Chapter 2

LINGUISTIC ELEMENTS IN DISCOURSE

I. DISCOURSE COHESION
One of the most salient phenomena of discourse is the fact that
sentences/utterances are linked together. And linking within a text that holds a text
together and gives it meaning is cohesion (Wikipedia). In other words, cohesion is the
semantic relation between one element and another in a text (Halliday & Hasan,
1976). A text is cohesive when the elements are tied together and considered
meaningful to the reader.

Like all the components of the semantic system, cohesion is realized through
grammar and vocabulary (Tanskanen, 2006). Cohesion can therefore be divided into
grammatical and lexical cohesion . Grammatical cohesion includes devices
such as reference, substitution, ellipsis and conjunction, while lexical
cohesion is divided into reiteration (repetition, synonymy etc.) and
collocation (co-occurrence of lexical items) (Halliday and Hasan ,1976). In the five
main types of cohesion, “the interpretation of a discourse element, is dependent on
another element that can be pointed out in discourse.” (Renkema 1993: 40)
For instance, in the following text:
Amy went to the party. She sat with Sara.
The interpretation of the item she depends on the lexical item Amy. Therefore, the text
is considered cohesive because we cannot understand the meaning of she unless Amy
exists in the text.
1.1. GRAMMATICAL COHESION
Halliday and Hasan classify the categories of grammatical cohesion into four types:
reference, substitution, ellipsis, and conjunction.
1.1.1. Reference (Referential cohesion)

Reference concerns the grammatical relations between a discourse element and a

preceding or following element.

Reference may either be exophoric or endophoric.

 Exophoric reference requires the reader to infer the interpreted
referent by looking beyond the text in the immediate environment shared by the
reader and writer. For example, in the sentence: That is a wonderful idea! To
retrieve the meaning of that, the reader must look outside the situation.
It signals that reference must be made to context of situation. For example;
pronouns with words such as “this, that, there, here” are often exophoric.
Did the gardener water those plants?
It is quite possible that “those” refers to earlier mention of those particular
plants in the discussion. But it is also possible that it refers to the environment in
which the dialogue is taking place – to the context of situation; as it is called – where
the plants in question are present and can be pointed to if necessary. The interpretation
would be “those plants there, in front of us”. This kind of reference is called exophora.
Since it takes us put side the text altogether. Exophoric reference is cohesive, since it
does not bind the two elements together into a text.
 Endophoric reference lies within the text itself. Endophora is a term
that means an expression which refers to something intra-linguistics i.e. in the
same text. For example, in the sentence:

I saw Sally yesterday. She was lying on the beach

Here, she is an endophoric expression because it refers to something already

mentioned in the text i.e. Sally.
It is classified into two classes: anaphoric and cataphoric.
o Anaphoric reference is where a word or phrase refers back to another
word or phrase used earlier in the text”. (Paltridge, 2012)
In the previous example: “Amy went to the party. She sat with Sarah”. She
refers back to Amy; therefore, she is an anaphoric reference.
o Cataphoric reference looks forward to another word or phrase
mentioned later in the text.
For instance, in the following sentence: “As soon as he arrived, Mike
visited his parents”. He is a cataphoric reference that looks forward to Mike:

 TYPES OF REFERENCE

A. Personal reference
Personal reference is reference by means of function in the speech situation
through the category of person. Nunan (1993) states that personal reference items are
expressed through pronouns and determiners. They serve to identify individuals and
objects that are named at some other point in the text.
Halliday and Hasan confirm that the first and second person forms in written
language are anaphoric when they occur in quoted direct speech. Conversely, a third
person form, while typically anaphoric, may refer exophorically to some person or
thing that is present in the context of situation.

a. Personal reference:
Mr. John is an English teacher. I like his way of teaching.
The word his in the second sentence refers to Mr. John. The word his is a
personal reference which refers to the third person singular. The certain person that is
Mr. John is followed by its pronoun, so that it is called anaphoric personal reference
that is the implicit encoding device follows its reference.

b. Demonstrative reference

Demonstratives, unlike the personal reference items that refer to their referents by
specifying their function in the speech situation, are those items that refer to their referents by
specifying their location on a scale of proximity.

Halliday and Hasan recognize two types of demonstratives: the adverbial

demonstratives and the selective nominal demonstratives.
 The adverbial demonstratives “here, there, now, and then‟, according to
Halliday and Hasan, refer to the location of a process in space or time. They normally do so
directly regardless of the location of person or object that is participating in the process.
 The selective nominal demonstratives “this, these, that, those” along with the
definite article “the”, on the other hand, refer to the location of a person or an object
participating in the process.

Study the following examples:

(1) My family got frightened when we saw an accident in our trip. That was the most
terrifying accident I’ve ever seen.

(2) While my parents were having lunch, my brothers and I walked around to see
some lions and elephants. Those are my brothers‟ favorite animals.

(3) I spent my holiday in my uncle’s house in Bali. I do like staying there.

The word That in example (1) is demonstrative reference which demonstrates the first
sentence. Then, the word those in example (2) refers to lions and elephants. Finally, the
word there in example (3) refers to my uncle’s house in Bali. These can also be called
anaphoric references. It is because they presuppose some items in the previous sentences.
The demonstrative reference is also called locational reference (Eggins, 1994). It does not
involve the identification of a participant in a text (a person or thing), but the identification of
a location in time or space.

B. Comparative reference
Halliday and Hasan recognize two types of comparative reference:
general comparison and particular comparison.

 General comparison
Halliday and Hasan define general comparison as a comparison in terms of
‘likeness’ and ‘unlikeness’ where two things, for example, are said to be the
‘same/similar’ or ‘different’. This type of comparison is expressed by a certain class of
adjectives and adverbs.
Halliday and Hasan believe that the likeness between things which is expressed
by the general comparison may take one of the following three forms:
• Identity, where ‘two things’ are the same thing, as in:
It’s the same cat as the one we saw yesterday.
• Similarity, where ‘two things’ are like each other, as in:
It’s a similar cat to the one we saw yesterday.
• Difference (non-likeness), which is a combination of the two previous forms,
as in:
It’s a different cat from the one we saw yesterday.

