- Count View : 23
- آدرس کوتاه شده مقاله: https://bahareadab.com/article_id/2053
- کد IranDOI مقاله: IranDOI :10.irandoi.2002/bahareadab.2026 .19 .8266
Journal of the stylistic of Persian poem and prose
volume Number 19،
number In Volume 6،
،
issue Number 124
Parallel Structures in Persian and English Translations of the Holy Quran: A Comparative Study of Juz’ 30 Based on Nigel Fabb’s Theory
Soheila Mohammad pour , Zahra Abolhasani Chimeh (Author in Charge), Mahnaz Karbalai Sadegh
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Parallel structures are among the major rhetorical devices in the Holy Qur’an, functioning at different linguistic levels to create cohesion, foreground meaning, and intensify the aesthetic effect of the text. The thirtieth part of the Qur’an, due to its brevity, structural compactness, and frequent patterns of repetition and symmetry, provides an appropriate corpus for examining this phenomenon. This study aims to investigate parallel structures in the thirtieth part of the Qur’an and to analyze how they are reflected in two Persian and English translations, namely those by Fooladvand and Arberry.
METHODOLOGY: The study adopts a descriptive-analytical approach and is based on library research. The data were extracted from the verses of the thirtieth part and classified according to Nigel Fabb’s theoretical framework, with its operational extension into four levels: syntactic, morphological-lexical, phonological, and discourse. Alongside the statistical analysis of the data, three surahs—Al-Nāziʿāt, Al-Takwīr, and Al-Nās—were selected as representative samples for a more detailed examination of parallel structures and their representation in the two translations.
FINDINGS: The findings indicate that parallel structures in the thirtieth part of the Qur’an constitute a systematic and multilayered phenomenon. They play a significant role in organizing the semantic relations of the verses, reinforcing textual cohesion, creating rhythm, and foregrounding central concepts. The analysis of the translations further shows that Fooladvand’s translation performs more prominently in representing syntactic relations, lexical continuity, and discourse cohesion, whereasArberry’s translation shows a statistically significant difference in recreating the phonological, rhythmic, and literary aspects of the original text.
CONCLUSION: The study concludes that parallel structures in the thirtieth part of the Qur’an are not merely rhetorical ornaments, but fundamental elements in shaping meaning, establishing cohesion, and guiding the audience’s reception. The comparison of the translations also suggests that transferring such structures in Qur’anic translation requires a balance between preserving form, conveying meaning, and recreating rhetorical effect. This balance varies according to the level of parallelism and the contextual function of each structure.
Keyword
Parallel structures"
, "Thirtieth part of the Holy Qur’an"
, "Qur’anic translation studies"
, "Fooladvand"
, "Arberry"
, "Qur’anic rhetoric
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