Unit VII. Lexical cohesion

Key words: create, device, hang together, non-grammatical, reiteration, collocation, pertain, generally related word, environment, emphatic emphasis, dull, strings of words, 'jealousy’, collocational range,background knowledge.

Another type of cohesion to create texture is lexical cohesion. Lexical cohesion is the central device for making texts hang together. Lexical cohesion differs from the other cohesive elements in text in that it is non-grammatical. Lexical cohesion refers to the cohesive effect achieved by the selection of vocabulary. The two basic categories of lexical cohesion are reiteration and collocation. Reiteration pertains to the repetition of a lexical item, either directly or through the use of a synonym or a generally related word. Collocation pertains to lexical items that are likely to be found together within the same text. Collocation occurs when a pair of words is not necessarily dependent upon the same semantic relationship but rather they tend to occur within the same lexical environment. The closer lexical items are to each other between sentences, the stronger the cohesive effect.

The reiteration(repetition) is using the same word, structure, or idea more than once for emphasis or for special effect.

Repeating the same word can give emphatic emphasis. Too much repetition can be dull. Using synonyms is sometimes better than using the same word again.

To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven; a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant and a time to pluck up…. (Ecclesiastes)

Repeating the same grammatical structure to express different ideas can give emphatic emphasis. A structure can be a phrase, a clause, or a complete sentence.

Phrase: …that the government of the people, by the people, and for the people shall not perish from the earth.

Clause: Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwords.

Sentence: Work consists of whatever a body is obliged to do. Play consists of whatever a body is not obliged to do.

Idea: Repeating the same idea in different words emphasizes the idea.

Stolen waters are sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant. (Proverb)

In much wisdom is grief, and whoever increases knowledge increases sorrow.

The collocation is the second type of lexical cohesion and deals with the relationships between words.Collocations are strings of words that are remembered as wholes and often used together, such as gone with the wind or like two peas in a pod. Every lexeme has collocations, but some are much more predictable than others. Blond collocates strongly with hair, flock with sheep, and neigh with horse. Some collocations are totally predictable, such as spick with span, or addled with brains. Others are much less so: letter collocates with a wide range of lexemes, such as alphabet and spelling, and (in another sense) box, post, and write, etc.

Collocations should not be confused with ‘association of ideas’.The way lexemes work together may have nothing to do with ‘ideas’. We say in English green with jealousy (not blue or red); though there is nothing literally ‘green’ about ‘jealousy’.

Two main factors can influence the collocational range of an item. The first is its level of specificity: the more general a word is, the broader itscollocational range; the more specific it is, the more restricted its collocational range. The verb bury is likely to have a much broader collocational range than any of its hyponyms(a word that is more specific than a given word) , such as inter or entomb, for example. Only people can be interred, but you can bury people, a treasure, your head, face, feelings, and memories. The second factor which determines the collocational range of an item is the number of senses it has. Most words have several senses and they tend to attract a different set of collocates for each sense.

By this type of cohesion the readers' background knowledge about the subject in hand plays an important role in the perception of lexical-collocational relationships. This means that words and phrases related in the text do not necessarily relate in any other texts as well.

PRACTICE

Exercise 1.Think over the following statements and say whether they are right or wrong:

• Lexical cohesion refers to the cohesive effect achieved by the selection of vocabulary.

• There are many basic categories of lexical cohesion.

• Reiteration is the repetition of a lexical item.

• Collocation does not pertain to lexical items that are likely to be found together within the same text.

• Repeating the same word can give emphatic emphasis.

• The text is not dull when it has too much repetition.

• Using synonyms is sometimes better than using the same word again.

• Collocation deals with the relationships between words.

• Most words have several senses and they tend to attract a different set of collocates for each sense.

Exercise 2.Explore the following texts and say how a cohesive effect is achieved by the use of particular vocabulary items. (You can refer to the same idea by using the same or different words).

A.

Patients who repeatedly take overdoses pose considerable management difficulties. The problem-orientated approach is not usually effective with such patients. When a patient seems to be developing a pattern of chronic repeats, it is recommended that all staff engaged in his or her care meet to reconstruct each attempt in order to determine whether there appears to be a motive common to each act.

