An analysis of lexical cohesive devices in aesops fables

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES POST-GRADUATE STUDIES DEPARTMENT ĐOÀN THỊ HỒNG THANH AN ANALYSIS OF LEXICAL COHESIVE DEVICES IN AESOP’S FABLES (PHÂN TÍCH PHƯƠNG TIỆN LIÊN KẾT TỪ VỰNG TRONG TRUYỆN NGỤ NGÔN CỦA ÊZỐP) M.A THESIS Field: English Linguistics Course: K17 (2008- 2010) Code: 602215 Supervisor: NGUYỄN THÚY HƯƠNG, M.A Hanoi, September 2010 TABLE OF CONTENTS PART 1: INTRODUCTION Rationale Aims of the study Scope of the study Methods of the study Organization of the study PART 2: DEVELOPMENT Chapter 1: Theoretical background 1.1 1.2 Theory of discourse 1.1.1 Definition of discourse 1.1.2 Discourse versus Text 1.1.3 Discourse analysis 1.1.4 Discourse context 1.1.4.1 Context 1.1.4.2 Register 1.1.4.3 Genre Cohesion 10 1.2.1 The concept of cohesion 10 1.2.2 Cohesion versus Coherence 11 1.2.3 Cohesion and discourse structure 12 1.2.4 Types of cohesion 12 1.2.4.1 Grammatical cohesion 13 1.2.4.2 Lexical cohesion 14 1.3 The narrative structure 15 1.4 Fables and its properties 16 1.4.1 Definition of fables 16 1.4.2 General characteristics of a fable 17 1.4.3 Generic structure of a fable 18 1.5 Introduction about Aesop and Aesop‟s fables 19 Chapter 2: Previous studies on lexical cohesive devices 21 Chapter 3: Lexical cohesive devices in the English version of Aesop’s fables 23 3.1 Reiteration 23 3.1.1 Repetition 23 3.1.2 Synonyms and near synonyms 27 3.1.3 Superordinates 28 3.2 Collocation 30 3.2.1 Lexical collocation 30 3.2.2 Grammatical collocation 32 3.3 Some concluding remarks 34 PART 3: CONCLUSION Conclusion 36 Limitations 36 Implications 37 Suggestions for further studies 38 REFERENCES APPENDIXES Appendix 1: 25 chosen Aesop‟s fables for analysis of lexical cohesive devices Appendix 2: Number of occurrence of lexical cohesive devices in 25 chosen Aesop‟s fables for analysis 39 PART 1: INTRODUCTION Rationale The concept of discourse analysis was first studied in the late 1970s and 1980s from different aspects and views of linguists It has been paid much attention to by linguists since its appearance Halliday and Hasan (1976) put the emphasis on the social functions of language Schegloff, and Gail Jefferson (1974), whose exemplary study of turn-taking in ordinary conversation made a first seminal contribution to the understanding of the sequential organization of interaction Then the concept continued to attract the attention of the late twentieth century‟s linguists such as Cook (1989), Hatim and Mason (1990), Swales (1990), Simpson (1997), etc Through linguistic history, discourse analysis is found important in providing insights into various aspects of language in use and therefore of great value to language teaching In reality, traditional language teaching seems to deal merely with pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary of a language whereas the ability to produce a grammatically correct sentence is not sufficient to use a language for powerful communication Discourse analysis came into being to put such knowledge of language into action for communicating more successfully Cohesion and coherence, as sub-concepts of discourse analysis are greatly essential in discourse construction and comprehension for communication It is believed that the linguistic features of great importance and interest are those of generic structure and cohesion The belief comes from the fact that these two factors make influential contribution in defining a genre of discourse As a component of cohesion, lexical cohesion is therefore worth being investigated Fable which is defined as “a traditional short story that teaches moral lessons, especially one with animals as characters” ( Oxford Advanced Learner‟s Dictionary, 2000: 470) is a genre of discourse Of all the great authors of fables, Aesop is the earliest and best known His short and simple fables own their typical features distinguished from other genres of discourse such as an article or a speech Apart from its contribution to discourse as a genre, fables are considered the valuable authentic materials that play a very important part in students‟ cultural enrichment, language enrichment as well as personal involvement In language teaching, they represent great potentials for learners, especially learners at the elementary level Short and simple as fables are, they consequently seem to be the most suitable authentic material for students‟ language proficiency at low level in rural areas For all these reasons, this research is carried out with the hope that an analysis of lexical cohesion devices in Aesop‟s fables is helpful for the application of fables in English teaching and learning in Vietnam Aims of the study The research is intended to explore lexical cohesive devices as one discourse feature in Aesop‟s fables To be more specific, it aims at:  Identifying lexical cohesive devices used in Aesop‟s fables  Realizing the role and contribution of lexical cohesive devices in constructing a fable Scope of the study The concept of cohesion is large This study only focuses on the lexical cohesive devices and explores the process in which coherence is achieved in the formal written genre of fables Short and simple fables of Aesop are studied to work out typical lexical cohesive devices used in such genre of discourse Data analyzed in the study is taken from 25 of Aesop‟s