an analysis of lexical cohesion of english and vietnamese economic news discourse = phân tích các phương tiện liên kết từ vựng trong diễn ngôn tin kinh tế tiếng anh và tiếng việt

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY - HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES




NGUYỄN THỊ TUYẾT



AN ANALYIS OF LEXICAL COHESION OF ENGLISH AND
VIETNAMESE ECONOMIC NEWS DISCOURSE

Phân tích các phương tiện liên kết từ vựng trong diễn ngôn
tin kinh tế Tiếng Anh và Tiếng Việt



M.A. MINOR THESIS

FIELD: ENGLISH LINGUISTICS
CODE: 60.22.15




HA NOI - 2010

TABLE OF CONTENTS
PART A: INTRODUCTION 1
I. Rationale of the study 1
II. Scope of the study 2
III. Aims of the study 2
IV. Research questions 2
V. Research Methods 3
VI. Organization of the study 3
PART B: DEVELOPMENT 5
CHAPTER I: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 5
I.1. Discourse and discourse analysis 5
I.1.1. Discourse Analysis 5
I.1.2. Discourse and Text 6
I.1.3. Spoken and written discourse 7
I.2. Discourse Context 8
I.2.1. Context 8
I.2.2. Context of situation 8
I.3. Cohesion & Coherence 9
I.3.1. Cohesion vs. Coherence 9
I.3.2. Cohesive devices 10
I.3.2.1. Grammatical cohesion 10
I.3.2.2. Lexical cohesion 12
I.4. Register and genre 13
I.4.1. Register 13
I.4.1.1. Field 14
I.4.1.2. Mode 14
I.4.1.3. Tenor 14
I.4.2. Genre 15
I.5. Economic news discourse 15

CHAPTER II: A COMPARISON OF LEXICAL COHESION IN ENGLISH AND
VIETNAMESE ECONOMIC NEWS DISCOURSE 17
II.1. Frequency of occurrence of two major types of lexical cohesion 17
II.2. Reiteration 18
II.2.1. Repetition 19
II.2.2. Synonym 25
II.2.3. Antonym 28
II.2.4. Superordinate/ Meronymy 31
II.2.4.1. Superordinate 31
II.2.4.2. Meronymy 33
II.3. Collocation 34
PART C: CONCLUSIONS 40
I. Conclusions 40
II. Limitations of the study 40
III. Implications for teachers and EFL learners 40
III.1. Implications for teaching and learning ESP 40
III.2. Implications for teaching and learning translation 41
IV. Recommendations for further studies 42
REFERENCES 43
APPENDICES

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1: Frequency of occurrence and percentage of contribution of
two major types of lexical cohesion in English and Vietnamese
economic news

……….

17
Table 2: Frequency of occurrence and percentage of contribution of
sub-categories of reiteration in English and Vietnamese economic news

………

18
Table 3: Frequency of occurrence and percentage of contribution of
sub- categories of repetition………

………

20
Table 4: Frequency of occurrence and percentage of contribution of
subtypes of antonym ………………………………………………………

………

29
Table 5: Frequency of occurrence and percentage of contribution of
subtypes of lexical collocation………………………………………….

………

36



















PART I: INTRODUCTION
I. Rationale of the study
Nowadays, the need of international communication has been increasing rapidly and
English is regarded as a predominant means of international communication, particularly
in transferring written information. Most of magazines, newspapers, internet sites, etc. of
both English speaking countries and non-English speaking countries are published,
exchanged in English. Vietnam is not an exception.
Lexical competence is indispensable part of communicative competence because it

indicates the ability to use language in different contexts. Lexis helps to make texts
coherent and cohesive by establishing grammatical and lexico-grammatical relations.
Actually, knowing how to select appropriate vocabulary to deal with specific topics in
specific genres means knowing how to create coherent and cohesive texts. This can be
achieved by utilizing lexical cohesive devices. Hoey (1991) claims that ―lexical cohesion
is the single most important form of cohesion, accounting for something like forty percent
of cohesion ties in text‖[28] and that ―various lexical relationships between the different
sentences making up a text provide a measure of the cohesiveness of the text. The
centrality and importance to the text of any particular sentence within the text will be
determined by the number of lexical connections that sentences have to other sentences in
the text‖ [31]
As a learner, a teacher, and a beginning researcher of English, the author would like to
choose An analysis of lexical cohesion of English and Vietnamese Economic news
discourse as the topic of this study with the hope to deeply understand how lexical
cohesion is achieved in economic news discourse and the importance of lexical cohesion
in English and Vietnamese in general and in economic news discourse in particular.
Studying and analyzing economic news discourse is of the author‘s high interest
because
(i) economic news is widely available and easily accessible data that provide
rich sources for research, studying, teaching and learning.
(ii) economic news discourse not only represents speech communities' use of
and attitudes towards languages but also influences them.
(iii) economic news helps us to understand a lot about social meanings and
stereotypes embedded in, produced and reproduced through discourse and
communication. Through reading economic news we can also learn more
about other nations in cultural side
(iv) coherence and cohesion in general and lexical cohesion in particular play
such an important role in understanding economic news discourse because
of their function of binding texts together by creating sequences of
meaning.

