Sacred Text and Discourse Analysis: Classification of Yarsan Sacred Texts Based on Corpus-Based Discourse Analysis

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Associate Professor, Department of English Language and Literature and Linguistics, University of Kurdistan, Kurdistan, Iran.

2 Assistant Professor, Department of Kurdish Language and Literature, University of Kurdistan, Kurdistan, Iran.

10.22034/lda.2024.142187.1026

Abstract

In the present article, we examine and classify the sacred texts in the Yārsān religion (as a kurdish tradition) based on corpus linguistics. To this purpose, we employ a mixed method to analyze the religious texts. In other words, relying on the discourse analysis method, we will first try to explain the discursive and narrative structures of the texts, and then by employing the corpus-based methods, we will try to extract the list of frequent words and also the list of key words of each text. The research results show that most of the religious texts can be divided into four different groups. The first group includes the texts that are described as narrative kalāms. A narrative kalām mainly consists of a number of maramos that constitute episodes of a narrative discourse. This group can also be divided into two subcategories. The texts of the second group, which are called testimony texts, are mainly used to provide testimony about the manifestations and reincarnations of holy figures in the history. Each maramo in these texts represents a testimony by a holy figure. According to some theological reasons, this type of texts is the most focal texts in the Yārsān religion. The third group, which is named as ritual-performative texts, includes texts that are mainly performed in religious ceremonies. The fourth group contains special texts that are not included in any of the above groups and appear as independent stylistic texts. Finally, the study tries to investigate cultural functions of the texts in different contexts.

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