an analysis of grammatical cohesion used in the call of the wild by jack london = phân tích liên kết ngữ pháp sử dụng trong tác phẩm tiếng gọi nơi hoang dã của jack london

Vietnam national university, hanoi
University of languages and international studies
FACULTY of post- graduate studies




TRẦN THỊ HOA MAI


AN ANALYSIS OF GRAMMATICAL COHESION USED IN
“THE CALL OF THE WILD” BY JACK LONDON
(Phân tích liên kết ngữ pháp sử dụng trong tác phẩm “Tiếng gọi
nơi hoang dã” của Jack London)


M.A. Minor programme thesis




Field: English Linguistics
Code: 60.22.15




HANOI – 2010
Vietnam national university, hanoi
University of languages and international studies
FACULTY of post- graduate studies

TRẦN THỊ HOA MAI


AN ANALYSIS OF GRAMMATICAL COHESION USED IN
“THE CALL OF THE WILD” BY JACK LONDON
(Phân tích liên kết ngữ pháp sử dụng trong tác phẩm “Tiếng gọi
nơi hoang dã” của Jack London)

M.A. Minor programme thesis



Field: English Linguistics
Code: 60.22.15
Supervisor: NGUYỄN HƢƠNG GIANG, M.A.




HANOI - 2010
iv

TABLES OF CONTENTS
CONTENTS Pages
DECLARATION ……………………………………………………… i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ………………….…………………………………………. ii

ABSTRACT …………………………………………………………………………… iii
TABLES OF CONTENTS iv
LISTS OF TABLES AND FIGURES …………………………………………… … vi

PART A: INTRODUCTION 1
1. Rationale of the study 1
2. Aims of the study 2
3. Scope of the study 2
4. Methods of the study 2
5. Design of the study 3

PART B: DEVELOPMENT 4
Chapter 1: Theoretical Background 4
1.1. Discourse and Discourse Analysis 4
1.1.1. Discourse Analysis 4
1.1.2. Discourse and text 5
1.2. Cohesion 5
1.2.1. The concept of cohesion 5
1.2.2. Cohesion vs. Coherence 6
1.2.3. Types of Cohesion 6
1.2.3.1. Grammatical Cohesion 7
1.2.3.2. Lexical Cohesion 12
Chapter 2: An overview on "The Call of the Wild" by Jack London 13
2.1. A brief summary of "The Call of the Wild" 13
2.2. An overview on "The Call of the Wild" 13
2.2.1. Characters 13
2.2.2. Story events 14
v

Chapter 3: An analysis of grammatical cohesion used in "The Call of the Wild"

by Jack London. 15
3.1. Reference 15
3.1.1. Exophoric and Endophoric Reference 15
3.1.1.1. Exophoric Reference 15
3.1.1.2. Exophoric Reference 17
3.1.2. Statistical Analysis of Reference Markers 18
3.2. Substitution 21
3.3. Ellipsis 23
3.3.1. Nominal Ellipsis 24
3.3.2. Verbal Ellipsis 28
3.3.2.1. Lexical Ellipsis 29
3.3.2.2. Operator Ellipsis 30
3.3.3. Clausal Ellipsis 31
3.3.3.1. Wh- Ellipsis 31
3.3.3.2. Yes/No Ellipsis 32
3.4. Conjunctions 34
Chapter 4: Major findings and Implications for the Teaching and Learning Writing
Skill 37
4.1. Major Findings of Grammatical Cohesion 37
4.2. Implications for the Teaching and Learning Grammatical Cohesive Devices in
Writing 39
4.2.1. Implications for Teachers 39
4.2.2. Implications for Students 40

PART C: CONCLUSION 41
1. Recapitulation 41
2. Conclusions 41
3. Limitations of the Study 42
4. Suggestions for Further Studies 42
REFERENCES 43

vi

List of Tables and Figures

Tables and Figures Pages
Figures 1.1: Reference 8

Table 1.1: Type of cohesion 6
Table 1.2: Grammatical and Lexical cohesion 7
Table 3.1: Exophoric Reference in “The Call of the Wild” 16
Table 3.2. Personal Reference in “The Call of the Wild” 18
Table 3.3. Demonstrative Reference in “The Call of the Wild” 19
Table 3.4. Comparative Reference in “The Call of the Wild” 19
Table 3.5: Substitution in “The Call of the Wild” 21
Table 3.6: Specific Deitics in “The Call of the Wild” 24
Table 3.7: Non-specific Deitics in “The Call of the Wild” 26
Table 3.8: Numerative in “The Call of the Wild” 27
Table 3.9: Verbal Ellipsis in “The Call of the Wild” 29
Table 3.10: Clausal Ellipsis in “The Call of the Wild” 31
Table 3.11: Conjunctive Relations in “The Call of the Wild” 34

