8
frequency of them are analyzed. The total number of cohesion factors at the macro level is 688 cases, which indicate a high level of cohesion and coherence through
the text.
3
B. The Definition of Discourse
The study of discourse, or discourse analysis, is concerned with how speakers combine sentences into boarder speech units.
4
Discourse is the way of combining and integrating language, actions, interactions, and ways of thinking, believing,
valuing, and using various symbols, tools, and objects to enact a particular sort of socially recognizable identity.
5
Unlike the sentence whose boundaries appear intuitively clear, the discourse unit is not as clearly definable.
6
In other word, discourse has unlimited boundaries that cover a lot of domain, especially social
domain. It is like a statement that reveals by Teun A Van Dijk, discourse is a category that belongs to and derives from the social domain.
7
Generally, discourse refers to a text unity whether it is spoken language or written language, it does not need to refer the rational and logic contains. Such as,
poem, tragedy, conversation, etc. a unity of discourse structure closer to lexical unity than syntaxes unity. A sentence series is called disourse if it has emotional
3
Tahereh Rahmati Farmani, A Discoursal –Grammatical Analysis of the 4
th
Chapter of Golestan: The Merits of Silence. Indian J.Sci.Res.Vol. 71, 2014 Iran: Islamic Azad University, pp. 529-
533.
4
Victoria Fromkin, et al., An Introduction to Language, 7
th
Edition.Boston:Heinle, Thomson Corp, 2003, p.209.
5
James Paul Gee, An Introduction to Discourse Analysis: Theory and method. New York and London: Routledge, 2005,p.21.
6
Roy O.Freedle, Discourse Production and Comprehension. Norwood: Ablex Publishing Corporation, 1982, p.94
7
Teun A.Van Dijk, Handbook of Discourse Analysis Vol.4 London: Academic Press Inc, 1985, p.27.
9
connection from a part to another part, In other words, its topic sentences should be supported by the other sentences.
C. The Definition of Text Unity
1. Text
Halliday and Hasan expressly an idea of „text‟. This becomes apparent in their book Cohesion in English:
A text is a unit of language in use. It is not a grammatical unit, like a clause or sentence; and it is not defined by its size. […] A text is
not something that is like a sentence, only bigger; it is something that differs from a sentence in kind. A text is best regarded as a
semantic unit: a unit not a form but meaning.
8
It is a glance about text definition according Halliday and Hasan. From their explanation above, text cannot be supposed by grammatical aspect but it is the
semantic one. Text is a combination of the sentences that connect each other and make a unity.
Also, Halliday and Hasan through their book Cohesion in English propose “the word text is used in linguistics to refers any passage, spoken, or written, or
whatever length, that does form a unified whole.”
9
It is equal from Crystal assertion that text is a piece of naturally occurring spoken, written, signed
discourse identified for purposes of analysis.
10
The word text is exploited in linguistics to refer to any passage, spoken or written of whatever length, that does construct a unified whole. According to
8
M.A.K. Halliday and Ruqaiya Hasan,Op.Cit.,pp.1-2
9
Ibid
10
David Nunan, Introducing Discourses Analysis London: Penguin Group, 1993, p.6
10
Widdowson 1979, “a text is a collection of formal objects held together by patterns of equivalence or frequencies or by co
hesive devices”. A text may be prose or verse, dialogue or monologue. It may be anything from a single proverb
to a whole play, from a momentary cry for help to an all-day discussion on a committee. That is geographical length is not important for a text.
11
For example: a. A single word: “DANGER” on a warming sign. b. A stretch of language even though not a sentence: “NO
SMOKING” printed on a wall.
12
A text is a unit of language in use. It is not a lexico-grammatical unit like a clause or a sentence, and it is not defined by size. A text does not consist of sentences. It
is realized by or encoded in sentences. A text is best regarded as a semantic unit, a unit not of form but of meaning. Thus it is related to a clause or sentences not by
size but by realization, the coding of one symbolic system in another.
13
2. Texture
A text must have Texture, as what Halliday and Hasan proposed in their book
the unity of text has strong connection with texture. The concept of texture is entirely appropriate to express the property of being text. A text has texture, and
this is what distinguishes it from something that is not a text. It derivers that texture from the fact that is function as a unity with respect to it environment.
14
11
Mizan Mahbub, Text, texture, and Cohesion www.englishstudyhelp.blogspot.com
downloaded on 23 April 21, 2015
12
Ibid
13
Ibid
14
Halliday and Hasan, 1976 op.cit p.2