This first example illustrates an impulsive overdose taken by a woman who had experienced a recent loss and had been unable to discuss her problems with her family. During the relatively short treatment, the therapist helped the patient to begin discussing her feelings with her family.

B.

Francis Bacon was born in London in 1561 and died there in 1626. His father was Sir Nicholas, Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of Elizabeth I; his mother Anne Cooke, a well-educated and pious Calvinist, daughter of Sir Anthony Cooke. His contemporary biographer, William Rawley, remarked that, with such parents,Bacon had a flying start: he had "whatsoever nature or breeding could put into him".

C.

In each of these cases the basic problem is the same: a will has been made, and in it a debtor is left a legacy of liberatio from what he owes the testator. The question is, if he has subsequently borrowed more from the testator, up to what point he has been released from his debts. It is best to begin with the second case. Here there is a straightforward legacy to the debtor of a sum of money and also of the amount of his debt to the testator. This is followed by a clause in which there is a general damnatio and also a general trust that the legacies in the will be paid. The debtor goes on to borrow more money, and the question is whether that is taken to be included in the legacy too. The response is that since the words relate to the past, later debts are not included.

Exercise 3.Identify examples of lexical cohesion in the following texts:

A.

The clamour of complaint about teaching in higher education and, more especially, about teaching methods in universities and technical colleges, serves to direct attention away from the important reorientation which has recently begun. The complaints, of course, are not unjustified. In dealing piece-meal with problems arising from rapidly developing subject matter, many teachers have allowed courses to become over-crowded, or too specialized, or they have presented students with a number of apparently unrelated courses failing to stress common principles. Many, again, have not developed new teaching methods to deal adequately with larger numbers of students, and the new audio-visual techniques tend to remain in the province of relatively few enthusiasts despite their great potential for class and individual teaching.

B.

When we look closely at a human face we are aware of many expressive details - the lines of the forehead, the wideness of the eyes, the curve of the lips, the jut of the chin. These elements combine to present us with a total facial expression which we use to interpret the mood of our companion. But we all know that people can “put on a happy face” or deliberately adopt a sad face without feeling either happy or sad. Faces can lie, and sometimes can lie so well that it becomes hard to read the true emotions of their owners. But there is at least one facial signal that cannot easily be ‘put on’. It is a small signal, and rather a subtle one, but because it tells the truth it is of special interest. It comes from the pupils and has to do with their size in relation to the amount of light that is falling upon them.

Exercise 4.In the following short passages find words and phrases that have the effect of reiteration.

1. Very often I must wait weeks and weeks for what you call “inspiration”. In the meantime I must sit with my quill pen poised in the air over a sheet of foolscap, in case the divine spark should come like a lightning bolt and knock me off my chair on to my head.

2. For nonconformity the world whips you with its displeasure. And therefore a man must know how to estimate a sour face.

3. Well, what I mean by Education is learning the rules of this mighty game. In other words, education is the instruction of the intellect in the laws of Nature, under which name I include not merely things and their forces, but men and their ways.

4. What has been gained for the systematic teaching of composition and literature will not, I trust, be lost. Besides, the older grammatical teaching must give way to something more accurate, more interesting, and more effective.

5. Time had not been kind to the shepherdess, nor to her charges, whose waterlogged wool was stained with the evidence of a long and unforgiving winter.

6. Farther along the road these homes gave way to tents and campers equipped with pop-up roofs and jury-rigged awnings made of plastic and fronted by mosquito netting.

7. Occasionally, out of sheer human pity, we ignore our high and mighty standard and pass them. Usually, however, the standard, and not the candidate, commands our fidelity.

8. Though they live in the very thick of the human race, they are forever isolated from it. They are fated to go through life, congenial pariahs. They live out their little lives, mingling with the world, yet never a part of it. They are, in short, Good Souls.

9. McSorley’s bar is short, accommodating approximately ten elbows, and is shored up with iron pipes. It is to the right as you enter. To the left is a row of armchairs with their stiff backs against the wainscoting.