Halliday and Hasan also argue that since likeness is a referential property and a
thing cannot just be „like‟; it must be „like something‟. Hence comparison is a form of
reference. The reference of the comparison may be in the situation (exophoric) or in
the text (endophoric). If it is endophoric, the reference may be backwards (anaphoric)
or forwards (cataphoric).
  Particular comparison
Unlike the preceding type “general comparison” that expresses likeness between things,
particular comparison means “comparison that is in respect of quantity and quality”
(Halliday and Hasan, 1976:77). It is also expressed by means of ordinary adjectives or
adverbs.
The adjectives function in the nominal group either as enumerative (e.g. ‘more’ as in
‘More cards’) or as epithet (e.g. ‘better’ as in ‘better cards’). The adverbs function in
either of two ways: either as adjunct in the clause (e.g. ‘better’ as in ‘the others
performed better’) or as sub- modifier, in which case they occur within an epithet (e.g.
‘such’ as in ‘such good cards’) or an enumerative (e.g. ‘so’ as in ‘so many words’),
or within an adjunct (e.g. ‘equally’ as in ‘the others performed equally badly’.
Example: a) We are demanding higher living standard.
b) There are twice as many people there as the last time.
According to Halliday and Hasan, in particular comparison, there must be a
standard of reference by which one thing is said to be ‘superior’, ‘equal’, or ‘inferior’ in
quality or quantity. The reference is either exophoric or endophoric. If it is endophoric,
the reference is either cataphoric or anaphoric.

1.1.2. Substitution
Substitution is a type of cohesion that maintains relations on the lexico-
grammatical level of a sentence in a text. It is performed by using a substitute that is a
sort of counter employed in place of the repetition of a particular item. The substitute
has the same structural function as that for which it substitutes.
For example:
The flower seller cries, “Red flowers, red flowers, come and buy ones and
present her”.
Here, ones substitute for red flowers.

32
 That is to say, as a process within the text, substitution functions as the
replacement of one item by another. It is a relation in the wording rather than in the
meaning. That is substitution is a relation between linguistic items. In terms of the
linguistic system, reference is a relation on the semantic level whereas substitution in a
relation on the lexico-grammatical level, the level of grammar and vocabulary, or
linguistic form‟. Substitution is a verbal relation which is essentially confined to the
text.
For example:
a. My axe is too blunt. I must get a sharper one.
b. You think Joan already knows? I think everybody does.
Here, one and does are both substitutes; one for axe and does for
knows.

 TYPES OF REFERENCE

Since substitution is a grammatical relation, a relation in the wording rather than

in the meaning, the different types of substitutions are defined grammatically rather
than semantically. The criterion is the grammatical function of substitute item. In
English, the substitute may function as a noun, as a verb, as a clause. To these
correspond there are three types of substitution.
A. Nominal Substitution
B. Verbal Substitution
C. Clausal Substitution

A. Nominal Substitution:

Nominal substitution means the replacement of a noun or a noun phrase by a

nominal substitute, i.e. - one/ ones, same. Nominal substitution functions either as the
head of nominal group or as to presuppose an entire nominal group.
Example:
a. Have you got any knives? I need a sharp one.
b. He studied the whole text last night. I did the same.

Here, in example a, one for ‘knives’ functions as the head of the noun
whereas ‘the whole text last night’ is replaced by same.

Regarding these varieties, nominal substitution is studied in the two

following manners:
 Nominal Substitute ‘one/ ones’:
The substitute one/ ones always functions as head of a nominal group
and can substitute only for an item which is itself head of a nominal group.

Exampl
e:
Cherry ripe, cherry
ripe, ripe I cry, Full
and fair ones, come
and buy.
Here, ones functions as the head of ‘Full and fair ones’.

The substitute one/ ones is the marker of a grammatical relation; it

presupposes a particular noun (not the proper noun), typically one that is
to be found in the preceding text and is itself merely a kind of counter for
which that noun has been exchanged. Since its role is to signal that there
is some form of redefinition, as shown in the example, it has to be
accompanied by some defining modifier, and can therefore be thought of
as a carrier for such defining elements.
including any modifying elements.
34
  N one, which presupposes only the noun head, the same presupposes an
o
entire nominal group
m
i
n
a
l

S
u
b
s
t
i
t
u
t
e

s
a
m
e
:
T
he
substitu
te same
is
typicall
y
accomp
anied
by the.
Unlike
including any modifying elements.
35
Example:
I’ll have two poached eggs on toast, please.
I’ll do the same.

B. Verbal Substitution:
The verbal substitution in English is “do/ does/ did”. This
operates as Head of a verbal group, in the place that is occupied by the
lexical verb; and its position is always final in the group.
Example:
(a) …the words did not come the same as they used to do.
(b) “I don’t know the meaning of half those long words,
and, what’s more, I don’t believe you do either! ”
Here, the first do in (a) substitutes for come; that in (b) substitutes for
know the meaning of half those long words.

C. Clausal substitution
There is one further type of substitution in which what is
presupposed is not an element within the clause but an entire clause. The
words used as clausal substitutes are ‘so’ and ‘not’. In clausal
substitution the entire clause is presupposed and the contrasting
element is outside the clause.
For example:
Is there going to be an earthquake? / It says so.
Here, the ‘so’ presupposes the whole of the clause ‘there is going to be an
earthquake’ and the contrastive environment is provided by the ‘sayy’
which is outside it.

