Cohesion and Coherence

COHESION AND COHERENCE

IN ENGLISH SPEECH TEXT OF SUSILO BAMBANG YUDHOYONO (SBY) IN ASIAN FORUM,  JAKARTA, 9 MARCH 2008

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Bejo Sutrisno

A lecturer of STIBA-IEC

mail2bejosutrisno@gmail.com
(Jurnal: CAKRAWALA BAHASA/05/01/English Education Study Program Press/Universitas khairun, Januari 2016)

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study is to describe the elements of grammatical cohesion and lexical cohesion and the elements of coherence in  English speech text of Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) in the Asian Forum in Jakarta, May 9, 2008. This study used a qualitative descriptive method, In this study, the researcher used a technique of library study, reading, and recording technique. Data analysis is done through data reduction, presentation of the Data which further describe the data and the verification to get the conclusion. Researcher is a primary instrument in this research and the supporting instrument is tables of grammatical cohesion elements and Lexical cohesion elements and the table of forming coherence. Based on the results of this study that the text of SBY speech contained the elements of both linguistic grammatical cohesion and lexical cohesion and coherence elements.

Keywords: cohesion, coherence, Discourse Analysis, English Speech text

A. INTRODUCTION

1. Bacground

Language is the most important part of a communication for human life. With language we can express our thoughts or ideas that we have in mind to , interact, communicate, and show its existence among other people. Language and social structures that exist in the surrounding environment are two integralted parts. Nowadays, the study of language is the time to pay more attention to associate with the existing social structure in society. And vice versa, the social assessment should consider the study of language in its analysis. It is as described by Idris Aman (2006:16-17) that the scope of the study of linguistics should not be limited to the description of the system of language as a communication tool, but it must continue to understand the social process that is hidden inside it, like ideology, education, socialization, social change, the economy, leadership, etc.  It is as it was delivered by the former President of the Republic of Indonesia, Mr. Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) on a chance to give a speech to the leaders of the countries of Asia "Asian Government Leaders Forum (GLF ASIA)" on May 9, 2008 in Jakarta. On that occasion, Mr. Yudhoyono expressed his thoughts on politics, education, technology and so forth.

In studying the language, it can not be separated from the elements contained in languages such as their cohesion and coherence between the language used in a discourse. In reviewing or analyzing the meaning or the value contained in a discourse, there should be knowledge or science that studies about how to analyse the meaning, namely the discourse analysis that is part of the discipline of linguistics. Discourse is a complete record of the events of linguistic communication, both oral and written. Discourse can be regarded as a series of interrelated sentences (connecting a propositions with other propositions) and form a unity of meaning. Poerwadrminta (1976:4) interpretes that discourse as speech events, that is what happens between the speaker and the receiver. While Schiffrin (2007:18) interprets that discourse as a language that has a particular system used in accordance with the context.

2. Objectives

The purpose of this study is to explore the elements of cohesion and coherence embodied in the text of the speech of English used by Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in a speech at a forum of Asian political and economic leaders of countries in Asia on May 9, 2008, in Jakarta.

3. The Significances

The significances of this study are:

1)        Theoretically, this research may contribute to developing the science of linguistics, especially on a discourse analysis to the study of cohesion and coherence.

2)        In practical terms, this research can give the contribution and comprehension to the readers about how to analyze the discourse on the study of cohesion and coherence.

4. Library Review

Some of the previous researches related to this study are:

1)        "Discourse Analysis in Speech of Abraham Lincoln" by Adrianus Riky Rambing, Journal (2014). In that research, the author discusses the discourse analysis of the speech delivered by Abraham Lincoln and discussed using seven studies drawn from the theory of De Beaugrande & Dressler, namely: cohesion, coherence, intensionality, akseptebility, informativity, situsionality, and intertextuality.

