AnAnalysisofCohesiveDevicesinARoseforMissCaroline

张瑾

1. Theory

Halliday and Hasan identify five main cohesive devices in English：reference， substitution， ellipsis， conjunction， and lexical cohesion. As the former four devices all belong to the grammatical cohesion， the main cohesive devices are divided into two categories – grammatical cohesion and lexical cohesion （Halliday & Hasan， 1976）.

2. Analysis

2.1 Grammatical Devices

References

There are three types of reference used in this short story， personal reference， demonstrative reference and comparative reference. In paragraph 6， in the sentence “Dr. Penniman fell in love with a younger， prettier girl and married her”， the words “younger， prettier” made a comparison between Pennimans new couple and his former girlfriend mentioned in the previous text and implicitly demonstrated a possible cause for Pennimans change.

In terms of looking-backward or looking-forward referencing direction， the references are categorized into anaphora and cataphora. Anaphora is the pronoun linking backward to a referent in the previous text， involving antecedent （the initial expression） and anaphor （the second or subsequent expression）.

The anaphora is the most common reference used in English texts， for it follows the usual pattern of information process. While cataphora， following the reversal of the antecedent-anaphor pattern， are pronouns linking forward to a referent in the text that follows. Readers should look for the referent in the following text. Reference of this type is usually adopted by the novel writers to create certain literary effects.

This short story is featured with a large number of cataphora through the whole text. After the definite noun phrase， the further explanation or uncovering of identity would be given in the following text.

“Every Saturday night， all through that lazy spring， I used to take a rose to Miss Caroline Wellford”. （Para 1） As the beginning sentence of the whole story， the expression “that lazy spring” seemed eccentric because readers lack of knowledge to identify which lazy spring the narrator was referring to. But the gradual reveal of the plot in the following paragraphs made the answer evident that it was the spring during which the boy had delivered the roses to Miss Caroline.

As a literary device， cataphora in the short story successfully created the suspension of the plot， intriguing the readers curiosity and interest， thereby encouraging the readers to uncover the mist， find the answer and get involved in the development of the story and more significantly making their own contribution to the literature works.endprint

2.2 Lexical Devices

2.2.1 Synonym

In the sentence “Then I decided to show Mr. Olsen how smart I had been…Mr. Olsen sighed. ‘James， you never were very bright…” （Para. 21-22）， it is common to use a similar word to refer to the same concept mentioned above in order to avoid repetition， especially in literature works， for the diversity of expressions is one of crucial elements to trigger readers attention and interest continuously.

2.2.2 Collocation

During the whole stretch of the story or in certain parts of the process， there were words co-occurring with the key information. For example， surrounding the concept of “doctor” in the paragraph 6， there were words such as “medical school” and “internship”， and focusing on the characteristics of the “eccentric old maid”， there were following “a ghost”， “listlessly” and “straggly” in the paragraph 11.

3. Conclusion

The cohesion and coherence in this short story was realized by a variety of cohesive devices. Grammatical devices effectively arrange the sequences of the events to create suspension while the logic was maintained， while lexical ones were used to highlight the key information and keep the whole text relevant.

The order of narration was so skillfully designed by the author that the author controlled every stage of the reading， with readers encouraged to get involved in the whole process of reading. Some references really call for so much imagination from the readers that they have to convey their general knowledge of real world as well as the specific contexts of the story in interpreting the referent. What is worth mentioning is that one mistake has been frequently found in several Chinese translation versions of this short story. Many translators misunderstood the reference “her” in the sentence “A lady who said she wasnt going to sit around watching Miss Caroline make a martyr of herself at her expense” （Para 24） by translating it into Miss Caroline instead of the author-intended referent Christine Penniman. That made the process of reading more challenging and interesting， which is particularly of great significance for short stories translation.

References：

[1]Halliday，M.A.K.&Hasan，R.Cohesion in English.Beijing： Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press.2001.

[2]李明.翻譯批评与赏析[M].武汉大学出版社，2006：134-145.endprint