1
PART A: INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale
Discourse Analysis, or discourse studies, is a general term for a number of
approaches to analyzing written, spoken, signed language use or any significant semiotic
event. From the beginning of its appearance, Discourse Analysis has taken up in a variety
of social science disciplines. It is now a rapidly expanding field, providing insights into
various aspects of language in use and therefore of great importance to language teaching.
In the early days, language teaching has been concerned with pronunciation, grammar and
vocabulary; however, it was not until Discourse Analysis turned up that our awareness of
how to put this knowledge into action to gain successful communication was raised.
Literature, which plays a very important role in our spiritual life, has been greatly
developing as a consequence of the high living standards. As a matter of fact, there have
been more and more people choosing to work in the literary field and their efforts have
created so many famous works. It is open to questions as to which factors have to be taken
into consideration to make a successful work? How important are those factors to the
completion of a coherent and cohesive text? Added to this, the knowledge of cohesion and
coherence are actually regarded as the crucial aspects of language usage.
"The Call of the Wild", Jack London's most famous book, is a beautiful tale of a
"house dog" torn from the comforts of hearth and home into the unforgiving wild. The
main character of the story is a dog named Buck. Every aspect of life, including happiness,
hardship, misery, love and so on, is seen through the eyes of this dog. This is the
significance of the book. Buck's story is more than just a children's story or merely a dog's
story, it is our story. Jack London's book, therefore, makes great impression on the readers.
Those reasons mentioned above are the most important ones that have encouraged
the author to conduct "An analysis of grammatical cohesion used in "The Call of the

Wild" by Jack London" as the topic of this study. Hopefully, it may help teachers and
learners of foreign language have an overall viewpoint on grammatical cohesive devices as
well as the effectiveness of the application of such devices in Jack London's "The Call of
the Wild".



2
2. Aims of the study
As mentioned above, there are several reasons that lead the author to choose to
carry out this study. Thus, the aims of the study are as follows:
 To explore how the grammatical cohesive devices employed in "The Call of the
Wild".
 To make a detailed analysis of grammatical cohesion in Jack London's "The Call of
the Wild".
In order to achieve the aims stated, the study is meant to find out the answers to the
following research questions:
1. What grammatical cohesive devices are used in "The Call of the Wild"?
2. To what extent do grammatical cohesive devices contribute to the success of
literary works?

3. Scope of the study
As Discourse Analysis has a very broad scope which has a very close relationship
with many other aspects of language study, it is impossible for the author to refer to all of
its characteristics. Thus, within this study, the author just mentions some background
knowledge about Discourse Analysis as well as coherence and cohesion.
In addition, there are a number of factors that make "The Call of the Wild" a
successful work, hence, this study only focuses on the grammatical cohesive devices
employed in Jack London's book. Data analyzed is taken from the seven chapters of the
book.

4. Methods of the study
To attain the aims of the study, the author has employed the Quantitative
Method. That is to say, this thesis focused more on the collection and analysis of
numerical data and statistics and less on interviews, observations, small numbers of
questionnaires, focus groups, subjective reports and case studies but is much more
Counting and measuring are common forms of quantitative methods. The result of the
research is a number, or a series of numbers. These are often presented in tables, graphs or
other forms of statistics which is the science and practice of developing human knowledge
through the use of empirical data.

3
5. Design of the study
Within the scope mentioned above, the study has three main parts.
Part A is "INTRODUCTION" which consists of the rationale, aims, scope, methods
and design of the study.
Part B entitled "DEVELOPMENT" includes three chapters. Chapter 1, "Theoretical
Background", gives an overview on Discourse and Discourse Analysis, including
Discourse Analysis, Discourse and Text, Discourse context and spoken and written
discourse. In this chapter, the author also introduces background knowledge about
cohesion, the relationship between cohesion and coherence, cohesion and discourse
structure and types of cohesion.
Chapter 2 with the title "An overview on "The Call of the Wild" by Jack London''
provides the brief summary of the book, an overview on the story in terms of the characters,
events and personal perceptions.
Chapter 3 entitled "An analysis of grammatical cohesion used in "The Call of the
Wild" by Jack London" provides a collections of examples taken from the seven chapters
of the book with detailed analysis to clarify the application of such grammatical cohesive
devices employed in that book.
Part C is "CONCLUSION" in which the author summarizes the main points

introduced in the study.
The study ends with the "REFERENCES" which list all the materials and sources
of information used in this study.











4
PART B: DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
As mentioned before, Discourse Analysis has a very broad scope which has close
relationship with many other aspects of language study. Nevertheless, due to the
framework of a M.A. minor programme thesis, in this chapter, the authors just attempts to
discuss some theoretical background about Discourse Analysis in general and Cohesion in
particular.
1.1. Discourse and Discourse Analysis
1.1.1. Discourse Analysis
Discourse analysis is concerned with the relationship between language and the
context in which it is used. It grew out of the work of different disciplines in the 1960s and
early 1970s, including linguistics, semiotics, psychology, anthropology and sociology.
Discourse analysts study language in use: written texts and spoken data of all kinds under
the approach different from those old grammarians. For the time being, there have been
numerous interpretations to what is meant by Discourse Analysis.