II. Scope of the study
Within the framework of a minor M.A thesis, the present study will not take up all
items involved in cohesion. The writer will focus only on lexical cohesion of English and
Vietnamese Economic News discourse taken from some mainstream newspapers. The
comparison between lexical cohesion in English and Vietnamese economic news discourse
will reveal the similarities and differences between these two languages. It is hoped that
this study will help the teachers and students to gain an insight into the use of lexical
cohesive devices in English and Vietnamese economic news.
III. Aims of the study
The inter-related aims of this thesis are:
(i) to make comparative analysis of lexical cohesion between English and
Vietnamese economic news discourse to help readers surmount difficulties
in using and understanding the lexical cohesive devices.
(ii) to figure out how these cohesive devices are used in English and
Vietnamese economic news discourse.
(iii) to give a systematic and comprehensive description of lexical cohesion
features in English and Vietnamese.
(iv) to help the teachers and students to gain an insight into the use of lexical
cohesive devices in English and Vietnamese economic news.
IV. Research questions
In order to analyse lexical cohesion of English and Vietnamese in economic news the
thesis raises a question “What are the similarities and differences between the use of
lexical cohesive devices in English and Vietnamese economic news discourse?”
This research question will be clarified by three other sub-questions as follows:
(i) How is lexical cohesion via lexical devices realized in English and Vietnamese
economic news discourses?
(ii) What are the most frequently used lexical cohesive devices in English and
Vietnamese economic news discourses?
(iii)What are the overall features of English and Vietnamese economic news discourse
in terms of lexical cohesion?

V. Research Methods
Research methods of description, analysis and statistics in linguistics have been used
to fulfill the objectives of the study. Specifically, document analysis is the primary
research method used in this study, which focuses on analysis of lexical cohesion in the
economic news.
Halliday and Hasan‘s(1976) model is mainly adopted to identify lexical cohesive ties
in the data. Yet, the definition and classification of lexical cohesive ties are carefully
explained and illustrated.
The data for the present analysis have been selected from mainstream newspapers
written in English including Economics, Real Life Economics, The Times, Times online,
The Sunday Times, The Wall Street Journal… and Vietnamese such as Thời Báo Kinh
Tế Việt Nam, Tiền Phong, Người Lao Động, Thanh niên, Kinh tế Tài chính và Thị
trường Chứng khoán, … The study aims at collecting ten pieces of English economic
news and ten pieces of Vietnamese ones written by different journalists. All lexical
cohesive ties in these news discourses are picked up, the type of lexical cohesive devices
are noted. However, only outstanding examples are used to illustrate, the percentages of
various type of lexical cohesion in each language are calculated and the results are
compared and contrasted within and between text groups of the same genre in both
English and Vietnamese.
VI. Organization of the study
The thesis consists of three parts, references and appendices
PART I: INTRODUCTION
This part presents rationale, scope, and objectives of the study.
Research methods, research questions and organization of the thesis
are also given clearly in this part.
PART II: DEVELOPMENT
This is the focus of the study which consists of two chapters
CHAPTER I: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
This chapter provides fundamental and theoretical concepts related
to the purpose of the study. It deals with theories of discourse,

discourse analysis, coherence and cohesion, register and discourse
genre.
CHAPTER II: A COMPARISON OF LEXICAL COHESION IN ENGLISH
AND VIETNAMESE ECONOMIC NEWS DISCOURSE
This chapter not only investigates lexical items but also presents the
description and exemplification of lexical cohesion in English and
Vietnamese economic news to find out the similarities and
differences between these two languages. Main features of lexical
cohesive devices in English and Vietnamese economic news are
also indicated in this chapter.
PART III: CONCLUSIONS
This final part gives the overall answers for the research questions
of the study, implications for teaching and learning, and some
suggestions for further studies.

PART II: DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER I: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
I.1. Discourse and Discourse Analysis
I.1.1. Discourse Analysis
In his book An introduction to Discourse Analysis, Nguyen Hoa (2000) defined
discourse analysis as ―a study of how and for what purposes language is used in a certain
context of situation.‖ Yule (1996: 139) stated: "In the study of language, some of the most
interesting questions arise in connection with the way language is 'used', rather than what
its components ( ) We were, in effect, asking how it is that language-users interpret what
other language users intend to convey. When we carry this investigation further and ask
how it is that as language-users, make sense of what we read in texts, understand what
speakers mean despite what they say, recognize connected as opposed to jumbled or
incoherent discourse and successfully take part in that complex activity called
conversation, we are undertaking what is known as discourse analysis."
It is clear that discourse analysis is the examination of language used by members of a
speech community. It involves looking at both language form and language function and
includes the study of both spoken interaction and written texts. It identifies linguistic
features that characterize different genres as well as social and cultural factors that aid in
our interpretation and understanding of different texts and types of talk. A discourse
analysis of written texts might include a study of topic development and cohesion across
the sentences, while an analysis of spoken language might focus on these aspects plus
turn-taking practices, opening and closing sequences of social encounters, or narrative
structure.
The study of discourse has developed in a variety of disciplines— sociolinguistics,
anthropology, sociology, and social psychology. Thus, discourse analysis takes different
theoretical perspectives and analytic approaches: speech act theory, interactional

