Discourse analysis in sermon 199, Nahj al-Balaghah, based on the classification of speech acts

Abstract

The theory of speech acts of John Searle is one of the most important theories of pragmatics, since it is concerned with spoken texts. Searle, by examining the nature and classification of verbs, completes the action by dividing it into five categories: the informative verb, the encouraging verb, the expressive verb, the obligatory verb, and the declarative verb. In this article, using the method of theoretical study and keeping in mind Searle's classification, we have taken a new look at one of the speeches of Nahj al-Balaghah. In this way, we analyzed the speech procedure used by Imam Ali () in his sermon 199 and found that in this sermon, the encouraging verb was the most frequent, and this is due to the nature of Imam Ali ()’s speech, while in this sermon there is no obligatory verb Or declarative or expressive at all. The reason why Imam () used verbs encouraging and informative is to confirm the whole discourse in sermon 199. In this sermon, Imam () uses verbs encouraging and informative, directly and indirectly, in order to have a deeper impact on the spirit and heart of the addressee.