British discourse analysis was mainly influenced by M.A.K. Halliday's functional
approach of language. Halliday's framework emphasizes the social function of language
and the thematic and informational structure of speech and writing. De Beaugrande (1980)
and Halliday and Hasan (1976) as well as Prague School of linguists have made their
significant contribution to this branch of linguistics in pointing out the links between
grammar and discourse.
Yule (1996:139) states: "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 are ( ) 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 we, 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 discours and successfully take part in that complex activity called conversation,
we are undertaking what is known as discourse analysis".

5
Discourse analysis is, therefore, is very important to understand or interpret a text.
Only by studying language in use can we recognize the message that the writers wish to
convey. One of the very key technical terms in discourse analysis is cohesion.

1.1.2. Discourse context
David Nunan (1993:7) defines: "Context refers to the situation giving use to the
discourse, and within which the discourse is embedded. According to him, context consists
of two types: linguistic and non-linguistic. Linguistic context is in fact referred to as co-
text. It surrounds or accompanies the piece of discourse under analysis. Non-linguistic
context was taken up by Firth (1957) who placed great emphasis on the "social context".
He saw context of situation as crucial determinants of utterance meaning. However, Firth
did not give a theoretical account of the effect of context on utterance meaning.
Lately, Halliday and Hasan focus on context of situation. And the three headings
FIELD, MODE and TENOR which had been proposed for these are considered highly

general concept for describing how the context of situation determines the kinds of
meaning that are expressed. Yet, according to Halliday and Hasan, 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.

1.2. Cohesion
1.2.1. The concept of cohesion
The concept of cohesion is closely connected with text. It is defined as the
grammatical and lexical relationship between different elements of a text. According to
Yule (1996), a text is usually considered to have a certain structure which depends on
factors quite different from those required in the structure of single sentence. Some among
those factors are described in terms of cohesion, or the ties and connection which exist
within a text.
Halliday and Hasan (1976:4) also define cohesion in a similar way: "The concept of
cohesion is a semantic one; it refers to relations of meaning that exist within a text, and that
defines it as a text". They also point out that cohesion often occurs where the interpretation
of some elements in the discourse is dependent on that of another.


6
1.2.2. Cohesion vs. Coherence
The distinction between cohesion and coherence has not always been clarified
partly because both terms come from the same verb cohere which means sticking together.
In fact, cohesion is the network of different kinds of formal relations that provide links
between or among various parts of a text, and is expressed partly through the grammar and
partly through the vocabulary. Coherence, in contrast, can be understood as the quality of
being meaningful and unified. As for Nunan (1993), coherence is "the feeling that
sequences of sentences or utterances seem to hang together".
Coherence refers to the type of semantic and rhetorical relationships that underline
texts. If cohesion refers to the linguistic elements that make a discourse semantically

coherent, then the coherence involves with what makes a text semantically meaningful.
Cohesion is only guide to coherence and coherence is something created by the
reader in the act of reading the text. The two categories represent the interrelated aspects
that make a text or discourse coherent and different from random ones.
In short, coherence is embodied by a system of cohesive devices and cohesion is
mainly used to ensure coherence.

1.2.3. Types of Cohesion
According to Halliday and Hasan (1976), the classification of cohesion is based on
the linguistic form. The type of cohesion depends either on semantic relation in the
linguistic system or on lexico-grammatical relations. In other words, the cohesive relation
can be interpreted as being either lexico-grammatical in nature or semantic. It can be made
clearer in the following description:
Nature of cohesive relation
Type of cohesion
Relatedness of form
Relatedness of reference
Semantic connection
Substitution and ellipsis; lexical collocation
Reference; lexical reiteration
Conjunction

Table 1.1: Type of cohesion
(Source: Halliday and Hasan, 1976:304)

7
Reference, substitution and ellipsis are clearly grammatical; lexical cohesion, as the
name implies, lexical. Conjunction is on the borderline of grammatical and the lexical; the
set of conjunctive expressions involve lexical selection. However, it is better to put it in the
group of grammatical cohesion as it is mainly grammatical with a lexical component inside.

Consequently, we can refer to grammatical cohesion and lexical cohesion as follows:
Grammatical cohesion
Lexical cohesion
Reference
 Exophoric
 Endophoric
- personal
- demonstrative
- comparative
Substitution
 Nominal substitution
 Verbal substitution
 Clausal substitution
Ellipsis
 Nominal ellipsis
 Verbal ellipsis
 Clausal ellipsis

Conjunction
 Additive
 Adversative
 Causal
 Temporal
 Others
Reiteration
 Same word/repetition
 Synonym/near synonyms
 Superordinates
 General words
Collocation

 Noun + Noun
 Adjective + Noun
 Verb + Noun
 Noun + Preposition
 Adjective + Preposition
 Adverb + Adjective
 Verb + Preposition

Table 1.2: Grammatical and Lexical cohesion

1.2.3.1. Grammatical Cohesion
As mentioned above, grammatical cohesion consists of four sub-types, they are
Reference, Substitution, Ellipsis and Conjunction. Below, by analysing some typical
examples, the author attempts to go into detail with each type with a view to giving an
overall background of grammatical cohesion.
Reference
To begin with, in the view of Halliday and Hasan (1976:32), reference is a semantic
relation and "since the relationship is on the semantic level, the reference item is in no way
constrained to match the grammatical class of the item it refers to".

