A comparative study of lexical cohesive devices
through some english and vietnamese fables Bùi Thúy Anh Trường Đại học KHXH&NV
Luận văn ThS. Chuyên ngành: English liguistics; Mã số: 60 22 15
Người hướng dẫn: Trần Xuân Điệp
Năm bảo vệ: 2009 Abstract: The aim of this study is to give an overview of theoretical background of discourse
and discourse analysis; cohesion, coherence and cohesive devices; concept of ESP and ESP
discourse. Besides, I would like to describe and analyze lexical cohesive devices through some
English and Vietnamese Fables. I hope that the findings of the study will be given a big
contribution to the teaching and learning English.The study includes three main parts of which
the first part presents the rationales, scope, methodology. The following part with two main
chapters. Chapter one is the theoretical background of the studies with theories related to
discourse and discourse analysis, cohesion and coherence, ESP. Chapter two provides an
analysis of lexical cohesive devices through some English and Vietnamese Fables . In the final
part, recapitulation, implications, limitations of the study and suggestions for further research are
presented.
Keywords: Tiếng Anh; Từ vựng; Phương tiện liên kết; Truyện ngụ ngôn
Content: II

TABLE OF CONTENT


Chapter 2: A comparative study of Lexical cohesive devices through some
English and Vietnamese fables
2.1. Lexical reiteration…………………………………………………….…… … 22
2.1.1. Repetition………………………………………………………………….…22
2.1.2. Synonymy……………………………………………………………………27
2.1.3. Antonymy………………………………………………………….…………29
2.1.4. Superordinate and general word…………………………………….……… 29
2.2. Collocation…………………………………………………………….……… 30
2.3. Concluding remarks on lexical cohesion……………………………………….32
PART III: CONCLUSION
1. Recapitulation of major ideas…………………………………………….……36
2. Implications……………………………………………………………………36
3. Suggestions for further studies……………………………………… ……….37
REFERENCES…………………………………………………………… ………38
APPENDIX
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Part I: INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale

It is clear that acquiring a language is not only limited to knowing about its
grammar, pronunciation, and vocabulary. Producing a grammatically correct
sentence is not sufficient to use a language to communicate successfully with other
people. It is very important for language learners to know how to use our linguistic
competence in a larger unit of communication, i.e. language in use, or in other
words, a discourse, in order to convey our ideas to learners as well as to obtain
others.

English fables and their equivalents in Vietnamese Fables. Our efforts are to collect
data in both English and Vietnamese to see the frequencies and differences and
similarities of each device and sub-device of lexical cohesive devices in the
discourse in both languages.

4. Methods of the study
To attain the aims of the study, the research will conduct the following activities:
 Firstly, data including relevant theories and fables for analysis will be
collected. Relevant theories will be extracted from various linguistic books
written by several linguists, such as Cook (1989), Hatim and Mason (1990),
Swales (1990), Simpson (1997), Toolan (1998), ect. English fables and
Vietnamese fables which are unavailable in printed books in Viet Nam, will
be collected from Internet Sources.
 Secondly, relevant theories will be presented on the ground of several
linguists, viewpoints.
 Then, 30 selected fables (15 English fables and 15 Vietnamese Fables) will
be comprehensively investigated for lexical cohesive devices so as to find
out the most typical cohesive devices used in English and Vietnamese
Fables.
 After all, based on the results of the analysis, some concluding remarks can
be generalized and some implications for teaching and learning English
fables can be proposed.
Three successive methods chosen for the best results are descriptive,
analytical and comparative.
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5. Design of the study

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Hatim, B. & Mason, I. (1990). Discourse and the Translator. Longman Group
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Hoa, Nguyen. (2000a). An Introduction to Discourse Analysis. Hanoi: VNU
Publishing House.
Hoa, Nguyen. (2003). Understanding English Semantics. Hanoi: VNU Publishing
House.
http://www. Fables.org.uk.
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the Case of English Fairy tales and Application to Translation. Unpublished
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(2000). Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. Oxford University Press.
Raphael, S. (1995). Text and Discourse Analysis. Newyork: Routledge.
Simpson, R. (1997). Language through Literature. London: Routledge.
Swales, J.M.(1990). Genre Analysis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Toolan, M. (1998). Language in Literature: An Introduction to Stylistics. M
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