Abstract

Most recent linguistic studies are focused on the analysis of genuine texts that range from literary texts such as prose, poetry and drama to real-life communicative events. These studies have resulted `into the creation of several linguistic genres by experimenting with the application of several linguistics theories of Stylistics, Sociolinguistics, Discourse Analysis, Semantics, Pragmatics and Textlinguistics .Thus, the analysis of texts of various foci and different emphases have become a fast growing branch of Linguistics which has attracted the attention of researchers who may be undergraduates, graduates or their teachers who engage in the analysis of genuine texts .Consequently, this book aims at providing some basic and guiding principles on how to use the discourse tools of cohesion and coherence create linguistic texts. The textual approach to the cohesive investigation of linguistic texts will also establish different functional varieties of the English Language. The ultimate goal of this book is to equip students and teachers of colleges and universities with the background knowledge and tools needed for creating texts through the analyses of linguistic data. In addition, it is expected that the analyses will assist in discovering the linguistic and extralinguistic features that characterize the texts in various contexts. Consequently, every such attempt leads to the derivation of a unique linguistic genre. More especially, this book aims at using cohesive features in form of cohesive ties, and structural components to define texts, using various samples of texts within the Nigerian (a second- language situation) context. This book will be written in six chapters. The first chapter will discuss the background information on studies in Language variation with special emphasis on the roles of Language, its different contexts of use, the resulting diatypes, the relationship between Language and culture, text and context, register and genre. The second chapter will focus on textuality in language use in order to provide the basis for cohesion which is the focus of this book. In chapter three, the grammatical cohesive relations will be discussed exhaustively, while the lexical cohesion which is the second major cohesive tool will be elaborately handled. In order to demonstrate the efficacy of lexical and grammatical tools in ensuring clarity, non ambiguity, logicality and unity of thoughts in any instance of public communicative event which may be spoken or written, chapter five explicates the use of relevant tools in few sample analyses. The analyses of few political texts selected from The Guardian newspaper are carried out to enhance students’ understanding of the various cohesive tools as semantic tools of textual analysis that can aid the achievement of maximum texture and unity within a linguistic data. Expected Benefits This text is expected to 1. provide students with a sample of register analysis using the political discourse, thus creating a diatype of Nigerian English. 2. enhance a clear understanding of the concept of cohesion through practical illustrations of how the different tools function in Public forms of communication. 3. enrich the students’ experience and knowledge in the ability of language to create variations in linguistic style and communicate effectively. 4. improve the grammatical skills of students in language use in view of the explorations of the structural, grammatical and lexical tools of cohesion that are utilized in the data analyses.