8
The two authors also distinguish situational and textual reference very clearly by
contrasting exophora (or exophoric reference) and endophora (i.e, endophoric reference) as
follows:
Reference



[situational] [textual]
exophora endophora

[to preceding text] [to following text]
anaphora cataphora
Figure 1.1: Reference
(Source: Halliday and Hasan, 1976:33)

They then conclude that reference items may be exophoric or endophoric; and if
endophoric, they may be anaphoric or cataphoric. These two authors also indicate: "There
are items in every language which have the property of reference". In English, those items
belong to anaphoric and cataphoric reference. The first consists of items which point the
readers or listeners backwards to a previously mentioned entity, process or state of affairs.
The second, on the other hand, points the readers or listeners forward further into the text
in order to identify elements to which the reference items refer.
To take an example, let us look at the opening lines of a famous English novel,
Jude the Obscure. The author, Thomas Hardy, shows different types of reference at work:
The schoolmaster was leaving the village, and everybody seemed sorry. The miller at Cresscombe
lent him the small white tilted cart and horse to carry his goods to the city of his destination, about
twenty miles off, such a vehicle providing of quite sufficient size for the departing teacher's effects.
In this example, there are both anaphoric and exophoric reference. The followings are
detailed analysis of such types of reference.
 Anaphoric Reference:
In the first sense, him in "lent him the small white tilted cart" is the schoolmaster
introduced earlier, his destination is the schoolmaster's and such a links back to the cart in
the previous sentence; therefore, all the expressions “him, his destination, such a” are
referred to as anaphoric reference.

9
 Exophoric Reference:

The novel opens with "the schoolmaster" leaving "the village". We have no
information about which schoolmaster and which village that the writer is referring to. In
this case, the author expects us to share a world with him, independent of the text, with
typical villages and their populations (everybody), their schoolmaster and miller. These
ones are exophoric reference.
Now consider the following example of reference with the pronoun "she":
Although she was still tired, my sister managed to go to school.
In this particular text, neither anaphoric nor exophoric reference supplies the
identity of "she", we have to read on, and are given the identity in the following part of the
sentence. “She” here is cataphoric reference.
Also according to Halliday and Hasan, there are three types of reference: personal,
demonstrative, and comparative. The first is reference by means of function in the speech
situation, through the category of PERSON, such as: I, me, you, we, us (noun/pronoun);
mine, my, your, yours, one's (determiner); etc. The second is reference by means of
location, on a scale of PROXIMITY, such as: this, these, here, now (near proximity); that,
those, there, then (far proximity); or the (neutral proximity). The last is indirect reference
by means of IDENTITY or SIMILARITY, such as same, identical, equal, identically
(identity-general comparison); similar, additional (general similarity - general
comparison); other, different, else, differently, otherwise (difference); better, more, so,
equally (particular comparison).
These various devices enable the writer or speaker to make multiple references to
people and things within a text. Examples of these types are as follows:
1. Peter didn't come to the party. He is too busy typing his reports for the next meeting.
In this example, both “Peter” and “he” refers to the same person. “He” in the second
sentence is regarded as personal reference.
2. Tom is always the last person to enter the meeting hall. This annoys his colleagues.
As can be seen, “This” replaces the meaning of the whole preceding sentence. In this case,
“this” is demonstrative reference.
3. I'm not so happy as he.
In the last example, “so” is used as comparative reference.

10
Substitution
The second type of grammatical cohesion analysed below is substitution.
Substitution is a relation in the wording rather than in the meaning and within the text. It is
the use of substitute word or phrase to avoid repetition. Most of the substitutes are
proforms within sentences, which can be used across sentences. There are three types of
substitution: nominal substitution, verbal substitution and clausal substitution. Substitutes
may be proforms for nouns (one/ ones); proforms for adverbials (there, like it, like that, );
proforms for predicates and predication (do so, do it, do that, so do/does); proforms for
the direct object clause (that, so, ). According to Halliday and Hasan (1976), nominal
substitution includes: one, ones, same; verbal substitution consists of do; and clausal
substitution are so, not. The following are some examples of substitution.
 Nominal substitution
There are some new tennis balls in the bag. These ones have lost their bounce.
In the second sentence, “ones” refers to the noun phrase “tennis balls” appearing before. It
is, therefore, called nominal substitution.
 Verbal substitution
A: Did Mary take that letter?
B: She might have done.
The verb “done” in B’s answer is a substitute of the verb phrase “take that letter”. In this
case, “done” is an example of verbal substitution.
 Clausal substitution
A: Is it going to rain?
B: I think so.
We can see clearly from this conversation that B agrees with A’s idea and the word “so”
substitutes the clause “it is going to rain”. “So” is clausal substitution.

