Superordinate and general word - Literature Review- 123docz.net

Chapter 1 Literature Review and Theoreretical background 1.1. Literature Review

2.1.4. Superordinate and general word

Superordinate and general word make an essential contribution amongst the lexical cohesion devices used in English and Vietnamese Fables.

Coordinate means that two items are in cohesive relation, in which one item belongs to a general class compared to the other. Let us consider the following example:

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The Rat caught beetles which had hidden under leaves(…)The Tortoise found plenty of insects in the woods and fields(…) The Raven visited grain fields where he often met the Rat. The Gazelle ate grass wherever he could find it. (…). At night all the animals met at their home in the woods and talked of what had happened to them through the day….

( The Happy Family) As we have seen, the animals is the superordinate of all these : the rat, the tortoise, the raven and the gazelle.

By ―general word‖ one repeating is a generalization of the presupposed one. For example:

A Lion one day one day put his paw upon a mouse who was picking up some crumbs that he had dropped.

“ oh, please, sir, don‟t kill me!” cried the little animals

( the Mouse and the Lion)

Under a lexical point of view, a superordinate item operates anaphorically as a kind of synonyms, whereas a general noun is grammatically similar to a reference item

It is easy to find out superordinate and general word that are popularly used in Vietnamese fables. By means of these lexical cohesive devices, the author wants to avoid overuse of repetition in word choice. However, the coherence, precision and clarity are not affected and not making the boring to read.

Một con Ếch sống lâu năm trong chiếc giếng nọ. Chung quanh nó chỉ có vài con Nhái, Cua, Ốc…bé nhỏ. Hằng ngày, Ếch cất tiếng kêu ộp ộp làm vang động cả giếng, kiến các con vật kia rất hoảng sợ.

(Ếch từ đáy giếng đi ra) 2.1. Collocation

Collocation is the type of cohesion that is achieved through the association of lexical items that regularly co-occur.

Collocational meaning may arise from various semantic associations. For example, in part- whole collocation, the two items are in some kind of semantic relation between a person, a thing, or a concept as a whole and its parts.

― good day, my pretty bird, “ said the fox, “ I wish I had such a beautiful form as you have”. But the crow did not answer.

“ What a beautiful neck and bright eyes,” said the fox. “ the other birds may be well jealous of you.” No answer yet. She only raised her wings a little and gazed down upon the fox….

(the fox and the crow)

In the above example, ― form‖, ― neck‖, ― eyes‖‘ ―wings‖ are all parts of ― the bird‖.

Similarly, ― the bank‖ and ―the water‖ are parts of ― a pond‖

Beyond this field there was a pond. The frog had been going toward this pond all of the time, but the mouse had not noticed it. They were soon on the bank.

“ oh, you know I do not like the water, Mr .Frog” cried out the mouse when he saw the pond

( the mouse and the frog)

One winter, the weather was very cold, and many of them died. But spring came at last

( The ice King)

There is an existence of collocational meanings in hyponym. This happens when two items are of the same rank are members of the same more general class.

In this example, ― winter‖, and ― spring‖ aare hyponyms because they belong to a broader concept – ― season‖

We will look at some collocated words and phrases that are found in Vietnamese fables.

These expressions are so familiar with the readers that they are not too difficult to be realized.

Một hôm,Khỉ rủ Rùa vào rừng hái quả. Rùa nói:

- Bạn Khỉ ơi, tôi làm sao trèo lên cây hái quả được? Bạn cứ đi một mình đi.

Khỉ bảo:

- Tôi trèo lên hái rồi ném quả xuống cho bạn. bạn cứ theo mà thu nhặt quả. Tôi không quên phần bạn đâu

……Đi được nửa đường , Rùa nghĩ ra được một kế trả thù Khỉ. Rùa đào một cái hố phủ lá lên trên.

( Khỉ và Rùa đi hái quả)

―lá‖, ―quả‖ are all parts of ― cây‖. Similarly, ― chân‖, ― tay‖, ― miệng‖, ― tai‖, ― mắt‖ are parts of body in this example:

Miệng và Chân, Tay, Tai, Mắt từ lâu song với nhau vẫn rất thân thiết. Bỗng một hôm, mắt đến than thở với Chân và Tay rằng:

Hai anh, bác Tai và tôi làm việc mệt nhoc quanh năm, còn lão Miệng chăng làm gì cả, chỉ ăn không ngồi rồi. Nay chúng ta đừng làm nữa, thử xem lão có sống được hay không. (….)

( Miệng và Chân, Tay,…………) 2.3. Concluding remarks on lexical cohesion

Understanding comprehensively the usage and functions of the lexical cohesive devices will help the writer to create effectively coherent texts in general and fables in particular.

The lexical cohesive devices have a great contribution to the creation of the cohesive and coherent text with precision, unambiguity, nature and interests.. After carefully investigating 15 English fables and 15 Vietnamese fables, we can present an overall picture of the occurrence of lexical cohesive devices as following:

A total number of 337 lexical cohesive devices are recorded in 15 English Fables, which includes:

 198 repetitions (58.75%)

 66 collocations (19.58%)

 39 synonyms (11.57%)

 27 antonyms ( 8.0%)

 7 superordinates and general words ( 2.1%)

1 2 3 4 5

1. Repetition 4. Antonym

2. Collocation 5. Superordinate and general word 3. Synonym

Figure 1: Analysis of lexical cohesive devices in English Fables

And a total number of 304 lexical cohesive devices in 15 Vietnamese Fables consists of

 189 repetitions ( 62.17%)

 72 collocations (23.68%)

 23 synonyms (7.57%)

 14 antonyms (4.60%)

 6 superordinates and general words (1,97%)

1 2 3 4 5 1. Repetition 4. Antonym

2. Collocation 5. Superordinate and general word 3. Synonym

Figure 2: Analysis of lexical cohesive devices in Vietnamese Fables

The figure 1 demonstrates that repetition is the most frequently-used devices with the percentage of up to 58.75%. This proved that repetition is the most necessary means of all the lexical cohesion. The repeated items are usually some denoting main characters and key concepts, and these nouns appear constantly throughout the stories.

Collocation ranking the second take up 19.58%. Ranking the third in the group is synonyms with 11.57%.

Antonyms account for 8.0% the five lexical cohesive devices. It is quite a low frequency. Superordinates and general words account for the smallest portion of only 2.1%.

Similarly, the figure 2 illustrates the frequency of occurrence of lexical cohesive devices in Vietnamese fables. It is not surprising that repetition also accounts for large portion in comparison with other lexical cohesive devices with 62.17%. the other types account for relatively small percentage ( collocation – 23.68% ; synonyms – 7.57%;

antonyms – 4.6% ; superordinate and general word – 1.97%). With low frequency of occurrence collocation, synonyms, antonyms, superordinate and general word also make a valuable contribution to the coherence and cohesion of Vietnamese fables.