The Rhetorical and Cohesive Functions of Demonstrative Substitutes in the Noble Surah Al Hajj and Its Translations by Fouladvand, Khorramshahi and Mohaddes Dehlavi

According to the linguistic theory of Halliday and Hassan (1976), textual cohesion is one of the most important elements of textuality marked by different, inter alia, grammatical, lexical, and relational elements. “Substitution”, manifested in different nominal, verbal, sentential and clausal forms, is a kind of grammatical cohesion that means replacing an element with another in the text. Due to their high semantic and rhetoric capacities, demonstrative nouns are used in the Holy Qur'an in various substitutive forms hence playing a significant role in the coherence and textual cohesion of ayahs. Additionally, by breaking down the grammatical structures of the text, they have created a linear and grid-like order besides giving prominence, dynamism, brevity, and artistic ambiguity to the text. Using Halliday and Hassan's theory, the present study sought to analyze demonstrative nouns used as substitutes in Surah Al-Hajj and to survey the quality of their translations so that the degree of the success of the translators in explicating the rhetorical meaning of this cohesive device becomes clear. To this end, two semantic translations by Fouladvand and Khorramshahi and a literal translation by Mohaddes Dehlavi were selected. The results show that Fouladvand has somewhat created an equivalent cohesion by explicating meaning and paying attention to rhetorical aspects. Moreover, Mohaddes Dehlavi has to some extent created cohesion using clarification in the target text. However, Khorramshahi's translation, despite being literary, has failed to clarify meaning and rhetorical nuances thus lacking the necessary cohesive explication.