An investigation of the language of Arabic Friday and English Sunday sermons : a contrastive study of style

العناوين الأخرى

أسلوب لغة خطب الجمعة العربية و الأحد الإنكليزية : دراسة مقارنة

مقدم أطروحة جامعية

Nuri, Baida Faysal

مشرف أطروحة جامعية

al-Jawadi, Kazim Haydar

الجامعة

جامعة بغداد

الكلية

كلية الآداب

القسم الأكاديمي

قسم اللغة الإنجليزية

دولة الجامعة

العراق

الدرجة العلمية

دكتوراه

تاريخ الدرجة العلمية

2004

الملخص الإنجليزي

The terms "oratory", "rhetoric" and "oration" are closely related; they constitute one unit whose aim is to give rules and facts to people and persuade them to follow the orator's instruction regarding any field of life.

So oratory, as an art of delivering speech, with rhetoric, as a systematic science of stylistic features and figures of speech, can produce a successful and convincing speech which is called an oration.

Accordingly, it can be said that oratory is the practice of rhetoric in public speech. The word "sermon" is generally used as a replacive term for a religious oration.

Its end is to evoke faith, stimulate duty, and make the congregation aware of their needs.

In spite of the linguistic and social differences between Arabic and English sermons, the requirements of convincing human beings are achieved in similar ways.

Moreover, in spite of the differences between Islam and Christianity regarding the scope of interest in the affairs of life, the similarity of the purpose of the orator, which is to influence the thoughts and behaviour of the congregation, brings about an inevitable recourse to the use of certain common linguistic and literary devices which can point to the existence of language universals in the field of religious oratory. The aims of the study are to find out the linguistic and literary aspects which Arabic and English sermons share and to ascertain which of these aspects is more characteristic of the language of religious oratory in both languages.

To get at the aims of the study; the following hypothesis is put forward: Arabic Friday and English Sunday sermons have certain common linguistic and literary devices, which point to the existence of language universals in the field of religious oratory. The validity of the hypothesis above has been tested according to the following procedures: 1.

Setting up a model of analysis for investigating the areas of similarity and difference between Arabic Friday and English Sunday sermons, so that it becomes possible to ascertain aspects which are common to both languages. 2.

Making a detailed stylistic analysis of six sermons from each language.

This analysis takes into account points of structure, style, and certain stylistic devices.

In the study, the choice of sermons is made on the basis of similarity in theme. The historical background provided for Arabic and English sermons reveals that: 1.

The style and structure of Friday sermons have been influenced by the oration in the Pre–Islamic period.

But the themes have been influenced by the social and political circumstances of each stage. 2.

The style and structure of Sunday sermons have been influenced by those of Greek and Roman orations.

Regarding the themes of Sunday sermons, from the apostolic age till now the concentration of every Sunday sermon has been on religious and social matters. The survey of the related literature concerning a good and effective Friday/Sunday sermon has shown that every Arabic Friday and English Sunday sermon must have certain principles in order to be understandable and comprehensible.

These principles are: the orator, the parts of a sermon, its language, its themes, figures of speech, paralinguistic factors, etc. The model of analysis adopted for this study is an amalgam of Crystal and Davy's (1969) linguistic level of analysis and Leech and Short's (1981) categories and figures of speech. The analysis of the Arabic and English texts supported by statistical analysis shows that there are major areas of similarity between them.

Both Arabic and English texts favour the use of: 1.

dynamic verbs more than stative or linking ones. 2.

adverbials/adverbs expressing time more than those expressing place. 3.

statements more frequently than other functional types of clauses. 4.

finite clauses more than nonfinite ones. 5.

complex sentences more than simple ones. The similarity extends to include stylistic devices.

Both Arabic and English texts use repetition, personification, metaphor, etc.

Moreover, both of them favour the use of certain technical devices like the use of Quran/Bible, poetry, stories, etc. The area of difference, on the other hand, is very limited; Arabic Friday sermons use abstract nouns more than concrete ones, whereas English Sunday sermons use concrete nouns more than abstract ones.

Furthermore, Arabic Friday sermons use nongradable adjectivals more than gradable ones, while English Sunday sermons use gradable adjectives more than nongradable ones.

In addition, in Arabic Friday sermons proverbs and statistics are used more frequently than in English Sunday sermons.

In English Sunday sermons, on the other hand, the use of newspaper and magazine materials is more frequent than in Arabic Friday sermons In the light of the above results, it has been concluded that Arabic Friday and English Sunday sermons demonstrate similarities and common features at the lexical, grammatical and literary levels, which may contribute to any possible research into the existence of language universals in the field of religious oratory.

التخصصات الرئيسية

اللغات والآداب المقارنة

عدد الصفحات

240

قائمة المحتويات

• APA
• MLA
• AMA

لغة النص

الإنجليزية

نوع البيانات

رسائل جامعية

رقم السجل

BIM-738229