Cohesion in Qur'ānic narrative: a study of monologue and dialogue patterns in sūrat al-Kahf (chapter of the cave)
Cohesion is the use of grammatical and lexical ties to connect text segments. While cohesion in Qur’ānic discourse has received scholarly attention, the mechanisms by which it operates in narratives that shift between monologue and dialogue remain understudied. This gap limits our understandin...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | en |
| Published: |
Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
2025
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| Online Access: | http://journalarticle.ukm.my/26275/1/Gema_Online_25_3_4.pdf http://journalarticle.ukm.my/26275/ https://ejournal.ukm.my/gema/issue/view/1852 |
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| Summary: | Cohesion is the use of grammatical and lexical ties to connect text segments. While cohesion in
Qur’ānic discourse has received scholarly attention, the mechanisms by which it operates in
narratives that shift between monologue and dialogue remain understudied. This gap limits our
understanding of how the Qur’ān maintains narrative unity and rhetorical coherence across
complex discourse structures. This study aims to fill this gap by identifying and analyzing
grammatical cohesive devices in the story of the Companions of the Cave in Sūrat al-Kahf,
applying Halliday and Hasan’s (1976) model to uncover how cohesion supports narrative unity
and rhetorical function. The study applies both qualitative and quantitative analyses, examining
the frequency, function, and distribution of cohesive devices in relation to monologue and dialogue
structures. The findings reveal that grammatical cohesion is primarily achieved through references
and conjunctions, which establish semantic connections between ayahs (verses).The monologue
pattern exhibits a higher density of referential cohesion, while dialogue pattern relies more on
conjunctions to achieve textual flow. The study identifies two levels of referential cohesion: micro
level cohesion, where uncommon referents contribute to coherence within individual ayahs, and
macro-level cohesion, where branched referents extend coherence across larger segments in the
story. Additionally, the study highlights the interplay of multiple and interchangeable referents,
particularly personal and demonstrative pronouns, which facilitate smooth transitions between
monologue and dialogue sections. The additive conjunction (wa/and) plays a crucial role in
maintaining discourse flow and textual continuity. These findings contribute to linguistic and
Qur’ānic studies, providing insights into the stylistic and structural uniqueness of Qur’ānic
narrative techniques. |
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