REFERENTIAL COHESION IN “MY MOTHER MY SELF” BY NANCY FRIDAY
on
REFERENTIAL COHESION IN “MY MOTHER MY SELF” BY NANCY FRIDAY
Ni Luh Putu Dian Purnamawati
Jurusan Sastra Inggris Fakultas Sastra Unud
ABSTRAK:
Novel merupakan salah satu teks tertulis yang bertujuan untuk menghibur dan menyampaikan pesan cerita kepada pembaca. Dengan tujuan itu, novel harus ditulis secara berkaitan dan berpadu untuk mencapai pengertian yang lebih baik. Tulisan ini bertujuan untuk menganalisa penggunaan kalimat perpaduan yang ada dalam novel My Mother My Self karangan Nancy Friday. Tiga bentuk kalimat referensi yang digunakan dalam novel ini, referensi personal, referensi demonstrative dan referensi comparative.
Kata Kunci : Perpaduan, Referensi, Referensi personal, Referensi demonstrative, Referensi Comparative.
Halliday and Hasan in their book entitled Cohesion in English (1976), state that the concept of cohesion is semantic one. It refers to relation of meaning which stresses the existance of text. Cohesion is part of language system. The potential of cohesion lies in the systematic resources of reference, ellipsis and are built into the language itself. The actualization of cohesion in any given instance, however, does not depend merely on selection of some option from within these resources, but also on the presence of some other elements which resolve the presupposition that this sets up (Halliday and Hasan, 1985 : 5).
Halliday and Hasan (1976 : 31) propose the definition of reference as the spesific nature of information that is signaled for retrieval. The information to be retrieved, in the case of reference, is the referential meaning. Reference constitues items in the English Language which, “instead of being interpreted semantically in their own right, make reference to something else for their interpretation” (Halliday and Hasan 1976). It can be divided into the following three types: a. Personal reference, for example : I, me, you, we, us, him, she, her, they, them and it.
-
b. Demonstrative reference, for example : the, this, there, that and those.
-
c. Comparative reference, for example: same, identical, equal, other, different, more, better.
Based on the background as stated above, the research problems can be formulated as follows:
-
1. What types of reference items are used in the novel entitled My Mother My Self?
-
2. How are the reference items presented in the novel?
-
1. To identify the types of references used in the novel entitled My Mother My Self
-
2. To analyze how the reference items are presented in the novel
4.Research Method
The data of this study were taken from Nancy Friday’s novel “My Mother My Self” which was published in 1977. It is used as data source in this study because it consists of a set of sentences in which cohesive relations, including references, could be found.
The novel was analyzed per sentence and the reference items found were classified in terms of the types of the reference, to find out whether they belong to personal, demonstrative or comparative reference in order to figure out how the reference items presented based on the theory of cohesion proposed by Halliday and Hasan in their book entitled Cohesion in English ( 1976 ).
Therefore, this paperfocused on how to analyze the reference items presented in Nancy Friday’s novel “My Mother My Self”. The main reason of this writing is to apply some theories of discourse proposed by some linguists, which are used as the concept of analyzing the reference items presented in the novel.
The three types of reference items such as; Personal references, Demonstrative references, and Comparative references are analyzed analyzed in this section.
The category of personal includes the three classes of personal pronouns, possessive determiners (usually called ‘possessive adjectives’), and possessive pronouns. There is no general name for this category in traditional grammar, because the member belongs to different classes with diverse structural roles, but in fact they represent a single system, that of person:
Speaker only I
Speaker
Speech roles
Speaker plus we
Male he
PERSON
Addressee(s) you
Singular
Human
Female she
Specific
Other roles
Non – human it
Plural they
Generalized
Human one
(The Configuration of single system Personal Reference I by Halliday and Hasan, 1976 : 45.)
And below are description of personal reference I, you, andthey;
Personal reference I always takes position as subject. If I used as non subject then it changes its form into me. As possessor I changes into my and it
function as modifier. I changes its form into mine when its function as possessor head, as exemplified by :
-
1. “I have always lied to my mother,” Nancy said.
(Friday, 1977:19) In example above, I takes position as subject. Because I refers to Nancy and I stands on the previous text.
According to Halliday and Hasan (1976:46) you as one type of Personal reference includes in speech roles. Basically, you can be utilized in order to refer to the addressee by ignoring either amount of gender.
Below, the example is analyzed from the text:
-
1. Nancy tries to imagine a little scene that could have helped both her and her mother.
“Nancy, you know I’m not really good at this mothering business”, her mother says.
(Friday, 1977:19) In the example above, Personal references you take position as subject. It anaphorically refers to Nancy which is standing in the preceding text.
According to Halliday and Hasan (1976:47), the personal reference theyis classified into other rule that is used to refer to ‘the third plural person’, it means the person or the object exposed is more than one without differentiaally the gender. Theyis not only referring to human, but it can also refer to animate non human like animal or inanimate non human and the amount is plural.