fables chosen at random that were translated into English by Laura Gibbs for World‟s Classics in 2002 Methods of the study To attain the aim of the study, the research is conducted in the following steps: First, data necessary for the study are collected Relevant theories are read and extracted from books of great linguists such as Halliday and Hasan (1976), Cook (1989), Brown and Yule ( 1983), Hatim and Mason ( 1990), Swales (1990) Aesop‟s fables are also collected to serve the purpose of analyzing lexical cohesive devices used Second, a framework of lexical cohesive devices is set up in order to find out the defining characteristics of fables as a genre of discourse This is done on the ground of several linguists‟ relevant theories and their viewpoints Third, three previous studies on lexical cohesive devices used in other genres of discourse are reviewed for comparison with the use of lexical cohesive devices in fables Then, 25 selected fables are analyzed in terms of lexical cohesive devices: reiteration and collocations All the 25 fables are comprehensively analyzed to identify the lexical cohesive devices used; their frequencies of occurrence are counted to make out the significance level of each device to fables Last, some conclusions are drawn based on the data analysis and some implications for English teaching at elementary level are also proposed The study is approached in both inductive and deductive ways; the three successive methods chosen for the study can be named as descriptive, analytical and comparative Organization of the study The study is composed of three parts: Introduction, Development and Conclusion The Introduction part presents the rationale, the aims, the scope, methods and organization of the study The Developments part consists of three chapters: Chapter discusses the theoretical background related to discourse analysis The concepts of discourse and discourse analysis, the concept of genre and the distinction between genre and register are made clear The theoretical knowledge of cohesion and fables are also mentioned in this chapter Chapter reviews some previous studies on similar issue Chapter focuses on the analysis of lexical cohesive devices employed in Aesop‟s fables The conclusion part reviews the study and ends it with some findings, implications for teaching and learning, and suggestions for further studies PART 2: DEVELOPMENT Chapter 1: Theoretical background 1.1 Theory of discourse 1.1.1 Definition of discourse Since its introduction to modern science the term 'discourse' has taken various, sometimes very broad meanings Originally the word 'discourse' comes from Latin 'discursus' which denotes 'conversation, speech' The concept of discourse has been discussed for a long time and linguists have different ways of understanding and defining it To begin with, Widdowson (1979:98) defines “discourse is a use of sentences to perform acts of communication which cohere in large communicative unit, ultimately establishing a rhetorical patterns which characterizes the piece of language as a whole as a kind of communication” Meanwhile, according to Cook (1989) “discourse is stretches of language perceived to be meaningful, unified and purposeful” His viewpoint was later shared with by Crystal (1992:25) who states that “discourse is a continuous stretch of (especially spoken) language larger than a sentence, often constituting a cohesive unit such as a sermon, an argument, a joke or a narrative” In Cook‟s view, such stretches of language can only be obtained if they are considered “in their full textual, social, psychological context” In basic sense, it may be defined as “the language in use for communication” hence, discourse is supposed to be meaningful (Cook, 1989) There also exist a number of other linguists‟ viewpoints on discourse In 1990, Hatim and Mason contributed another definition that implied discourse is “a matter of expression of attitude”; “a mode of speaking and writing which involves the participants in adopting a particular on certain area of socio-cultural activity: racial discourse, scientific discourse, domestic discourse Then, seven years later, in 1997, in the book called “Language through literature”, Simpson claimed discourse is “the term reserved for the highest level of linguistic organization in language study” It is also stated to refer to the “structure and function of language beyond the level of sentence” by him To summarize, the concept of discourse is still under discussion, but basically, the majority of linguists share a common view when defining it It can be noted that their definitions are expressed in different ways but all emphasize the two most important aspects of discourse regarding its structure and function In terms of structure, a discourse is a wellformed organization above the level of a sentence; in terms of function, a discourse serves as a means of communication 1.1.2 Discourse versus Text The distinction between the word “discourse” and “text” is still in controversy As observed, three trends of reasonizing have emerged to clarify the controversial distinction: For some linguists, these two terms seem to be used almost interchangeably; Some see discourse as a process and text as a product; and in others‟ view text is used for writing and discourse for speech Following the first trend is Halliday and Hasan (1976) who simply