1.1.3. Ellipsis
Ellipsis is the omission of a word or part of a sentence. In certain 35
contexts,
it is
possible
to leave
out a
word or
phrase
rather
than
repeating
it. This
device is
called

36
ellipsis. Sometimes we do not need to provide a substitute for a word or phrase which
has already been said. We can simply omit it, and know that the missing part can be
reconstituted quite successfully. If someone says, for example, “Would you like a
glass of water?” We can answer “Yes, I would” instead of saying “Yes I would like a
glass of water” because we know that “like a glass of water” is understood.

Omitting part of sentences on the assumption that an earlier sentence or the

context will make the meaning clear is known as ellipsis. Ellipsis and substitution are
very similar to each other. Ellipsis is simply “substitution by zero”.
As with substitution, there are three types of ellipsis: nominal, verbal and clausal.
A. Nominal ellipsis
In nominal ellipsis, the noun is omitted.
Ex1: My brothers like sports. In fact, both [0] love football. [0: My brothers]
In the second sentence, the nominal my brothers is omitted.
Ex 2: These biscuits are stale. Those [0] are fresh. [0: biscuits]
In the second sentence, the nominal biscuits is omitted.

B. Verbal ellipsis
Verbal ellipsis involves the omission of the verb. In the following example, the
verb been studying is left out in B.
Ex 1: A: Have you been studying?
B : Yes, I have[0]. [0: been studying]
Ex 2: He participated in the debate, but you didn’t [0]. [0: participate]

C. Clausal ellipsis
Clausal ellipsis occurs when the clause is omitted.
Ex 1: A: Who is writing on the board?
B: Alice is [0]. [0: writing on the board]
 In the example mentioned above, the clause writing on the board is excluded in B.
Ex 2: A: Mary will attend the meeting.
B: Really? She didn’t tell me [0] .
[0] Mary will attend the meeting]

1.1.4 Conjunction
Conjunction words are linking devices between sentences or clauses in a text.
Unlike the other grammatical devices, conjunctions express the ‘logical-semantic’
relation between sentences rather than between words and structures (Halliday &
Hasan, 1976). In other words, they structure the text in a certain logical order that is
meaningful to the reader or listener. Conjunctions are divided into four types, namely
additive, adversative, causal, and temporal.

A. Additive
Additive conjunctions connect units that share semantic similarity. Under this
heading ‘additive’, Halliday and Hasan group the words ‘and, or, nor’. They believe
that these words are all used cohesively, as conjunctions; and all of them are classified
as additive.
Ex: He likes music. And he often goes to the concert.
And signals the presentation of additional information. In the additive context
there may be no very clear difference between the two; but when ‘and’ is used alone as
a cohesive item, as distinct from ‘and then’, etc., it often seems to have the sense of
‘there is something more to be said’.

B. Adversative
Halliday and Hasan believe that the basic meaning of the adversative relation is
“contrary”. In other words, adversative conjunctions express contrast between two
statements. This type of conjunction is expressed by words such as, but, however, in
contrast, whereas, etc.
Ex 1: She is often late. However, she gets good marks.
Ex 2: I like music. On the other hand, I can’t listen to it if I am busy.
The relationships signaled by however and on the other hand are adversative.

C. Temporal
Temporal conjunctions express the time order of events such as: finally, then, soon,
at the same time, before, after, as soon as, when, while, until, etc.
Ex 1: They sell cakes every day. First, they buy material. Then they make cakes.
Ex 2: While my mother was cleaning the floor, my brother was playing with his
toys.

D. Causal
Causal conjunctions introduce results, reasons, or purposes. They are characterized
by the use of items such as, so, thus, therefore, because, etc.
Ex: He was punished because he was lazy.
In this type of conjunction, the relationship is one of cause and consequence.

1.2. LEXICAL COHESION

While grammatical cohesion is based on connections between elements of
grammar, lexical cohesion refers to links among content words (such as nouns, verbs,
adjectives and adverbs) which are used in subsequent stretches of discourse.

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.
I. Reiteration
Halliday and Hasan (1976) define reiteration as two items that share the same
referent and could either be repeated or have similar meanings in a text.

The forms of reiteration are

repetition,

synonymy/near-synonym, antonymy,

superordination (hyponymy and meronymy),

general word.
For example, ‘a boy’ can be replaced in the following sentences with ‘the boy’ (the
same word), ‘the lad’ (a synonym/near-synonym), ‘the child’ (a superordinate),
and
‘the idiot’ (a general word) (Halliday and Hasan, 1976).

A. Repetition
This type is the most important lexical device of lexical cohesion ties. It is the
restatement of the same lexical item. This is illustrated by the following:
Anna ate the apple. The apple was fresh.
Hatim and Mason (1990:99) use the term ‘recurrence’ to refer to the repetition that
makes the process of comprehension easier for the reader. Using a word repeatedly
can make the text more coherent and the writer uses a less number of vocabulary. Van
Dijk (1997) claims that lexical recurrence, which is represented as the repetition of
lexical items, contributes to cohesion.

B. Synonym
Salkie (1995:9) defines synonymy as the cohesive device that refers to the use of a
word that is to be interchanged with another word without changing the meaning of
the utterance. Using synonyms is another way of making texts bind together. A
synonym is a word that almost has the same meaning as another word. According to
Hudson (2000:5), synonyms are words with the same or similar meaning within a
language, for example sick and ill, twelve and dozen, etc.
Synonyms are used as alternatives to avoid repeating words, phrases, and sentences
in the text. The term ‘synonymy’ is used in semantics to refer to a major type of sense
relations between lexical items that have almost the same meaning. So, synonymy is
the device which allows the replacement of a lexical item by another when the latter
does not cause a change in meaning.
Ex: He plays ping-pong. Table-tennis is his hobby.
Ping-pong is the synonym of table-tennis.

