Discourse Analysis of Arabic Nursery Rhymes

Abstract

Nursery rhyme is a kind of oral literature that is recognized in all languages as one of the most important characteristics of baby talk. The present study investigates nursery rhymes in Arabic from a discoursal point of view. The study aims at making a schematic discoursal analysis of nursery rhymes in Arabic through examining their thematic, linguistic and cultural features. To achieve these aims, the study hypothesizes that( 1) religious cultural references are more characteristic of Arabic nursery rhymes, and( 2) Arabic nursery rhymes have macrostructural and superstructural organization. Data analysis is conducted on the basis of Van Dijk's socio-cognitive approach of discourse analysis. This model consists of the main components of text, namely, Macrostructure (thematic), Superstructure (schematic), Microstructure (linguistic) and Cultural features. The study has revealed the following main findings. First, Arabic rhymes pay more attention to religious themes. Second, typical Arabic nursery rhymes is their schematic structure. They comprise all the conventional categories; introduction, content and closing in the same hierarchical organization. Third, at the microstructural level, Arabic nursery rhymes show differences in their semantic, syntactic, stylistic and rhetorical features. Such differences are represented either in the type of the used elements used or in the frequency of their occurrence. Fourth, Arabic nursery rhymes are characterized by much use of religious references.