HANOI UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

SCHOOL OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES

----□□¶□□----

FL4227 English Language Analysis

Class 136723
K64

An analysis of lexical cohesive devices in

Aesop’s fables

Full name Student code

Trần Thị Huyền 20193538

March 2023

by
Contents
An analysis of lexical cohesive devices in Aesop’s fables.......................................................1
I. Introduction.........................................................................................................................3
II. Literature review.................................................................................................................3
1. Fable and its properties...................................................................................................3
2. Introduction to Aesop and Aesop’s fables......................................................................4
3. Types of lexical cohesion.................................................................................................4
III. Analysis of using lexical cohesive devices in some of Aesop’s fables....................................5
1. Reiteration.......................................................................................................................5
2. Collocation.......................................................................................................................7
IV. Conclusion..............................................................................................................................8
References..................................................................................................................................9
 I. Introduction
The concepts of coherence and cohesion are crucial in the development and understanding of
speech. Coherence and cohesion play a significant role in establishing a discourse genre.
Lexical cohesion is therefore interesting to study as a part of cohesion. A fable is a traditional
short narrative that imparts moral lessons, particularly one that has animals as the main
characters (Hornby, 2000). Aesop is the oldest and most well-known of all the great fable
writers. His brief and direct stories have certain characteristics that set them apart from other
types of discourse, like essays or speech. Fables are regarded as valuable resources that are
crucial for students' engagement, linguistic development, and cultural enrichment. For all of
these reasons, this essay is written with the expectation that lexical coherence techniques in
Aesop's fables will be useful for English teaching and learning in the future.

II. Literature review

1. Fable and its properties
1.1. Definition of fables
The Latin term fable, which means discourse or narrative, is derived from the word fābula.
Fables are regarded as a kind of fantasy since they include humanized animals, objects, or
elements of nature as the main characters. Fables are short allegorical stories, in rhyme or
prose; and they are enduring literary devices because they may convey moral lessons in a
manner that is easy for readers of all generations to understand and enjoy. (Literary Terms,
2015)

1.2. General characteristics of a fable

The task of a fable is to convey a life lesson to the reader or listener. The narrative builds up
to the final moral, and the existence of a distinct moral that sets fables apart from other
folktales. It is one of the most lasting types of folk literature and has been translated into
nearly every language. Because it is a genre of discourse in traditional literature, fables
possess the following qualities in terms of regarding their theme, plot and structure, character,
and style as follows:

Theme: Fable uses a variety of themes typical of traditional stories, all of which aim to
convey a moral message, so its themes often revolve around: "kindness is a virtue", "the early
bird catches the worm", and "where there is a will, there is a way", etc.
Plot and structure: The plot is fictional, and the structure is very simple, has few characters,
(usually only 2 main characters). Besides, the use of description in narratives is minimal, with
sentences sometimes being as short as one or two.

Character: The main characters are typically animals and usually have names in the titles.
They act and communicate like people.

Style: The language used in a fable is often simple.  The vocabulary used in these brief pieces
is frequently reduced.

2. Introduction to Aesop and Aesop’s fables

Undoubtedly, Aesop's Fables is the earliest and best-known collection of tales in Western
literature. He is believed to have spent some time at Samos working as a slave for a man by
the name of Xanthus. Only after his death (around 560 BCE), his stories are well-known all
over the world. Aesop's Fables contain plenty of good stories that have been enjoyed by
readers for ages, including “The Fox and the Grapes”, “The Tortoise and the Hare”, “The
Lion and the Mouse”, and “The Ant and the Dove”, etc. (Ancient Literature, 2022)

In this essay, we will figure out the way Aesop uses lexical cohesive devices by analyzing
some typical works.

3. Types of lexical cohesion

In constructing discourse, lexical cohesion is crucial. It is widely acknowledged that
vocabulary does improve discourse's textuality.   Reiteration and collocation are the
two basic types into which Halliday and Hasan (1976) subdivided lexical cohesion.

3.1. Reiteration
According to Halliday and Hasan, reiteration is a type of lexical cohesion that includes using
a lexical item repeatedly; using a general term to refer back to a lexical item in the text; and
several things, such as the usage of a synonym, near-synonym, or superordinate. Then, they
divided any instance of reiteration into four categories: (a) repetition, (b) synonym or near-
synonym, (c) superordinate, or (d) general word.

3.2. Collocation
Collocation is the tendency for words to appear together in a lexical context without any
reference to a semantic connection. Collocation is the habit of using some words often along
with other words. Also, collocations are the possibility of co-utterance of words or a binding
force between linguistic terms (Halliday & Hasan,1976)

In section 3, we will go into further detail on the understanding of reiteration and collocation
using examples from Aesop's fables.
III. Analysis of using lexical cohesive devices in some of Aesop’s fables
1. Reiteration
1.1. Repetition
The cohesion of stories is achieved by repetition, which is a crucial device. Because of lexical
repetition, repeated items and repeating ones are related lexically. There are primarily two
types of repetition: repetition in whole and repetition in part. Words or phrases may be
repeated in this manner. Repetition is observed to occur rather frequently in Aesop's stories.

Source:

AN ANT went to the bank of a river to quench its thirst, and being carried away by the rush
of the stream, was on the point of drowning. A Dove sitting on a tree overhanging the water
plucked a leaf and let it fall into the stream close to her. The Ant climbed onto it and floated
in safety to the bank. Shortly afterward a birdcatcher came and stood under the tree, and laid
his lime twigs for the Dove, which sat in the branches. The Ant, perceiving his design, stung
him in the foot. In pain, the birdcatcher threw down the twigs, and the noise made the Dove
take wing.