Ellipsis

Ellipsis is an omission of certain elements from a sentence or 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. Elliptical cohesion always appears anaphoric. Ellipsis
can be repetition. This is similar to substitution in terms of three types: nominal ellipsis,
verbal ellipsis and clausal ellipsis.

11
 Nominal ellipsis:
My kids play an awful lot of sport. Both [ ] are incredibly energetic.
In this instance, in order to be fully interpreted, the sentences must be filled with “my kids”
in the gap. However, these are omitted as it is not necessary for readers to work out the
sentence’s meaning.
 Verbal ellipsis:
A: Have you been working?
B: Yes, I have [ ]
Similarly, there is no need to repeat the verb in this sentence as it presupposes the word
from the previous verbal group. The full answer for A’s question is “Yes, I have been
working”. Hence, B’s response here is known as verbal ellipsis.
 Clausal ellipsis:
A: Why'd you only set three places? Paul's staying for dinner, isn't he?
B: Is he? He didn't tell me [ ].
B’s answer in this case can be understood as “He didn’t tell me he is staying for dinner”.
As this clause is omitted, this sentence is considered as an example of clausal ellipsis.

Conjunction
Conjunction is different from substitution, ellipsis and reference in the fact that it is
not a device for reminding the readers of previously mentioned entities, actions and state of
affairs. It is not in the kind of anaphoric relation. But it is a truly cohesive device because it
signals relationships that can only be fully understood through reference to
other parts of the text. There are four types of conjunction: temporal, causal, additive and

adversative. Following are some examples of conjunctive relations:
- Temporal: then, next, after that, just then, at the same time, finally, at last, at once, soon,
after a time, next time, on another occasion, meanwhile, until then, etc.
We have been looking for that book for months. Finally, we manage to get it.
- Causal: so, then, hence, therefore, consequently, for this reason, account for this, as a
result, with this in mind, for, because, on this basis, to this end, arising out of this, in that
case, that being so, under the circumstances, otherwise, in this respect, with reference to
this, aside from this, etc.
As a student, he was very lazy. Consequently, he failed his entrance examination to university.

12
- Adversative: yet, though, however, only, nevertheless, despite this, in fact, actually, on
the other hand, at the same time, instead of, on the contrary, at least, in any case, anyhow,
at any rate, etc.
I have lived here for ten years; however, I've never heard of that pub.
- Additive: and, and so, nor, furthermore, in addition, besides, alternatively, incidentally,
by the way, that is, I mean, in other words, for instance, thus, likewise, similarly, in the
same way, by contrast, etc.
She is intelligent. And she is also very reliable.

1.2.3.2. Lexical Cohesion
Lexical cohesion was first advanced by Firth (1957) and later developed by
Halliday (1961, 1966). Lexical cohesion occurs when two words in a discourse are
semantically related in some way. Halliday and Hasan (1976) classify lexical cohesion into
two main categories: reiteration and collocation.
Reiteration
Reiteration, according to Halliday and Hasan (1976), is "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 referent". Reiteration involves repetition,
synonyms and near synonyms, superordinates, and general words.

The meeting commenced at six thirty. But from the moment it began, it was clear that all was not well.

Collocation
Collocation is known as the tendency to co-occur in the same lexical environment
without depending on any semantic relationships.
E.g.: A: Would you mind filling the kettle and switching it on? (1)
B: I need boiling water for vegetable. (2)
In (1) we have the word “kettle” and in terms of meaning, two words “fill” and “switch”
which may be used to combine with “kettle” appear in our minds. Likewise, in (2) we have
“water” and “boil” in our mind. These are known as collocation.
To sum up, the first chapter of this study just provides some background knowledge
about Discourse and Cohesion in general. All these will be discussed in more detail with
examples from the novel “The Call of the Wild” at chapter three of the thesis.

13
CHAPTER 2: AN OVERVIEW ON "THE CALL OF THE WILD" BY JACK
LONDON.
Among those famous literary works of English literature, “The Call of the Wild” by
Jack London is considered one of the greatest. It is assumed that this novel is not just a
story for children; its appeal also has influences on adult readers’ feelings and emotion.
Following, we attempt to give a brief description of the story’s plot, the main characters
and all the events which takes place in the novel. Hopefully, it will help readers have a
more thorough understanding of the book as well as the moral lessons conventionally
conveyed.

