A Phonetic Analysis of Rhyme in the Holy Quran and its Role in Textual Cohesion: the Case of Surahs At-Tur, An-Najm, Al-Qamar, Ar-Rahman,Al-Waqiah

Today, new horizons have been opened up in the study of the Quranic text due to the expansion of text linguistics. Coherence is one significant criteria in the textuality of a text and it has become very important in text linguistics and can be analyzed at various levels. One of the most obvious manifestations of cohesion in the holy Quran is the phonetic cohesion that due to the pauses between ayahs establishes an inseparable connection between ayahs through creating relations and coordination. Therefore, because of the prominent position of phonetic rhyme in the relation and integration between ayahs and since phonetic rhyme has mostly attracted interest in the traditional rhetoric, the present study aimed to investigate the cohesive function of rhyme in several surahs of the Quran using a descriptive-analysis method. The results showed that the phonetic function of rhyme has a very crucial role in the connection and integration of ayahs which together with other cohesive devices give cohesion to the surah's whole texts.