7.1 INTRODUCTION
Lexical cohesion occurs when one selects and uses a lexical item that has a relationship, in one way or the other, to the lexical items that have been used before.
Gutwinski (1976: 80) states that:
The clearest instance of lexical cohesion Occurs when the same lexical item is found in two or more adjacent clauses or sentences in the same sense.
For example:
(71) Nako nngwe motho a tla go lopa thuso mo go Rragwe kgotsa mongwe wa losika. Ga twe fa yo go
lotswang thuso mo go ena a tlhaga, motho o mmona bofitla mo lefifing, mme a sa utlwe le Fa e le lentswe la gagwe.
(Monyaise, 1991: 11)
‘Sometimes a man come to consult the spirit of his dead father or relative. It was said that when such a spirit appeared,
the man saw it vaguely in the darkness, but never herd its voice’.
(Achebe, 1986: 12)
Motho ‘a person’ and lopa thuso ‘consult’ appear twice in the example within close proximity and in the same sense. This makes the second appearance of these words familiar and one can understand that they refer to the one introduced earlier.
Baumann and Stevenson (1981: 12) agree that:
Lexical cohesion occurs when the same term, A synonymous term, or a superordinate
Linguistic term is used in place of a preceding term.
In the following example a synonymous terms is used in the place of a preceding term
(72) “Ikgabetse!” Okonkwo mo garumela.
Ezinma a kopanya maoto, a nama
(Monyaise, 1991: 33)
‘Sit like a woman!’ Okonkwo shouted at her.
Ezinma brought her two legs together and stretched them in front of her’.
(Achebe, 1986: 32)
Ga kopanya maoto ‘to bring legs together’ is used in the place of ikgabetse ‘sit like a woman’ and the two terms are synonymous.
Halliday distinguishes the following subcategories of lexical cohesion, repetition, synonymy and collocation. The discussion that follows will relate these subcategories.
7.2 REPETITION
Lexical cohesion can result from repetition of a lexical item found in two or more sentences or clauses. These sentences/clauses may not be adjacent but must be in close
proximity. The following example will shed light on what is implied in the preceding sentences.
(73) “Ga ba na go simolola pele ga letsatsi le phririma.”
“mme ba letsa meropa.”
“Ebu. Meropa e simolola ka sethoboloko mme kampano e emela letsatsi le phirima”.
(Monyaise, 1991: 32)
‘They will not begin until the sun goes down.’
‘But they are beating the drums.’
‘Yes. They drums begin at noon but the wrestling waits until the sun begins to sink’.
(Achebe, 19086: 30)
Meropa ‘drums’ and letsatsi le phirima ‘sun begins to sink’ are repeated in this example and they appear in close proximity to each other.
7.3 SYNONYMY
Synonymy occurs when lexical cohesion results from the choice of a lexical item that is in some sense synonymous with a preceding one. (Halliday (1994: 331).
For example:
(74) Okonkwe e se monna yo o setlhogo.
Mme botshelo jwa gagwe bo laolwa Ke poifo ya go tshoga gore o ka palelwa Ke sengwe kgaotsa go lemogwa bokoa Bongwe mo botshelong jwa gagwe.
(Monyaise, 1991: 9)
‘Perharps down in his heart Okonkwo was not a cruel man. But his whole life was dominated by fear, the fear of failure and of weakness’.
(Achebe, 1986: 9)
Poifo ‘fear’ and go tshoga ‘fear’, palelwa ‘failure’ and bokoa ‘weakness’ are
‘synonyms’. Both poifo and go tshoga mean to ‘fear’ and bokoa and palelwa both mean
‘to be weak’.
It is important to note that synonymy should not only be determined in isolated word pairs but also on the basis of the meaning of these words in context. For instance in the example above one understands that poifo and go tshoga are referring to the same thing because of the meaning they carry. Instead of the sentence reading ‘botshelo jwa gagwe bo laolwa ke poifo ya go boifa gore , only poifo and go tshoga are used.
7.4 COLLOCATION
Halliday refers to collocation as the relationship that holds between lexical items that regularly co-occur. It can involve two or more words that have a recognizable semantic relationship. Such words are antonymy e.g. robala/tsoga ‘sleep/wakup’ and opposition mosetsana/mosimane . In Chapter 2, (2.5.3) it has been mentioned that the difference between opposition and antonymy is very slim.