sociolinguistics, ethnography of communication, pragmatics, conversation analysis, and
variation analysis (Schiffrin, 1994). Although each approach emphasizes different aspects
of language use, they all view language as social interaction.
A significant contribution to the evolution of discourse analysis has been made by
British and American scholars. British discourse analysis has been mainly influenced by
M.A.K. Halliday's functional approach to language. Halliday's framework emphasized the
social function of language and the thematic and informational structure of speech and
writing. De Beaugrande (1980), Halliday and Hasan (1976), Van Dijk (1972) as well as
Prague School of linguists have made a

significant contribution to this branch of linguistics
by indicating the connection of grammar and discourse. On the other hand, the American
discourse analysis has produced a large number of descriptions of discourse types along
with social limitations of politeness and thorough description of face-preserving acts in
speech.
I.1.2. Discourse and text
Different linguists have different ways to define discourse. Brown and Yule (1983:18)
pointed out that ―discourse is language material, either spoken or written, in actual uses by
speakers (and writers) of the language.‖ Cook (1989:156) considered discourse as
"stretches of language perceived to be meaningful, unified, and purposive". Crystal (1992:
72) had a similar perspective of discourse when he defined discourse as "a continuous
stretch of (especially spoken) language larger than a sentence, often constituting a coherent
unit such as a sermon, argument, joke, or narrative.‖
So far, many linguists share the same view that the term discourse and text can be
used interchangeably. Halliday & Hasan (1976:1) found no distinction between them when
they stated ―a text may be spoken or written, pose or verse, dialogue or monologue.‖ For
them, the term ―text‖ is referred to as a ―semantic unit‖ characterized by cohesion. They
stated: ―A text is a passage of discourse which is coherent in two regards: It is coherent
with respect to the context of situation, and therefore consistent in register; and it is
coherent with respect to itself, and therefore cohesive‖ (Halliday & Hasan, 1976:23).

For some other linguists, ―discourse‖ is different from ―text‖. Brown and Yule (1983:6)
argued that ―discourse is language material, either spoken or written, in actual uses by
speakers (and writers) of the language.‖ while text is ―the representation of discourse and
the verbal record of communicative act.‖ In Widdowson‘s viewpoint (1984) ―Discourse is
a communicative process by means of interaction. Its situational outcome is a change in a
state of affairs: information is conveyed, intension made clear, its linguistic product is
text.‖ (quoted in Nguyen Hoa, 2000: 14). According to Cook (1989: 156), discourse is
considered as ―stretches of language perceived to be meaningful, unified, and purposive‖
whereas text is ―a stretch of language interpreted formally, without context.‖ Crystal
(1992:72) considered discourse as "a continuous stretch of (especially spoken) language
larger than a sentence‖ while text is ―a piece of naturally occurring spoken, written, or
signed discourse identified for purposes of analysis.‖ It is clear that these linguists see
discourse as a process and text as a product.
For the sake of the study, the writer of this thesis would take the viewpoint that
discourse is the process of communicating via language. Text is the record of the process
of communication. Text may exist in written or spoken form.
I.1.3. Spoken and written discourse
Spoken and written languages present different modes of expressing language
meanings. These two mediums of discourse share some similar features but they also have
some differences in terms of forms and function.
Halliday (1985a) stated ―speaking does not show clearly sentence and paragraph
boundaries or signal the move into direct quotation‖. He also pointed out that ―talking
might be spontaneous which results in mistakes, repetition, sometimes less coherent
sentences where even grunts, stutters or pauses might be meaningful.‖ Accordingly, this is
because of the fact that the speaker and the listener know each other or at least the speaker
is aware of the fact that he is being listened to, which helps him to adjust the register.
Another feature of spoken discourse is it may consist of nonsense vocabulary, slang, or
contracted forms (I‘ll, you‘re, he‘s…). Rhythm, intonation and speed of utterance are other
important features of oral discourse. (Crystal 1992:291).
On the contrary, written discourse is considered as well organized, well planned or

transactional. According to Crystal (1995:291) ―writing develops in space in that it needs a
means to carry the information. The writer is frequently able to consider the content of his
work for almost unlimited period of time which makes it more coherent, having complex
syntax.‖ and ―the reader might not instantly respond to the text, ask for clarification, hence
neat message organization, division to paragraphs, layouts are of vital importance to make
comprehension easier.‖ He also indicated another feature only writing discourse has- that
is the organization of tables, charts, or formulas.
David Nunan (1993:12) distinguished spoken and written discourse based on three
features: grammar, lexical density and situation. Although the two share the same
functions: the transactional function and the interactional function (Brown and Yule 1983:
13), the written language has certain features that are not actually shared with the spoken
language. In spoken language grammar is not as important as information, but in written
language, it is essential to maintain enough information, appropriate grammatical
structures as well as rational organization of sentences. The lexical density indicates the
information presented. Evidently, written language seems to have more information
packed into it. With written language, there is no common situation as there in face-to-face
interaction. The situation therefore has to be inferred from the text.
I.2. Discourse context
I.2.1. Context
Discourse analysis involves many aspects such as cohesion, coherence, adjacency
pair, turn-taking, text type, and so on so forth. Among them context plays a key role in the
analysis. According to David Nunan (1993:7), ―Context refers to the situation giving use
to the discourse and within which the discourse is embedded.‖ For him, context has
meanings at two levels, namely, the linguistic level and the non-linguistic level. At the
linguistic level, context is referred to as any linguistic item or content surrounding or
accompanying the piece of discourse under analysis. At the non-linguistic level, context
includes the type of communicative events, the topic, the purpose of the event, the setting,
the participants and the relationship between them and the background knowledge and
assumptions underlying the communicative event.
Obviously, context plays such an important role in understanding a discourse. It is

