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
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.
1.
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, .

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


 A. Ellipses


nominal
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 premodifiers 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
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