Reference: A Grammatical Cohesion

1.        Grammatical Cohesion

According to Halliday and Hasan (1976: 4), cohesion occurs when the interpretation of some elements in the discourse is dependent on that of another. It concludes that the one element presupposes the other. The element cannot be effectively decoded except by recourse to it. Moreover, the basic concept of it is a semantic one. It refers to relations of meaning that exists within the text. So, when this happens, a relation of cohesion is set up, and the two elements, the presupposing and the presupposed, are thereby integrated into a text. Halliday and Hasan (1976: 39) classify grammatical cohesion into reference, substitution, ellipsis and conjunction.

a.        Reference

Reference is the specific nature of the information that is signaled for retrieval. Based on the place of reference, the interpretation of reference can be divided into endophora (textual) and exophoric (situational) reference (Halliday and Hasan, 1976: 33).

When the interpretation of a reference lies within the boundaries of text, it is called endophoric relation. This relation forms cohesive ties within the text. There are two kinds of endophoric relations: anaphora and cataphora (Halliday and Hasan, 1976: 17). Anaphora is the presupposition of something that has gone before, whether in the preceding sentence or not. It is a form of presupposition that refers to some previous item. In contrary, cataphora refers to the presupposition in the opposite direction, with the presupposed element following. Halliday and Hasan Both, (1976: 37) also say that anaphoric and cataphoric references use personal reference or pronominal reference, demonstrative reference and comparative reference.

1)        Personal Reference

Personal reference is reference by means of function in the speech situation, through the category of person (Halliday and Hasan, 1976: 37). The personal category includes the three classes of personal pronouns, possessive determiners usually called ‘possessive adjectives’) and possessive pronouns (Halliday and Hasan, 1976: 43). The items of the reference are as follows:

Table 2.4 Personal Reference

Function		Determinative	Possessive
Class
Singular	Masculine	He/ him	His	His
	Feminine	She/ her	Hers	Her
	Neuter	It	[its]	Its
Plural		They/ them	Theirs	Their

(Halliday, 1985: 295)

The following example is Alice’s conversation with the flowers:

“Aren’t you sometimes frightened at being planted out here, with nobody to take care of you?”

“There’s the tree in the middle,” said the Rose. “What else is it good for?”

“But what could it do, if danger came?” Alice asked.

“It could bark,” said the Rose.

“It says ‘Bough-wough!’” cried a Daisy: “that’s why its branches are called boughs!” (Halliday and Hasan, 1976: 48).

Four occurrences of it, and one of its, refer anaphorically to the tree.

2)        Demonstrative Reference

Demonstrative reference is reference by means of location, on a scale of proximity (Halliday and Hasan, 1976: 37). Demonstrative reference is essentially a form of verbal pointing. The speaker identifies the referent by locating it on a scale of proximity.

Table 2.5 Demonstrative Reference

Specific	Near	This/ these	This/ these	Here (now)
	Remote	That/ those	That/ those	There (then)
Non-specific		it	The

(Halliday, 1985: 295)

The circumstantial (adverbial) demonstratives here, there, now and then refer to the location of a process in space or time, and they normally do so directly, not via the location of some person or object that is participating in the process. The nominal demonstrative this, these, that, those and the refer to the location of something, typically some entity – person or object – that is participating in the process. They therefore occur as elements within the nominal group (Halliday and Hasan, 1976: 57-58). Look at the example below:

“I like the lions, and I like the polar bears. These are my favorites.”

“Those are my favorites too.” (Halliday and Hasan, 1976: 60).

These and Those in the example above are the demonstrative references of the lions and the bears.

3)        Comparative Reference

Comparative reference is indirect reference by means of identity or similarity (Halliday and Hasan, 1976: 37).

 Table 2.6 Comparative Reference

Function		Deictic/ numerative	Ephitet	Adjunct/ submodifier
Class
General	Identity	Same, equal, identical, etc.		Identically, (just) as etc.
	Similarity	Similar, additional, etc.	Such	So, likewise, similarly etc.
	Difference	Other, different, etc.		Otherwise, else, differently etc.
Particular		More, fewer, less, further, etc; so, as, etc; + numeral	Bigger etc.; so, as, more less etc. + adjective	Better etc.; so, as, more less etc. + adverb

(Halliday and Hasan, 1985: 295)

General comparison is a comparison that is simplified in terms of likeness and unlikeness, without respect to any particular property: two things may be the same, similar or different (‘different’ includes both ‘not the same’ and; not similar’). Meanwhile particular comparison means comparison in respect to quantity or quality. For example:

a)      There were twice as many people there as last time.

b)      He’s a better man than I am.

c)      There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy. (Halliday and Hasan, 1976: 82)

Example a) is comparison of quantity, with numeral as comparison and (the people who were there) last time as referent. Example b) is quality, with an epithet as the comparison and I as referent. In c), the referent is (the things that) are dreamt of in your philosophy; the comparison is again quantity.