impossible to understand a person‘s response basing on only the combination of separate
response. In order to understand it wholly and fully, we need to take into account not only
the specific utterances, but also the context in which the discourse is embedded.
I.2.2. Context of situation
The context of situation was formulated by the anthropologist Malinowski in 1923.
Lately, Halliday and Hasan (1976) focused on context of situation when they reported the
study of Malinowski (1923). Halliday pointed out the reason why Malinowski introduced
the notion of context of situation when he stated that ―He understood that a text written by
these people into this language could not be understood by any foreigners or by people
living outside this society even if translated into their own languages because each
message brought more meanings than those expressed through the words, meanings that
could only be understood if accompanied by the situation.‖ (Halliday, 1985:6)
According to Halliday and & Hasan (1976:23) the three headings field, mode, and
tenor which had been proposed for these are considered highly general concepts for
describing how the context of situation determines the kinds of meaning that are
expressed. Yet, for them, the linguistic features, which are typically associated with a
configuration of situational features - with particular values of the field, mode, and tenor,
constitute a register.
Eggins (1994:30) shared the same point of view as Halliday & Hasan (1976) when he
stated that ―context of situation is usually discussed under three variables: what is talked
about, what the relationship between the communicators is, what role the language plays.‖
It is concluded that we can only understand thoroughly someone‘s discourse if we
know the context of situation in which the discourse occurs.
I.3. Cohesion and coherence
I.3.1 Cohesion vs. coherence
Cohesion and coherence are both considered to have a role in contributing to the unity
of the discourse. It is therefore worthwhile to consider some of the definitions given for
cohesion and coherence.
In their book “Cohesion in English” Halliday & Hasan (1976:4) used the term ―cohesion‖
to refer to ―relations of meaning that exist within a text and that define it as a text‖. Cohesion

refers to possibilities to link something with what has been mentioned before. Since this
linking is achieved through relations in meaning, we can, therefore, interpret it as the set of
semantic recourses for linking sentences. Halliday & Hasan (1976:5) considered cohesion
as ‗part of the language system‖. Cohesion can be realized through grammar and
vocabulary; thus, it can be sub-divided into grammar and lexical cohesion. According to
them, ―grammar and lexical ties become cohesive only when they are interpreted through
their relation to some other elements in the text.‖(1976: 31-33)
Richard et. al (1992) seemed to have the same viewpoint with the two scholars when
defining cohesion as ―grammatical and/ or lexical relationships between different
elements of a text. This may be the relationship between different sentences or between
different parts of a sentence.‖
However, the definition provided by Halliday and Hasan is slightly unclear. They
stated that ―cohesion means the coherence of a text itself, while coherence is the coherence
of the text with its context of situation‖ (Halliday and Hasan 1976: 23).
Hasan (1984) defined coherence as a phenomenon which is capable of being measured
by the reader or the listener of a text. The perceived coherence depends upon the
interaction of cohesive devices, which Hasan called ―cohesive harmony‖, the denser the
cohesive harmony of a text is, the more coherent it will be judged.
On the contrary, Widdowson (1978) indicated that coherence can be created without
cohesion. Let‘s look at this example
A: That‘s the phone.
B: I‘m in the bath.
A: O.K
(Widdowson 1978:29)
Obviously, there is no cohesive links in this dialogue. However, we can still
understand it if these three utterances are taken together. Thus, in this example, A‘s
utterance about the telephone can be considered as a request and B‘s response as an excuse
for not being able to comply with A‘s request. A‘s second utterance is then understood as
an acceptance of B‘s excuse.
The example above points out that even when a text does not have surface textual

