The Rhetorical Interaction of 'Verb' and 'Pronoun' in the Story of Zahhak

Abstract

Effective speech, delivered in a manner suitable for the audience's situation and position, is the most concise and comprehensive definition that can be offered for rhetoric. In this statement, speech' is used in its broadest sense as an inclusive term that encompasses all its linguistic and semantic components. Consequently, the principle applicable to it can also apply to its constituent parts. Therefore, this study aims to explain the rhetorical functions and capacities of 'pronouns' as part of the components of speech, by answering the question of which rhetorical functions and capacities of pronouns were considered and utilized by Ferdowsi in the story of Zahhak. The present research is qualitative and has been developed using a documentary-descriptive method. This examination revealed that in the story of Zahhak, the rhetorical capacity of pronouns is evident in two main axes: one in the interaction between 'verb' and 'pronoun' both in the form of using pronouns as adverbial complements of verbs and in the form of syntactic displacement of pronouns from nouns to verbs, and the second axis at the level of phonetic speech, both in the process of 'pronoun settlement' and in the form of the impact of pronouns on creating a special phonetic environment to convey the intended meaning and concept of the speaker.