Reinvigorating Rhetorical Art in the Malay Study through the Use of Figurative Taukeed

Authors

  • Abu Hassan Abdul
  • Wahibah Twahir
  • Zulkifli Osman

Abstract

The concept of taukeed, which means an emphasis or an affirmation of meaning, has raised a number of issues that have not been thoroughly examined in contemporary Malay study, even though it has featured as an emphatic particle in many studies of Arabic grammar and rhetoric(balagha). In the Malay language, such a concept has existed not only in Malay grammar as an intensifierbut also in rhetoricalart. Nonetheless, detailed studies focusing on the types and functions of taukeed have been lacking in Malaysia compared to those of Arabic taukeed. Against such a background, this study was carried out to examine 20 corroborativefigurative taukeedthatappear at the start and end of sentences in several Malay novels and Hikayat Hang Tuah(thegreat Canon ofMalay epic).Such an examination helped the researchers to highlight the uniqueness of suchtaukeed and provide a new perspective on the concept of taukeed in the Malay language that is more comprehensive encompassing rhetorical art rather than being confined to static grammar. This study was based on a qualitative approach involving Arabic balagha or rhetoric that was adopted to suit the thinking of the Malay society.  Analysis of the selected novels and Hikayat Hang Tuah showed that Malay corroborativefigurative taukeed shared the same concept of Arabic mubalagha in the science of rhetoric, the purpose of which was to beautify the meanings of narratives hyperbolically either implicitly or explicitly and to show whether such hyperboles were unrealizable or realizable in real life. Given such findings, the concept of taukeed should be included in the teaching and learning of modern Malay language in Malaysia that can surely reenergize the rhetorical art in the Malay study.

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Published

2020-03-15

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Section

Articles