cohesive links we may still understand it by ―inferring the convert propositional
connections from an interpretation of the illocutionary acts.‖ (Widdowson 1978:29).
Brown and Yule (1983) shared the same viewpoint with Widdowson. They argued that
cohesion was not necessary to all to make a text appear a unified whole and that without
coherence, a set of sentences would not form a text, no matter how many cohesive links
there were between sentences.
From all mentioned above, it is clear that although cohesion and coherence are
significantly different from each other, it is important to realize that the two phenomena
are closely related-The presence of cohesive devices in a text makes it easy to recognize
its coherence.
I.3.2. Cohesive devices
Halliday & Hasan (1976) made a detailed classification of the cohesive devices in
English basing either on semantic relations in the linguistic system or on lexico-
grammatical relations. In other words, these authors distinguished between grammatical
and lexical cohesion.
I.3.2.1. Grammatical cohesion
According to Halliday & Hasan (1976) grammatical cohesion embraces four different
devices:
a, Reference
In Halliday & Hasan‘s viewpoint (1976:31), references functions to retrieve
presupposed information in texts and must be identifiable for it to be considered as
cohesive. They stated ―instead of being interpreted semantically in their own right, they
make reference to something else for their interpretation.‖ (1976:31)
It is clear that reference relates one element of the text to another one for its
interpretation. Since it is a semantic relation ―the reference item is in no way constrained
to match the grammatical class of the item it refers to.‖ (Halliday & Hasan 1976:32).
In the following example, they refers to children.
All children, except one, grow up. They soon know that they will grow up, and the way
Wendy knew was this.
Halliday & Hasan (1976:33) distinguished between situational and textual reference:

Situational reference, which is called exophora, refers to information outside the
context or conversation. It is independent of the context
Textual reference, which is considered as endophora, is subdivided into anaphoric
reference and cataphoric reference
Anaphoric reference is a process where a word or phrase refers back to another word
or phrase used earlier in a text or conversation.
Cataphoric reference is the use of a word or phrase to refer forward to another word or
phrase which will be used later in the text or conversation.
b. Substitution
Substitution is the replacement of a word or phrase by another one to avoid repetition.
In the following example one substitutes for gulf.
The Lion was about to reply when suddenly they came to another gulf across the road.
But this one was so broad and deep that the Lion knew at once he could not leap across it.
There are three types of substitutions: nominal, verbal, and clausal substitution
c. Ellipsis
Ellipsis is an omission of certain elements from a sentence or a clause and can only be
recovered by referring to an element in the proceeding text. The former is non-cohesive
and the latter is cohesive. In this example Dormouse is elided after two
There was a table set out under a tree in front of the house, and the March Hare and
the Hatter were having tea at it: a Dormouse was sitting between them, fast asleep, and
the other two were using it as a cushion, resting their elbows on it, and talking over its
head.
Ellipsis can be repetition and is also subdivided into three types: nominal ellipsis,
verbal ellipsis and clausal ellipsis
d. Conjunction
Halliday and Hasan (1976:76) considered conjunction as ―the semantic relation in its
cohesive function‖. Conjunction is a grammatical cohesion that links words, phrases,
clauses, sentences or even paragraphs to create logical semantic relationship between
them. Conjunction is classified into four sub-types as follows:
(i) additive (e.g. and, besides, furthermore, in addition, etc.)

(ii) adversative (e.g. but, yet, on the other hand, however, etc.)
(iii) causal (e.g. because, so, therefore, for this reason, as a result, in this respect,
etc.)
(iv) temporal (e.g. first, then, next, finally, from now on, formerly, in the end, etc.)
I.3.2.2. Lexical cohesion
Lexical cohesion was first discussed in terms of collocation by Firth (1957) and later
studied seriously by Halliday & Hasan. Lexical cohesion is defined as ―the cohesive effect
achieved by the selection of vocabulary‖ (Halliday & Hasan, 1976:274). Halliday &
Hasan‘s viewpoint is shared by David Nunan (1993:28) when he stated that ―lexical
cohesion occurs when two words in a text are semantically related in some way.‖
Halliday & Hasan (1976) classified lexical cohesion into two main categories:
reiteration and collocation. A reiteration may be a repetition, a synonym or near-synonym,
a superordinate, or a general word. (1976:278). For Halliday & Hasan, superordinate and
general word are considered as two separate categories. However, a general word is called
general superordinate according to Mc. Carthy‘s classification (1991:66). In this thesis,
thus, superordinate and general words are treated under the heading superordinate.
Halliday & Hasan (1976) also point out that the lexical relationship that features as
cohesive force can be extended as there is cohesion between any pairs of lexical items that
stand to each other in some word-meaning relation. Therefore, this would include not only
repetition, synonym/ near-synonym, and superordinate but also pairs of opposites which
are put under the heading antonyms; or pairs of words indicating part to whole relation
which is termed as meronymy, or part to part relation which is called co-meronymy
In this thesis, to be clarified, synonym/near-synonym will be treated under the heading
synonym; any relations related to superordinate or meronym will be treated under the
heading superordinate/ meronymy. Specifically, reiteration is divided into four subtypes,
namely, repetition, synonym, antonym, superordinate/ meronymy.
The main characteristics as well as frequency of occurrence of each type of lexical
cohesive devices will be discussed in detail in the next chapter.
I.4. Register and genre
It is clear that cohesion consists of the mutual connection of components of surface text

