An analysis of lexical cohesion of English and Vietnamese economic news discourse

An analysis of lexical cohesion of English and
Vietnamese economic news discourse



Nguyễn Thị Tuyết


Trường Đại học Ngoại ngữ
Luận văn Thạc sĩ ngành: English Linguistics; Mã số: 60 22 15
Người hướng dẫn: M.A. Trần Thị Thu Hiền
Năm bảo vệ: 2010


Abstract. The main aim of this study is to investigate the similarities and differences
between English and Vietnamese economic news with regard to the utilization of sub-types of
lexical cohesion. To fulfill this objective, ten English economic news and ten Vietnamese
economic news of equal types were selected and analyzed. The percentages of sub-categories of
lexical cohesion in both English and Vietnamese economic news were calculated and the results
were compared and contrasted between and within text groups.
Keywords. Tiếng Anh; Phân tích diễn ngôn; Liên kết từ vựng; Tin kinh tế; Tiếng Việt

Content
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.


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