TYPES OF LEXICAL COHESION FOUND IN LYRIC OF THE SCRIPT’S SONG
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TYPES OF LEXICAL COHESION FOUND IN LYRIC OF
THE SCRIPT’S SONG
By:
NI PUTU DYAH DAMAYANTI IRAWAN
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF LETTERS UDAYANA UNIVERSITY
ABSTRAK
Lirik dalam sebuah lagu adalah puisi yang menekankan ekspresi perasaan individu dari penyanyi, baik penyanyi solo maupun grup. Banyak lirik lagu mengandung bahasa puitis dan terkadang sulit untuk dipahami. Selain bahasa yang puitis, sebuah lirik lagu jugamengandung lexical cohesion. Penulis lirik lagu akanmenggunakan kohesi leksikal dengan menyelipkan kata, frasa, maupun kalimat yang saling memiliki keterkaian guna membantu memperjelas makna lirik lagu tersebut. Makalah ini menjelaskan jenis-jenis dari kohesi leksikal, yaitu reiterasi dan kolokasi yang terkandung dalam lirik lagusebuah grup band internasional bernama The Script menggunakan teori kohesi leksikal milik Halliday dan Hasan (1979). Hasil penelitian menyimpulkan bahwa dalam lirik tersebut terdapat enam belas bentuk kohesi leksikal, terdiri dari bentuk repetisi,sinonimi, hiponimi, general word dan kolokasi. Fungsi dari penggunaan kohesi leksikal tersebut ialah membuat teks memiliki harmonisasi serta sebagai pengikat agar teks tersebut memiliki makna.
Kata kunci: kohesi leksikal, reiterasi, kolokasi
Lexical Cohesion is a group of words which is lexically cohesivewhen all of the words are semantically related; for example, when they are all concerned with the same topic (Halliday and Hasan, 1976). Lexical cohesion has two functions: first, to link word and word, phrase and phrase within a text then it can divided again like indicating a repetition, indicating synonym, indicating superordinate, and indicating general word; second, it is used to indicate co-occurrence of words whose meanings are related in the same environment, (Halliday and Hasan, 1976).Lexical cohesions always appear insongs. In songs the writeroften uses repetition, synonym, antonym, imagery, etc in words or sentence. By analysing lexical cohesion the researcher knew the kinds and functions of lexical cohesion
used in the songsofThe Script. Furthermore, lexical cohesion which consists of reiteration and collocation is very essential in order to get deep understanding of the songs.
What kinds of lexical cohesions are found in lyric of The Script’s song?
Identifying the kinds of lexical cohesion used in in the lyric of The Script’s song.
The data of this study were taken fromthe lyrics of The Script’s song entitled “The Man Who Can’t Be Moved”. The data source were chosen to show the kinds of lexical cohesion and the function of lexical cohesion used in the lyrics of The Script’s song.
Before analyzing the data, there is information about The Script. The Script is a pop rock band formed in 2001 in Dublin, Ireland. The band consists of Danny O’Donoghue (vocals), Mark Sheehan (guitar) and Glen Power (drums). The Script is songwriters of the first order, combining thoughtful, heartfelt lyrics with lush melodies.
The data were collected using documentation method and supported by note taking technique.
The data in this study analyzed qualitatively based on the theory of cohesion proposed by Halliday and Hasan in their book entitled Cohesion in English (1976).
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5 Lexical Cohesion in The Lyric of The Script’s Song
Lexical cohesion happens when two words in a text are semantically related in some way; in other words, they are related in terms of their meaning (Nunan, 1993: 28). Lexical cohesion refers to the reader-perceived unity of text achieved by the author’s usage of words with related meaning. Crystal (1995: 118) states that to study lexicon of English, accordingly, is to study all aspects of the vocabulary of the language. There are two categories of lexical cohesion, namely reiteration and collocation.
