Repetition in Arabic Discourse Paradigms, Syntagms and the Ecology of Language

Author/creator Johnstone, Barbara Author
Format Electronic
Publication InfoPhiladelphia : John Benjamins Publishing Company Poole : BEBC Distribution [Distributor]
Description130 p.
Supplemental ContentFull text available from Ebook Central - Academic Complete
Subjects

Summary Annotation In this examination of expository prose in contemporary Arabic, structural and semantic repetition is found to be responsible both for linguistic cohesion and for rhetorical force. Johnstone identifies and discusses repetitive features on every level of analysis. Writers in Arabic use lexical couplets consisting of conjoined synonyms, which create new semantic paradigms as they evoke old ones. Morphological roots and patterns are repeated at close range, and this creates phonological rhyme as well. Regular patterns of paraphrase punctuate texts, and patterns of parallelism mark the internal structure of their segments. Johnstone offers an explanation for how repetition of all these kinds can serve persuasive ends by creating rhetorical presence, and discusses how the Arabic language and the Arab-Islamic cultural tradition especially lend themselves to this rhetorical strategy. She suggests, however, that discourse repetition serves a crucial function in the ecology of any language, as the mechanism by which speakers evoke and create underlying paradigmatic structure in their syntagmatic talk and writing.
Access restrictionAvailable only to authorized users.
Technical detailsMode of access: World Wide Web
Genre/formElectronic books.
ISBN9789027250285
ISBN9027250286 (Trade Cloth) Active Record
Standard identifier# 9789027250285
Stock number00003516

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