within a sequence of sentences, and this process is signaled by a lexico-grammatical
system of language. Thus, cohesion is then concerned with the selection from options
available in the lexico-grammatical system of language. However, what factors determine
this selection?
The function of particular forms of language to create different types of texts is
determined by text type and register. In other words, genre/ register theory is closely
connected with the principle of choice. Thus, the notion of genre and register is one of the
most important factors in determining different language choices.
I.4.1. Register
Register is defined in different ways by different linguists.
Register, in Halliday‘s viewpoint, "is the set of meanings, the configuration of
semantic patterns that are typically drawn upon under the specific conditions, along with
the words and structures that are used in the realization of these meanings" (1985:23). It is
considered as one of the two defining concepts of text, as stated by Halliday (1985:23)
―The concept of cohesion can be supplemented by that of register since the two together
effectively define a text‖.
In Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics, Richards et. al
(1992) defined register as ―a speech variety used by particular group of people, usually
sharing the same occupation (e.g. doctors, lawyers) or the same interests (e.g. stamp
collectors, baseball fans)‖. These scholars also argued that ―a particular register often
distinguishes itself from other registers by having a number of distinctive words, by using
words or phrases in a particular way (e.g. in tennis: deuce, love, tramlines) and sometimes
by special grammatical constructions (e.g. legal language)‖.
For the purpose of this research the term register is being employed because of its
underlying concepts, such as field, tenor, and mode
I.4.1.1. Field
Field, according to Halliday & Hasan (1976:22), refers to ―the total event, in which the
text is functioning, together with the purposive activity of speaker or writer‖. Halliday
(1978:62) claim that field is ―on-going activity and the particular purpose that the use of
language is serving within the context of that activity‖. In other words, utterances or words

employed reveal the kind of activity that is going on. Field is concerned with the
communicative purpose, the nature of social action that is taking place as well as its subject
matter.
I.4.1.2. Mode
Mode is ―the function of the text in the event, including therefore both the channel taken
by language - spoken or written, extempore or prepared, - and its genre, rhetorical mode, as
narrative, didactic, persuasive, 'phatic communion' and so on.‖ (Halliday and Hasan, 1976:22).
It describes the way the language is being used in the speech interaction, including the
medium (spoken, written, written to be spoken, etc.) as well as the rhetorical mode
(expository, instructive, persuasive, etc.).
I.4.1.3. Tenor
Tenor refers to ―the type of role interaction, the set of relevant social relations, permanent
and temporary, among the participants involved.‖ (Halliday & Hasan 1976:22). It is again
mentioned by Halliday (1978:62) as ―the interrelations among participants in terms of status
and role relationships.‖ In other words, it refers to the social relation existing between the
interactants in a speech situation. It includes relations of formality, power, and affect
(manager/clerk, father/son). Thus, tenor influences interpersonal choices in the linguistic
system, and thereby it affects the structures and the strategies chosen to activate the linguistic
exchange.
In brief, register is the linguistic feature of the text that reflects the social context in which
it is produced. It reflects the degree of formality of the particular text by using a characteristic
set of lexical and grammatical features that are compatible with the particular register. The
three dimensions of register: field, mode and tenor are in a dialectical relationship - ―These
three variables are independent: a given level of formality (tenor) influences and is influenced
by a particular level of technicality (field) in an appropriate channel of communication.‖
(Hatim and Mason, 1990:51)
I.4.2. Genre
The definition of genre focuses on its conventionalized nature and on the fact that its
characteristic structure and specific linguistic feature are determined by the particular
purpose the genre is intended to serve.

According to Swales (1990) ―A genre comprises a class of communicative events, the
members of which share some set of communicative purposes. These purposes are
recognized by the expert members of parent discourse community, and thereby constitute
the rationale for genre.‖
Bhatia (1993), who is in the lines of Swales (1990), described genre as a
communicative event characterized by a defined structure and purposiveness:
it is a recognizable communicative event characterized by a set of communicative
purpose(s) identified and mutually understood by the members of the professional or
academic community in which it regularly occurs. Most often it is highly structured and
conventionalized with constraints on allowable contributions in terms of their intent,
positioning, form and functional value. These constraints, however, are often exploited by
the expert members of the discourse community to achieve private intentions within the
framework of socially recognized purpose(s). (Bhatia 1993: 13)
From all mentioned above it is obvious that genre is staged, goal-directed and
purposeful. Genre can be defined as a cultural specific text-type which results from using
language (spoken or written) to accomplish something.
I.5. Economic news discourse
Economic news is one type of press used in everyday newspapers, magazines to carry
out the informing function and the influencing function. According to Nguyễn Thị Vân
Đông (2001), the function of press is ―informing and provoking reader‘s curiosity and
satisfying their choice.‖
In this thesis, the mode of economic new is in the form of written language, thus it has
several features:
 it uses a number of noun phrases modified by various adjective phrases, sentences are
in the form of subject - predicate structure
 Information provided in this type of discourse must be exact, current
 The economic news consists of a number of paragraphs.
 The main idea of the economic text is expressed in the headline and in the topic
sentence
 The economic news is registered by mixture of language. Firstly, plain and neutral

lexis is employed to transfer information directly and effectively. It is registered by
official, formal and expressive lexis as well.
 The tenor of the economic news is interpersonal between the writers and readers as
they are working on the discourse.

