Repetition is one kind of reiteration. Lexical items which are already present in the previous sentences are repeated in the following sentence in the text.Repetition is just the simple repetition of a word, within a sentence or a poeticalline, with no particular placement of the words.
Verse 4
So I'm not moving (L-13)
I'm not moving (L-14)
In the 4th verse above, it can be found one kind oflexical cohesion, namely repetition. “I’m not moving” is repeated again in line 14, so it is categorized as repetition because it is stated again in line 14. The function is to strengthen the meaning of sentence, that the man is seriously not moving from his first place.
Synonym or near synyonym is the second part of reiteration where two or more words with very closely related meaning or same meanings are often intersubstitutable in sentences. Words that are synonym are stated to be synonymous, and the state of being a synonym is called synonymy. The word comes from the ancient
Greek syn (with) and anoma (name). (Crystal (1995: 164) states that synonymy is lexeme which has the same meaning- a definition which sounds straight forward enough.
Verse 3
And your heart starts to wonder where on this earth I could be(L-10) Thinking maybe you'll come back here to the place that we'd meet(L-11)
Near synonym isshown in words “wonder” in line 10 and “thinking” in line 11 because they have nearly the same meaning. “Thinking” means to form an idea of something; to imagine something (Hornby, 1995:1241). “Wonder” means imagining about someone or something.
According to Halliday and Hasan (1976: 278) superordinate is a name for more general class. It is used to refer to a word which has general properties, not the specific one.
Verse 5
I said there's someone I'm waiting for if it's a day, a month, a year(L-16)
The relation between the word “a day” , “a month”, “a year” in line 16 can be classified as superordinate. In this case, “ a year” is the superordinate of “a day” and “a month”. Because “a day” and “a month” are parts of “a year”.
The last part of reiteration is general word. The general words, which correspond to major classes of lexical items, are very commonly used with cohesive force. Not all general words are used
cohesively; in fact, only the noun is cohesive in the context of reference. When it has the same referent as whatever it is presupposing, and when it is accompanied by a reference item (Halliday and Hasan, 1976: 280-281).
Verse 3
Thinking maybe you'll come back here to the place that we'dmeet(L-11)
And you'd see me waiting for you on the corner of the street (L-12)
“The place” in line 11 and “the corner of the street” in line 12 are classified as general words, because “the place” refers to “on the corner of the street”. The function is to make the sentence more interesting and not boring. The verse explains that the man hopes that the girl will miss him and come back to their place where the usually met.
Collocation is the second type of lexical cohesion. Halliday and Hasan (1976) recognize collocation as an important part of creating cohesion in connected text. They argue the case of collocation as follows: The cohesive effect depends not so much on any systematic relationship as on their tendency to share the same lexical environment, to occur in collocation with one another. In general, any two lexical items having similar patterns of collocation – that is, tending to appear in similar context – will generate a cohesive force if they occur in adjacent sentences (Halliday & Hasan 1976: 286).
Verse 5
Gottastand my ground even if it rainsorsnows (line 17)
Collocation is expressed in word “rains” and “snows”. Both of them are part of the whole relation referring to weather. The functions of collocation in this verse is to describe the situation. The man will not move with any reason, he will stay in that place because he believes if the girl changes her mind , she will come to that place and meet that man.
In terms of lexical cohesion, there are many collocation and repetitions found in this lyric. There are 16 lexical items. In the pattern of reiteration, this research founds repetition; such as I'm not moving - I'm not moving, broke – broken, wish. Near synonym; such as wonder – thinking, stay – stand. Superordinate;such as a day - a month - a year.General words; such as the place - the corner of the street.Collocationswere also found in this research such as camp-sleeping bag, rains-snows
Crystal, D. 1992. Introducing Linguistics. Penguin.
Halliday, MAK &Hasan, Ruqaiya. (1976) Cohesion In English. London: Longman Group Limited
Hornby. 1995. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. London: OxfordUniversity Press
Nunan, David. 1993. Discourse Studies: An Introductory Text-book
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