2)        "Analysis of Cohesion and Coherence In the Journal of “Gurindam Mutiara Hidup” Renda Setyadiharja" E-Journal by Nurbarah Tiarawati (2013). This study describes the elements of grammatical cohesion in “Gurindam Mutiara Hidup”, the coherence element of causality, coherence element of means-results, the coherence element of reasons-causes, the coherence element of conditions-results in “Gurindam Mutiara Hidup”.

5. Theoretical Framework

According to Schiffrin (1994:20) that discourse contains two fundamental understandings, namely in terms of the study analyzed from a discourse that is based on a structural approach (formalist), that discourse is a language unit above sentence or several sentences that have a relationship and structure of the language both cohesion and coherence. While the second understanding is based on the functionalist approach, that discourse is defined as the use of language which view the structure of speech (actions and events) as a way of personality which has the meaning.

5.1     Gramatikal Cohesion

A good discourse is a discourse that, at least, has elements of form  relationships (cohesion) directy and meaning relationship (coherence) indirectly between words, phrases, clauses, and sentences. Discourse can be text, text either oral or written text. As expressed by Halliday and Hasan (1976:4-5) that cohesion is part of the language system that is characterized by the interrelated sentences  in a text that has implicit meaning marked with words that have relevance. In this case cohesion is the main component of a discourse which is interrelated and can be understood by the listener or reader. In a written text, cohesion and coherence are necessary for a discourse to be easy to understand by the reader. It means that a discourse which has cohesion, and it will have coherence. Discourses that has coherence is not certainly to have cohesion whcih is particularly marked in the syntactic level. Meanwhile, according to Beaugrande and Dressler (1981:48) in their book 'Introduction to Text Linguistics' that the text is a system in the form of a sequence of events or ideas that have a link between the events with other events. While in terms of cognitive, text is embodied in each event that is intended to access several other events. To show the relationships contained in the language aspects of birth (implicit) between words, phrases, clauses, and sentences that are interrelated in communication then was born the term cohesion.  Relationship of mutual relevance as in a phrase, clause, and sentence, cohesion is shown on the right elements in the short-distance range on the grammar. In the distance range of text, the main operation is to find ways that are formed in the elements and patterns which are reused, modified, or compacted. Components that fulfill these functions is through repetition, substitution, omissions, and signaling relationships. Failure to resolve the clause or sentence would be more confusing than the failure to use repetition (recurrence), pro-forms, junctives, and so forth. Thus, Long-distance range device which contributes effisiently is not a must that are grammatically and can form a stable and easy surface text (Beaugrande and Dressler, 1981:54).  Quoted from McCarthy (2000:35) in his book of Discourse Analysis for Language Teachers,

“Spoken and written discourses display grammatical connections between individual clauses and utterances. For our purposes, these grammatical links can be classified under three broad types: reference (or co-reference; see Brown and Yule 1983: 192), ellipsis/substitution and conjunction.”

From above quotation that discourse, McCarthy (2000:35) states that utterances and writings show grammatical relationships between individual clauses and utterances. For this purpose grammatical relationships can be classified into three general types, namely: the reference, ellipsis (omission)/ substitution (replacement) and conjunction.

5.1.1 Reference

Reference in English is including the personal reference (e.g: he, she, it, him, they, etc.), the reference of demonstrative (this, that, Reviews These, Reviews those), articles ‘the’, and ‘a’.

Some types of references can be found in the following example:

The schoolmaster was leaving the village, and everybody seemed sorry. The miller at Cresscombe lent him the small white tilted cart and horse to carry his goods to the city of his destination, about twenty miles off, such a vehicle proving of quite sufficient size for the departing teacher's effects.

In the example above, the italic and bold marks are some reference types. The coherent text, we can take the example of the word 'him' on 'lent him the small white cart tilted' is referring to 'the school master' (principals) which was introduced earlier. Likewise, in the phrase of  'his destination' refers to 'the school master's’, namely the pronominal reference of  'him' and 'his'.

5.1.2 Elipsis (Omission)

The type of grammatical cohesion ellipsis is removal of the part of the sentence elements. On the type of this ellipsis is the case that the removal of a certain word in the sentence of a text. Example:

The children will carry the small boxes, the adults the large ones.

