VI. The Category of Cohesion

· Now let’s have a closer look at those means of the lexical cohesion which contribute to the logico-semantic and artistic wholeness of the text under analysis.

· It is generally recognized that among various means of any text cohesion lexical means of cohesion play the crucial role because they, first and foremost, make for the logico-semantic globality of the text.

· One of the means through which the lexical cohesion finds its expression in the text is the recurrence of the key-words.

· In the present text the following key-words hold the logico-conceptual integrity of the text together, they are: …

· Since the author depicts / shows / portrays / mentions sth., it is quite natural that … (some word) functions as the main / one more / can be regarded as the main key-word.

· The lexical cohesion of the text finds its expression in …

· One of the main means of the lexical cohesion is …

· One more / another means of the lexical cohesion is …

· Besides, the lexical cohesion of the text results from a wide / extensive use of sth;

· The lexical cohesion of the text is also achieved / reinforced / enhanced / through sth;

· The cohesive potential of the word … is supported / reinforced / enhanced by …

· Apart from this, the cohesive potential / capacity of the key-word … is reinforced by the words and word-combinations logically associated with the idea of …;

· Alongside this, the use of words belonging to the lexico-semantic groups of antonyms united by the notion of … and … also contributes to the lexical cohesion of the text;

· A very important role in the lexical cohesion of the text is played by the synonyms proper and contextual synonyms. Among them: synonyms proper …; contextual synonyms …, which explicitly / implicitly pertain to the notion of ….

· The cohesive power of the key-word … is not confined to the above said, because this word is logically associated with the words and word-combinations united by the notion of… thus forming the thematic group …

· Though the key-word … is not very frequently repeated in the present text its cohesive power is enhanced by the contextual synonyms: …

· Alongside this, in the text under analysis a number of antonyms to the key-word … are observed. The use of lexemes with the opposite meanings also makes for the logico-semantic unity of the text.

· The key-word … is supported by a number of contextual synonyms which make for the wholeness and integrity (logico-semantic unity) of the text: …

· The key-words enter a number of word-combinations which cover the text with a kind of thematic network.

· The use of words pertaining to one and the same lexico-semantic group is another means of lexical cohesion which contributes to the logico-semantic unity of the text.

· Since the conceptual core of … is distinguished in the present text it is only natural that there are words united by the common notion “…“ and belonging to the LSG “…”. So, they also contribute to the lexical cohesion of the present text.

· Another means of the lexical cohesion within this text is the use of words and word-combinations referring to the same thematic group with the underlying notion of …

· Now let’s have a closer look at those grammatical means of cohesion which ensure the formal integrity within the text.

· To show / illustrate how the means of grammatical cohesion function / work in the text I have chosen the paragraph where they find their most vivid expression.

· The conjunction … semantically relates to and grammatically connects this sentence with the previous one.

· One more grammatical means of cohesion within this part of the text is … which correlates the whole sentence with …

· The unity of the tense forms, namely, … makes for the expression of the author’s idea of …

· The pronoun “…”, as well as other means of grammatical cohesion, functions as a means of secondary nomination, which is in its turn semantically related to and grammatically connected with … through another means of grammatical cohesion, namely …

· This grammatical means of cohesion substitutes for its antecedent …

Note:

The majority of the above cliché s, except those referring to point IV and V, can be used in the analysis of newspaper and scientific texts

ASSIGNMENTS FOR SELF-CONTROL

1. What is the main aim of the analysis of a belles-lettres text at the advanced stage of the analytical reading course?

2. How does the integrated approach to the belles-lettres analysis differ from a traditional linguostylistic analysis?

3. What aspects of a text can be subjected to a complex textlinguistic analysis?

4. What basic text categories constitute a text as an integral communicative unit?

5. What is the difference between the factual and the conceptual information within the category of informativity?

6. What texts are characterized by the factual information only?

7. What facts relevant in terms of the category of presupposition serve to enlarge the volume of the information conveyed?

8. What is the category of implication constituted by and which type of information is it directly correlated with?

9. What means of text cohesion, first and foremost contribute to the logico-semantic integrity of a text?

10. What are the most important means of the lexical cohesion of a text?

1.5. On the American Dead in Spain

by Ernest Hemingway

(1899—1961)

One of the greatest and most influential modern American writers, Ernest Hemingway, known as the most humane writers of his time, Hemingway hated war and detested fascism in all of its forms. When the Civil War in Spain launched by the coalition of pro-fascist generals against the Spanish Republic broke out, Hemingway immediately sided with the republicans.

The selection suggested for discussion is the writer's tribute to the Americans who died defending the cause of the Spanish Revolution. It was published in the progressive American magazine The New Masses in February 1939, shortly before the fall of the Spanish Republic. Though sometimes included in his collections of short stories, it might be rather called an epitaph, a special piece of writing epitomizing and commemorating the deceased, rhythmically arranged as a dead march.

***

The dead sleep cold in Spain tonight. ¹⁾ Snow blows through the olive groves, sifting against the tree roots. Snow drifts over the mounds with the small headboards. ^* (When there was time for headboards.) The olive trees are thin in the cold wind because their lower branches were once cut to cover tanks, and the dead sleep cold in the small hills over the Jarama River. It was cold that February when they died there and since then the dead have not noticed the changes of the seasons.

It is two years now since the Lincoln Battalion ²⁾ held for four and a half months along the heights of the Jarama, and the first American dead have been a part of the earth of Spain for a long time now.

The dead sleep cold in Spain tonight and they will sleep cold all this winter as the earth sleeps with them. But in the spring the rain will come to make the earth kind again. The wind will blow soft over the hills from the south. The black trees will come to life with small green leaves, and there will be blossoms on the apple-trees along the Jarama River. This spring the dead will feel the earth beginning to live again.

For our dead are a part of the earth of Spain now and the earth of Spain can never die. Each winter it will seem to die and each spring it will come alive again. Our dead will live with it forever.

Just as the earth can never die, neither will those who have ever been free return to slavery. The peasants who work the earth where our dead lie know what these dead died for. There was time during the war for them to learn these things, and there is forever for them to remember them in. ³⁾

Our dead live in the hearts and the minds of the Spanish workers, of all the good simple honest people who believed in and fought for the Spanish republic. And as long as all our dead live in the Spanish earth, and they will live as long as the earth lives, no system of tyranny ever will prevail in Spain.

The fascists may spread over the land, blasting their way with weight of metal brought from other countries. ⁴⁾ They may advance aided by traitors and cowards. They may destroy cities and villages and try to hold the people in slavery. But you cannot hold any people in slavery.

The Spanish people will rise again as they have always risen before against tyranny.

The dead do not need to rise. They are a part of the earth now and the earth can never be conquered. For the earth endureth forever. ⁵⁾ It will outlive all systems of tyranny.

Those who have entered it honorably, and no men ever entered earth more honorably than those who died in Spain, already have achieved immortality.

* headboard (here) — a small board on the grave with the name of the buried soldier

¨ Explanatory Notes