state: “we can define text (discourse) in the simplest way perhaps by saying that it is language that is functional” They view text as employed to refer to discourse and see text as a “semantic unit” characterized by cohesion In their viewpoint, “a text is a passage of discourse which is coherent in these 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” (1976:23) Brown and Yule, Widdowson and Cook are the followers of the second trend To prove his points, Brown and Yule (1983:3, cited in Nunan, 1993:6) argue that text is “the representation of discourse and the verbal record of a communication act” Then, Widdowson(1983:100) continues to point out the difference and the interrelationship between the two as: “discourse is a communicative process by means of interaction Its situational outcome is a change in state of affairs: information is conveyed, intentions made clear, its linguistic product is text” In favor of the third trend is Crystal (1992: 72) who insists discourse is a “continuous stretch of (especially spoken) language larger than a sentence, whereas a text is “a piece of naturally occurring spoken, written or signed discourse identified for purposes of analysis” In conclusion, there remains a disagreement about the meaning of the terms “discourse” and “text” It is, however, most agreed that both discourse and text need to be defined in terms of “meaning” and that coherent text/piece of discourse are those that form a meaningful one To put it in another way, discourse is a general term to refer to all the act of verbal communication, whereas text is simply a verbal record of the whole communicative process (that is discourse) in which many situational factors are involved, it can be both written and spoken, and there is no limit to the size of the text- “a text consists of one word or it may be of considerable length” (Swales, 1990) Accordingly, text is purely linguistic, formal object while discourse has both linguistic and non-linguistic property 1.1.3 Discourse analysis The first modern linguist who commenced the study of the relation of sentences and coined the name 'discourse analysis', which afterwards denoted a branch of applied linguistics, was Zellig Harris , an American linguist (Cook 1989:13) The emergence of this study is a result of not only linguistic research, but also of researchers engaged in other fields of inquiry, particularly sociology, psychology, anthropology and psychotherapy Hence, it is seen as “a new branch of linguistics which grew out of the work in different disciplines in the 1960s and early 1970s, including linguistics, philosophy, logic, semiotics, psychology, anthropology” (Van, 2000) A significant contribution to the evolution of discourse analysis has been made by British and American scholars In Britain the examination of discourse turned towards the study of the social functions of language A thorough account of communication in various situations such as debates, interviews, doctor-patient relations, paying close attention to the intonation of people participating in talks as well as manners particular to circumstances was the first concern of British scholars Americans, on the other hand, focused on examining small communities of people and their discourse in genuine circumstances and on conversation analysis inspecting narratives in addition to talks and the behavior of speakers as well as patterns repeating in given situations Being identified and studied properly in a large scale and continuously, discourse analysis is understood as a primarily linguistic study examining the use of language by its native population whose major concern is investigating language functions along with its forms, produced both orally and in writing Moreover, identification of linguistic qualities of various genres, vital for their recognition and interpretation, together with cultural and social aspects which support its comprehension, is the domain of discourse analysis To put it in another way, the branch of applied linguistics dealing with the examination of discourse attempts to find patterns in communicative products as well as their correlation with the circumstances in which they occur, which are not explainable at the grammatical level (Carter, 1993:23) It was in 1973 that Discourse analysis was dealt perfectly and correctly in M.A.K Halliday‟s functional approach to language His approach is completely influential in British discourse analysis with the emphasis on the social function and the thematic and informational structure of speech and writing 1.1.4 Discourse context 1.1.4.1 Context In common sense, the Webster‟s Dictionary defines a context as “the whole situation, the background or the environment relevant to a particular event, personality, creation, etc…” It is said to refer to the condition in which something exists or occurs Linguistically, this is a part of a discourse surrounding a word or passage that helps make its meaning clear The concept of context was first noticed in 1923 by Malinowski, an anthropologist when he introduced the two terms “Context of situation” and “Context of culture” According to him, Context of situation refers to the environment of the context, including verbal environment and the situation in which the text occurred while Context of culture deals with the whole cultural background behind the participants in the