (words like 'however', 'although' and 'Nevertheless') are referred to more commonly as 'linking words' and 'linking phrases', or 'sentence connectors'. They may be described as the 'glue' that binds together a piece of writing, making the different parts of the text 'stick together'. They are used less frequently in speech, unless the speech is very formal.

Conjunction acts as a cohesive tie between clauses or sections of text in such a way as to demonstrate a meaningful pattern between them.  Conjunctions can be classified according to four main categories: additive, adversative, causal and temporal.

Additive conjunctions act to structurally coordinate or link by adding to the presupposed item and are signalled through “and, also, too, furthermore, additionally”, etc. Additive conjunctions may also act to negate the presupposed item and are signaled by “nor, and...not, either, neither”, etc.  I don't like smoking, and neither does he.  (Derived from: I don't like smoking. He doesn't like smoking).

Adversative. . Adversative conjunctions act to indicate “contrary to expectation” and are signalled by “yet, though, only, but, in fact, rather”, etc. Peter is an English student, but he can't speak English.( but, however, Causal. Causal conjunction expresses “result, reason and purpose” and is signalled by “so, then, for, because, for this reason, as a result, in this respect, etc.”. She studied math hardly as a result she passed the exam. These relations expressed by so, thus, hence, therefore. All these regularly combine with initial ‘and’.

 The last most common conjunctive category is temporal and links by signalling sequence or time. Some sample temporal conjunctive signals are “then, next, after that, next day, until then, at the same time, at this point”, etc

Examples: time-sequence After the battle, there was a snowstorm. They fought a battle. Afterwards, it snowed. The battle was followed by a snowstorm.

Lexical cohesion: It occurs when two words in a text are semantically related. It denotes links between words which carry meaning: verbs, nouns, adjectives.  Two types of lexical cohesion are differentiated, namely: reiteration and collocation.

 Reiteration Reiteration is a form of Lexical cohesion which involves the repetition of a lexical item, It adopts various forms, particularly synonymy, repetition, hyponymy or antonyms.

Synonymy •Fair: Just, Objective, Impartial, Unbiased •Beautiful: Attractive, Pretty, Lovely, Stunning •Fair: Just, Objective, Impartial, Unbiased •Funny: Humorous, Comical, Hilarious, Hysterical •Happy: Content, Joyful, Mirthful, Upbeat •Hardworking: Diligent, Determined, Industrious, Enterprising •Honest: Honorable, Fair, Sincere, Trustworthy •Intelligent: Smart, Bright, Brilliant, Sharp •Introverted: Shy, Bashful, Quiet, Withdrawn •Kind:Thoughtful, Considerate, Amiable, Gracious •Lazy: Idle, Lackadaisical, Lethargic, Indolent •Mean: Unfriendly, Unpleasant, Bad-tempered, Difficult •Outgoing: Friendly, Sociable, Warm, Extroverted •Rich: Affluent, Wealthy, Well-off, Well-to-do

hyponymy Hyponymy is a less familiar term to most people than either synonymy or antonymy, but it refers to a much more important sense relation. It describes what happens when we say 'An X is a kind of Y'- -A daffodil is a kind of flower, or simply, A daffodil is a flower.“ House is a hyponym of the subordinate building

Collocation A collocation is made up of two or more words that are commonly used together in English. to feel free to come prepared to save time to find a replacement to make progress to do the washing up

verb + noun -- take a vacation adjective + noun -- light rain adverb + verb -- completely forget adverb + adjective -- totally awesome adjective + preposition -- tired of ... noun + noun -- a business deal