Asyndeton as a Rhetorical Device in Al-Zahraa’s Fadak Sermon

Zahraa Adnan Fadhil Al-Murib,

Department of Software, College of Information Technology, University of Babylon, Babylon, Iraq

Asyndeton is a figure of omission whereby conjunctions are omitted intentionally in a string of words, phrases, and clauses. It has been classified differently according to meaning and structure. And it has different functions. Asyndeton has not been given its due attention from the rhetorical perspective. This paper is an attempt to answer the following questions: (1) what is asyndeton? (2) What are the types of asyndeton? (3) What are the functions of asyndeton in the selected data and how they are utilized? It aims to explore the different types and functions of asyndeton as a rhetorical device in Al-Zahraa’s Fadak Sermon. To achieve the aims of the study a theoretical background of asyndeton is introduced clarifying the different types of this figure at the syntactic and the semantic level along with its functions. Then, the study conducts a data analysis according to Lausbergʼs model Handbook of Literary Rhetoric: A Foundation for Literary Study (1998) and Hebron Seven Types of Asyndeton in Paradise Lost (2003). And it is found that at the syntactic level, all the asyndetic structures are employed, especially, modifiers and nominal asyndeton, whereas, at the semantic level, Sayyidah Fatima (pbuh) resorted to all the types of asyndeton except for disjunctive and causal asyndeton. Besides, the analysis of data demonstrates that emphasis in addition to rapidity and veracity are the most used functions of asyndeton.

Keywords: Asyndeton, Rhetorical Device, Fadak Sermon

The above abstract is a part of the article which was accepted at The Ninth International Conference on Languages, Linguistics, Translation and Literature (WWW.LLLD.IR), 1-2 February 2024, Ahwaz.