interaction His idea was later taken up by Firth (1957) who placed great emphasis on the “social context” He saw the context of situation as crucial determinants of utterance meaning Likewise, when reporting the study of Malinowski (1923) Halliday and Hasan (1976) focused on context of situation and described how it determines the kinds of meaning that are expressed with the general concepts of field, mode and tenor For some scholars, context seems just to be the minimal stretch of language that helps to understand what is written or spoken Halliday (1994:5) concluded that context “refers to the events that are going on around when people speak and write” Guy Cook (1994) observes that context can be used in both a broad and a narrow sense: in the narrow sense, it refers to knowledge of factors outside of the text under consideration; in the broad sense it refers to knowledge of these factors and to knowledge of other parts under consideration, sometimes referred to as “co-context” The role of context in discourse analysis was, as a result, then realized David Nunan (1993:7) defines: “Context refers to the situation Figure 3: Lexical cohesive devices in the English version of Aesop’s fables The figure demonstrates that repetition is placed in the dominant position It accounts for 59.5% of all lexical cohesive devices The repeated items are usually nouns denoting main characters and key concepts, consequently, these nouns appear constantly throughout the fables The other types of lexical cohesive devices occupy relatively small percentages ranging from 3.3% to 16.6% Nevertheless, they represent good alternatives and contribution to make the text coherent It is such choices of different types of cohesive ties that make the text natural and charming to readers PART 3: CONCLUSION Conclusion Through a comprehensive analysis of the chosen fables, some conclusions are drawn as follows: All lexical cohesive devices contribute to the construction of a fable Repetition, the striking characteristic of lexical cohesion occupies the biggest proportion of all in Aesop‟s fables This finding is the same as that in some previous studies reviewed in chapter It is evident that repetition is not an effective way, if not to say boring if overused sometimes, to maintain the content of the story Yet, it is claimed to be the easiest way to help readers follow the story, especially readers of small age Other sub-types of lexical cohesive devices namely collocation, synonyms and superordinate, though make a smaller contribution, play a vital role in the fables analyzed in the way they make the text coherent and less boring It is the combination of all these cohesive ties that runs the fables smoothly and frees readers from boredom with simple words that are inherent attributes of a fable Limitations Due to its scope, the study was not freed from limitations that seem to be commonplace in similar types of research In the first place, the sample of fables for the study was not large enough to produce a holistic picture of the use of lexical cohesive devices as well as to generalize its use Besides, the study could only make an emphasis on one type of cohesion- lexical ones but not cover the grammatical ones, which does not correspond with the fact that lexical cohesion needs the support of grammatical cohesion to solidify the relationship between items in a text What is more, the restricted area of the study dealt merely with the English version of Aesop‟s fables This did not allow the author to make a comparison between devices used in English version with its Vietnamese version Lastly, Aesop is a fabulist from Ancient Greece so the analysis of the study was done on English translation of his fables but not his original ones Also, the study afforded to cover only the latest version of translation by Laura Gibbs while there exist a number of others Implications Some implications for the teaching of English can be drawn from the results of this research as follows First, in an ESL situation, lexical cohesion and cohesive devices should be specifically and properly taught right from the beginning since they are basic elements of discourse structure that are of valid role in learners‟ language proficiency In reality, Witte and Faigley (1981) observe that at the most general level of analysis, the high rated essays had more cohesive ties than the low –rated essays They also note that cohesion brought by lexical collocation ensures quality writing and reveals "lexical collocation is in all likelihood the subcategory of cohesion that best indicates overall writing ability" (Witte and Faigley, 1981:200) In addition, repetition- another subcategory of cohesion, according to Halliday and Hasan (1985), is very useful because experiential meaning is encoded in each repeated occurrence of the lexical unit Meanwhile, repetition is supposed to be easy to acquire due to its purposes and its use Apart from this, learners should be given constant practice and explanation on organization of relevant meanings in relation to each other in a text The teacher needs to point out semantic consequences of particular patterns of language use and emphasis should be laid on the reading of stories or authentic materials written by native speakers of English where a demonstration of all these devices are made manifest Second, as a valuable source of authentic