(THE ANT AND THE DOVE)

There are two cohesive ties of repetitions in the story: "The Ant" and "The Dove". They are
the names of the two main characters. "The Ant" and "The Dove", each of which is repeated
continuously throughout the text. The second and third occurrences of "the Ant" and "the
Dove" refer back to the first. Besides, there is the referential link signaling that the same "ant"
and "dove" are intended. The occurrence of the two names establishes a cohesive tie between
two lexical items and makes the text coherently by providing continuity. This repetition
ensures the coherence of the plot, making the story easy to understand and remember.

1.2. Synonymy
The terms "synonymy" and "near synonymy" have both been used with lexical items. In other
words, it's two or more forms with meanings that are quite similar, or pairs of terms with
meanings that are highly similar across one or many associations in the same language
(Halliday and Hasan, 1976). When a word does not need to be repeated, synonyms may be a
big help in keeping the discourse flexible, interesting, and attractive. We will identify
synonymy pairs and analyze their meanings in the following corpus:

A mighty lion saw a horse grazing in a field. In order to sneakily deceive (1) the horse, the
lion approached (2) him in a friendly fashion and said he was a doctor. The horse suspected
a trick (4), but he did not reject the lion's claims. When the lion drew closer (2), the horse
quickly thought up an escape. He pretended (1) 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 (4) deference, concealing his true
intentions, whereupon the horse suddenly kicked the lion in the face. Down fell the deadly foe
(3)! The lion lay there on the ground for quite a while and when he came to (1), 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
(3), as I always did before!'

(THE LION AND THE HORSE)

In the story above, we can see four pairs of synonyms, divided into two types. The first one is
three pairs of synonyms that have the same part of speech "pretended" and "deceive";
"approached’, "drew closer" and "came to"; and "foe" and "enemy". The other pair is the pair
having different part of speech: "deceive"(verb), "pretended" (verb), and "trick"(noun),
"feigned"(adjective). In these cases, a lexical item refers to another one that it is connected to
via sharing a referent. In summary, although they contribute very little to the cohesive devices
used in fables, synonyms show to be a useful tool for maintaining the story's essence and
removing repetitive and boring statements. It closely follows the nature of the fable, which is
short, concise, and always revolves around the main storyline.

1.3. Superordinate and general word

Among the lexical coherence devices found in English fables, superordinate, and general
words are significant.

All elements whose meaning encompasses the meaning of the prior ones are in the category
of superordinate. A superordinate item functions anaphorically as a type of synonym from a
lexical perspective. It is often used in English fables. Let us see the below example:

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.

(THE PARTRIDGE AND THE ROOSTERS)

As we have seen, “birds” refers back to “the roosters” and “the partridge”. But “birds” has a
higher level of generality and is therefore a superordinate term.

In addition, “general word”, which defines a general class of objects, can replace a word to
perform the cohesive function in a text. For instance:
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 animal.

(THE MOUSE AND THE LION)

In the text above, under a lexical viewpoint, the general noun “the little animal” is
grammatically similar to a reference item “a mouse”.

To sum up, the combination and use of these devices not only not disrupt the structure and
characteristic properties of the fable, but also increases the coherence, accuracy, and clarity of
the story.

2. Collocation
According to Halliday and Hasan (1976), collocation refers to a word that is in some way
connected to another word in the previous text, whether it be through direct repetition or by
being synonymous with it, or often happens in the same lexical context. It means that
collocations help to establish the unity of a text or discourse.

Collocations can take many various forms and are created by combining verbs, nouns,
adjectives, etc. However, in the example below, we will only analyze the part-whole
collocation. It means that the two things are in some sort of semantic connection between the
whole and the parts of a person, object, or concept.

Source

Up he trotted to the foot of the tree in which the Crow was sitting, and looking up admiringly,
he cried, "Good morning, beautiful creature!"

The Crow, her head cocked on one side, watched the Fox suspiciously. But she kept her beak
tightly closed on the cheese and did not return his greeting.

"What a charming creature she is!" said the Fox. "How her feathers shine! What a beautiful
form and what splendid wings! Such a wonderful Bird should have a very lovely voice, since
everything else about her is so perfect. Could she sing just one song, I know I should hail her
Queen of Birds."

(THE FOX AND THE CROW)

In the above text, “form”, “beak”, “feathers”, and “wings” are all parts of “the bird”. As we
have seen, the use of collocation does not break the properties and general structure of a fable.
Although the language characteristic of fables is simple, it is not sketchy thanks to the skillful
use of collocations. In addition, it also makes the use of English more natural and attractive,
contributing to the aesthetic appeal of the language. It improves the use of language and thus
makes a huge impact on the way children learn English.

IV. Conclusion
Following a thorough examination of the selected fables, we can easily see that: A story is
built using lexical coherent techniques throughout its entirety. The repetition that
distinguishes lexical cohesion makes up the largest percentage of Aesop's stories. While they
contribute less, other lexical cohesive techniques like collocation, synonyms, and
superordinate play a crucial part in the investigated fables since they make the narrative more
logical and entertaining. All of these factors are what keeps the fables flowing smoothly and
prevent readers from becoming bored by using the simple language that is a fable's defining
characteristic.

Following all of that, we may make some inferences. Firstly, cohesive devices and lexical
cohesion should be explicitly and correctly taught from the start in an ESL classroom. In
addition, fables should also be taught at the elementary school level because of their valuable
values.

References
Ancient Literature. (2022, January 11). AESOP | Biography, Animal Fables, & Facts -
Classical Literature. Ancient Literature. https://ancient-literature.com/greece_aesop/
Hallday, M.A.K. & Hasan R. (1976). Cohesion in English. London: Longman.
Hornby, A. (2000). Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current English. 6th Edition.
Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Literary Terms. (2015, June 1). Retrieved November 3, 2015, from https://literaryterms.net/