A Linguistic-Discourse Analysis of the Language of Psalm 23

https://doi.org/10.36349/olijhe.2024.v01i01.009

Abstract

This paper examines the linguistic-discourse Analysis of Psalm 23, from the holy Bible, the book of the Christian religion. Linguistic-discourse analysis is one of the approaches used in disbanding the entanglements and ambiguities in language study. The linguistics and discourse features discussed include the graphological features, phonological features, syntactic structure,lexico-semantic representation, and cohesive relations. The graphological features are the punctuation marks, 
indentation, paragraphing and capitalization of letters in the text. The phonological features in the text are alliteration and assonance. Moreover, the syntactic structure includes short phrases, clauses, sentences, and pattern repetition, and the use of archaic pronouns which form part of the clauses and sentences. The lexico-semantic representation explains the linguistic explanation of the structure and meaning of the text. Consequently, the cohesive relations discussed in the text are anaphora, cataphora, substitution, conjunction, synonym,repetition and collocational converse. The theoretical framework adopted in this study is the Neo-Firthian Hallidayan Systemic Functional Grammar . The word 'systemic' means that language is viewed as a set of options for making meaning (Halliday, 1990; Obodeh, 2018). Brown and Yule (1983) Theory on Discourse analysis is also used as a backup to Halliday systemic grammar. The theory contains four approaches which include reference, presupposition, implicative and influence. Brown and Yule stated that the theory would help in the analysis of written textual, spoken and interaction for the research and also for the reader of the analysis, and this paper is an analysis of a written discourse. The library is also one of the research methods for this study. This is where books, journals and other useful research information are kept. The analysis in the study portrays the fact that a religious text could be analysed using the tenets of linguistics discourse. Since language is a tool of all activities in life, this paper therefore has tried to solve some language problems by analyzing the linguistics and discourse features of the language of the text, Psalm 23, for better understanding of the text by readers, clergy, congregations, and scholar of language and literature in particular and the academia in general.