Sound repetition as characterisation mechanism in the Moor's Last Sigh by Salman Rushdie
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 20156636 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Ina Biermann (University of South Africa, corresponding author) |
| Year | 1999 |
| Volume | 15 |
| Issue | 3-4 |
| Pages | 324-354 |
| Publication date | 1999-12-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Literary Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0256-4718 • E-ISSN: 1753-5387 |
| Publisher | Unisa Press (PUBLISHER • ZA) |
| DOI | 10.1080/02564719908530235 |
| OpenAlex | W1974543959 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 11 |
This article is a stylistic analysis of the description of the act of sighing in The Moor's Last Sigh (1995) by Salman Rushdie. The analysis bringstogethertwo disciplines: that of phonetics and that of narratology. It offers a description of sound repetition in a passage from the novel in which the act of sighing is elaborately described and metaphorised. The functions of sound repetition in this text include that of onomatopoeic transfer and of mediating the construction of metaphorical relations with regard to the central metaphor of sighing. The analysis further reveals that sighing has implications for narration and characterisation which are discussed in some detail within the context of recent narratological research. The article makes the point that the sound of language communicates in this narrative text in a way expected of poetic texts. This implies on the one hand that the language used in this narrative text has poetic qualities and on the other hand that the notion and occurrence of poetic language use are not genre‐bound
Acoustics · Art · Linguistics · Literature · Metaphor · Narrative · Narratology · Onomatopoeia · Physics · Poetry · History · Language, Discourse, Communication Strategies · Language, Metaphor, and Cognition · Narrative Theory and Analysis · Philosophy
| Highly cited | No |
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