CHAPTER II: A COMPARISON OF LEXICAL COHESION IN ENGLISH AND

VIETNAMESE ECONOMIC NEWS DISCOURSE
In this chapter, the lexical cohesive ties employed in ten English economic news discourse
and ten Vietnamese ones will be identified and the number of them was calculated and the
percentage of each subtype will be discussed. Also, the description and exemplification of
lexical cohesion in English and Vietnamese economic news will be given. As mentioned
previously, the taxonomies provided by Halliday and Hasan (1976) will be adopted.
Specifically, Lexical cohesive ties are subdivided into two broad categories: reiteration and
collocation. The former is further classified into repetition, synonym, antonym, superordinate/
meronymy. The later is sub-classified into resultative collocation, modificational collocation,
and contextual collocation. The economic news was taken from some mainstream newspapers
in English such as Economics, Real Life Economics, The Times, Times online, The Sunday
Times,… and in Vietnamese such as Thời Báo Kinh Tế Việt Nam, Tiền Phong, Người Lao
Động, Thanh niên, Kinh tế Tài chính và Thị trường Chứng khoán, …
II.1. Frequency of occurrence of two major types of lexical cohesion
Table 1: Frequency of occurrence and percentage of contribution of two major types of
lexical cohesion in English and Vietnamese economic news
Lexical cohesive ties
In English economic news
In Vietnamese economic news
Reiteration
524 (88.5%)
519 (89.8%)
Collocation
68 (11.5%)
59 (10.2%)
Total
592 (100%)
578 (100%)
Table 1 presents the frequency of occurrence and percentage of contribution of two major
categories of lexical cohesive devices in English and Vietnamese economic news

discourse. The data indicate that, in both English and Vietnamese economic news,
reiteration is the more frequently occurring category of lexical cohesive ties with the
percentage of contribution up to 88.5 in English and 89.8 in Vietnamese. Since reiteration
is subcategorized into four types and the investigation of the random selected economic
news in English and Vietnamese reveals that the four sub-types of reiteration do not occur
with equal frequency. Therefore, the frequency of occurrence and the main features of each
sub-type of reiteration ties will be discussed in detail in the next part.
II.2. Reiteration
Reiteration is defined by Halliday & Hasan (1976: 319) as ―the repetition of a lexical
item, or the occurrence of a synonym of some kind, in the context of reference; that is,
where the two occurrences have the same reference. Typically, therefore, a reiterated
lexical item is accompanied by a reference item, usually ‗the‘ or a demonstrative‖
These scholars emphasize the role of a reference item, together with a related lexical,
as in the following examples:
 I turned to the ascent of the peak. The ascent is perfectly easy. (repetition)
 I turned to the ascent of the peak. The climb is perfectly easy. (synonym)
 I turned to the ascent of the peak. The task is perfectly easy. (superordinate)
Obviously, a reiterated lexical item is accompanied by a reference item the. The
complex consisting of the plus reiterated lexical item is therefore cohesive by reference.
They also state that cohesion occurs ―where the interpretation of some element in the
discourse is dependent on that of another‖. However, in their opinion, the two lexical items
may cohere whether or not they have the same referent or whether or not a referential
relationship exists between them, and the second occurrence may be identical, inclusive,
exclusive or unrelated, in terms of reference.
Reiteration consists of four sub-types. Frequency of occurrence and percentage of
contribution of each type is shown in the table below:
Table 2: Frequency of occurrence and percentage of contribution of sub-categories of
reiteration in English and Vietnamese economic news
Sub-categories of
reiteration ties

in English economic news
in Vietnamese economic
news
Repetition
386 (73.7%)
417 (80.3%)
Synonym
74 (14.1%)
62 (11.9%)
Antonym
33 (6.3%)
19 (3.7%)
Superordinate/ Meronymy
31 (5.9%)
21 (4.1%)
Total
524 (100%)
519 (100%)
As can be inferred from the frequency of occurrence of each sub-type shown in the
table, repetition is the most frequent lexical reiteration tie in economic news discourse of
both languages with the percentage up to 73.7 in English and 80.3 in Vietnamese. The
proportion of this lexical tie is much higher than all the other lexical reiteration ties in both
languages. Synonym is ranked the second in economic news of both languages. However,
this type of reiteration occurs more frequently in English economic news: 14.1% in English
and 11.9% in Vietnamese.
Antonym is ranked the third with 6.3% in English economic news while in
Vietnamese ones antonym is ranked the last with the percentage of 3.7 %. In English
economic news, the last type in a list of the range of reiteration tie in descending order is
superordinate/ meronymy which accounts for only 5.9%.
As shown in table 2, the distribution of different categories of lexical reiteration tie is