2.1. A brief summary of "The Call of the Wild"
The Call of the Wild is the story of a dog’s journey from living a cocooned life in
sunny California, to the unforgiving frozen dunes of the arctic. A man’s greed stole Buck’s
comfortable life. He was sold by his master’s trusted servant to men heading south in
search of that precious yellow metal - gold. Buck’s journey through the harsh landscapes

as a sledge dog, passing from rough but skilled hands of his first owners, to the
incompetence of a group of three, and then finally, into the care of the loving John
Thornton, teaches him to survive in the ways of the wild. In the process, his natural killer
instincts, made dormant by his brush with civilisation, awaken. Buck becomes the best
sledge dog ever that walked the frozen trails to the land of gold. In the end, as John
Thornton – the last tie with human life - dies a tragic death, Buck finally resides where he
was always meant to be: in the heart, and call of the wild.

2.2. An overview on "The Call of the Wild"
2.2.1. Characters
As a matter of fact, "The Call of the Wild" is the story of a dog's journey and all the
events happened in the story are seen through the eyes of that dog. Buck, the name of the
dog, can be said to be the witness as well as the story-teller who helps readers have an
overall perception of the whole story. However, Jack London's viewpoint is not just to
describe a journey. He also wants, through his characters, to convey the social concerns of
that period.

14
Added to this, during his journey, Buck has a great deal of relationships with a
number of different characters. All these characters have built up the story events.
Nevertheless, the major characters of the story can be classified into three groups: Buck,
John Thornton, and the last consisting of three members: Hal, Charles and Mercedes. Each
character represents the thoughts and behaviour of one group of people during the period in
which the story takes place.

2.2.2. Story events
"The Call of the Wild" is a great novel with a long sequence of events happening
through the story of Buck. However, it is not merely a description of a journey seeking for
gold, it is a true description of life during the time when the story was written. The novel,
therefore, teaches us the real life, not in a big comfortable flat, but life, which consists of

fighting with nature. Jack London has embedded in his story with a lot of social issues as
well as hidden messages that cause readers to consider after reading the book. On
analysing the book thoroughly, we realize that the main themes that the author wants to
show us includes: Survival of the fittest, Heredity and Environment and Man - Dog
Relationship.
A detailed analysis of the story events in the next chapter will make it clearer to
have an overview on the “hidden messages” in “The Call of the Wild”.














15
CHAPTER 3: AN ANALYSIS OF GRAMMATICAL COHESION USED IN “THE
CALL OF THE WILD”
As mentioned above, “The Call of the Wild” is a fantastic book whose appeal
remains until today. There are a number of factors that makes this novel a great success.
Cohesion is considered as one of the key elements. Thus, how is cohesion, specifically
grammatical cohesion exploited and by what way can Jack London employ all the items
related in his work? The following chapter attempts to answer all these questions as well as
points out some major findings of grammatical cohesion in “The Call of the Wild”.

3.1. References
3.1.1. Exophoric and Endophoric Reference
3.1.1.1 Exophoric Reference
Reference is a relationship in meaning. The fact shows that reference to the
situation is the prior form of reference, and that reference to another item within the text is
a secondary or derived form of this relation. This is more clearly illustrated in Halliday
(1985:312): “It seems quite unlikely that reference first evolved as an “exophoric” relation:
that is, as a means of linking “outwards” to some person or object in the environment”. In
another word, reference to assumed, shared worlds outside of the text are exophoric.
Exophoric reference contributes to the creation of the text, in that it links the language with
the context of situation, but it does not contribute to the integration of one passage with
another so that the two together form the parts of the same text. It is not text-internal, not
of contribution to the cohesion of a text, however, it helps to make sense in the context.
While analysing “The Call of the Wild” in detail, we realize that such type of
references is widely used. It can be seen in the following examples:
( ) And this was the manner of dog Buck in the fall of 1897, when the Klondike strike dragged men
from all the world into the frozen North. (Chapter 1)
On reading the book, this sentence draws our attention to “the Klondike” and “the
frozen North”. In order to understand these linguistic items, it is essential that readers have
some background knowledge of the social event taking place during the time the novel was
written. (The Klondike Gold Rush was a frenzy of gold rush immigration to and for gold
prospecting, at the Klondike river near Dawson city, Yuko, Canada, after gold was
discovered there in the late 19
th
century. Many men of that time were lured to that area to
explore this precious metal).

