| Coherence, as an important term in the field of discourse analysis, has been always given the most attention by many linguists. Past studies have approached this subject from various perspectives and most of them are narrowly focused on lexical and grammatical level. Few attention is paid to discourse coherence. The song lyrics written by famous Taiwan lyric composer Fang Wenshan are characteristic of skipping images and unique ways of expression, causing incoherence of discourse and bringing troubles for the readers to appreciate the lyrics better. Therefore, this thesis will attempt to explore the discourse coherence in Fang's lyrics by adopting three major theories of cognitive linguistics, namely, Idealized Cognitive Model (ICM), Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT), and Iconicity. It aims at complementing the research of discourse coherence, validating the explanatory power of cognitive approach to the subject as well as casting new light on the study of song lyrics.This thesis is divided into five parts. Chapter 1 is a brief introduction to some basic issues concerning the background of this study, the significance and aim of it, and the outline of this thesis. Chapter 2 is literature review which presents a overview of the previous studies home and abroad. Besides, the cognitive approach is also provided for the research in this thesis. Chapter 3 is framework. It gives account of some basic concepts including discourse, cohesion and coherence together with the concept of discourse coherence in the thesis. In addition, the cognitive view on discourse coherence in general is provided, all of which paves way for the detailed case analysis in the following chapter. Chapter 4 is the main body part which carries out an detailed analysis of the representative lyrics selected from Fang's works with the three major cognitive theories, namely, ICM, CMT and iconicity. It focuses on the mental coherence achieved by readers through cognitive efforts when interpreting the lyrics. Chapter 5 gives the conclusion, contributions limitations and suggestions of the study. |
PDF Full Text Request