materials in English language teaching, fables should be integrated in teaching at elementary level for classic stories and fairy tales have a universal appeal, especially to children Indeed, as a didactic teaching device, apart from the function of cautionary tales, fables provide for children a familiar context through which language items such as vocabulary sentence structures can be acquired and linguistic features reinforced through repetition In this connection, stories may help operate the communicative approach in language teaching not readily achieved through isolated passages Suggestions for further studies Within its scope, this study can only focus on lexical cohesive devices in some of Aesop‟s fables translated to English by Laura Gibbs It is hoped that further studies will be made on: o Other discourse feature of fables such as grammatical cohesive devices… o Contrastive analysis of lexical cohesive devices in English and Vietnamese fables o Other Aesop‟s versions of translation or fables of other fabulists o Exploitation of fables for English language teaching at elementary level REFERENCES Brown, G and George Yule (1983) Discourse Analysis Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Carter, R (1993) Introducing applied linguistics Harlow: Penguin Crystal, D (1992) Introducing linguistics Harlow: Penguin Cook,G (1989) Discourse Oxford: Oxford University Press Cook,G (1994) Discourse and Literature Oxford: Oxford University Press Firth, John R (1957) Papers in Linguistics London: Oxford University Press Hallday, M.A.K & Hasan R (1976) Cohesion in English London: Longman Hallday, M.A.K & Hasan R (1978) Language as Social Semiotic: The Social Interpretation of Language and Meaning London: Edward Arnold Hallday, M.A.K & Hasan R (1985) Spoken and Written Language Geelong, Vic: Deakin University Press Hallday, M.A.K & Hasan R (1994) Functional Grammar 2nd Edition London: Edward Arnold Hatim, B & Mason, I (1990) Discourse and the Translator London: Longman Group Hien, Le Thi Mai (2004) An analysis of cohesive devices in English application letter Unpublished M.A thesis – College of Foreign Languages- Vietnam National University, Hanoi Hoa ,Nguyen (2000) An introduction to discourse analysis Hanoi: Vietnam National University Publishing House Hornby, A (2000) Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current English 6th Edition Oxford: Oxford University Press http:// www Aesopica.net http:// www.en.wikipedia.org Kress, Gunther (1985) Linguistics Process in Sociocultural Practice Geelong, Vic.: Deakin University Press Labov, W and Waletzky, J (1967) Narrative analysis: Seattle: University of Washington Press Labov, W (1972) Language in the Inner city Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press McCarthy, M (1991) Discourse analysis for language teachers Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Nunan, D (1993) Introducing Discourse analysis London: Penguin Palmer, J A (1983a) Getting into text: Cohesion in Cross Current X2 Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press Richards, J C (1992) The Context of Language Teaching Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Richards, J C (1998) Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics London: Longman Simpson, P (1997) Language through Literature London: Routledge Swales, J (1990) Genre Analysis Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Thao, Nguyen Thi (2005) Some discourse features of English fables Unpublished M.A thesis – College of Foreign Languages- Vietnam National University, Hanoi Tam, Phuong To (2003) An analysis of coherence and cohesion and a contrastive analysis of lexical cohesive devices in English and Vietnamese Unpublished M.A thesis – College of Foreign Languages- Vietnam National University, Hanoi Widdowson, H (1979) Exploration in Applied Linguistics Oxford: Oxford University Press Widdowson, H (1983) Role of comprehension ability and production ability in strategies in interlanguage communication London: Longman Witte, Stephen P and Lester L Faigley (1981) Coherence, cohesion and writing quality College Composition and Communication 32 published by National Council of Teachers of English Van, Hoang Van (2006) Introducing Discourse Analysis Hanoi: Vietnam National University Publishing House APPENDIX 25 chosen Aesop’s fables for analysis of lexical cohesive devices [1] This is the story of the flea that was caught by the abbot The abbot said, 'Now I've got you! You have bitten me many times, making it impossible for me to get a good night's sleep I will never let you go; in fact, I am going to kill you right now!' The flea said, 'Holy Father, since you intend to kill me, please hold me in the palm of your hand so that I will be able to freely confess my sins to you Let me make my confession, and then you can kill me.' The abbot was moved by the flea's piety so he placed the insect in the middle of his palm The flea immediately leaped up into the air and flew away The abbot yelled loudly at the flea, but then he refused to come back (119 THE ABBOT AND THE FLEA) [2] A shepherd and a butcher were walking along the road together They saw a plump little lamb who had wandered away from the flock and had been left behind by his fellow sheep The shepherd and the butcher both rushed to grab the lamb This was back in the days when animals spoke the same language