试析词汇衔接理论在英语演讲辞中的应用Application of Lexical Cohesion in English Speech

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摘 要

演讲辞是一种为特定的观众或在特定的场合公开发表的讲话。演讲辞的语篇分析吸引着越来越多的语言学家的关注。为了达到激励人心的效果，一个公开的演讲的语言需要完整，吸引群众，易于理解。演讲的语义连贯是衡量演讲的重要原则，而词汇衔接正是构建语篇语义连贯的重要方法之一。

本文以韩理德和哈桑的衔接理论为基础，分析了演讲辞的词汇特征及常用的词汇衔接手段，提出在演讲辞中可以使用不同的词汇衔接方法使演讲获得预期的效果，以帮助演讲者提高演讲的有效性。

关键词：演讲辞；衔接理论；词汇衔接

Contents

1. Introduction.............................................................................................1

2. LiteratureReview....................................................................................2

2.1 Cohesion.................................................................................................2

2.2 Types of cohesion...................................................................................3

3. Lexical Features of the Speech..............................................................5

3.1 Frequent changes of pronouns................................................................5

3.2 Use of rhetorical devices........................................................................7

3.3 Combination of formal and colloquial language....................................9

4. Application of Lexical Cohesion in Speech...........................................9

4.1 Use reiteration to stress intentions..........................................................9

4.2 Use synonymy to avoid tedium.............................................................11

4.3 Use antonym to make images distinct...................................................12

5. Conclusion..............................................................................................13

Works Cited................................................................................................15

1. Introduction

The study of language has a very long history. Linguists have been studying it since the early of the 20th century.

With the development of global economy, human activities and international communication, public speaking has been infiltrating through many fields of the society. It is an important form of style in western countries. Also, it plays an essential role in many aspects of western life. So many scholars have been interested in the characteristics of public speech. They study it from many perspectives, such as structure, metaphor, function and interpersonal relation. It has the characteristics of cramped construction, clear semantic and logical relationship, fluent and coherent discourse. However, public speech usually employs a lot of cohesive devices so as to enlighten, encourage and convince people.

As we all know, coherence is one characteristic of discourse and the unit of language system. The analysis of the phenomenon of repetition and form of parallelism in literary discourse is considered to be one of the earliest studies of discourse cohesion. Halliday and Hasan make a great contribution to the development of cohesion theory. In 1962, Halliday put forward the concept of cohesion for the first time, making it become a linguistic term from an ordinary word. In 1976, Halliday and Hasan published Cohesion in English and put forward the concept of discourse cohesion. The publication of this book marks the establishment of cohesion theory. In the book he divides the cohesion into two types: grammar cohesion and lexical cohesion. The study of cohesion theory gradually becomes popular. Grammar cohesion includes reference, substitution, ellipsis, and conjunction. Lexical cohesion includes reiteration, synonym, hyponymy and collocation.

Various cohesive devices of discourse are complementary to each other. They play the role of a cohesive connection together. Cohesion, as one of the necessary conditions, is very important for the understanding of a text. Discourse is not a simple accumulation of unrelated sentences, but some meaning associated sentences to achieve certain communicative purpose, realize the organic combination through various cohesive devices.

Among them, lexical cohesion is one important aspect. Vocabulary is a basic element of discourse. However, discourse is not an arbitrary pyramiding of vocabulary. As an important approach of cohesion, lexical cohesion adopts some methods to realize semantic connections in discourse. Obviously It is of great importance to the speech for that a coherent speech better conveys the speaker’s thoughts and achieve better effects. So cohesion is an indispensable element to a pragmatic public speech.

Based on the cohesion theory by Halliday amp; Hasan, this thesis analyses the application of lexical cohesion approaches in public speech from the perspectives of personal pronouns, reiteration, synonymy, antonym, rhetorical devices and the selection of formal and casual language. The writer will use some concrete examples to better explain respective functions of these devices in improving the quality of public speeches, and to illustrate that the combination of these devices can help make the speech more vivid, impressive, persuasive and coherent.

2. Literature Review

In the 1960s and 1970s, experts became aware of grammatical relations which could be gained through sentence boundaries and began to show interest in discourse structure. After the publication of the book A Grammar of Contemporary English written by Randolph Quirk in 1972, studies on discourse have started. Jacobson is a pioneer who studies cohesion. In 1968, Hasan published her book Grammatical Cohesion in Spoken and Written English, in which she gives a detailed description of cohesion. She indicates that to achieve cohesion, one has to find the typical characteristics of a text and divides between a group of meaningless sentences and a text. In 2001, M.A.K.Halliday and Hasan published Cohesion in English, which marks the foundation of cohesion theory. The results of these studies on cohesion and coherence have provided meaningful implication for the composition of a successful speech.

