Role of lexical repetition in English written texts

Abstract

Repetition is the process of repeating a word stated earlier in the text either in the same form or with some modifications. It is one of the key signaling devices available for setting up relations and, thereby, for the patterning of discourse or text. This study is a textual analysis of the role that repetition plays in English texts. It aims at investigating the different roles of repetition in these texts. Moreover, it aims at finding out if repetition contributes to making explicit the logical and prominent relationship between ideas, and thus creating a hierarchical text structure. To achieve the aims of the research, the following hypotheses are made:1. English uses repetition heavily. 2. Repetition is multifunctional in English. 3. English avoids exact repetition by using other types of repetition. The data for analysis consist of five texts chosen randomly. These texts represent the five major text types recognized by Werlich (1976). They are: descriptive, narrative, expository, argumentative and instructive. The analysis of the data which has been based on Hoey’s (1983 and 1991) models of repetition has verified the validity of the first and second hypotheses, whereas it has refuted the third hypothesis.