as people, so the lamb asked the two men why they wanted to grab him and carry him off After the lamb found out what they both did, he turned and offered himself to the shepherd 'You are nothing but an executioner of sheep,' he said to the butcher, 'and your hands are stained with the blood of the flock! This man, on the other hand, rejoices if we thrive and prosper.' (9 THE BUTCHER, THE SHEPHERD AND THE LAMB) [3] A dog who was about to give birth to puppies asked another dog if she could deliver the litter in her kennel The owner of the kennel agreed Later on, when the owner asked for her house back, the mother dog begged her to let her stay just a little while longer, until her puppies were strong enough to follow her When this new deadline had passed, the owner of the kennel began to assert her claim more forcefully, but the mother dog retorted, 'If you think you are a match for me and all my brood, then come and get it!' (116 THE MOTHER DOG AND HER PUPPIES) [4] A comfortably plump dog happened to run into a wolf The wolf asked the dog where he had been finding enough food to get so big and fat 'It is a man,' said the dog, 'who gives me all this food to eat.' The wolf then asked him, 'And what about that bare spot there on your neck?' The dog replied, 'My skin has been rubbed bare by the iron collar which my master forged and placed upon my neck.' The wolf then jeered at the dog and said, 'Keep your luxury to yourself then! I don't want anything to with it, if my neck will have to chafe against a chain of iron!' (11 THE WOLF, THE DOG AND THE COLLAR) [5] Some woodcutters splitting a wild pine tree drove wedges into the trunk, prying it apart and thus making their work easier The pine tree groaned and said, 'I cannot blame the axe, who had no connection with my root, but these utterly despicable wedges are my own children Pounded into me this way and that, they are going to tear me apart!' (29 THE PINE TREE AND THE WEDGES) [6] There was a man who kept a goat and a donkey The goat was jealous of the donkey because he was given more to eat, so she made a deceptive proposal to the donkey, under the guise of giving him advice 'Look,' said the goat, 'you are always being punished, constantly having to turn the millstone or carry burdens on your back Why don't you pretend to have a seizure and throw yourself into a ditch?' The donkey trusted the goat and did what she told him to As a result of the fall, the donkey was badly scraped and bruised The donkey's owner summoned a doctor to recommend a remedy The doctor said that the donkey could be cured by a potion made from the lungs of a goat So they slaughtered the unfortunate goat, who was thus trapped in her own snare while the donkey was saved (147 THE GOAT AND THE DONKEY) [7] A poor man had taken ill and was in very bad shape When the doctors had given up hope, since he didn't have anything he could pay with, the man called upon the gods and vowed “O you great and radiant divinities, if you restore my health, I will bring a hundred oxen to you as a sacrifice.” His wife then asked him, “Where are you going to get a hundred oxen from, if you get well?” The man said to her, “And you suppose I am going to ever get out of this bed so that the gods will be able to demand payment?” (478 THE SICK MAN AND HIS WIFE) [8] A detestable crow had seated herself atop a sheep so that the sheep had to carry the crow around against her will After a while, the sheep remarked, 'If you had done this to a dog, you would not be able to get away with it: dogs have teeth!' The obnoxious crow replied, 'I despise creatures who cannot defend themselves, yet I yield to the high and mighty, as I know who should be attacked and who should be flattered with cunning lies That is why I last to a ripe old age, living for thousands of years.' (133 THE SHEEP AND THE CROW) [9] A mighty lion saw a horse grazing in a field In order to sneakily deceive the horse, the lion approached him in a friendly fashion and said he was a doctor The horse suspected a trick, but he did not reject the lion's claims When the lion drew closer, the horse quickly thought up an escape He pretended that he had a splinter in his hoof, so he lifted up his foot and said, 'Help me, brother; I am so glad you are here! Save me from the splinter that I have stepped on.' The lion approached with feigned deference, concealing his true intentions, whereupon the horse suddenly kicked the lion in the face Down fell the deadly foe! The lion lay there on the ground for quite a while and when he came to, he saw that the horse was gone and he realized that his head and face and whole body had been wounded 'It serves me right for approaching the horse in a gentle and friendly way,' said the lion 'I came to him in the guise of a doctor but I should have approached him like an enemy, as I always did before!' (313 THE LION AND THE HORSE) [10] A man who kept roosters also bought himself a partridge and let it loose to live among his other birds When the roosters pecked at the partridge and chased him away, the partridge became very dejected, thinking that the roosters were attacking him because he was an outsider After a little while, however, the partridge saw the roosters fighting and attacking one another The partridge then put aside his grief and said, 'Well, I am certainly not going to grieve over this any longer, now that I see