2.1 Cohesion

The earlier linguistics regards cohesion as the degree of connection between two or more morphemes. For example, the relationship between “quiet” and “ly” is closer than that between “father” and “mother”. After that, cohesion is considered as the relationship between linguistic units larger than a word.

According to Halliday and Hasan, “the concept of cohesion is a semantic one; it refers to relations of meaning that exist within the text and that define it as a text. Cohesion occurs where the interpretation of some element in the discourse is dependent on that of another. The one presupposes the other, in the sense that in cannot be effectively decoded except by recourse to it. When this happens a relation of cohesion is set up, and the two elements, the presupposing and presupposed, are thereby at least potentially integrated into a text (Hallidayamp;Hasan 4).” After that, they also further explain “like other semantic relations, cohesion is expressed through the strata organization of language. Language can be explained as a multiple coding system consisting of three levels of coding. Meanings are realized as forms, and forms are realized in turn as expression”. Cohesion expresses the continuity between different parts of a text, so it plays an important role in creating textual structure. Of course Halliday and Hasan also point out “Cohesion is a necessary though not a sufficient condition for the creation of text (Hallidayamp;Hasan 298).”

After Halliday and Hasan, many other scholars express their viewpoints on cohesion. Some scholars think that cohesion relation is either grammatical or semantic. While some think it is only a formal relation where meaning is not taken into count while coherence is a semantic relation. Hu Zhuangling expands the scope of his study on cohesion. He thinks that cohesion is one of the ways to achieve coherence in a text. And there are other elements, like social situational and personal factors, which also can make the text an integral whole.

2.2 Types of cohesion

After the publication of the book Cohesion in English, Halliday and Hasan’s research theory of cohesion dominates in this field. In the book, they systematically study cohesion and divide it into different categories. There are mainly two categories: grammar cohesion and lexical cohesion. Substitution, reference, and ellipsis are expressed by the grammatical relation. Lexical cohesion, which is realized purely through the vocabulary of the language, includes reiteration, synonym, antonym, hyponymy, and collocation. The following is a table of Halliday and Hasan’s model of cohesion (Bell 115).

A table of Halliday and Hasan’s model of cohesion

It is necessary to briefly explain each of them. Reference occurs where items “instead of being interpreted semantically in their own right, they make reference to something else for their interpretation (Halliday and Hasan 31).” It is traditionally used in semantics expressing the relationship between a word and what it points to in the real world.

Reference includes three categories: personal, demonstrative and comparative reference “Personal reference is referred by means of function in the speech situation, through the category of person. Demonstrative reference is referred by means of location, on a scale of proximity (Halliday and Hasan 37).” The second one is substitution, which can be defined as “in simplest terms as processes within the text, the replacement of one item by another (Halliday and Hasan 88).” As we can see from the table above, it includes three subclasses: nominal, verbal and clausal substitutions. The third one is ellipsis which “can be interpreted as that form of substitution in which the item is replaced by nothing (Halliday and Hasan 88).” Or we can say that the speaker leaves something out in order to avoid tedium, but the listener can understand easily. Another cohesion device is conjunction. It is usually used to connect different sentences and to express different meanings and relations, such as progressive, adversative, additive and causal relations. The last one is lexical cohesion which depends on the selection of vocabulary. It includes reiteration and collocation. A text can achieve a cohesive function through the use of words. This thesis focuses on the application of lexical cohesion in speech.

What is lexical cohesion? It is a type of pattern in creating cohesion in a text. In general terms, we can define it as the relationship between two or more elements that belong to open sets of the language system. Lexical cohesion depends a lot on the speaker’s choice of lexical items, and they are related in a way through certain semantic relation. As the concepts of Hallidayamp;Hasan, lexical cohesive devices include two principal types: reiteration and collocation. Reiteration is the most direct and common way in lexical cohesion. It refers to those words or phrases with the same meaning and the same form appear repeatedly. “The repetition of some lexical unit creates a relation simply because a largely similar experimental meaning is encoded in each repeated occurrence of the lexical unit (Halliday amp; Hasan 318).” Synonym refers to two or more than two words or phrases with the same or similar meaning. Antonym differs from synonym, in that these words or phrases have the opposite meanings. In the hyponym of vocabulary, superordinate refers to the words with more general meanings and hyponym refers to the words with specific meanings. Collocation is the one of the most problematical parts in lexical cohesion, cohesion that is achieved through the association of lexical items that regularly co-occur (Hallidayamp;Hasan 284). We can often see some pairs of words such as man and woman; they are related by a relation of opposition called complementary. The relationships between groups of words are connected not by grammar but semantic units.