In that example, it appears that there is ommision word 'will carry' on the second clause. The elimination of the main verb is called as anaphoric; in English, it would not be found the following sentence:

*The children will carry the small boxes, the adults will carry the large ones. (McCarthy, 2000:43)

Contoh yang lain adalah:

A: Willl anyone be waiting?

B: Jim will, I should think. (McCarthy, 2000:44)

The above examples show that the phrase ‘be waiting’ is omitted in the second sentence (B).

5.1.3 Conjunction

Conjunctive relation is one type of grammatical cohesions which is done by connecting the one element with the other elements in the discourse. Examples of the conjunction are as follows:

(1)   She's intelligent. And she's very reliable. (additive/penambahan)

(2)   I've lived here ten years and I've never heard of that pub.(adversative: but could substitute)

(3)   He fell in the river and caught a chill.(causal)

(4)   got up and made my breakfast. (temporal sequence) (McCarthy, 2000:48)

Conjunctions link sentences to one another. Using the simplified categorisation below:

1)      additive (e.g. and, in addition)

2)      adversative (e.g. but, however)

3)      causal (e.g. because, consequently)

4)      temporal (e.g. then, subsequently) (McCarthy, 2000:48)

5.2. Lexical Coherence

McCharty stated that there are two types of lexical cohesion that support the integrity of discourse other than grammatical cohesion. The lexical cohesion is a repetition and Collocation.

Repetition of words (reiteration) is restating that appears in the next sentence with a direct repetition or confirmation of the meaning by exploiting the relationship of meaning. In the following two examples are lexical cohesion by providing a repetition on synonym element.

(1)   The meeting commenced at six thirty. But from the moment it began, it was clear that all was not well.

(2)   The meeting commenced at six thirty; the storm began at eight.

In the example (1) the word 'commence' and 'begin' both refer to the same entity which means 'start' while at the example (2) the word 'Commenced' and 'begin' refers to different events but it is still a relationship with the first sentence. (McCarthy, 2000:66)

5.3 Coherence

Coherence is an interrelated sentences in discourse. Coherence also interrelationships between elements in a sentence. As stated by Beaugrande and Dressler (1981:84) that coherence is interrelated sentences explicitly and ambiguity so as to explain the actual text meaning. Meaning is used to refer the potential of language expression (or other marks) to represent and convey knowledge about the true meaning. A text will "make sense" because of the continuity of senses between the knowledge functioned by the expression of the text. A text "does not make sense" is the one in which the receiver can find the continuity of text, because there is usually a serious mismatch between the configuration of concepts and relationships between what is expressed and the recipient’s world knowledge.

In determining the continuity of the senses as the basis of coherence, into mutual access and relevance in the configuration concepts and relations. Configuring the underlying text is a textual world, which may or may not agree with the version that is still "real world", ie, that the version of the human situation seemed to be legitimated by a community or social group. Note, however, that the textual world contains more than a sense of the expression in the text surface: cognitive processes accounted for a number of common sense knowledge derived from the expectations and experience of the participants about the organization of events and situations.  Therefore, even though the sense of the expression is the contribution of the most obvious and accessible to the meaningfulness of the text, they can not be the whole picture. Halliday and Hasan (in Mulyana 2005: 31) asserts that the discourse structure is basically not a syntactic structure, but the structure of semantics, the semantic sentence which contains propositions. For some sentences will only be a long discourse there is a relationship of meaning (sense) inter-sentences themselves.

It can be concluded that the relationship of coherence is a series of facts and ideas which are arranged logically and reasonably. Coherence can occur implicitly as it relates to the field of meaning which requires interpretation. In addition, understanding the relationship of coherence can be reached by way of concluding propositions on the interrelated discourse. Cohesion occurs explicitly when stated by the form of coherence marker interrelated sentences. The connection marker serves to connect the sentence and add the clarity to the interrelated sentences in a discourse.