the way they fight with one another (134 THE PARTRIDGE AND THE ROOSTERS) [11] When a man had made an axe, he asked the trees to give him a handle made of the hardest wood The other trees selected the wood of the wild olive The man took the handle and fitted it to his axe Then, without a moment's hesitation, he began to chop down the trees' mighty branches and trunks, taking whatever he wanted The oak tree then said to the ash, 'It serves us right, since we gave our enemy the handle he asked for!' (41 THE AX AND THE TREES) [12] A donkey and a dog were journeying together when they found a sealed letter on the ground The donkey took the letter, broke the seals, and opened it The donkey then began to read the letter aloud, while the dog sat there listening The letter happened to be about food, that is, about barley and straw and hay As the donkey was reading, the dog grew impatient and finally he said to the donkey, 'You can skip that part, my dear; perhaps further down you will find some information about meat and bones.' The donkey scanned the rest of the letter but he didn't find what the dog was looking for The dog then said to the donkey, 'Throw it back on the ground; it has nothing to offer!' (400 THE DONKEY, THE DOG AND THE LETTER) [13] There is a bird that country folk call 'ground-bird,' which makes sense, because this bird makes her nest on the ground A ground-bird happened to run into a conniving vixen, and as soon as she noticed her, the ground-bird flew even higher on her wings 'Greetings!' said the vixen, 'May I ask why you are running away? It's not as if there were not plenty of food for me here in the field grasshoppers, beetles, locusts in abundance so there's nothing for you to be afraid of I am actually very fond of you because of your retiring manner and honest ways.' The singing bird replied, 'Your words are certainly pleasant to hear, but I am no equal to you on the ground Here in the air, though, I can hold my own Why don't you come on up with me? This is the place where I would trust you with my life!' (101 THE FOX AND THE GROUND-BIRD) [14] The hares voted to commit suicide and once they had resolved to die, they had only to decide on the location The hares concluded that the pond would be an appropriate place, so they headed off in that direction, planning to take their own lives The frogs who lived on the banks of the pond could not endure the thumping of the hares' approach, so they scampered into their hiding places beneath the water One of the older hares saw them and said, 'Overturn this vote in favour of death! Look: there are actually creatures who are even more cowardly than we are!' (248 THE HARES AND THE FROGS) [15] A wealthy man wanted to raise a goose and a swan together but for different purposes: the swan was for singing and the goose was for eating The time came for the goose to meet his appointed fate and have his throat cut Yet the darkness of nighttime prevented the man from knowing which bird was which As a result, he grabbed the swan instead of the goose The swan then declared his true nature by bursting into a swan-song, and thus narrowly escaped from death (303 THE GOOSE AND THE SWAN) [16] A donkey was carrying a load of wood across a swamp when he slipped and fell into the water Unable to get up, the donkey began to weep and moan When the frogs who lived in the swamp heard the donkey complaining, they said, 'Hey you! What would you if you had to spend as much time here as we do, given that you make such a fuss about having fallen in for just a few minutes?' (377 THE DONKEY AND THE FROGS) [17] Once upon a time the oak trees came to Zeus and lodged a complaint, 'O Zeus, founder of our species and father of all plant life, if it is our destiny to be chopped down, why did you even cause us to grow?' Zeus smiled and replied, 'It is you yourselves who supply the means of your destruction: if you didn't create all the handles, no farmer would have an axe in his house!' (40 ZEUS AND THE OAK TREES) [18] A man had a hen that laid a golden egg for him each and every day The man was not satisfied with this daily profit, and instead he foolishly grasped for more Expecting to find a treasure inside, the man slaughtered the hen When he found that the hen did not have a treasure inside her after all, he remarked to himself, 'While chasing after hopes of a treasure, I lost the profit I held in my hands!' (18 THE MAN AND THE GOLDEN EGGS) [19] A not very brave hunter was following the tracks of a lion in the deep dark woods of the mountain When he came across a woodcutter near a large pine tree he said, 'In the name of the nymphs, have you noticed the tracks of a lion lurking in these parts?' The woodcutter replied, 'The gods must be with you! You have come in the nick of time: I can show you the lion himself at this very moment.' The hunter turned pale and his teeth began to chatter 'It is very kind of you to so much more than I asked,' said the hunter 'Let's talk about the tracks, but please, don't show me the lion! (26 THE HUNTER AND THE LION) [20] As he chased after a wolf, the dog capered with pleasure at how quickly he was able to run, revelling in his own strength In fact, the dog actually imagined that the wolf was running away from him because of his superior prowess But then the wolf turned around and said to the dog, 'I am not running away from you! I'm just afraid of being chased down by your master.' (232 THE WOLF AND THE DOG IN PURSUIT) [21] The dumb beasts wanted to elect a king from amongst their ranks The camel and the elephant were the two leading candidates because of their size and their strength The monkey, however, argued that they were both unqualified 'The camel cannot rule us because she doesn't have the guts to fight against those who step out of line,' said the monkey, 'and there is also a potential danger if the elephant is king: how will he defend us from the little pigs?