16
Buck’s first day on the Dyea beach was like a nightmare. (Chapter 2)
Jack London ends chapter 1 with the scene of the dog Buck and his friends leaving

on a ship to a colder place – as Buck can perceive. And to begin chapter 2, the author
introduces to readers “Buck’s first day on the Dyea”. Which “Dyea”? Is it in the Arctic
darkness as mentioned at the beginning of the novel? We are using more than just the text
here to establish referents. In this case, the author expects us to share a world with him,
independent of the text, in which both men and dogs and other living creatures have to
endure hard conditions of a primordial life. (The Dyea river is in Alaska, America).
As mentioned before, Jack London’s work is closely associated with real life and
through his writing, he wants to characterize the social concern at that time. Therefore,
during the study of “The Call of the Wild”, we see that almost all exophoric markers
exploited in the novel direct us to a world familiar to both writer and reader. The number
of occurences of the article “the” in combination with a concrete place and with other
definite (or conventionally definite) nouns is surprisingly great. Besides, there are some
other ways of expressing exophoric reference in “The Call of the Wild”.
The following table is detailed analysis of exophoric references by Jack London in
“The Call of the Wild”.
Exophoric Reference
Number of occurences
Frequency (%)
Chapter 1
45
11.5
Chapter 2
34
8.7
Chapter 3
56
14.4
Chapter 4
37
9.5

Chapter 5
72
18.5
Chapter 6
65
16.7
Chapter 7
81
20.7
Total
390
100
Table 3.1: Exophoric Reference in “The Call of the Wild”.
As can be seen from the table, Jack London has exploited a great deal of exophoric
reference in his novel. Through the seven chapters of the book, there are 390 cases in
which exophoric referent markers are employed (100 %). Of these, the figures gained in
each chapter after analysing are not the same in terms of frequency. Chapter seven - with
81 times of occurences of exophoric reference - ranks first, accounting for 20.7 %. On the
contrary, in chapter 2, there are only 34 examples of exophoric referent items, with the

17
proportion of 8.7 %. Chapter five ranks second with 72 cases (18.5 %). Next comes
chapter six with 65 times, which accounts for 16.7 %. In the three chapters left, exophoric
reference appears rather often, counting for a small number of around 37 – 65 times. This
is understandable as a result of the differences in length between chapters. Furthermore, in
each chapter, it is the context of the story event that determines the number of occurences
of such referent markers.
There are reasons for the author’s choices of exploiting such a large number of
exophoric reference. First of all, these are employed in the novel in accordance with Jack
London’s writing style when he attempts to show great concern about the current social

issues. More important, by means of exophoric reference, the book presents us a panorama
of a society that is real, and that is familiar not only to the writer himself but all the readers
as well.
3.1.1.2. Endophoric Reference
As what discussed in previous chapter on “Reference”, endophora may be anaphora,
which belongs to preceding texts, or cataphora, to following text. According to Guido
Telemans (2001-2002), cataphoric reference “is a classic device for engaging the reader’s
attention” which often appears in the opening sentences of the text. Anaphoric reference,
on the contrary, requires readers to come back to the opening sentences of the text to get
full comprehension.
Below are some examples of anaphoric and cataphoric reference:
Buck did not read the newspapers, or he would have known that trouble was brewing,
not alone for himself, but for every tide-water dog, ( ). (Chapter 1)
It can be seen from the above sentence, “he” and “himself” are anaphoric
references which tie up with “Buck” in the preceding text. Readers will find it hard to
understand the whole text without looking backwards to work out the relationship between
“he” as well as “himself” and the already mentioned “Buck”. Here, “he”, “himself” and
“Buck” are text-internal.
Charles and Hal went out in the evening and brought six outside dogs. These, added to the six of the
original team, and Teek and Koona, the huskies obtained at the Rink Rapids on the record trip,
brought the team up to fourteen. But the outside dogs, though practically broken in since their
landing, did not amount to much. Three were short-haired pointers, one was Newfoundland, and the
other two were mongrels of indeterminate breed. They did not seem to know anything, these
newcomers. (Chapter 5)

18
There are many other types of grammatical ties in this text , nevertheless, within this part,
let us pay more attention to referent markers. Firstly, “Teek and Koona” are intepreted
cataphorically, since readers have to continue forwards to “the huskies obtained at the Rink
Rapids on the record trip” to realize their identity. Meanwhile, “their” in “since their

landing” is anaphoric on referring to “the outside dogs” in the first part of that sentence.
Lastly, “they” in “They did not seem to know anything” is cataphoric refererent of “these
newcomers”, appearing in the final part of the whole text.
Surprisingly, with regards to endophora, anaphora is exploited in greater number.
That is to say, in most cases, readers have to move forwards to understand thoroughly the
linguistic expressions they are reading. The next part of this chapter is the statistical
analysis of Reference Markers in “The Call of the Wild”.
3.1.2. Statistical Analysis of Reference Markers
As mentioned in the previous chapter, there are three types of reference: personal,
demonstrative and comparative. The following table will show in more detail the number
of occurences of each type in the novel.
To begin with, let us have a look at personal referent items used in this novel.
Personal
N
o
of occurences
Function
Class
Determinative
Possessive
Deitic
Chapter
1
Chapter
2
Chapter
3
Chapter
4
Chapter

5
Chapter
6
Chapter
7

Singular
Masculine
He/him
His
His
189
237
328
180
94
273
305
Feminine
She/her
Hers
Her
0
12
5
0
66
8
0
Neuter