Between cohesion and coherence, at a glance, almost has similar markers for some aspects which are on the cohesion is a marker on the aspects of coherence. However, based on the above description, between these two aspects can be seen the difference in the following table:

Cohesion	Coherence
cohesiveness unity grammatical aspect (form) syntactic organization internal elements	neatness continuity semantic aspects (meaning) semantic organization external elements

From the table above it can be concluded that the supporting factors of the discourse structure when viewed from the internal aspect are included in the category of cohesion. Conversely, when viewed from the external aspect  they are included in the category of coherence.

6. Methodology

In this study, the researcher uses descriptive method, namely with the following stages:

1) Preparation

At this stage, the researcher examines several books on language, linguistics and discourse analysis to describe the theories related to the research topic.

2) Data collection

Researcher collected the data about the cohesion and coherence of the English speech text of Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) in the Asian Forum in Jakarta, May 9, 2008. 

3) Data Analysis

Researcher analyzed the data by collecting, identifying, and analyzing data.

B. RESULT AND DISCUSSION

Discourse analysis on the English speech text of SBY entitled "Asian Government Leaders Forum (GLF ASIA), 9 May 2008", by using study of Cohesion and coherence.

1.      Gramatikal Cohession

Grammatical Cohesion includes a reference, ellipsis (omission)/ substitution (replacement) and conjunction. Grammatical cohesion found in SBY's speech text are as follows:

1)      Reference

No.	Data	Discussion
1	It is a pleasure for me to join all of you at this closing plenary session of the Government Leaders Forum, Asia 2008.	-The Element of -me refers to himself and the element of -you refers to the audiences. These elements are included is exophoric because it refers to the outside text. Exophoric reference (especially in the press) is often to a 'world of discourse' connected with the discourse of the moment, but not directly. (McCarthy, 2000:40)
2	Serving the people is about improving their lives, responding to their basic needs and aspirations, enabling them to live up to their potentials, and ensuring them not just equality but also equal opportunity.	The element of –their and –them are very clear and both refer to the words -people. These elements belong to anaphoric reference.
3	It is the greatness of God Almighty that he spreads the power of imagination evenly to all human beings, rich or poor, old and young.	The element of -he is a pronoun in -God that refers to the previous word.
4	There are many families who have been locked in poverty and ignorance for generations simply because they lack the enabling and empowerment tool to escape that cycle.	The element of -who Is the connecting element of relative pronoun from the word -families and the element of  -they also refers to the same word that is -families.
5	But today, any individual, even in the most remote place, can have instant access to 50 billion pages of information about anything with a single click of the mouse. That is simply amazing!	The element of -that here refers to the overall discourse in the previous sentence. So the element of -that is the pronoun of the previous clause.
6	And a global citizen in the 21st century not only have the right to life, freedom and pursuit of happiness, he or she—irregardless of his or her nationality, race, religion or income— also has the right to an email address with large or unlimited memory space. This is truly a fascinating digital democracy!	Such as the element of -that above, the element of -this here also refers to the entire discourse in the previous sentence. So the element of -this is also the pronoun of the previous clause
7	With the help of information technology, any government can deliver services to the people much faster and more efficiently. But to us in Indonesia, with a population of 230 million, the task is a great challenge.	The element of -us in the sentence is a reference to the Indonesian nation and this element is included in exophoric reference because it refers to outside of the text.
8	In the field of education, for instance, we have 55 million students, 2.7 million teachers and 293,000 schools. Thus, it is an arduous struggle for us to meet the goal of connecting half of all educational institutions in an ICT network and achieving 50 percent national e-literacy by 2015.	Similar with the element of -us above, here element -we and -us also refer to the nation of Indonesia which is also an element of exophoric reference that refers to  outside of the text.

.