Based on Halliday and Hasan’s analysis, this thesis focuses on some lexical cohesion approaches and analyses their application in the speech.

3. Lexical Features of the Speech

The aim of this study is to investigate how lexical cohesion is applied to the speech. So firstly we have to have a clear idea about it. Many scholars make the definition on political speech, but Lucas’s idea is more authoritative. He says that “a political speech is one that speaker, usually on behalf of a certain class, society, or party, makes to audiences on some important matters and relationships home and abroad (Lucas 53).” We have to understand why we need to study speech and some characteristics of the speech. Then we can study speech under the theory of lexical cohesion.

3.1 Frequent changes of pronouns

In modern English, pronouns play an essential part. Pronouns serve as the “replacements” for nouns or noun phrases in the language of English in order to avoid repetition and achieve cohesion. So in public speeches, the appropriate use of pronouns is of great importance, which should be given much attention to. Personal pronouns forms are frequently used in the speeches’ sentences. They have three personal pronouns, the first personal pronoun, second personal pronoun and third personal pronoun. According to Wang Zuoliang and Ding Wangdao, the first person is extensively used in public speeches. The second person is also very frequently used while the third person doesn’t appear as often as the two former ones in public speeches. We can see from table 3-1 the distribution of these pronouns.

Table 3-1 Frequency of the Three Persons in Political Speeches

As we can see clearly from the table that the first personal pronoun is used much more than the second and the third personal pronoun, which takes up 63.1% while the latter two take up 16.5% and 20.2% respectively. There is no doubt that the first personal pronoun has a large proportion in public speeches. In this proportion, the use of the first person plural forms such as “we”, “us” and “our” are mostly used. The following are some examples.

Example 1

We know we have to face hard truth and take strong step. But we have not done so. Instead, we have drifted, and that drifting has eroded our resources, fractured our economy, and shaken our confidence. (Bill Clinton, 1993)

And so, my fellow Americans, at the edge of the 21st century, let us begin with energy and hope, with faith and discipline, and let us work until our work is done. … (Bill Clinton, 1993)

This is our chance to answer the call. This is our moment. This is our time—to put our people back to work and open doors of opportunity for our kids; to restore prosperity and promote the cause of peace; to reclaim the American Dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth—that out of many, we are one; that while we breathe, we hope, and where we are met with cynicism, and doubt, and those whose tell us that we can’t, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people: Yes We Can.( Barack Obama, 2008)

Example 2

For all our problems, our differences, we are together as of old, as we raise our voices to the God who is the Author of this most tender music. (Ronald Reagan, 1985)

In example1, the first two paragraphs come from Bill Clinton’s inaugural address. The pronouns “we”, “us” and “our” are referred to “my fellow Americans”. The third paragraph is from Barack Obama in Chicago. The pronoun “we”, “our” and “us” also refer to Americans. They want to tell people that Americans have the ability to live a better life and to give them confidence. In example 2, “we” obviously refers to all the people nationwide. By speaking so, the speaker wants to achieve a unique effect of closeness and get the echoes, support and confidence from the audience. Also, this can indicate that the speaker and the audience belong to the same society and the same group, sharing the same opinions. From the examples above, we can conclude that more use of the first personal pronoun can make the speaker look friendlier and more intimate in order to win audience’s favor in a more competitive society.

In order to achieve a cohesive and successful result, the speaker has to employ different personal pronouns. The speaker has to mention himself occasionally to express his ideas and feelings. Many speakers use me and I to make audience feel natural. As for the use of we and us, it can shorten the distance between the speaker and the audience. Other pronouns are also employed to replace the things that have been mentioned above to avoid tedium.

In a word, to make the speech vivid and convictive, a speaker has to frequently change pronouns.

