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. References In English 1. Benson, et.al, (1986). The BBI Combinatory Dictionary of English. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. 2. Bhatia, V.K. (1998). Analyzing Genre: Language Use in Professional Settings. London: Longman Group Limited. 3. Brown, G and Yule, G. (1983). Discourse Analysis. Cambridge: CUP 4. Cook, G. (1989). Discourse. 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(1984) Explorations in Applied Linguistics 2. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 27. Yule, G. (1996) The Study of Language. Oxford: Oxford University Press. In Vietnamese 1. Ban, Diep Quang (1990) Văn bản và liên kết trong Tiếng Việt (Tái bản lần thứ nhất). Nxb Giáo Dục. 2. Ban, Diep Quang. (2000) Ngữ Pháp tiếng Việt. Hà Nội: Nxb Giáo Dục. 3. Them, Tran Ngoc. (1985) Hệ thống Liên kết Văn bản Tiếng Việt. Hà Nội: Nxb Khoa học Xã hội. . 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 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. 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