2)      Elipsis (omission)

No.	Data	Discussion
1	And a global citizen in the 21st century not only have the right to life, freedom and pursuit of happiness, he or she—irregardless of his or her nationality, race, religion or income— also has the right to an email address with large or unlimited memory space. This is truly a fascinating digital democracy!	In the text, it is shown that there is a removal of the element of  -he or -she in the previous sentence and also on the sentence afterwards.
2	Through the creative economy, we can make the market do more for more people than they ever did before.	The text is visible on the removal of the element - for more people in the sentence afterwards.

3)      Conjunction

No.	Data	Discussion
1	Serving the people is about improving their lives, responding to their basic needs and aspirations, enabling them to live up to their potentials, and ensuring them not just equality but also equal opportunity.	In the discourse,  there is a conjunction of -and that is to connect the two elements that have equality (additive / additions) either the first nor the second word of -and. Meanwhile, the element of -but  also  is used for connecting two elements that are contrast (adversative)
2	It is the greatness of God Almighty that he spreads the power of imagination evenly to all human beings, rich or poor, old and young.	Either connection of  -or  or -and, they both serve to connect the two opposing elements (adversative) that are "rich or poor, young and old"
3	But today, any individual, even in the most remote place, can have instant access to 50 billion pages of information about anything with a single click of the mouse. That is simply amazing!	The connector of -but and -even  they also show something opposite (adversative)  with the previous text.
4	And a global citizen in the 21st century not only have the right to life, freedom and pursuit of happiness, he or she—irregardless of his or her nationality, race, religion or income— also has the right to an email address with large or unlimited memory space. This is truly a fascinating digital democracy!	The connectors of –and and -also showed to merge the two elements that have the equality or addition (additive) while connector of -or shows to connect two opposing elements (adversative).
5	With the help of information technology, any government can deliver services to the people much faster and more efficiently. But to us in Indonesia, with a population of 230 million, the task is a great challenge.	The connector -and of the discourse suggests shows the addition (additive) to both elements of the comparative, while the connector -but indicates the opposite connector. (adversative) with the previous sentence.

2.      Lexical Conjunction

Lexical cohesion is another thing that supports the integrity of discourse other than grammatical cohesion. McCharty stated that there are two types of lexical cohesion that support the integrity of discourse other than grammatical cohesion. The lexical cohesion is a reiteration (repetition) and Collocation.

Here are some of the results of the analysis of lexical cohesion found in SBY's speech text:

1)      Word repetition (reiteration)

No.	Data	Discussion
1	Fifth, we are actively cooperating with IT industries and businesses to achieve these objectives. One example is our cooperation with Microsoft, which I personally initiated during my meeting with Mr. Bill Gates in Seattle in 2005. My Government is cooperating with Microsoft in many ways—through its innovation centres and its learning programmes. We will cooperate with any other company that offers to work with us the way Microsoft is doing now.	In this paragraph, it consists of four sentences and each sentence includes the word 'cooperating', 'cooperation' and 'cooperate' equally refer to the same entity that has meaning to the  'work together' despite having different tenses, the first 'verb' and the second 'noun'. While the element pronouns -we, -our ... and my government, is a form of repetition (reiteration) that has meaning ‘the government of Indonesia Republic.
2	Indonesia today is undergoing profound transformation. While the main force driving this process is the spirit of reform—political, social and economic reform—it is also true that this transformation is greatly helped along by the blessings of science and technology, especially information technology. We are, after all, part of a world that is being transformed by the magic of software.	There are two repetitions (reiteration) of the word -transformation word, that is the word –transformation and the word –transformed.  Although in the form of a different sentence that is active and the passive voice sentence but the word -transformation and -transformed, that repetition has a function as a confirmation.
3	—that is now addressing the greatest challenge of our time and that is the challenge of poverty.	The repetition of the word -challenge which has the same position as the object of the sentence is a form of confirmation from SBY to the changes that will be made against the use of IT
4	The creative economy that we are forming in Indonesia is our answer to his challenge. Through this creative economy, we are partnering with Microsoft and other corporations, as well as with the civil society of this country, in a strong bid to extend the reach of market forces.	SBY affirmed his statement towards the plans to utilize IT as a form of creative economy by repeating the element of  - creative economy.

