An analysis of lexical cohesive devices in
Aesop's fables Đoàn Thị Hồng Thanh

Trường Đại học Ngoại Ngữ
Luận văn ThS. Chuyên ngành: English Linguistics; Mã số: 60 22 15
Người hướng dẫn: Nguyễn Thúy Hương- MA
Năm bảo vệ: 2010 Abstract: This thesis paper investigates the lexical cohesive devices used in the English
version of Aesop’s fables translated by Laura Gibbs in 2002. In this study, the theoretical
knowledge of discourse, cohesion and fable as a genre of discourse is offered. Some of the
previous studies on the similar issue are also reviewed briefly for reference. The data for analysis
is from twenty five of Aesop’s fables that are chosen randomly from the collection of World’s
Classics. In the first place, the number of occurrence of each lexical cohesive device is counted
to find out their frequency in each fable. After analyzing the data, the figures are presented to
reveal the contribution of the lexical cohesive device in the construction of a fable. Based on the
findings, some implications for English language teaching are proposed. It is hoped that the
study will be useful for teachers who wish to use fables as a source of authentic materials in
language, especially for students of elementary level.

Keywords: Tiếng Anh; Truyện ngụ ngôn; Phương tiện liên kết; Từ vựng
Content:

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PART 1: INTRODUCTION


1.2 Cohesion
10
1.2.1 The concept of cohesion
10
1.2.2 Cohesion versus Coherence
11
1.2.3 Cohesion and discourse structure
12
1.2.4 Types of cohesion
12
1.2.4.1 Grammatical cohesion
13
1.2.4.2 Lexical cohesion
14
1.3 The narrative structure
15
1.4 Fables and its properties
16
1.4.1 Definition of fables
16
1.4.2 General characteristics of a fable
17
1.4.3 Generic structure of a fable
18
1.5 Introduction about Aesop and Aesop’s fables
19
Chapter 2: Previous studies on lexical cohesive devices
21
Chapter 3: Lexical cohesive devices in the English version of Aesop’s fables
23

Appendix 1: 25 chosen Aesop’s fables for analysis of lexical cohesive devices

Appendix 2: Number of occurrence of lexical cohesive devices in 25 chosen
Aesop’s fables for analysis
PART 1: INTRODUCTION

1. Rationale
The concept of discourse analysis was first studied in the late 1970s and 1980s from
different aspects and views of linguists. It has been paid much attention to by linguists since
its appearance. Halliday and Hasan (1976) put the emphasis on the social functions of
language. Schegloff, and Gail Jefferson (1974), whose exemplary study of turn-taking in
ordinary conversation made a first seminal contribution to the understanding of the sequential
organization of interaction. Then the concept continued to attract the attention of the late
twentieth century’s linguists such as Cook (1989), Hatim and Mason (1990), Swales (1990),
Simpson (1997), etc. Through linguistic history, discourse analysis is found important in
providing insights into various aspects of language in use and therefore of great value to
language teaching. In reality, traditional language teaching seems to deal merely with
pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary of a language whereas the ability to produce a
grammatically correct sentence is not sufficient to use a language for powerful
communication. Discourse analysis came into being to put such knowledge of language into
action for communicating more successfully.
Cohesion and coherence, as sub-concepts of discourse analysis are greatly essential in
discourse construction and comprehension for communication. It is believed that the
linguistic features of great importance and interest are those of generic structure and
cohesion. The belief comes from the fact that these two factors make influential contribution
in defining a genre of discourse. As a component of cohesion, lexical cohesion is therefore
worth being investigated.

To attain the aim of the study, the research is conducted in the following steps:
First, data necessary for the study are collected. Relevant theories are read and
extracted from books of great linguists such as Halliday and Hasan (1976), Cook (1989),
Brown and Yule ( 1983), Hatim and Mason ( 1990), Swales (1990). Aesop’s fables are also
collected to serve the purpose of analyzing lexical cohesive devices used.
Second, a framework of lexical cohesive devices is set up in order to find out the
defining characteristics of fables as a genre of discourse. This is done on the ground of
several linguists’ relevant theories and their viewpoints.
Third, three previous studies on lexical cohesive devices used in other genres of
discourse are reviewed for comparison with the use of lexical cohesive devices in fables.
Then, 25 selected fables are analyzed in terms of lexical cohesive devices: reiteration
and collocations. All the 25 fables are comprehensively analyzed to identify the lexical
cohesive devices used; their frequencies of occurrence are counted to make out the
significance level of each device to fables.
Last, some conclusions are drawn based on the data analysis and some implications
for English teaching at elementary level are also proposed.
The study is approached in both inductive and deductive ways; the three successive
methods chosen for the study can be named as descriptive, analytical and comparative.

5. Organization of the study
The study is composed of three parts: Introduction, Development and Conclusion.
The Introduction part presents the rationale, the aims, the scope, methods and
organization of the study.
The Developments part consists of three chapters:
Chapter 1 discusses the theoretical background related to discourse analysis. The concepts of
discourse and discourse analysis, the concept of genre and the distinction between genre and
register are made clear. The theoretical knowledge of cohesion and fables are also mentioned
in this chapter.
Chapter 2 reviews some previous studies on similar issue.
Chapter 3 focuses on the analysis of lexical cohesive devices employed in Aesop’s fables.

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