C. Superordinate
 Hyponymy refers to items of “general-specific” or “an example of”
relationship (Partridge, 2012: 119). This type of relations has the meaning of
inclusion, i.e., the meaning of a lexical item is included in the meaning of another,
e.g., ‘guitar’ is a hyponym of ‘Musical instrument’ because musical instruments
include guitars. Similarly, ‘Cat’ is a hyponym of ‘animal’, and ‘Brazil’ is a hyponym
of ‘country’.
 Meronymy is a “whole-part” relationship between items. A meronym
denotes a constituent part of, or a member of something. For example, finger is a
meronym of hand because a finger is part of a hand.
In many ways, meronymy is significantly more complicated than
hyponymy. The Wordnet databases specify three types of meronym relationships.

 Part meronym: a ‘tire’ is part of a ‘car’

 Member meronym: a ‘car’ is a member of a ‘traffic jam’
 Substance (stuff) meronym: a ‘wheel’ is made from ‘rubber’
D. General word

It refers to the word that describes a class of objects, things or matters, as in:
(a) Can you tell me where to stay in Turkey? I've never been in the place.
“Place” here is a general word that describes location and it is more general than

“Turkey”.
The cohesive function of such lexical items is explained by James (1980: 105)
who suggests that such lexical items have two functions in the text. First, summarizing
the antecedent sentence, and second, evaluating the content of that sentence, therefore,
he calls them ‘summative evaluative words’.

Halliday and Hasan (1976: 247) remark that these general words are crucial source
of cohesion in spoken language, a second speaker can use them to signal, lexically, that
he sees in the implication of the first speaker's remark or to express a relation which has
not been expected by the first speaker. The example below illustrates the relation:
(b) Mary is often washing the dishes with me. I appreciate this help.
Here, the noun ‘help’ refers back to the whole previous sentence, and evaluates
its content positively. Halliday and Hasan also state that the use of general words
sometimes reflects the attitude towards what one is talking about. This is achieved by
the use of such words as poor, lucky, dear, idiot, as in:
(c) The boy is climbing that tree. The idiot is going to fall if he doesn't care.

1.2.1 Collocation
Collocation is the second major type of lexical cohesion ties besides
reiteration. It deals with the relationship between words on the basis of the fact that
these often occur in the same surroundings. In other words, collocation is a
combination of vocabulary items that co-occur together. It includes combinations of
adjectives and nouns such as, ‘fast food’, verbs and nouns such as, ‘run out of money’,
and other items such as, ‘men’ and ‘women’ (Paltridge, 2012).
 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, a superordinate 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. Collocation differs from reiteration in that it refers not to a semantic
relationship between words but rather it refers to the tendency of words to “share the
same lexical environment” (Halliday and Hasan 1976).
Ex1: The three words “Air, land and water” share the same lexical
environment of “transportation systems”.
Ex2: The vehicles “Car, train, bicycle, subway, truck, motorcycle” share the
same lexical environment of “transportation on land”.
EXERCISE 4
NAME THE COHESIVE DEVICES FOR THE UNDERLINED WORDS
IN THE FOLLOWING SENTENCES.

1. I went out with Mary on Sunday. She looked awful.

2. When he arrived, John noticed that the door was open.
3. My mother loves me a lot. Her car makes me happy.
4. We grew up in the 1960s. We were idealistic then.
5. I bought a lot of books when I was in England. There were many bookshops
there.
6. I went there for working. – We did the same.
7. These biscuits are stale. Get some fresh ones.
8. A: Have you called the doctor?
B: I haven’t done it yet, but I will do it.

9. “Don't you ever read the Times, Watson? I've often advised you to do so if you
want to know something.”
10. Will they be coming to our party? I expect so.
11. He bought a red car, but I like the blue.
12. I like strong tea. I suppose weak is better for you.
13. He participated in the debate, but you didn’t.
14. Is John going to come? – He should.
15.Are you coming? - Yes.
16.Who wants to go shopping? You?
17. Mary applied for a job last year and now she has a very good job.
18. He is poor but he is honest.
19. After the car had been repaired, we were able to continue our journey.
20. He is not going to school today because he is sick.
EXERCISE 5
NAME THE COHESIVE DEVICES FOR THE UNDERLINED WORDS
IN THE FOLLOWING CONVERSATION.

Norman: Is it true that you’re going on a camera safari in East Africa?

Julie: Yes, it is1. I travel to Africa frequently.
Norman: I didn’t know that2. Do your trips require a lot of preparation prior to
departure?
Julie: Oh, yes, but it’s well worth it3.
Norman: Where will you be staying?
Julie: I’ll stay a few days in Nairobi, then I’ll set off for the Northern Frontier
District. Eventually4, I’ll make my way to Southwestern Kenya and Mount
Kilimanjaro.
Norman: It sounds exciting. What will the weather be like?
Julie: For the most part it should be balmy, as I’m going at the end of the rainy
season. However5, conditions will often depend upon where I am at the time.
Norman: You mean it’ll be different from one place to another?
Julie: Oh, yes. For example, the savannas, or plains, will be arid and the heat
absolutely scorching on some days, while on Kilimanjaro it will be quite
chilly. Meanwhile6, on the coast at Malindi the weather will be sultry7 and
the air humid.
Norman: Tell me about the animals.
Julie: They’re magnificent. In the Rift Valley, as far as the eye can see, the land is
flat, the grass parched, there are immense herds of animals – zebras, giraffes,
and gazelles. At night, one can hear the hyenas8 and the occasional roar of a
lion.
Norman: It sounds wonderful and I hope I get to go to Africa someday!
Julie: Well, if you really want to9, then eventually you will. I’m sure of it10.
EXERCISE 6
ANALYZE THE COHESIVE DEVICES IN THE FOLLOWING SENTENCES:

1. He was sitting there, thinking. “Tom, come into the room.”

2. Jack fell in the river and was all right.

3. Mary is very weak. - I don’t think so.

4. Henry bought a book. It has beautiful pictures.

5. She took some pictures. None is nice.

6. He bought a house. It has four rooms.

7. He loves Mary and she loves another man.

8. He is very poor. - I don’t think so.

9. He sold a car because he didn’t like it.

10. Do you like music? – No, I don’t.

11. Jack would like to grow some trees. He is interested in flowers.

12. He fell in the river and caught a chill.

13. He is very strong. - I don’t think so.

14. She chose a Japanese car, and I chose an American.

15. Do you like Hoa Sen University? – No, I like SGU.

16. He was sitting there, thinking. “Tom, come into the room.”

17. Jack fell in the river and was all right.

18. Mary is very weak. - I don‟t think so.

19. Henry bought a book. It has beautiful pictures.

20. She took some pictures. None is nice.

 EXERCISE 7

READ THE TEXT AND IDENTIFY THE COHESIVE DEVICES IN IT.

