Coherence and Cohesion in English Discourse

particular cultural stereotypes. It is mainly lexical replacement and repetition 
that are employed in both the serious and popular press to achieve these goals. 
As can be seen from Example 10, the most important information about the killer 
is not her name but her social role of 
a mother
, and on top of that 
a young 
mother
, who failed to fulfil her main role, i.e. the principal role of a woman – a 
mother. Moreover, her low social status is further reinforced by stating that she 
is 
a former crack addict
.
(10)
Young mother jailed over “horrific cruelty campaign against two-month-
old son. (headline) – A young mother has been jailed for a horrific 
campaign against her helpless two-month-old son who died after her last 
attack ... – Former crack addict Claire Biggs, 27, had already seen her 
first child taken into care ... – Even Biggs admitted ... – In evidence Biggs
 
insisted ..., 
etc. (Daily Telegraph, March 11, 2009)
Once the identity of the killer (i.e. a young mother and a former crack addict) 
has been established in the text, she is further referred to consistently by her 
surname only, which in this context and mainly in comparison with the victim 

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may be considered as a device creating distance between the killer and the reader. 
The victim is primarily described as a very young child (
the little boy, baby
) 
and the repeated mention of his age as well as emphasis on his helplessness 
clearly enhance his status as a victim, for which cf.
 
the lexical chain below 
(Example 11).
(11)
two-month-old son – her helpless two-month old son – 
Rhys
’s chest – 
the 
little boy
’s wrist and shoulder – 
helpless son
– 
the baby
– 
Rhys came 
under the care– 
Rhys
was known to the local authorities
-
..., etc. (Daily 
Telegraph, March 11, 2009)
In contrast to the mother, who is referred to in the rest of the report by her 
surname, the victim’s positive status is further reinforced by the use of his 
first name (
Rhys
) or 
baby
, which may encourage certain attitudes and feelings 
towards the victim, for example the reader’s sympathy. Naming is thus “a very 
useful device in promoting a particular response from an audience” (Reah 2002: 
59). Since the two above examples (Examples 10 and 11) are taken from a 
broadsheet it is worth mentioning how the same event is reported in a tabloid. 
The Sun
report from the same day builds on the killer’s identity as 
a mother
and mainly as 
a crack addict
. Unlike broadsheet newspapers, 
tabloids can afford 
to and will make open evaluations of people’s actions and behaviour, and so 
evaluative adjectives are employed to accentuate the negative status of the killer 
via the use of ‘unexpected’ collocations, such as 
a sadistic mum
or 
monstrous 
mum
(Example 12). 
(12)
Crack addict tortured her baby until he died ... – A sadistic mum jailed 
yesterday ... – Crack addict Claire Biggs – pony-tailed Biggs, 27, convicted 
of assault ... – the monstrous mum, whose boyfriend was found guilty ... 
– Biggs – Biggs ..., etc.
(Sun, March 11, 2009)
The reference to the victim (Example 13) is very similar to the reference 
in the 
Daily Telegraph
 
report (Example 11), for example, the repetition of the 
noun 
baby
, the use of the adjective 
helpless
, etc. As for the victim’s age, indirect 
reference is made by use of the adjective 
tiny
and the noun 
tot
, which can be 
also described as devices of lexical replacement and at the same time add to the 
emotional effect of the report. 
(13)
Crack addict tortured
her baby
 ... – ... for torturing 
her baby
 – ... for 
killing two-month-old Rhys ... – ... 
helpless Rhys
 suffered ... – 
the tot
 – 
tiny 
Rhys
 – 
Rhys
 ..., etc
. (Sun, March 11, 2009)

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The labels 
monstrous mother
and 
sadistic mother
are particularly effective 
examples of lexical replacement; they are descriptive and evaluative at the same 
time. Moreover, they are not only means of lexical cohesion as they also enhance 
the deeply rooted stereotype of the main female role of mother. It is worth 
mentioning that the ‘bad mother motif’ is one of the strongest stereotypes in crime 
news, whereas ‘a bad father motif’ is virtually non-existent. The fatherly qualities 
of a man are not normally questioned; more attention is paid to the motive of the 
man for killing his own child than with killing mothers (cf. Appendix, Figures 3 
and 4). Generally, men who kill seem to be less newsworthy for the media than 
women who kill and they are rarely depicted as bad fathers (Jewkes 2004). 
Similar labels which mediate the low social status of the killer, i.e. lower than 
the reader’s status, and which also elaborate on social and cultural stereotypes 
can be used to emphasize the assailant’s ‘otherness’ as compared to the law-
abiding majority of ‘us’. The lexical means employed thus also contribute to the 
coherence, as they refer not only to individuals but also mediate and reinforce 
the cultural and social reality. As Example 14 illustrates, the lexical choices are 
made carefully to identify the ‘good’ and ‘evil’ by hinting at qualities typically 
associated with a certain type of behaviour or background (i.e. 
a former Roman 
Catholic altar boy
vs. 
a cannabis-smoking school dropout
). The effect is even 
stronger when such a representation strategy is used in one sentence to contrast 
the victim and the killer, or two successive sentences, as Example 14 shows.
(14)
The father of Jimmy Mizen yesterday attacked Britain’s culture of “anger, 
selfishness and fear” after seeing a school dropout jailed for murdering 
his son. Jake Fahri, a 19-year-old cannabis smoking school dropout
, 
slashed the former Roman Catholic altar boy’s neck with a glass dish in a 
bakery last May.
(Daily Telegraph, March 28, 2009)
The Sun report of this case from the same day is probably based on the same 
primary text provided by a news agency (judging from the type and range of 
information included), as with today’s press this is common journalistic practice 
(Franklin 2008). In terms of naming, however, 
The Daily Telegraph
and 
the Sun 
differ. The labels used by 
the Sun
are more radical and evaluative, as is typical of 
tabloids, mainly in reference to the killer. The noun 
thug
, which reoccurs in 
Sun
crime reports and is thus a firmly established concept to 
Sun
 
readers, is used in 
the headline, then repeated and reinforced by the evaluative adjective 
twisted 
in 
the lead, and in the following text it is replaced by another negative label, 
a street 
yob
(Example 15). Such labelling has an increasing negative effect. 
(15)
Thug who murdered Jimmy, 16 given life ... – twisted thug Jake Fahri
 
was jailed yesterday for murdering altar boy Jimmy Mizen ... – Fahri, 19
, 

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swaggered away ... – 
street yob Fahri
, who also lived just a street away ... 
– the 5ft 7 in drug dealing rap music fan ..., etc.
(Sun, March 28, 2009)
As Example 15 illustrates, lexical replacement is an effective means of 
lexical cohesion in crime reports and at the same time has a wide communicative 
potential which various newspapers exploit with respect to the presumed needs 
and expectations of their audiences. From the above examples it is also clear 
that tabloids are evaluative and emotional, as they typically present their readers 
with ready-made views and opinions, where serious newspapers encourage 
a particular meaning interpretation covertly, for example, by the inclusion of 
negative information that lowers the social status of the killer (for more on 
reference and 
naming, cf. Jančaříková 2009). Particular lexical choices thus 
focus the reader’s attention on certain facts and characteristics which encourage 
the intended meaning interpretation.