‟ ' Unhappy people are comforted by the sight of someone who is worse off than they are (23 THE CAMEL AND THE ELEPHANT) [22] It is common to take Maltese dogs and pet monkeys on long sea voyages in order to relieve the boredom of the passage A man who was planning to make such a voyage had brought his monkey along with him but when the ship had reached Cape Sounion (which is a sea promontory near Athens), they were met by a fierce winter storm The ship was capsized and everyone was thrown into the water The monkey also started swimming and was spotted by a dolphin, who thought the monkey was a man The dolphin swam up under the monkey and carried him through the water When they were approaching Piraeus, the Athenian harbor, the dolphin asked the monkey if he was originally from Athens The monkey said that he was, and that he happened to be from an illustrious family The dolphin then asked if he knew Piraeus The monkey thought that Piraeus must be a person's name, so he said that, yes, Piraeus was a near and dear friend of his The dolphin was infuriated by the monkey's lying words, so he plunged the creature into the water and killed him This fable is suitable for a man who tells lies (324 THE MONKEY AND THE DOLPHIN) [23] It often happens that the weak and the poor try to rebel against the high and mighty Listen to a fable about such an event A wolf was chasing the billy goat of the herd, intending to capture him The goat climbed up on a tall cliff where he was safe, so the wolf besieged the goat from the bottom of the cliff After two or three days, when the wolf had grown hungry and the goat had grown thirsty, they each went away: the wolf left first in order to look for food and then the goat went away to find a drink of water When he had quenched his thirst, the goat noticed his reflection in the water and said, 'Oh what fine legs I have and what a beautiful beard and what great horns! Just let that wolf try to make me run away: this time I will defend myself! I will not let that wolf have any power over me!' Behind the goat's back, the wolf had been listening in silence to every word the goat said Then, as he plunged his teeth deep into the goat's flank, the wolf asked, 'What is this you are saying, brother goat?' The goat, when he realized he was trapped, said, 'O my lord wolf, I admit my mistake and beg your forgiveness! After a goat has something to drink, he says things he shouldn't.' But the wolf showed no mercy and devoured the goat The fable warns us that weak and poor people should not try to rebel against the high and mighty (266 THE GOAT AND HIS REFLECTION) [24] A gardener had a dog who had fallen into a well The gardener lowered himself down into the well to pull the dog out, but the dog only gave the man a nasty bite, thinking that the man intended to plunge him even deeper into the water After the dog had bitten him, the gardener said, 'It serves me right for making such an effort to pull you out of the well, when all you can is attack me.' This fable indicts people who are foolish and ungrateful (77 THE DOG AND THE GARDENER) [25] One of the Galli, those priests of the Great Mother Rhea, slipped inside a deserted cave, seeking shelter from the onslaught of a winter storm Just as the priest was brushing the snow from his hair, a ravenous lion, who was following his trail, burst into the entrance of the cave The cave offerded no other means of escape, but the priest held a huge tambourine in his hand He struck the instrument with the flat of his palm and the whole cave resounded with the shattering sound The wild lion could not endure the awesome clatter of the goddess Cybele, so he raced away and fled into the wooded mountainside, terrified by this effeminate servant of the goddess The priest then up these robes and dedicated these fair locks of hair as an offering to the goddess (244 THE PRIEST AND THE LION) APPENDIX Number of occurrence of lexical cohesive devices in 25 chosen Aesop’s fables for analysis Number of fables Repetition Synonyms, near synonyms Superordinate Lexical collocation Grammatical collocation 13 2 16 3 0 2 16 0 4 18 7 0 8 0 29 11 10 17 11 13 0 12 26 13 10 14 12 15 3 16 3 17 18 10 0 19 12 0 20 10 0 21 8 22 22 23 33 24 16 2 25 15 Total 341 60 19 95 58 ... and reveal clear distinction in the use of lexical cohesive devices in a fable and in other kind of texts Chapter 3: Lexical cohesive devices in the English version of Aesop’s fables According... hope that an analysis of lexical cohesion devices in Aesop‟s fables is helpful for the application of fables in English teaching and learning in Vietnam Aims of the study The research is intended... chosen Aesop‟s fables for analysis of lexical cohesive devices Appendix 2: Number of occurrence of lexical cohesive devices in 25 chosen Aesop‟s fables for analysis 39 PART 1: INTRODUCTION Rationale