The student signed as she handed in the assignment. At last, it was finished. This was the
most difficult piece of writing which she had been set, but she had completed it. The
“magnum opus” was 10,000 words long. This project, though not quite a dissertation, was
still the longest piece of academic writing she had ever written. She had thought she would
never complete it and it had taken all her strength to do so.

II. UNITS OF ANALYSIS IN DISCOURSE

2.1 Adjacency pairs
Adjacency pairs are fundamental units of conversation organization and a key
way in which meanings are communicated and interested in conversation. Adjacency
pairs are utterances produced by two successive speakers in a way that the second
utterance is identified as related to the first one as an expected follow-up to that
utterance. Adjacency pairs include question-reply, introduction-greeting, praising-
thank, blaming-excusing and so on.
Ex: A: How much is the car?
B: Two billion dong.

C: My name is Jack.
D: Hi, Jack. Pleased to meet you.

Many actions in conversation are accomplished through established adjacency pairs,

examples of which include:
- call/beckon → response
“Waiter!” → “Yes, sir”
- complaint → excuse/remedy
“It's awfully cold in here” → “Oh, sorry, I'll close the window”
- Compliment → acceptance/refusal
 “I really like your new haircut!!” → “Oh, thanks”
- Degreeting → degreeting
“See you!” → “Yeah, see you later!”
- Inform → acknowledge
“Your phone is over there” → “I know”
- Greeting → greeting
“Hiya!” → “Oh, hi!”
- Offer → acceptance/rejection
“Would you like to visit the museum with me this evening?” → “I'd love to!”
- Request → acceptance/rejection
“Is it OK if I borrow this book?”
→ “I'd rather you didn't, it's due back at the library tomorrow”.

2.2 Insertion sequence

An insertion sequence is a sequence of turns that intervenes between the first
and second parts of an adjacency pair.
Ex:
Turn 1 Shall I wear the blue shoes?
Turn 2 You’ve got the black ones.
Turn 3 They’re not comfortable.
Turn 4 Yeah, they’re the best then, wear the blue ones.

Turns 2 and 3 are an insertion sequence and the adjacency pair is completed in turn 4.

An adjacency pair may include another question-answer pair:

Ex 1: A: Where’s the book I bought this morning?
B: The yellow one?
A: Yeah.
B: On the table.
 The insertion sequence:
B: The yellow one?
A: Yeah.
is in the middle of the dialog.

In the following exchange, the turns which separate the parts of the request-
acceptance pair are insertion sequences:
A: I wanted to order some more paint. (Request)
B: Yes, how many tubes would you like, sir? (Question 1)
A: Um, what's the price with tax? (Question 2)
B: Er, I'll just work that out for you. (Hold)
A: Thanks. (Acceptance)
B: Three nineteen a tube, sir. (Answer 2)
A: I'll have five, then. (Answer 1)
B: Here you go. (Acceptance)

2.3 Preferred or dispreferred responses

The second pair part may be preferred or dispreferred responses.

A preferred response is a short acceptance without hesitation.
A dispreferred response is refusal and is usually performed hesitantly.
Ex 1: A. The book is interesting.
B. I think so.
The second part (B) is preferred.

Ex 2: A: I really enjoyed the movie last night. Did you?

B: No, I thought it was pretty crummy, though I can see how you
could’ve liked certain part of it.
 The second part (B) is dispreferred.

MORE EXAMPLES:
Ex 1: Invitation 1
A: Why don’t you come up and see me some time?
Acceptance
B: I would like to.
Ex 2: Invitation 2
A: uh if you’d care to come and visit a little while this morning, I’ll
give you a cup of coffee.
Refusal
B: hehh well that’s awfully sweet of you. I don’t think I can make
it this morning hh uhm. I’m running an ad in the paper and uh I
have to stay near the phone.

As the two examples above illustrate, the production of a dispreferred second

generally requires more conversational effort than a preferred second. In example 2,
one can distinguish the following components in B’s turn: delaying a response +
marker + expressing appreciation of the offer + declination itself + giving a reason
for why one has to decline.

There are situations in which a 'disagreement' counts as a preferred second

following an assessment:
Assessment: I haven’t done well, haven’t I?
Disagreement: Nonsense. Of course, you did well!
Summary of preferred and dispreferred seconds

First preferred second dispreferred second

offer
acceptance refusal
invitation
request compliance refusal

assessment agreement disagreement

blame denial admission

unexpected answer
question expected answer
no answer
2.4 Repairs
According to Schegloff (1977), “repair” is the treatment of trouble occuring in
interactive language use or “a mechanism that operates in conversation to deal with
problems in speaking, hearing, and understanding the talk in conversation”. It includes
processes for mutual comprehension such as word search as well as a replacement or
correction on hearable errors or mistakes.

When the conversation is broken down, “repairs” are the things done to fix a
conversational breakdown and restore alignment. Breakdowns can be
misunderstandings (“What did you say?”; “What do you mean?”) as well as
disagreements (“I think you’re wrong”), rejections (“No, I won’t”) and other
difficulties, assessments (“That’s good”), newsmarks (“Oh, wow!”), continuers (“uh
huh”), formulations (giving the gist of what’s been said), collaborative completions
(finishing the speaker’s sentence).
Ex 1: A: Where have you put the book?
B: On the shelf.
A: uh huh.
B: I have read it.
A says “uh huh” to encourage B to continue the conversation.