(75) Ka nako ya temo Okonkwo a tlhola kwa Masimo go tloga ka makuku ga fitlha Maitsiboa dikgogo di robala.
(Monyaise, 1991, 9)
‘during the planting season Okonokwo worked daily on his farms from cock-crow until
the chickens went to roost’.
(Achebe, 1986: 10)
makuku ‘early hours of the morning’ and maitsiboa ‘ evening’ are showing opposition.
7.5 CONCLUSION
Lexical cohesion generally involves lexical patterning rather than grammatical
relationships. It occurs when a lexical item relating in any way to the one used before it, is used. The three types of lexical cohesion are repetition, synonymy and collocation.
Repetition of a lexical item can appear in two or more sentences or clauses, which are in close proximity. Repetition as compared to synonymy and collocation is the most basic and used form of lexical cohesion. Synonymy occurs when a lexical item is similar in some sense to the other, especially when they imply the same thing. Malomo and ditšhese mean flowers so they are synonymous. Collocation is explained in terms of antonomy maruru/mogote ‘cold/hot’ and opposition mokhutshwane /moleele
‘short/tall’. It is a relationship that exists between lexical items that co-occur.
CHAPTER 8: CONCLUSION
It is logical that cohesion exists in Tswana. This is illustrated by examples from Tswana text, Dilo di Masoke by Monyaise (1991). Central to this study is the exploration of the key concepts of cohesion and coherence. Cohesion is seen as the most exploration of the important ingredient of textuality, i.e. it makes a text to be a text. Coherence is regarded as a mental phenomenon which is inclusive in cohesion. Cohesion helps to bring meaning to a text. The cohesive employed prevent redundancy and tautology. Coherence occurs when clauses, sentences and paragraphs are related to the main topic or theme of the text.
Categories of cohesion discussed here as outlined by Halliday (1994) and which occur in English as well as in Tswana are reference, ellipsis. lexical cohesion, conjunction and substitution. Examples taken from Dilo di Masoke accounted for reference, conjunction and lexical cohesion. A few examples of ellipsis and substitution did occur in
Monyaise (1991) though they are not as evident as in English. Therefore some examples were used to illustrate. Cohesive ties have the ability to function in different ways, e.g.
anaphorically ‘pointing back in the text’, cataphorically ‘pointing forward in the text’ and exophorically ‘pointing to a situation outside’. Reference cohesion as a relationship of communication occurs when an antecedent noun is referred to later in the text. This antecedent should first be introduced in the discourse before it can be referred to. The devices used to bring about reference are emphatic prono uns, demonstratives and comparative devices. Ellipsis and substitution are subdivided into nominal, verbal and clausal. They are more concerned with grammar than wit function therefore they are lexicogrammatical. Ellipsis is a form of substation, which deals with complete omission of a noun (nominal), a verb (verbal), and a clause or part of a clause (clausal).
Substitution like ellipsis substitutes a head noun in the (Noun Phrase), verbal phrase and he clause or part of the clause. The primary function of conjunction is to join or connect sentences or parts of sentences to make them whole so that the ideas will relate. The classification of conjunctions in this study is based on that of the three scholars, Halliday (1994), Gutwinski (1976) and Cole (1979).
Although Gutwinski’s classification is traditional, it still encompasses the aspects found in the more recent classification of Halliday, e.g. additives, adversatives, causals and temporals. These scholars agree that conjunctions are not cohesive in themselves as entities by they add to the connectivity of a text. They do not only operate in close proximity but extend over a larger area than single clauses and within a sentence. Lexical cohesion is also lexicogrammatical. It is categorized into repetition, synonymy and sentences or clauses in close proximity even when they are not adjacent. Synonymy occurs in words implying the same thing, individual words similar in structure and between words used in the same context. Collocation is evident in antonyms and oppositions.
Although this research is an attempt to make a contribution to the topic of cohesion in Tswana narrative texts, the study is by no means exhaustive in its exploration. More research on aspects such as ellipsis, substitution and redundancy needs to be carried out.
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