It
Its
Its
19
25
53
30
70
54
100
Plural

They/them
theirs
Their
34
86
135
40
138
46
100
Table 3.2. Personal Reference in “The Call of the Wild”.
Table 3.2 shows that throughout the seven chapters of the book, the writer has used
a great deal of personal reference, both singular and plural, though different in terms of
frequency. This seems to be correspondent to the number as well as gender of characters
appearing in the story. Except for human roles, all the animals – specifically dogs – are
personified; thus, they perform as “he” or “she”. After analysing the chapters thoroughly,
we can find here 2627 cases of personal reference (100%). On the average, with a total of
1606 times occuring, singular determinative masculine (he/him/his) accounts for 61.1 % -

which ranks first. On the contrary, that of singular determinative feminine is only 3.5 %
with only 91 occurences. The proportions of singular determinative neuter and plural are

19
13.4 % and 22 % respectively (351 occurences for it/its and 579 times for
they/them/their/theirs).
Next, the frequency of demonstrative reference can be illustrated by the table below:
Demonstrative
N
o
of occurences
Function
Class
Head
Deitic
Adjunct
Chapter
1
Chapter
2
Chapter
3
Chapter
4
Chapter
5
Chapter
6
Chapter
7

Specific
Near
This/these
This/these
Here
(now)
13
6
9
7
17
25
31
Far
That/those
That/those
There
(then)
11
7
4
5
16
18
22
Non-
specific

It
The

223
197
385
220
486
434
462
Table 3.3. Demonstrative Reference in “The Call of the Wild”.
Like personal reference, demonstrative items appear very frequently with a total of
2598 occurrences (100%). We can see from this table that non-specific demonstrative “it”
and “the” get a remarkable number of occurrences in all chapters of the novel: 2407 times,
accounting for 92.6 %. The uses of near demonstrative (this/these/here) are a bit preferable
to far demonstrative (that/those/there) with the number of occurrences of 108 times
(4.2 %) compared to 83 times (3.2 %).
Lastly, the following table is the data analysis of comparative reference in “The
Call of the Wild”:
Comparative
Frequency

Frequency

Frequency
Function
Class
Deitic/numerative
7 Chapters

Epithet
7 Chapters

Adjunct/submodifier
7 Chapters



General
Same, equal,
identical
7

21
identically
0
Similar,
additional
2
such

So, similarly,
likewise
56
Other, different
38


Otherwise, else,
differently
19

Specific
More, fewer, less,
further; so-, as-, +
quantifier
39
Com.adj & adv;
so-, less-, as-,
more- + adj.
51
Com.adj & adv; so-,
less, as-, more- +
adv.
47
Table 3.4. Comparative Reference in “The Call of the Wild”.
Table 3.4 demonstrates very clearly the difference between specific and general
comparative in “The Call of the Wild”. In terms of general comparative, the expressions

20
showing identity are rarely used. We can find among seven chapters here only 7 words
“same”, as in:
They were of the same large type as Thornton, living close to the earth, thinking simply and seeing
clearly ( ) (Chapter 6)
“Same” here turns out to compare the appearance of the three men: Thornton, Hans and
Pete. It is an instance of comparative reference. Also for general comparative, “equal”,
“identical” and “identically” even do not appear in this novel. Apart from “additional” –
which does not appear, and “similar” – with two times in occurrences, words denoting
similarity and differences appear quite often.
The number of occurrences of “such” is 21 whereas “so”, “similarly” and “likewise” make
a total up to 56 times. There are 38 cases in which “other” and “different” are used.
“Otherwise”, “else” and “differently” appear a bit fewer with 19 times.

To see these more clearly, let us take the following sentences as examples:
He saw the silent circle, with gleaming eyes, lolling tongues, and silvery breaths drifting upward,
closing upon him as he had seen similar circles close in upon beaten antagonists in the past.
(Chapter 3)
Buck was no less eager, and no less cautious, as he likewise circled back and forth for the advantage.
(Chapter 3)
It would have required an experienced man to keep the top-heavy sled upright, and Hal was not such
a man. (Chapter 5)
With regard to specific comparative, the frequency is quite remarkable. Comparative
adjectives & adverbs, so-, less-, as-, more + adjectives rank first with 51 times of
occurrences. Being on the second scale, Comparative adjectives & adverbs, so-, as-, more-,
less- + adverbs are 47 times repeated. The last group, more, fewer, less, further, so-, as-,
+ quantifier appear 39 times.
The following are some examples of specific comparatives. As the number of
occurrences is quite great, we just give here some typical instances in which specific
comparative references are used as means of cohesion.
Never in all his life had he been so vilely treated, and never in all his life had he been so angry.
(Chapter 1)
They were camped near the long store, where she, in her friendly way, made advances to a husky
dog the size of a full-grown wolf, though not half so large as she. (Chapter 2)
On studying the book thoroughly, it seems to us that superlatives and comparatives
are used quite often. As a matter of fact, comparison is to make distinguishing