Ex 2: A: Actually, I didn’t use, uh...

B: chopstick?
A: chopstick.

In this example, A has trouble speaking as he/she could not find the exact word
needed, so he/she tries to initiate repair by the pause “uh”... and the hearer (B) helps
him/her to solve this problem.
2.5 Given & New Information
In a standard sentence the information that has been already known to the reader or
listener is referred as given information. The information that is introduced for the
first time is known as new information.
The new information in a sentence or utterance in English generally comes last.
Ex: The cat ate the rat.
The assumed knowledge is that the cat ate something and the new information is that
it was the rat that got eaten.

EXERCISE 8:
ANALYZE THE FOLLOWING CONVERSATION TO IDENTIFY
ADJENCY PAIRS, PREFERRED, DISPREFERRED AND REPAIRS.

a. Cindy: Heard from Jill recently? She hasn’t written or called in ages.
b. Larry: Yeah, she sent me a postcard from England.
c. Barb: From England?
d. Larry: Oh, maybe it was from France, I can’t remember.
e. Cindy: What’s she doin?
f. Barb: No, I know it must’ve been from France ‘cus she was gonna stay there
all year.
g. Cindy: What’s she doin’ in France?
h. Larry: Why are you asking about her?
i. Cindy: I dunno. I’ve jus’ been thinkin’ about ‘er’.
j. Larry: She’s on some sort of exchange program. Studyin‟ French or somethn‟.
k. Cindy: Sounds pretty nice to me.
l. Larry: Yeah. Well, I dunno. She said she was tired of Europe and she wants to come
home.
EXERCISE 9:
- ANALYZE THE ADJACENCY PAIRS, INSERTION SEQUENCES IN THE
FOLLOWING CONVERSATIONS

-DECIDE WHETHER THE SECOND PAIR PART IS A PREFERRED OR

DISPREFERRED RESPONSES.

A: Where’s the milk I bought this morning?

B: The skim milk?

A: Yeah

B: On the counter.

A: I really enjoyed the movie last night. Did you?

B: No, I thought it was pretty crummy, though I can see how you
could’ve liked certain part of it.
III. THEME AND RHEME
In a sentence or an utterance, the information is arranged in terms of the
importance.
In a clause, theme is the initial element, and rheme follows the theme.
The following sentences present the same information:
- Chi Pheo loved Thi No.
- Thi No was loved by Chi Pheo.
In terms of theme, however, both sentences are different.
In the first sentence the theme is Chi Pheo. It is Chi Pheo what Chi Pheo did is
of primary interest. In the second sentence the theme is Thi No.

The theme is the point of departure of the message; it is usually what the clause
is concerned with.
The rheme is the remainder of the message; it provides information about the
theme.

3.1 TYPES OF THEME:

There are three types of theme: Topical, interpersonal and textual.

 Topical themes have to do with the information conveyed in the discourse.

Chi Pheo and Thi No are the topical themes in the above sentences.

 Interpersonal themes express the attitude of the speakers or readers.

Ex: Wow, your dress is nice.
In the above sentence there are two themes: interpersonal (wow) and topical (your
dress) themes.

 Textual themes link a clause to the rest of the

 discourse. Ex: In addition, Jack gets good
marks in maths.
(Textual t.) (Topical t.)
In the above sentence gets good marks in maths is rheme.

 Theme, in this lesson, can be viewed as everything that comes before the verb.
Examples:
James went to steal in Mr. Brown’s field.
The field is considered sacred by most villagers.
The villagers reported the matter to the headman.
EXERCISE 10:

ANALYZE THE THEME AND THE RHEME

IN THE FOLLOWING SENTENCES.

1. College life should be varied and colorful.

2. Students should take part in extracurricular activities.

3. By taking part in extracurricular activities, students can enrich their knowledge.

4. Also, the workers have devoted to the consolidation of the factory.

5. Only taking courses and burying ourselves in study is surely not our ideal college
life.

6. In the garden, his father works very hard.

7. In my opinion, you should learn Chinese.

8. What he said is false.

9. Well, I feel fine today.

10. Today he is drinking tea.

11. Now Jack is visiting a museum in Rome.
12. That he passed the exam makes his parents proud.
13. Where he will go is still kept secret.
14. At that time Mary was sewing her dress.
15. Generally, he is a great boxer.
16. The novel should end happily.
17. Students should take part in extracurricular activities.
18. By taking part in extracurricular activities, students can enrich their knowledge.
19. Eventually, the horse came back.
20. The flowers are in bloom.
EXERCISE 11:

ANALYZE THE THEME AND THE RHEME

IN THE FOLLOWING SENTENCES.

1. This bed is full of daffodils.

2. In spring this bed is full of daffodils.

3. Alas, he has gone.

4. Therefore, the girl went home in a hurry.

5. In sum, the story is very sad.

6. Henry likes films.

7. Finally, she decided to leave the town.

8. Wow, the dress is nice.

9. The car in front stopped suddenly.

10. Well, we may eat now.

11. Henry likes films.

12. Finally, she decided to leave the town.

13. Wow, the dress is nice.

14. The car in front stopped suddenly.

15. Well, we may eat now.

16. This wallet is full of money.

17. In summer it is hot.

18. wow, she has a nice dress.

19. At last, the girl was happy.

20. Hey, you step on my paper.

 3.1.1 Thematic fronting
Thematic fronting occurs when the theme is ‘marked’, that is, when some
element of the clause which does not usually assume this function is made into the
theme.
Ex 1: Banda they call me.
(They call me Banda.)
Ex 2: An utter fool I felt.
(I felt an utter fool)
Ex 3: A good teacher she’s not.
(She’s not a good teacher.)

Thematic fronting is often associated with syntactic inversion. This can

be of two types.

