Cohesion Bahasa Inggris - Cohesion in English

Cohesion in English

The various kinds of cohesion had been out lined by MAK Halliday in his writings on stylistics and the concept was developed by Ruqayia Hasan in her University of Edinburgh doctoral thesis.

Cohesive relations are relations between two or more elements in a text that are independent of the structure: for example between a personal pronoun and an antecedent proper name, such as John ….he. A semantic relation of this kind may be set up either within a sentence with the consequence that when it crosses a sentence boundary it has the effect of making the two sentences cohere with one another.

The major function of cohesion is text formation. As defined: text is a unified whole of linguistic items, this unity of text as a semantic whole is source for the concept of cohesion.

So first we will explore the concept of text.

Text

Text in linguistics refers to any passage spoken written of whatever length that forms a unified whole. A reader can easily identify whether the passage he is reading is a text or otherwise a collection of unrelated sentences. A text may be: spoken, written, prose, verse, dialogue, monologue, single proverb, a single cry for help or all day discussion on a committee. A text is a unit of language in use. A grammatical unit that is larger than a sentence. A text is not something that is like a sentence only bigger or larger. It is misleading. Rather text can be best defined as a semantic unit; a unit not of form but of meaning. If it is semantic unit, we will not expect to find it in structure of a sentence as a grammatical unit as phrase, clause etc.

So text is not consist of sentence but it is realized by sentence or encoded in sentences.

There are certain objective factors involved that constitute a text.

Constituents of Text

1.            Texture:

2.            Ties:

3.            Cohesion

1. Texture:

Texture is that feature of text which made it a unified whole.

According to ‘The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Linguistics by P.H. Mathews’ cohesion and coherence are sources which create texture. Crystal adds ‘informativeness’ to cohesion and coherence.

Example:

Wash and core six cooking apples. Put them into a fireproof dish.

Here them reference back to six cooking apples to create cohesion between the two sentences. Here we make a presupposition about the relationship between them and sixcooking apples but it is not enough only to make a presupposition rather that presupposition must be satisfied to create texture as shown in the example . These two items are co referential and this coreferentiality creates texture.

Here are five cohesive devices to create texture:

(i) Reference

(ii) Substitution

(iii) Ellipses

(iv) Conjunction

(v) Lexical Cohesion

2. Ties

The term refers to a single instance of cohesion.

Example:

Wash and core six cooking apples. Put them into a fireproof dish.

Them and six cooking apples show reference as tie.

If we take the Example:

Wash and core six cooking apples. Put the apples into a fireproof dish.

Here are two ties

(i) Reference

(ii) Repetition

Cohesive analysis of text is made in terms of tie for a systematic account of its patterns which are a source for texture. Onward we will use the term ‘cohesive tie’ in place of ‘tie’.

Here are five different kinds of cohesive ties that are also called cohesive devices:

(i) Reference

(ii) Substitution

(iii) Ellipses

(iv) Conjunction

(v) Lexical cohesion

MAKH and RH have based their model of cohesion on these cohesive ties. A detailed review is given here in the proceeding discussion.

3. Cohesion

‘The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Linguistics by P.H. Mathews (1997)’ defines cohesion in term of syntactic unit (sentence).

‘ A Dictionary Of Linguistics And Phonetics by David Crystal (1997)’ defines cohesion in terms of a grammatical unit (words)

MAKH and RH (1976) argued that the concept of cohesion is semantic one. For them it refers to relation of meaning that:

exists with in text

gives the text texture

defines the text as text

This relation of meaning between the elements gives the reader presupposition. This is another way of approaching the notion of cohesion that presupposing and the presupposed give us a presupposition at semantic level as a relation of meaning: The one element presupposes the other i.e. the one element cannot be decoded without the presupposed.

Example:

Time flies

You can’t; they fly too quickly.

You can’t (Ellipses)

They (Reference)

Fly (Lexical Cohesion)

Types OF Cohesion

Language is multiple coding system comprising three levels of coding:

Ø Meaning The semantic system

Ø Wording The lexicogrammatical system

(grammar an vocabulary)

Ø Sounding/writing The phonological and orthographical system

Cohesive relation fit into the overall pattern of language. Cohesion is expressed partly through vocabulary and partly through grammar.

:

1. Grammatical Cohesion

(i) Reference

(ii) Substitution

(iii) Ellipses

2. Lexical Cohesion

The distinction between grammatical cohesion and Lexical cohesion is a matter of degree and MAHK RH suggested not to go in the depth of these overlapping areas and that conjunction is on the border line of the two types mainly it is grammatical but with the lexical component so we cannot clearly distinguish between the two types.

Cohesion and the Linguistics Structure

Texture and Structure

Structure is one mean of expressing texture. Text consists of one sentence are fairly rare but they can be single sentences as well for Example

No smoking

Wonder never cease

But most of the text extends beyond the confines of single sentences so structure is important in a text as structural units such as phrase, clause and sentence which express the unity of text. But our use of term Cohesion refers especially to the non structural text forming relation. They are semantic relations and the text is a semantic unit.

Cohesion With in the Text

Since cohesive relation is not concerned with structure, they may be found just as well with in the sentence as between sentences cohesive relation are beyond the sentences boundaries. Cohesion is semantic relation between one element in the text and some other element that is crucial for its interpretation. This other element must also be found with in the text. Cohesion refers to the range of possibilities that exist for linking something with what has gone before.

The Place of Cohesion in the Linguistics System

Halliday (1985) has described three major functional semantic components:

(i) The Ideational

(ii) The Interpersonal

(iii) The Textual

Table: the place of cohesion in the description of English functional components of semantic system

Ideational		Interpersonal	Textual
Experiential	Logical		Structural		Non-structural
By Rank: Clause: Transitivity Verbal Group: Tense Nominal Group: Epithesis Adverbial Group: circmstance	All Ranks: Practice and hypotactic relations (condition, addition, report)	By Ranks Clause: Mood, modality Verbal Group: person Nominal Group: attitude Adverbial Group: comment	By Rank Clause: theme Verbal Group: voice Nominal Group: deixis Adverbial Group: conjunction	Cross-Rank Information Unit: Information distribution, Information focus	Cohesion Reference Substitution Ellipses Conjunction Lexical cohesion

Conclusion

Cohesion is a part of text forming component in the linguistics system. It links together the elements that are structurally unrelated through the dependence of one on the other for its interpretation. Without cohesion the semantic system cannot be effectively activated at all.