Phonopragmatic Manifestations in Iraqi Husseini Preachers’ Discourse: A Qualitative Auto-segmental Metrical Analysis

Abstract

This study is concerned with phonopragmatics, as a phenomenon that is based on phonological factors to convey the speaker’s intentions in Husseini discourse. Husseini discourse is a genre which is mainly characterized by the use of eloquent religious styles. Specifically, the study aims to investigate the Husseini preachers’ use of prosodic patterns under the approach of phonopragmatics; that is, the pragmatic treatment of modifying the preachers’ intonation contours in their speeches. A workable model is designed for the analysis of the data, based on the exploitation of prosodic features. Twenty Husseini sermons are analyzed by means of the model. The most important findings of the analysis indicate that certain prosodic contours are pragmatically used by Husseini preachers in order to convey significant illocutionary forces and to highly affect their audience.