 The first is subject-verb inversion, which occurs when a

normally post-verbal element is moved to pre-subject position, as in:
o Here comes the bus.
o There are our friends.
o Away went the car like a whirlwind.
o Slowly out of his cave came the cyclops.
o So say all of us.

 The second is that question-word clauses are often fronted.

o What I’m going to do next I just don’t know.

o How she got the gun through customs we never

found out."
 3.1.2 Thematic progression

The Themes and Rhemes in clauses are interrelated with each other. For
example, the Theme (or part of it) in a preceding clause often continues to be the
Theme or the Rheme in the following clause, and the Rheme (or part of it) is often
picked up as the Theme or the Rheme in the next clause, thus forming a thematic
progression pattern among successive clauses.

Examples:
o The book you lent me is very interesting. It is really worth reading.
o Yesterday I saw Michael. He didn’t seem to be very happy.
o Tom and Peter decided to visit a remote village. However, their
expedition did not go as expected.

When the theme in the following sentence (clause) stands for the one or a part
of the rheme in the preceding sentence, there is thematic progression).

3.2 Genre
Genre means different styles of literary discourse such as sonnets, tragedies and
romances. Nowadays genre has been adapted by functional linguists to refer to
different types of communicative events.
Different types of communicative events result in different types of discourse,
and each of these will have its own distinctive characteristics.

3.3 Rhetoric patterns

The ordering of information in discourse can reflect certain rhetoric relationship
such as cause-consequence, problem-solution, and instrument-achievement.
Examples:
 - I opened fire.
- I was on sentry duty.
- I beat off the attack.
- I saw the enemy approach.
There are twenty-four ways to sequence these four sentences; however, only
one sequence is completely acceptable:
I was on sentry duty. I saw the enemy approaching. I opened fire. I beat
off the attack.
There are constraints on the ordering of information within a text. In the above
text there are two particular types of relationship: cause-consequence and instrument-
achievement.
I was on sentry duty. CAUSE > I saw the enemy approaching. >
CONSEQUENCE > I opened fire. INSTRUMENT > I beat off the attack.
ACHIEVEMENT.
However, if we use grammatical devices, we can change the sequencing of the
information in the text in acceptable ways.
While I was on sentry duty, I opened fire because I saw the enemy
approaching. I (thereby) beat off the attack.
We may also use conjunction to change the sequencing.
I opened fire because I saw the enemy approaching when I was on sentry
duty. By this means I beat off the attack.
+ Grammatical devices: (conjunctions) while, because, when, etc.
EXERCISE 12:

IDENTIFY THEME AND RHEME OF THE FOLLOWING EXTRACT.

Birds that feed in flocks commonly retire together into roosts. The reasons for
roosting communally are not always obvious, but there are some likely benefits. One
is birds can keep warm at night and conserve precious food reserves. The second
possible benefit of communal roosts is that they act as “information centers”.

EXERCISE 13:
ORDER THE INFORMATION

1. SEQUENCE THE FOLLOWING SENTENCES WITHOUT GRAMMATICAL DEVICES

AND STATE THE RHETORIC RELATIONSHIP:

He saw a new word.

He read an article.

He understood the word.

He looked up the word.

2. SEQUENCE THE FOLLOWING SENTENCES WITH GRAMMATICAL

DEVICES AND STATE THE RHETORIC RELATIONSHIP:

He saw a new word.

He read an article.

He understood the word.

He looked up the word.

3. SEQUENCE THE FOLLOWING SENTENCES WITHOUT GRAMMATICAL DEVICES
AND STATE THE RHETORIC RELATIONSHIP:

She had a traffic accident.

She went to hospital.

A car hit her.

She was walking along the street.

4. SEQUENCE THE FOLLOWING SENTENCES WITH GRAMMATICAL

DEVICES AND STATE THE RHETORIC RELATIONSHIP:

She had a traffic accident.

She went to hospital.

A car hit her.

She was walking along the street.

IV. PROPOSITIONAL ANALYSIS.

4.1 Proposition and utterance.

4.1.1 Proposition
A proposition is the meaning of the utterance of a declarative sentence
which describes some state of affairs.
The following pair of sentences expresses the same proposition:
- Harry took out the garbage.
- Harry took the garbage out.
The following pair of sentences expresses different propositions:
- Mary loves Tom.
- Tom loves Mary.
The three following sentences express the same proposition:
- Mary bought a pen for Jack.
- Jack was bought a pen by Mary.
- A pen was bought for Jack by Mary.
Sentences belong to some particular language. However, propositions do not
belong to any.
- He is tall. (English)
- Anh ta cao. (Vietnamese)
- 他是高大的。(Chinese)
- Il est grand. (French)
4.1.2 Utterance
Utterance is the use by a particular speaker, on a particular occasion, for a
particular purpose, of a piece of language, such as a sequence of sentences, a
sentence, a phrase or even a word.
Jane: Coffee? < (Would you like some coffee?)
Jack: Sure! < (I am sure to love it)
 Jane: White? < (Would you like black coffee or white coffee?)
Jack: Black. < (I’d like black coffee, please.)
(One-word utterances) (Well-formed sentences)

4.2. Propositional analysis

A proposition is a single statement about some entity or event. A sentence may
contain a single proposition or several propositions.
Ex: The cat ate the rat.
The proposition is represented as (ATE, CAT, RAT).
Proposition analysis enables the researcher to compare texts that would not
otherwise be comparable.
Examine the two following sentences:
1. Romulus, the legendary founder of Rome, took the women of the
Sabine by force.
2. Cleopatra’s downfall lay in her foolish trust in the fickle political
figures of the Roman world.
Propositional analysis of sentence 1
1. (TOOK, ROMULUS, WOMEN, BY FORCE)
2. (FOUND, ROMULUS, ROME)
3. (LEGENDARY, ROMULUS)
4. (SABINE, WOMEN)
Propositional analysis of sentence 2
1. (BECAUSE, A, B)
2. (FELLDOWN, CLEOPATRA) = A
3. (TRUST, CLEOPATRA, FIGURES) = B
4. (FOOLISH, TRUST)
5. (FICKLE, FIGURES)
6. (POLITICAL, FIGURES)
 7. (PART OF, FIGURES, WORLD)
8. (ROMAN, WORLD)