Below is one example was taken to be analyzed:
-
1. Psychotherapists have long become accustomed to the necessity of working through these bits of insight; making patients aware of the repressed connections again and again before they are truly grasped the loberating, emotional truth integrated for good.
(Friday, 1977:364)
In example above, personal reference theyanaphorically refer to psychoanalysts and take position as subject.
The analysis of demonstrative reference encloses the analysis of the selective nominal demonstrative such as this, these, that, those, and neutral form, the. In this paper, demonstrative references such as this and thatare categorized as demonstrative reference.
Based on the semantic differentiations above, this is used to refer to something whose position is close and it is in singular form. In addition, demonstrative reference this can refer pronominally to human referent. In a text for example, demonstrative reference this is used to refer to something that has already been spoken by the speaker itself. I proximity interpreted as time, so this related to present and future time referent.Demonstrative reference this has function as modifier or head. As modifier, this is always followed by noun that identically same as its reference. As illustrated by the following pattern:
-
1. We have always known this feeling existed, and have merely been waiting for it to come along again.
(Friday, 1977:272)
In example above, the demonstrative reference this appears only once. This in example above has function to identify the feeling itself and cataphorically refers to the feeling.
The same as this, that also has text referent characteristics. In a text, demonstrative reference that is always anaphoric if proximity is related to time, that is used to refer to the past time (past-time referent) and it has function as modifier or head. If demonstrative reference that shows plurality, it is changed into those, both that and those are exophoric.
This can be exemplified as follows:
-
1. That Friday I signed out for a weekend, and Saturday morning Steve I were naked in each other’s arms in his roommate’s sister’s canopied bed on Beacon Hill.
(Friday, 1977:293)
Inthe example above, demonstrative reference that occurs only once. It is referring to the past time (past – time referent). In the text above, demonstrative reference that has function as modifier.
Several terms that become parts of comparative reference can be anaphoric or cataphoric and also cohesive in text. In fact, that condition is rarely found. Most of comparative reference is not cohesive in text and usually its reference stands within a sentence that causes an internal relation. In addition, comparative reference mostly exophoric where its reference stands outside text. It can be divided into two types that are general comparison and particular comparison.
General comparison is meant comparison that is simply in terms of likeness and unlikeness, without respect to any particular property: two things may be the same. It is expressed by a certain class of adjectives and adverbs. This comparison expresses likeness between things. The general comparison which occur in the story are else and other.
-
a. She can be honest about everything else.
(Friday, 1977: 28) b. We learn our deepest ways of intimacy with mother; automatically we repeat the pattern with everyone else.
(Friday, 1977: 29)
All of the examples of the general comparison else above, show the general comparison in terms of unlikeness.
-
a. The daughter will repeat this relationship with men and other women.
(Friday, 1977: 27)
-
b. And to look in the real world for those other aspects we did not get from her.
(Friday, 1977: 29)
The two examples of the general comparison other above shows the general comparison in terms of unlikeness.
Particular comparison means comparison in respect of quantity or quality.The particular comparison in terms of quality founded in the novel aremore and so.
-
a. A more everyday example might be when mother refuses to let us go the movies with friends.
(Friday, 1977:432)
In the example above, the partiuclar comparison in terms of quality and it cataphorically refers to everyday.
-
a. I needed and loved my mother so intensely at times
(Friday, 1977 : 33)
In the example above, the particular comparison so also shows the particular comparison in terms of quality and it cataphorically refers to intensely
Based on the analysis and discussion in the previous chapter, the following points can be drawn as conclusion:
In the novel My Mother My Self, all types of referential cohesion appear, namely: Personal references, Demonstrative references and Comparative references. Kinds of personal references that occur in the novel are: reference I, youand they. All of demonstrative references appear such as: selective nominal demonstrative, neutral demonstrative adverb. Selective nominal demonstrative
that appear in the novel are this and that. In addition, comparative reference occurs in the novel, is general comparison. General comparison that occur are else and other. Particular comparison that occur are more and so.
References
Friday, Nancy. 1977. My Mother My Self. New York: Fontana Collins.
Halliday, M.A.K. 1978. Language as Social Semiotic: The Social Interpretation of Language and Meaning. Great Britain: Rout ledge, Chapman and Hall, Inc.
Halliday, M.A.K and R.Hasan. 1976. Cohesion in English. London and New York: Longman.
Halliday, M.A.K and R.Hasan. 1985. Language, Context and Text: Aspect of Language in a Social-Semiotic Perspective. Victoria: Deakin University Press.
Hasan, Ruqaiya. 1968. Grammatical Cohesion in Spoken and Written English,Part 1. London: University College London.
Nunan, David. 1993. Discourse Analysis. London: Penguin Books.
P.Witte, Stephen. 1981. Coherence, Cohesion and Writing quality. Journal Language Studies and Composing. Texas University.
Shen, Ying. 2008. Qualitative Charactristics of Coherence, Substitution and Reference, Journal Qualitative Characteristics, Tohoku University.
8
Discussion and feedback