3.2 Use of rhetorical devices

According to Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching amp; Applied Linguistics, “Rhetoric is the study of how effective writing achieves its goals. The term rhetoric in this sense is…. typically focus on how to express oneself correctly and effectively in relation to the topic of writing or speech, the audience, and the purpose of communication (Richards et al 459).” Since the appearance of language, the need for rhetoric has been demanded. The main function is to polish a piece of writing and language usage in order to attract others’ attention and deepen the impression of others and lyrical effect. Rhetoric includes many types, such as parallelism, repetition, antithesis, simile and metaphor and rhetorical questions. Each of them has its specific functions and has to be analyzed according to different contexts. This part mainly analyses rhetoric from the speech delivered by Martin Luther King. Parallelism is undisputedly a frequently-used rhetoric, or we can say it is indispensable. It refers to the parataxis of words, phrases and sentences that have the same or similar structure, related meaning and coherent tone. It can reinforce the meaning and express the main idea in a persuasive and rhythmic way. This is what an excellent speaker needs. What’s more, it also helps to build up an emotional climax in a speech, thus making the audience feel inspired and heart-stirring. Here is the example: “I have a dream that one day this nation…I have a dream that one day on the red hills? I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi….” Simile has the meaning of “like”. According to Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching amp; Applied Linguistics, a simile is an expression in which something is compared to something else by the use of a function word such as “like” or “as”. By using similes, the speaker can make his speech more interesting and vivid, thus arousing audience’s interest more easily. Words like “as”, “as….so”, and “like”, “seem” are often used to achieve this effect. In the speech “I have a dream”, the speaker says: “This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.” “…we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream. The speaker uses vivid language to express his desire for freedom and justice. Metaphor refers to transferring meaning from one thing to another. Different from similes, metaphors have no function words such as “like” and “as” and they are implicit while similes are explicit. The use of metaphors can help avoid some complex and abstract things, which the audience can’t understand by describing other things. In this speech, the speaker uses “a promissory note”, “a bad check” to refer to “freedom” and uses “every valley”, “every hill and mountain”, “the rough places”, and “the crooked places” to refer to the leaders of the country. In speeches, simile or metaphor can better portray and depict what the speaker says, leaving deep impression on the audience. Russians often say: “text is the clothes of the culture while discourse is the second appearance of people”. An excellent speaker can fully use his sound, voice, intonation, pause, action and rhetoric to completely grasp the audience’s psychology.

3.3 Combination of formal and colloquial language

The election of vocabulary can best embody the stylistic features. Whether we can choose appropriate words directly influences the success of a speech. It is the reflection of a person’s literary accomplishment and language expertise. A successful speech should have a felicitous choice of words, a refined way of expression, and an outstanding theme. In English, those words with more than six letters are called big words, which can be used to make the speech solemn and formal. So we can see from many public speeches that one of the remarkable characteristics is the use of formal words, especially in inauguration speeches. However, with the development of our society, more colloquial words are used in speeches. Speech is an art and the speaker has to inspire the spot atmosphere, attract the audience’s attention and interact with the audience, so colloquial language is essential. Also, simple and humorous words are more acceptable and are more natural to express the speaker’s opinions. When delivering a speech, sometimes the topic is very serious and needs more attention, the speaker has to employ some formal words to make the speech more professional and persuasive. Sometimes the speaker has to shorten the distance and arouse the atmosphere, so the use of colloquial language is needed. The combination of these two kinds of languages can help make the speech more flexible according to different purposes and occasions of the speaker and can also help the audience know what the main point is and what is not that important. As a result, the content of the speech has both deep and shallow ideas. What’s more, the combination can have not only the characteristics of the talk but also the rich and bright colors.

4. Application of Lexical Cohesion in Speech

4.1 Use reiteration to stress intentions

Vocabulary is an important carrier of discourse information. Its diverse approaches determine that it has rich expressions and communication function. Reiteration is a form of lexical cohesion which repeats the previous items in order to realize cohesive ties between all items. Usually the items have the same meaning and the same form and occur repeatedly. Or we can say that reiteration is the simple repeating of a word, within a sentence or a poetical line. According to Halliday and Hasan, reiteration has many kinds, the mainly parts are repetition, parallelism, superordinate and general word. Repetition is a most common and direct way to achieve lexical cohesion. It is usually embodied by key words appearing in the same discourse repeatedly. These repeated words are not restricted by morphology, the characteristic of a word and the form of singular and plural. At the same time, it is a common used lexical device in public speeches. Employing reiteration can not only stress the position, but also arouse the listeners’ attention. What’s more, it is beneficial to the emphasis of the speaker’s thoughts. In Mr. Obama’s campaign speeches and inaugural speeches, lexical repetition and minor sentence repetition are widely observed in discourse. These repetitions constitute a unified and coherent discourse. The following are some examples.

Example3

What began twenty-one months ago in the depth of winter must /cannot end on this autumn night. This victory alone is not the change we seek-it is only the chance for us to make that change. And that cannot happen if we go back to the way things were. It can’t happen without you, without a new spirit of service, a new spirit of sacrifice. (Obama, 2008)

The repeated appearances of the words “spirit” and “change” stress the key points of the discourse, attract the audience and are full of power. By using these repeated words, Mr. Obama encourages Americans to be confident when America is faced with both internal and external invasion. Also, America has to reform to get rid of the difficult situations and meet a bright and beautiful future. In the speech, Obama precisely grasp the audience’ psychology and make the audience’s emotions influenced by repeating these words so as to win the support.

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