While the sentences are approximately the same length, sentence 2 contains
twice as many propositions.
Sentence 2 did indeed take significantly longer for subjects to comprehend.
Examples:
1/ Jack likes music.
> LIKE, JACK, MUSIC
2/ Jack likes pop music.
> LIKE, JACK, MUSIC
> POP, MUSIC
3/ The door is stuck.
> STUCK, DOOR

4.3 Propositional rules

From the foreign books, 37 rules are drawn so that students may follow to
analyse the propositions in the sentences easily.
1. S + Vi: (Intransitive)
Vi , S
2. S + Vt: (mono-transitive)
Vt, S, O
3. S + Vt: (ditransitive)
Vt, S, Od
(Prep) Oi
4. S + Vt + O + OC: (ditransitive)
Vt, S, O, WHO/WHAT
WHO/WHAT = …
5. S + Vt + To V (Infinitive)
Vt , S
To V, (S), (O)
6. S + Vt + V-ING (Gerund)
Vt, S, V-ING
7. S, Vt, V-ING + (O) (Gerund phrase)
Vt + S + V-ING
V-ING + O
8. S + Vi + Prep V-ING (Gerund)
Vt , S
Prep V-ING
9. S + Vi+ Prep Phrase (Intransitive)
Vi , S
Prep Phrase
10. S + V + NOT + (…) (Negative form)
V, S
NEG n‟t
11. S + V + Prep (…) N: (Noun Modification)
V, S
Prep (…) N
N, (…)
12. S + V + Prep + clause + (…) N: (embedded clause)
V, S
Prep (…) N
N, (…)
(…), Clause
13. S + V + (…): (Direct Quote)
V, S
(…), (S)
14. S + V + ADV: (Verb modification)
V, S
V, ADV
15. S + V + ADV + Prep phrase: (PP Modification)
V, S
Prep Phrase
Adv, Prep Phrase
16. ADV + S + V + (…)
ADV
V, S, (…)
17. S + V + (…) + O: (Possessives)
V, S, O
O, Possessive
18. S + V + Prep + (…) + O: (Approximator)
V, S
Prep + O
O, Approximator
19. S + V + BOTH (…) + AND + (…): (Conjunction)
V, S
(…)
(…)
BOTH (…) + (…)
20. S + V + BOTH + O: (Quantifiers)
V, S, O
O, BOTH
21. V + S …?: (Yes-No questions)
V + C/O, S
22. WH + (Aux) + S + V?: (WH questions)
Aux V, S, WH
WH = (…)
23. Intensifiers + S + V + O: (Sentence Intensifiers)
V, S, O
(V, S, O), Intensifiers
24. Intensifiers + S + V + O: (Word/phrase Intensifiers)
V, S, O
Word/phrase + Intensifiers
25. S + V + Modification + modification + N: (Repeated Modification)
V, S
(Prep) N
N, Modification
Modification, Modification
26. S + (…) + V + C: (Reflexive pronoun)
V, S, C
S, Reflexive pronoun
27. S + V + Od + Oi: (Reflexive pronoun as object)
V, S, Od
Prep + Oi
28. AFF + S + V: (Affirmative Answer)
AFF YES
V, S
29. NEG + S + Aux n’t: (Negative Answer)
NEG NO
V, S
30. S + V + Conj + V + (…): (Coordinate Conjunction, except for temporal
conjunction AND)
V, S
CONJ + 1 + 3
(…)
31. S + V + (…) + CONJ + S + V + (…): (Subordinate Conjunction)
V, S, (…)
 CONJ + 1 + 3
V, S, (…)
(…)
32. CONJ + S + V + (…): (Utterance with Initial Conjunctions of Addition)
V, S
(…)
33. CONJ + S + V + (…): (Utterances with other Initial Conjunctions)
CONJ
V, S
(…)
34. S + THAT/WHO/WHICH + V + (…): (Adjective clause)
V, S, (…) [Main clause]
CONJ + 1 + 3
V, S, (…) [Adjective clause]
35. S + V (+ THAT) + S + V + (…): (Noun clause)
V, S, (THAT)
V, S, (…)
36. V + (…): (Parenthetical Elided Elements)
V, (S)
(…)
37. S + V + (…): (Proper Nouns and Titles)
V, S
(…)
EXERCISE 14:
ANALYSE THE PROPOSITIONS IN THE FOLLOWING SENTENCES.

1. The young grey squirrel has a very long tail.

2. I grew up in San Jose.

3. I had a sister and three brothers so we were always busy.

4. We had a lot of friends in the neighborhood.

5. We swam a lot in the canals.

6. We weren’t afraid to walk at night.

7. We stayed out at night in our yard and visited with neighbors.

8. My mom and dad always had get-togethers.

9. The cat gave the milk to the kitten.

10. The baby calls me Aliza.

EXERCISE 15:

ANALYSE THE PROPOSITIONS IN THE FOLLOWING SENTENCES.

1. The cat wanted to eat food.

2. So I helped raise my brothers and sisters.

3. I did go see the movie.

4. She is jogging.

5. Cooking takes time.

6. Cooking chicken takes time.

7. She likes cooking chicken.

8. We came from jogging.

9. We came from seeing movies.

10. I wouldn’t be caught dead in Oak Park now.

11. I think that the cat is fluffy.

12. I was in LA for I think 3 years.

13. I say, “Go.”

14. We lived in what they call Oak Park.

15. The cat lives out in the country.

_______________________________

THE END OF CHAPTER 2