roughly the same in English and Vietnamese economic news. Among all types of
reiteration only repetition is used more frequently in Vietnamese economic news (80.3%)
while all the other types are employed more in English economic news.
II.2.1. Repetition
Repetition is the way we repeat exactly a lexical item mentioned previously in the text.
This is most popular cohesive device that can be found in economic news.
Repetition is categorized by Hoey (1991) into simple lexical repetition and complex lexical
repetition.
The former contains cases when a lexical item that has already appeared previously in
the text is repeated with no great alternation in terms of closed grammatical paradigm. For
example, ―rises‖ is the simple repetition of ―is rising‖.
In Hoey‘s viewpoint (1991), complex lexical repetition comprises cases when two
lexical items share a lexical morpheme but are not completely identical or when they are
identical but have different grammatical functions. In other words, a lexical item can be
repeated in different parts of speech within and between sentences in the text. For example,
deliver (v) – delivery (n)
rise (v) - rise (n)
Trần Ngọc Thêm (1985) also mentioned cases when a verb is repeated in the form of a
noun or an adjective is repeated in the form of a noun…This phenomenon is the same as
what Hoey (1991) called ―complex lexical repetition‖. Therefore, in this study, to be
clarified, any lexical items repeated with different functions will be treated as complex
lexical repetition.
The frequency of occurrence of sub-categories of repetition is shown in the table below:
Table 3: Frequency of occurrence and percentage of contribution of sub- categories of
repetition
Sub- categories of
repetition
in English economic news
in Vietnamese economic news
Simple lexical repetition

342 (88.6%)
406 (97.3%)
Complex lexical repetition
44 (11.4%)
11 (2.7%)
Total
386 (100%)
417 (100%)
As presented in table 3, in both English and Vietnamese economic news the number of
simple lexical repetition is much higher than complex ones. However, simple lexical
repetition is used more in Vietnamese economic news with the total number of appearance
up to 406 (97.3%), whereas complex lexical repetition is employed more in English
economic news at 44 (11.4%).
The investigation result indicates that the most natural and common simple lexical
repetition in both English and Vietnamese economic news is repetition of nouns or noun
phrases.
Following are some examples:
Inflation
It‘s commonly observed that although money incomes keep going up over the years,
we never seem to become much better off. Prices are rising continuously. This condition is
called inflation. The money supply is being inflated so that each unit of it becomes less
valuable. In recent years we have gotten used to higher and higher rates of inflation. What
could be bought twenty years ago for $1 now costs well over $2. Present trends indicate
that this rate of inflation is tending to rise rather than to fall if in the real world our money
incomes go up at the same rate as prices, one might think that inflation does not matter.
But it does.
(Real Life Economics. February 25, 2009)
High earners hit as 50p tax rate goes ahead
… Introduced to stem the burgeoning public deficit, the higher rate of income tax
provoked an outcry among business groups.

The Institute of Directors warned that the tax will simply drive top earners abroad,
while the CBI decried the tax as "economic vandalism".
(The Times. April 6, 2010)
It should be noted that, in English, in most cases, the repeated noun or noun phrase is
accompanied with a reference item, typically ‗the‘ or demonstrative ‗this‘, or ‗that‘ as
illustrated in the two examples above. However, when nouns being used to mention things
or concepts in general are repeated among sentences in texts, the reference items are not
used before them. For example, ‗money income‘, ‗prices‘, ‗inflation‘
The following example illustrates repetition of nouns or noun phrases in Vietnamese
economic news
Châu Âu thống nhất kế hoạch giải cứu Hy Lạp
Đồng Euro thời gian gần đây đã suy yếu nhanh chóng vì cuộc khủng hoảng nợ tại Hy
Lạp. Các nước sử dụng đồng Euro (Eurozone) vừa đi tới một kế hoạch hỗ trợ tài chính cho Hy
Lạp, quốc gia đang chìm sâu trong khủng hoảng nợ công.
Kế hoạch bao gồm sự tham gia của các chính phủ trong khối và Quỹ Tiền tệ Quốc tế
(IMF), nhằm mục đích chặn sự lan rộng của cuộc khủng hoảng nợ đang xói mòn sức mạnh
của đồng Euro .
Hãng tin AP cho biết, kế hoạch trên sẽ chỉ được triển khai trong trường hợp Hy Lạp
không còn có thể tiếp cận được các nguồn vốn từ thị trường tài chính như phát hành trái phiếu
chính phủ. Khi đó, 16 quốc gia còn lại trong Eurozone và IMF sẽ tung ra các khoản vay cho
nước này.
Ngoài ra, kế hoạch cũng kêu gọi khối Eurozone có những quy tắc chặt chẽ hơn đối với
hoạt động chi tiêu của chính phủ để tránh tình trạng thâm hụt ngân sách vượt tầm kiểm soát và
tạo ra mầm mống cho khủng hoảng . Đồng Euro thời gian gần đây đã suy yếu nhanh chóng vì
cuộc khủng hoảng nợ tại Hy Lạp
(“Kinh te tai chinh va thi truong chung khoan”. Saturday, April 4, 2010)
Reference ‗the‘ is equivalent to the demonstrative ‗này‘, ‗đó‘, ‗ấy‘ in Vietnamese.
However, in English ‗the‘ is used obligatorily to indicate the relation of the same reference
between repeated nouns/ noun phrases in text while in Vietnamese ‗này‘, ‗đó‘, ‗ấy‘ can
sometimes be omitted without losing the meaning of the sentence. In the example above,

‗kế hoạch‘ is repeated several times without the use of demonstrative; however, the reader
can still understand what it is intended basing on the context.
Among nouns and noun phrases, a large number of the repetition of proper nouns is
found in English economic news. For example,