LCLWDM1U4 LCLWDM1U4 LCLWDM1U4

1. Lexica l
Cohesion
1

2. 2
Introduct ion
Text:
• A text
verse,
may be spoken or w ritten, prose or
dialogue or monologue. It may
beanything f rom a single proverb to a w hole
play, from a momentary cry for help to an a ll
day discussion on a committee.
• A text is a unit of language is use.
• A text is best regarded as a semantic unit: a
unit not of for m but of meaning.

3. 3
Cohesion:
• Cohesion is an aspect of a text, which enta ils t hat
the latter for ms a unified whole, rather than
unrelated sentences.
• The concept of cohesion is a semantic one; it
refers to relations of meaning that exist within
the text, and that define it as a text.
• Cohesion occurs where t he interpretation of
some elements in t he discourse is dependent on
that of another.
E.g: <<Yes, we can >> is meaningless wit hout <<Can
we bring about t he change we desire? >>

4. 4
Lexical Cohesion
• It is t he cohesive effect
selection of vocabulary.
achieved by the
• Lexical cohesion is basica lly created by the
general nouns (superordinates, fo r example -
public transport), or repetition ( reiteration) of
t he sa me lexeme, or t he use of other lexical
relations as cohesive patterns.

5. Lexical cohesion throught genera l
nouns
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The class of genera l noun is
a small set of nouns having
generalized reference
w ithin
classes
noun',
the
such
'place
major noun
as 'human
noun', 'fact
noun' ... etc.

6. • << Didn't everyone make it clear they
expected the minister to resign?
6
They did. But it seems to have
no impression on him. »
• << Can you tell me w here to st in
Geneva? I've never been t lace.
•A general noun in cohesive function is almost always accompanied by the reference
item 'the'.
•From a grammatical point of view, the anaphoric 'the'+ general noun functions like an
anaphoric reference item. (the man= him/ the place= it).
•However, the interpretations the two words bear are not the same. E.g: 'the man' bears
other interpersonal interpretations such as familiarity, as opposed to distance.

7. 7
• Some general nouns have t his intepersonal
element as an inherent part of t heir meaning
such as idiot, poor; f ool, devil, dear ...etc.
• A general noun in cohesive function can
always be accompa nied by an attitudina l
modifier, such as the dears, the poor dears.
E.g: << I've been to see my great-aunt. The
poor old girl's getting very fo rgetful t hese
days. >>

8. 8
Lexical Cohesion through Reiteration
• Reiteration is a form of lexical cohesion which
involves the repetition of a lexical item, at one
end of t he scale; the use of a general word to
ref er back to a lexical item, at t he other end
of the scale;
betwee n-the
superordinate.
and a number of things in
use of a synonym or

10. 10

11. 11
• Lexical cohesion is achieved w hen t he second
occurrence of a lexeme bears an identical (a),
an iclusive (b), an exclusive (c) or an unrelated
(d) referencia l relationship wit h t he first
occurrence.
There's a boy climbing that tree.
a. The boy's going to fall if he doesn't take care.
b. Those boys are always getting into mischief.
c. And there's another boy standing
d. underneath.
Most boys love climbing trees.

12. 12
Lexical Cohesion through Collocation
• The sema ntic relationships of the lexical items
used in a text are very importa nt to the
achievement of lexical cohesion. These are
examples of sema ntic relationships:
a) Same ordered series: Monday, Wednesday ...
b) Unordered lexical sets: roof/basement, road/
raiI....
c) Part to whole: brake/car, lid/box ...
d) Part to part: mouth/ chin, brake/ wheel ... etc.
• 'Brake' and 'w heel' are hypony ms, and 'car' is
their hypernym .

13. 13
• Lexical cohesion can also be achieved by using
sets of lexical items which belong to the same
sema ntic field but whose sema ntic relationships
is not clear enough to be identified:
laugh/ joke, blade/ sharp, garden/ dig, ill/ doctor,
try/ succeed, bee/ honey, door/ window, king/
crown, boat/ row, sunshine/ cloud ...etc.
• The cohesive effect of such pairs is achieved
through their tendency to sha re the same lexical
environment, to occur in collocation with each
other.
• These words don't occur necessarily in pairs, but
sometimes in ranges:
Candle/flame/flicker.hair/comb/c url/wave ... etc.

14. 14
There a re a number of reasons why Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, decided
not to attend the nuclear summit hosted by Barack Obama, the US president.
They include deteriorating relations with the US over expanding illegal Jewish settlements on
occupied lands, a frozen 'peace process', and just bad chemistry between the rightist Israeli
leader and the liberal US president.
But more importantly there is no good reason for the Israeli leader to attend. As one of the
few countries that developed nuclear weapons a nd refuse to sign the nuclear Non
Proliferation Treaty (NPT), Israel has nothing to gain and much to lose.
Considering its serious breaches, Israel has little to contribute to US efforts on the nuclear
front, except to make the concessions it is least willing to.
Netanyahu's indifference towards the summit and Obama personally, conceals
deeper differences between Israel and the US. While both would like to see
Iran's nuclear programme scrapped, and all nuclear materials kept away from their enemies,
they differ on how best to accomplish nuclear security.
Unlike his predecessor, Obama does not see eye to eye with Israel on the primacy of force in
international relations.
Since his election, Obama has been consistent in his attempts to build international
consensus or at least wide coalitions instead of resorting to unilateral military threats and
force.
He relies mostly, but not exclusively, on negotiations and dialogue - bilateral and multilateral
- to advance US global security and its geopolitical agenda.
Israel, however, has been consistent in resorting to the use of force to deal with security
challenges, especially what it perceives to be nuclear threats.
• Excerpt from: "Obama and Israel: The nuclear (in)difference" By Marwan Bishara in lmperium

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17. 17
Conclusion
• Every lexical item may enter into a cohesive
relation, but by itself it carries no indication
whet her it is functioning cohesive ly or not; it
is cohesive only w hen it is a part of w hole
(text), not as it is standing alone.
• In assessing lexical cohesion, lexical items of
high frequency (such as 'do', 'take', 'good'
...etc) are to be disregarded.