A Cultural Perspective to the Study of Rhetorical Styles
Ahmad Shehu Abdussalam, Kulliyyah of Islamic Revealed Knowledge and Human Sciences, International Islamic University, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Abstract
Adequate attention to cultural trend in the study of rhetorical styles contributes to the efforts of developing Arabic rhetoric, and leads to an extension of the scope of investigation to socio-cultural features and contribution of rhetorical styles in a perfect and beautiful communication of characteristics of the Arab linguistic society. But the fact remains that adoption of cultural perspective will be proven to be significant if cultural characteristics embodied in these styles are taken as focus of study, instead of relegating them into secondary position in the analysis. The paper considers partial indirect contribution to the cultural trend in the traditional rhetoric references in its attempts to study the influence of cultural features in the understanding and analyzing the rhetorical styles, the basis, characteristics and implications of the cultural perspective, and suggests a methodology of analyzing the cultural features of these styles with samples of its application.