10. Aristotle, in his sketch of the magnanimous man, tells us that his voice is deep, his motions slow, and his stature commanding. In like manner, the elocution of a great intellect is great.

11. Who gives quickly, says the old proverb, gives twice. For this reason I have purposely delayed writing to you, lest I should appear to thank you more than once for the small, cheap, hideous present you sent me on the occasion of my recent wedding.

12. It does seem as if rather a richer flavor were given to a book by knowing the circumstance of its composition. Consequently readers, as they grow older, turn more and more to biography.

13. If you own things, what's their effect on you? What's the effect on me of my wood? In the first place, it makes me feel heavy. Property does have this effect.

14. There exists, it appears, a class of persons who, either through ignorance or indifference, or often through both combined, are doing all in their power to corrupt the English tongue. Their efforts are too largely successful. There is accordingly no salvation for the speech unless heroic measures are taken to guard it from the perils threatening its purity.

15. Margaret Fuller often passes in one breath from forcible reasoning to dreamy vagueness; moreover, her unusually varied culture gives her great command of illustration. Mary Wollstonecraft, on the other hand, is nothing if not rational; she has no erudition, and her grave pages are lit up by no ray of fancy.

16. There are, indeed, many other jobs that are unpleasant, and yet no one thinks of abolishing them- that of the plumber, that of the soldier, that of the garbage-man, that of the priest hearing confessions, that of the sand-hog, and so on. Moreover, what evidence is there that any actual hangman complains of his work? I have heard none. On the contrary, I have known many who delighted in their ancient art, and practiced it proudly.

Exercise 5.Translate the following sentences with the examples of collocations:

make the bed:I need to make the bed everyday.

do the homework: My son does his homework after dinner.

take a risk: Some people don’t take enough risks in life.

give someone advice: The teacher gave us some advice on taking tests.

open an account: Would you like to open an account at our bank?

forgive a debt: Do you think the bank would forgive a debt?

land a deal: We landed a deal worth $3 million.

receive a discount: If you buy three computers you’ll receive a discount.

positively encourage: We’d like to positively encourage you to buy this stock.

deeply regret: I deeply regret the loss of your loved one.

utter fury: Tom’s in an utter fury over the misunderstanding with his wife.

great length:He went to a great length to explain the situation.

Exercise 6.Test your knowledge of collocations:

1) What is the difference between a high window and a tall window?

2) Look at the following pairs of phrases and in each case choose the most usual collocation:

strong tea / powerful tea; a strong car / a powerful car; a strong computer / a powerful computer; a strong drug /a powerful drug

3) Now look at the following words and phrases and decide if we do them or make them. For example, do we do a mess or make a mess?

a mess	a mistake	the housework	the beds
a noise	a wish	a test	a promise
a job	someone a favour	your best	a speech
the shopping	damage	a telephone call	your hair

4) The opposite of strong tea is weak tea. What is the opposite of strong cigarettes, a strong wind, a strong smell?

5) What is the usual way of describing someone who smokes a lot?

a big smoker/ a strong smoker/ a hard smoker/ a heavy smoker /a furious smoker

6) Someone can be very tired, but not very awake or very asleep. What do we say instead?

7) What is the opposite of sweet wine?

8) Which of the following are the usual collocations?

completely beautiful / incredibly beautiful / absolutely beautiful/ extremely beautiful / totally beautiful/ utterly beautiful /thoroughly beautiful

Exercise 7.Read the following jokes. Analyze the collocability of the italized words and state its relationship with the meaning.

1. Lady (at party): Where is this pretty maid who was passing our cocktails a while ago?

Hostess: Oh, are you looking for a drink?

Lady: No, I am looking for my husband.

2. Peggy: I want to help you, Dad. I shall get the dress-maker to teach me to cut out gowns.

Dad: I don’t want you to go that far, Peg, but you might cut out cigarettes and taxi bills.

3. There are cynics who claim that movies would be better if they shot less films and more actors.

4. Kitty: Is your wound sore,Mr.Pup?

Mr.Pup: Wound? What wound?

Kitty: Why, my sister said she cut you at the dinner last night.

5. A.: Where have you been for the last four years?

B: At college taking medicine.

A: And did you get finally well?