Juxtaposition in Al-Jahezia Maqamah: Patterns and Significance

Abstract

Al-Jahezia maqamah is characterized by a coherent and consistent structure, based on foundational linguistic grounds - whether verbal or situational - whose components converge in a consistent form to achieve the intended semantic purpose. Linguistic juxtaposition is an important component of those elements, whose realizations vary according to the intended pragmatic meaning, clearly represented in Al-Jahezia maqamah by Al-Hamathani. The latter employs his rhetorical style in such a way so as to reveal some of the characteristics of Al-Jahiz's style, which are limited to prose and not poetry. The parallel structure formats act as an incubator space for phonetic and morphological rhythms and semantic parallels. The parallel formats are classified and analyzed textually in light of their linguistic values: aesthetic formal structure, coherent connectivity, and symmetrical harmony. The parallel incubator structures are represented in non-attribution compounds, descriptive, genitive by the letter and addition, and attribution nominal and actual compounds, being simple, complex, extended, and interlaced ones. Phonetic juxtapositions have interacted in the spaces of these compounds in the form of paronymy, assonance, and repetition, as well as morphological parallels with similar formulas for verbs and nouns. Parallel rhetoric, such as simile, metaphor, and metonymy, and semantic parallels are linked with parallel phrases. That is based on synonymy, contradiction relation: antithesis and collation, close connection, proportion, and interpretation relationships.

Keywords

• Rhythm
• Syntax
• Parallelism
• Jahzi
• Semantics
• Maqamah