2)      Collocation  

No.	Data	Discussion
1	Serving the people is about improving their lives, responding to their basic needs and aspirations, enabling them to live up to their potentials, and ensuring them not just equality but also equal opportunity.	These sentences have the integration between some words such as improving their lives, responding to their basic needs and aspirations, enabling them to live up to their potentials, and ensuring them not just equality but also equal opportunity. Some of the unity of these words close each other or side by side with corresponding words.
2	Indonesia today is undergoing profound transformation. While the main force driving this process is the spirit of reform—political, social and economic reform—it is also true that this transformation is greatly helped along by the blessings of science and technology, especially information technology.	In this data there are some collocation of interrelated to each other. Especially in the second sentence is '... the main force driving this process is the spirit of reform ...' there is indication there is integration  of a word with other words which is a adjacent or contiguous with one another, and associated as a whole. Similarly, the last words there is a collocation which is  interrelated namely, -science, -technology, -information technology

3.      Coherence

Coherence is the cohesiveness of the relationship between sentences in discourse. Coherence is also a compatible reciprocal relationship between these elements in a sentence. Here are some of the results of the analysis of coherence found in English speech text of SBY:

No.	Data	Discussion
1	My Government is cooperating with Microsoft in many ways—through its innovation centres and its learning programmes. We will cooperate with any other company that offers to work with us the way Microsoft is doing now.	This discourse used a marker -through in the first sentence that has the integration meaning to the previous words. The second sentence gives the addition to the first sentence and give repetition of such words -cooperatiing, and -Microsoft in the first sentence and the second sentence is repeated  -cooperate, and -Microsoft
2	Indonesia today is undergoing profound transformation. While the main force driving this process is the spirit of reform—political, social and economic reform—it is also true that this transformation is greatly helped along by the blessings of science and technology, especially information technology.	In this data at the beginning of the second sentence there is the use of relationship- marker  -while that serves as a marker of coherence. In the first sentence to the second sentence, it explained that ‘Indonesia today is undergoing profound transformation’. In the second sentence, it stated that ‘While the main force driving this process is the spirit of reform—political, social and economic reform—it is also true that this transformation is greatly helped along by the blessings of science and technology, especially information technology.' This means that the last sentence is there is collocation interrelated those words are: -science, -technology, -Information technology.
3	The creative economy that we are forming in Indonesia is our answer to his challenge. Through this creative economy, we are partnering with Microsoft and other corporations, as well as with the civil society of this country, in a strong bid to extend the reach of market forces.	In this data there is also a marker of relationship -while at the beginning of the second sentence that aims to connect the first sentence to repeat the phrase 'creative economy' in the second sentence. In the first sentence stated The creative economy that we are forming in Indonesia is our answer to his challenge. Through this creative economy, we are partnering with Microsoft and other corporations, as well as with the civil society of this country. ... '

C. CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION

1.    Conclusion

Based on the analysis of data regarding the cohesion and coherence in discourse in English speech text of SBY themed "Asian Government Leaders Forum (GLF ASIA)" can be concluded that there is a grammatical cohesion and lexical cohesion. Grammatical cohesion covers: (1) the reference, (2) ellipsis, and (3) conjunctions. While the types of lexical cohesion includes: (1) repetition of words (reiteration), and (2) collocation. In addition there is cohesiveness coherence between sentences that can make meaning increasingly integrated within the meaning between sentences in a discourse.

2.      Suggestion

This mini research only examined on the data in the form of discourse of English speech text of SBY themed "Asian Government Leaders Forum (GLF ASIA)" delivered in Jakarta on May 9, 2008. Researcher’s Suggestions to researchers of discourse on the elements of cohesion and coherence intertext of sentences contained in any type of discourse needs any kind of in-depth knowledge of what the discourse and what are the elements of discourse such as cohesion and coherence.

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